choni

Chapter 80

Toni woke up to a soft cry through the wall. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, they began to adjust to the dim morning light.

He felt the cool air against his skin as he registered the missing body of heat. Turning his head to see the rest of the bed empty and half the sheets pulled back, he was momentarily discombobulated. There was no light emitting from the bathroom, no, she wasn't in there.

Brushing the hairs from his face, Toni swung his legs over the side of the bed and padded towards the door with a tiny yawn. As he stepped over the threshold and made his way down the hallway, his ears picked up the tiny cries coming from the far room. A second voice, a soft melody, meets the cries in the middle.

Ever so carefully nudging the door open, slowly and quietly enough to not disturb the scene in front of him, Toni peered in to see Cheryl facing towards the window. She was gently swaying back and forth and when she began to turn, there was Alex, curled into her chest, his little eyes clenched as he let out small sobs of discomfort.

Through the door frame Toni let out an almost silent sigh of content. Leaning to the side, a smile creeping onto his face as he watched Cheryl nuzzle her nose into Alex's head, continuing to hum to him calmly. The melody felt familiar but Toni couldn't quite place it.

Toni stayed in his position against the frame for a few minutes, crinkled his eyes as he took in what Cheryl was humming to their son. A momentary confusion. It was something familiar. Something Toni hasn't heard since he was a little baby boy. A melody his grandfather had once lulled him to sleep with. Toni didn't know where Cheryl had heard about it. He has never mentioned his grandfather to Cheryl yet, because his passing was something that Toni rarely talked about. Tears puddled gently in the back of his eyes. For Toni his grandfather was one of the view people that really understood him and the day his parents told him that he was sick it felt like that the time just stopped moving and that he was frozen. But never a day going by where the beautiful redhead haired woman he called his wife, the love of his life, didn't amaze him. Not a day when Toni didn't think about how incredibly lucky he was.

Toni pushed the door open, so he could enter the room, a longing to be closer to his family overtaking him. He had spent so long looking towards Cheryl, on the outside, he didn't forget how blessed he was to be in the moments with Cheryl. Toni walked up silently behind the pair. Wrapping his arms around Cheryl's waist, careful not to disturb Alex further, he placed a kiss on her shoulder blade, the curve of her neck, and finally right under her ear.

Cheryl lifted her head ever so slightly to peer back at Toni as she smiled peacefully. Toni rested his cheek back atop Cheryl's shoulder. He smiled back at her with hid eyes, as his lips spread into a smile, halfway still pressed into her shoulder. The warmth spreading from the contact was something otherworldly.

"Don't stop, please. Keep singing." Toni lightly gazed into Cheryl's eyes, wanting the familiar song back. Cheryl had a glimmer in her eyes that could be described as no less than enchanting as her lips furled into a smile. Returning her attention to Alex, she traced tiny circles on the infant's back and began to sing again.

Toni allowed his eyes to close for a few moments. Letting himself be transported back into the time with his grandfather.

When Toni began to join Cheryl in singing the soft melody, he could tell it caught her off guard as her breath hitched just a little too long. But they sang softly together. Toni moved one of his hands from around Cheryl's waist to move it on top of hers where it had been resting on Alex's back.

Alex was now long asleep. But Toni wasn't ready to head back to their bedroom yet. Letting go of his hold around Cheryl, he walked around to reach out to take Alex from Cheryl's arms.