Never Quit Loving You

T H R E E

Betty was a nervous wreck and having to look after a squirming toddler didn't much help.

"Mommy," the little boy said in his spluttery accent. "Need my trains." His tone was demanding, and for the fourth time that morning, the woman sighed.

"Sweetie, we're gonna get them back in the evening when Auntie Cheryl comes. You just have to wait for a little while."

"No. Need them now!"

"Wesley," Betty gently scolded, already experienced with her little boy enough to know that if she or anyone else raised their voice too much at him, he would cry and get scared. He didn't like to be told off by anyone, either. "You're gonna need to wait."

The boy pouted in his booster seat behind the table but engaged himself with eating the last piece of his waffle. "Want trains, mommy," he quietly repeated.

Betty sighed, feeling bad that she owned no car to go to Cheryl's place and get the train rail set they had forgotten there the last time. She wanted to spoil her son and give him everything he ever wanted. She knew he deserved it.

Yet, there they were, with no father or real grandparents around, struggling with money. Of course, Betty had enough of it to buy food and live rent-free at Fred's place, to occasionally buy a new toy or a piece of clothing for her ever-growing son, and sometimes even eat out, and the blonde assured herself that they were fine, but even with Fred and her friends helping her, she couldn't stop thinking about what an extra pair of hands or eyes would do.

Everything would have been so much easier with someone else around to watch Wesley from time to time and not having to worry about her work or Fred's. And of course, someone to balance his constant need for new clothes.

The little bundle of joy she had cuddled for almost three years was expensive... as fuck.

"I know, Wes. But there are plenty of other fun things you could do today, right?"

"Nuh-uh," he whined. "It's raining."

"Why don't we do something fun in the rain, then?" Betty suggested and smiled the moment the little boy's eyes lit up.

"Cold?" he asked, curious about why his mommy hadn't let him out in the rain before.

"I don't think so," Betty said, fully aware that it was the end of June already. Her son had been too young last year to really understand the joy of being out in the rain during summer and probably didn't remember it at all, but she did, and she knew he loved it. Or at least he used to. "So, why don't you finish your breakfast, and then we can both go and play outside. How does that sound?"

"Yay! Good!" His breakfast was gone with a second and once he had swallowed the bite, Betty chuckled and lifted him onto her hip.

"You wanna go potty, yeah?"

"No. Go play?" he asked excitedly.

"You can play right after," she promised, and even though the boy pouted, the trick seemed to work when she set him down on the small plastic potty and he peed only after two minutes of waiting. "Nice job," Betty praised and gave him a kiss, helping him put on a new pair of underwear.

A little sigh slipped her lips when the boy ran off to his room, giggling. He didn't like pants and every time she made him go potty, he loved the fact that he could take them off. Even right now, the pajama pants he had worn earlier were still in Betty's hands as she followed him into the small room.

"Alright, little Nugget. Pants on."

The boy giggled when Betty chased him all around the second floor before actually managing to catch him and forcing a pair of gray shorts onto him with a smile herself.