He stood with his arms folded and his jaw jutting forward, glowering at Adiya, who sat on the chair next to her mother, her eyes wide.
He turned towards me, but the glower just became a defiant scowl.
Dear Lord, help me with this one.
“Why are you being rude to your mother and our guests?” I asked him. Yilan rolled her eyes. She insisted that at this age, we should be informing and explaining, not asking, to make the world understandable to him. Whereas, I thought she used too many words, and sometimes he needed to own his own feelings, so we could informthat.
“Because I don’t want to help!”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s a girl!”
Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh.“What’s wrong with that? I quite like girls—especially one.” I glanced at Yilan and she smirked.
“Because she’sannoying.”
Neither of us smiled then.
Adiya’s little face pinched, and her golden curls swung as she turned her head and those big, blue eyes to look for her father. When she was certain he was watching, her head tipped back in a piercing shriek that heralded both tearsandheadaches for every adult within earshot.
“Oh, dear God,” Diadre sighed.
Jann rushed forward and swept her up, swinging her to his hip and shaking his head. “No, no. There’s no need for tears—”
“Oh, I could think of a few reasons,” Diadre said dryly, rolling her eyes.
Jann shot her a look, but turned Adiya away as she threw her arms around his neck and babbled through her tears. “Mae’ said I’s nannoying! That’s mean, Daddy!”
Jann continued to soothe and rock her, walking her around the balcony and trying to distract her with the birds in the trees while I shook my head, folded my arms and turned back to my son.
His glare faltered, but then he rolled his shoulders back and braced himself. “It’s just true!”
“Mael, there are many things that are true, that aren’t worth speaking out loud,” I muttered.
Diadre snorted and picked up her cup of kafk, cradling it. “Perhaps it’s worth speaking to yourbrother,about how utterly ball-less he is when it comes to speaking to his daughter?”
“You like it when I speak to you,” Jann purred, giving Diadre a look over their daughter’s shoulder.
“That’s because you aren’t ball-less, then,” Diadre quipped back with a grin.
I coughed and Mael looked at her, frowning. “What does no balls have to do with anything?”
“I’ll explain later,” Yilan said, hurriedly, turning Mael to look at her. “But for now, you must go apologize.”
“What for?!”
“For being unkind.”
“But—”
“Trust me, son. With women it’s preferable—and usually faster—to apologize, than to pay the price for your words,” I said on a sigh.
Both women gave me a flat look, but my son slapped both fists to his sides and growled.
“But you say always tell the truth,and I did!”
As I knelt down to meet his eyes for a serious talk, Diadre leaned across the table to squeeze Yilan’s hand. “I’ll pray for you. Girls are so much easier.”
