Pregnant By Luke Hemmings

Chapter 18

Luke

I do as Emily instructed and turn the tv to a Spider-Man cartoon, and I turn the volume down to 20. That's almost a whisper. Then I sit down on an arm chair with Cass in my lap and turn him toward the tv. He leans back against my chest and sticks his thumb in his mouth.

He stays this way for a few moment before sliding down off my lap and wobbling into the kitchen.

I'm a panic I jump up behind him and send Emily a dm on Twitter since I forgot to ask for her number.

@Luke5sos- Emily! He's moving.
I hastily send and she replies immediately.

@LianJustice- He's gonna do that, Luke. He's a living child lol. Relax a bit

@Luke5sos- No I mean he's in the kitchen. What do I do?
She doesn't reply as quickly and my heart starts to beat a bit faster as I stair at the phone screen.

@LianJustice- Peel the orange

She finally reply's and I give my phone a confused look before looking up at Cass who is standing in front of me...
holding an orange.

My phone vibrates again.
@LianJustice- He's only three Luke. He can't reach the counter and he knows not to touch anything but his oranges without permission.
@LianJustice- Long cupboard door by the fridge. Very bottom shelf. You'll be fine.

That's the last thing she sends me.

"Daddy." Cass says pulling my attention back to him. He's still holding the orange up at me.

"Oh! Sorry, buddy." I chuckle gripping the orange from him and peeling it clean. Then I hand it back to him and watch as his little hands split the large fruit in half with ease. He then pulls out the inner stem, throwing it in the rubbish bin before wobbling past me, back to the chair where we were first sitting. He places the fruit on the arm of the chair before pulling his little body up and sitting down. He scoots itself back, getting comfortable, before grabbing the fruit again and popping a slice in his mouth.

Mean while I'm still standing here watching his every move in awe. When my brother Jack had his son he was nothing like Cass. Even at this age Cass is so independent. When my nephew Jordie was Cass's age he would want our help for everything. It kind of makes me wish Cass was more needy like Jordie was.

"Daddy, sit." Cass pats the space next to him before popping another slice in his mouth. He's almost half done. I go over and pick I'm up so I can sit and place him on my lap. I face him towards the tv again but he turns back to face me. "Why you don't sound like mummy?" He asks and I smile. Is my son starting a conversation with me? Shouldn't this be the other way around? He's asking about mine and Emily's accent. I sound pure Australian while Emily on the other hand sounds more English than Australian. It still peeks through at times but you can barely hear it.

"Well, I've been in Australia. It's where your mum and I were born. And it's where we met." I tell him and he nods.

"Why I wasn't born in A... Au...Astria?" He struggles with the name before eating another slice. He pulls another slice off but instead of eating it he raises it to me.

I pull it between my lips and suck it from his fingers. "Your mummy, left before you were born." I answer, pushing the whole slice into my cheek.

"Why?" He's a curious one.

"She felt it would be better for you." *Nailed it!*

"So why you didn't come? Why you wasn't around?" He asks and I almost choke. This isn't something of expected a three year old to ask. But his eyes are focused on me, patiently waiting for an answer. He's so focused that he stopped eating his orange.

"Cass, sometimes things just don't go as planned. Believe me, if I could've been here with you I would've. I'm sorry I wasn't. But I'm here now, yeah." I come clean and he nods.

"Yeah." He nods and pops one of his last few slices in his mouth. "It's okay, daddy. Mummy says you love me." He simply says lifting another slice to me. I gladly take it and eat it at the same time as he finishes his last. Then he sucks on his little fingers before turning back to face the tv. He returns to his starting position as if nothing had happened. His thumb is back in his mouth, he's back is leaned up against my chest and his eyes are glued onto the to screen. The only difference between then and now is the tangy smell of oranges.

He's a strange kid, this one. But his mum is right. I love him. With all my heart, I love my son to death.

And I live his mother just as much.