Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 79749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Eli is making great strides. He laughs and speaks, mostly without hesitation these days unless one of the other guys is in the room.
Jersey and Hemlock don't count as other guys according to how my son acts. He loves both of them. Jersey, I fully understand. The guy is quick with a smile despite the shadows I see regularly in his eyes. He watches Eli like he's missing something or someone, but I haven't gotten a chance to ask him about his life prior to coming to the cabin.
I learned not long after we got here that this branch of the Cerberus MC is very new, as in months old, not years.
These guys have acclimated not only to living with other men but also with the introduction of Zara, Cora, and myself.
I don't see Nyx very often, but I know that the guys have different jobs in different locations. There are a lot of times they're gone, but there's always someone here. I know Nolan will eventually go back to work, but although he attends meetings in the conference room, he hasn't had to leave the house for an extended period of time.
"That won't work," Eli says, a hint of laughter and frustration in his tone as he speaks to Nolan. "See this?"
I watch as Eli compares the ends of the screwdriver to the screws needed for the easel they are building together.
"They're different?" Jersey asks, looking confused.
"This one makes a cross," Eli says, holding the screwdriver up and moving it back and forth between the two men. "Those things there also have a cross. They fit together. Watch."
Both men watch intently as Eli presses the business end of the screwdriver into the screw.
"Now, Jericho, you hold it in place and I'll do this part."
I don't miss the way Nolan's eyes flinch when his son calls him by his nickname, but the first time it happened, he wasn't corrected, so he just continued to do it.
When we asked Caitlyn about it, she said we handled it the right way by not insisting that Nolan be called dad. Eli is in a unique situation with all of this, and she assures us that he will eventually get there. She said even if he never calls Nolan dad, he'll know how loved he is anyway.
"Ah," Jersey says. "That makes sense now."
Eli beams as if he has just figured out the equation for quantum physics.
Jersey was here the Sunday after we arrived but gone again by Monday morning. He just got back late last night, and he and Eli have made quick friends. You'd think from watching the man with my son that he was a dad, but Nolan told me once that there isn't anyone with kids other than him in this branch of Cerberus. He says there are half a million kids back in New Mexico though.
"Is that upside down?" Nolan asks, leaning back after the screw is in to get a better look. "Damn it."
"Damn it," Eli says.
I swear Jersey's face turns bright red as he attempts not to burst out into laughter.
Nolan's eyes go wide and he looks at me like he is in so much trouble.
I shake my head, rolling my lips between my teeth to keep from smiling.
"Hey, bud," Nolan says after a few beats. "I shouldn't have said that. Damn it are grown-up words, okay?"
"Okay," our son says with a quick shrug before lifting the screwdriver and working the screw back out of the easel.
Sorry, Nolan mouths in my direction, and all I can do is smile.
He might have said something wrong, but Eli repeating him is just proof that he looks up to the man. Dad may not have crossed his lips yet, but I know our son feels more connected to him than he ever did to Damien.
They continue building the easel. I know it's taking much longer than it would if they were working without Eli, but it's so much fun to watch them interact with each other and the care they take in explaining things to him and even acting like they don't understand so he gets to work his own little mind in problem-solving.
Eli is a gentle kid, and although we were warned about behavioral issues, we haven't really been faced with many. He got frustrated because he couldn't tie his shoes once and pouted for a minute, but we were gentle in explaining how it's done. After a few minutes, he was a pro at it. Other than that, we haven't noticed any other issues.
He has nightmares on occasion, and we've purchased one of those baby monitors so we can go into his room before he gets to the point he's screaming out into the night.
He's adjusted pretty well to the people coming in and out of the house. We're working on his confidence. I see a lot of how I reacted around others in him when he tries to stick to the edges of a room, not wanting to be noticed by walking through the middle. Knowing he's welcome in any public space in the house and our bedroom, and accepting it are two very different things, but that's something we'll be working on later this afternoon with our session with Caitlyn.