Invisible: Ryne Part Two *Complete*

10. Italy

© Kelly Faulk 2013

Chapter 10:  Italy

The quietness didn’t last long.  The next day, Dolan wouldn’t stop screaming.  Tríka tried to breastfeed him, but he wouldn’t take.  So, I had to run to the store to get some formula, which he also didn’t eat.  I tried to tell Tríka that maybe he wasn’t hungry yet, but she wouldn’t listen.  And when Protogo came over to circumcise him and fill out the forms for his birth certificate, he said that it was fine as long as he got something to eat tomorrow.

Happy birthday to me.

I didn’t mind any of it, though.  Actually, having Dolan with us broke up the routine I had been having on my birthdays.  I didn’t even mind Tríka forgetting about my birthday up until we were about to go to bed.

We had just lay down for the night when she said, “I feel like I’m forgetting something.”

I decided to play along with her.  “Did you turn the stove off?”

“Very funny, Ryne.”  She was quiet for a while, and at first, I thought she had given up.  “What’s today?”

“The second.”

“Of February?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, my, God.  I’m so sorry, Ryne!”

“It’s okay.”

“No it’s not.  If I forget your birthday once, I’ll forget it again.”

She was about to get out of bed, but I grabbed her arm and turned her to me.  “It’s fine.  Really.  You were focused on Dolan.  Hell, I was, too, and I nearly forgot myself.”  I gave her a kiss.  “You forgetting until the last minute just means that I’ll have one hell of a birthday next year because you’re going to make up for this year.”

She toyed with her piercing for a second.  “Okay.  I love you, Ryne.”

“And I love you.”

She crawled into my arms, and rested her head on my chest.  “But I feel bad about not getting you a present.”

Before I could say anything, Dolan cried.  “My present is that little boy in the next room, crying for his mama.”

She smiled and gave me a kiss.  “I’ll be back.”

“Take your time.”

It took her roughly thirty minutes to get him to go back to sleep.  But after we had fallen asleep, he woke right back up.  She’d run in there before I could have a chance to, therefore making her more tired and frustrated than me.  And that’s how it was for the next hours to come.

His crying drove me crazy that night.

Thankfully, he calmed down a little when he finally ate.  But since he was eating, he was also going through diapers.  I absolutely refused to change his diapers after he peed on me.  Tríka told me that all baby boys do that, but I didn’t listen to her.

Over the next two months, he grew day by day.  He flapped his wings frequently, making me think that he’d be flying soon.  When he turned three months, Tríka trusted me to feed him.  Shortly after that, he slept through most of the night.

I was so glad that he was able to wake her up in the middle.  It was most likely her mothering instinct kicking in when he cried.  One night, he woke up around three, waking me up, but not her.  So I slunk out of bed, and sleepily went to his room.  I carefully took him from his crib, and rocked him in the rocking chair to get him to fall back asleep.  I’ve seen Tríka do this many times, so I tried to copy her.  It had taken me thirty minutes to get him to fall back asleep.