Severus drew his eyes back up slightly to focus on the child, hesitating again before nodding, "I.... I do," he assured, holding an arm out. Ambrose, still rather anxious from the reaction, meekly approached, nuzzling up against his adoptive father's side once close enough. Severus twirled the flower between his fingers once, now holding the little boy close with his free hand.
"Do you know what flower this is?" he asked softly, even gently. Ambrose blinked, looking down to really focus on the flower, but after a few minutes of nothing, shook his head. Severus smiled faintly, barely detectable.
"Its a lily."
That made the boy's brown eyes light up immediately, "Like what you call me?"
"Yes."
Ambrose looked at the flower with newfound amazement, "How come you call me that, papa?"
Severus paused, looking down on the boy he'd taken on, "Well.... first of all, your middle name is a version on it. Lilein," another pause before he added, "and Lily was the name of someone who was..... very close to me. Someone I loved... very dearly."
Ambrose looked up, hanging on every word, "Oh," the boy's face contoured into confusion after a moment, "you said 'loved', past tense. What happened to her, papa?"
Severus tensed at that, memories threatening to come back. He unintentionally squeezed the boy roughly, not even realizing he did until he felt him shift uncomfortably in his arms, immediately loosening and shaking his head to clear it away.
"That... we will discuss one day. Not today," he sat the boy back on his feet, "for now, we have somethings to gather from here, so, why don't you hold papa's flower," he tenderly passed it back to the boy's hands, "stay close to me," he rose to his full height, holding a hand out. Ambrose took it with one of his own, the other still gripping the lily protectively, "and continue on our trip, my lily?" he finished as he started leading the boy along.