Chapter 8: Family Commitments
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“I’d like to take some time off of work.” Red confided in me, one night after he got home from work.
“That’s good. I think you should. I’m sure the kids would love to spend some time with you.” I told him.
“I can’t, though. We can’t support three children if I take time off.”
“Yes, you can. I think it would be really good for your health if you took some time off.” Scarlet started pulling on my hair. I unlatched her hand, but she put it right back.
Spending so much time with only small children was driving me crazy. I needed to interact with another adult, besides Red.
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Red took Scarlet from me, and went off to teach her how to talk, leaving me to my own devices. I thought for a moment what I wanted to do, and eventually settled on calling Aqua-Marine. We hadn’t had a chance to hang out, often, and I felt bad.
“Hey, it’s Greth.” I said.
“Hi, what’s up?” Aqua-Marine picked up.
“Do you want to hang out sometime?” I asked.
“Sure, but I have to work today.” She told me.
She had to work, of course. “Okay, call me when you get off.”
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I hung up and went to paint. I was starting to get stir crazy. Just standing there at that easel all day was not enough. I needed to do something else, and then I thought about what Aqua-Marine had said.
I needed to get a job. Red needed time off, and I needed time... on. I looked through the newspaper for a job that would work, and I found a couple. I decided on the job at the spa. It was part time, so I could still spend a lot of time at home.
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I found Red in the kids room, still teaching Scarlet. She was picking it up fast, just like Rudy had. She stopped when she saw me, even before Red noticed.
“Mamma...” She mumbled.
Red looked over at me.
“Hi, Greth, Scarlet has been doing really well.” He smiled at me, and then at her.
“Red, can I talk to you about something.”
He panicked. He jumped up and ran over to me. “Of course, anything you need, Greth.”
“No, Red, it’s not that.”
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“I’m going to get a part time job.” I told him.
“Why?” He asked.
“For two reasons. One is because you need time off, and my painting isn’t enough to support us on its own. The other is that I haven’t gotten out of the house enough recently.”
“Okay...” He said, unsure of what he was supposed to say.
“Good, you’re okay with it!” I smiled. “I was afraid that you would protest again.”
Red sighed. “I’m starting to realized that you’re right. You were right the whole time. I need some time off.”
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I applied for the job as soon as I could. I got it easily, and my first day of work was the next day.
Eager to make a good impression I ironed my clothes the night before, and had Red changed Scarlet’s diaper. He claimed that he would have done it anyway, but I wasn’t so sure.
I got there before hours started, so that they could show me the ropes, and I caught on quickly. I was the secretary, and it wasn’t a very busy day.
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After a very short work day I went home. I was actually feeling refreshed. Don’t get me wrong, I loved spending time with my children, but I was able to have real conversations with people at work.
“How was your day?” Red asked, when I walked in the door. Just like I had always done when he got home.
“It was great!” I smiled. “How was yours?”
“Exhausting! You really weren’t kidding when you said this was hard work.” He kidded.
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I was starting to feel more sure about our reasons for being together. We were getting along great, now that he wasn’t so stressed all the time.
“I’m glad you took some time off.” I whispered into his ear.
“Me too.” He told me. “I’m sorry for being so stubborn.”
“I forgive you.” I felt his warmth penetrating my skin. It seeped down into my muscles. I bit my lip and pulled away. I had been practicing my self control around Red, and it wasn’t unusual for me to back off from affection. I felt horrible about it, but it was necessary. If I didn’t cut it off at the start it would escalate, and once it escalated there was no stopping it.
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“Greth...” Red said.
“I’m sorry.” My eyes started tearing up. “You deserve better.”
“No, that’s not at all what I was going to say, and it’s not true either."
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I felt Scarlet grabbing my leg, so I picked her up.
“Mamma...” She said. I sighed.
“I’m glad that you and I are together.” Red told me. “I’m glad that we worked everything out, and I promise that I will work on my anger, but with you working at the spa I won’t need to overworked myself, and I’ll be a little less stressed.”
Scarlet reached out and touched Red’s face. “Dadda.”
“Very good, Scarlet.” He told her.
It was nice to see him so happy. He was smiling again, and it made me smile.
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“Mom!” Cardinal called from the other room. “Mom, I need help with my homework.” He stopped when he saw us.
“Red?” I asked, “Do you want to help Cardinal with his homework?”
“Sure.” He walked over to Cardinal, and bent down. “Can I help you, little man?”
Cardinal looked at me for approval, and it broke my hear. I nodded, then he looked back to Red. “Sure, I guess.”
“What do you mean, I guess?” Red asked, “Your old man can’t help you with your homework?”
“Well, mom always helps me.” He looked down at the ground.
“Your father wants to help.” I told him. Then I heard Rudy crying from the other room, “Besides, I’ve got to go tend to your brother.”
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I walked past them, out of the room, leaving them to deal with it themselves. I thought it would be go for Cardinal to have Red help him, it would give them some bonding time, but he seemed unsure.
I set Scarlet down next to me, and let Rudy out of his crib. He was almost too old for a crib, and for his birthday we were going to buy him a real bed.
“I want a bed.” He told me, when I set him on the ground.
“I know, you’ve told us before.”
“Scarlet has a crib, because she’s little. I want a big bed.” He crossed his arms.
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Cardinal always liked to sit down on the ground when doing his homework. I could never figure out why, but that’s the way he wanted it. Red asked me about it later, but I didn’t have the answer.
When I came back in, with Rudy and Scarlet, to make dinner Red and Cardinal were almost done. They had made fast progress, faster than I could have done. It was probably because Red was an architect, so he was better at math than I was, but either was Cardinal seemed happy to be finished.
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On the weekend Cardinal asked me to help him invite Cyanna over. I was working with him on talking on the phone, but just as I had suspected he wanted none of it. I ended up having to call Aqua-Marine every time to set something up.
Even though he wouldn’t talk on the phone with her, he talked and talked and talked with her in person. She was the one person who could get him to have an actual conversation. He would talk more with her than he would with me.
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Unfortunately Rudy wasn’t so lucky. Aqua-Marine was still basically my only friend, and Cyanna was her only child. It was harder for me to set up play dates for Rudy. Sometimes he seemed jealous of Cardinal, since he got to hang out with somebody other than family, but Red was more than happy to fill his time.
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Scarlet’s personality had started to appear a little. She was quiet, like Cardinal, though she learnt fast, like Rudy. I was glad to have a girl, though. Not that I didn’t love my boys, but I had a feeling that once they were teenagers she would provide me with a little relief.
