As his wing reaches for her, she curls readily into the warmth of his side, an odd relief course through her at his easy acceptance. Though his desire to touch and hold had been foreign to her at first, she had grown accustomed to it. Had even come to enjoy the simplicity of those moments, the familiarity of him beside her. Though it rarely occurs to her to initiate such intimacy, she is learning.
Many times now she had seen quite plainly the differences in their respective upbringings. So many things he took for granted she had watched in bafflement. To watch his easy and close relationship with their young children had been eye-opening, their relationship so vastly different than hers had been with either of her parents. Of course, her father she had only the vaguest, most fuzzy memories of (and they were certainly not kind memories). Her mother had cared for her. Loved her, in her own way. But she had been absent and distant in a way Noel had never even realized before meeting Nash. Before becoming a mother herself, and seeing how wildly divergent her definition of parenting was from his.
It had confused her in many ways. She had never believed her upbringing as unusual, and now she wonders if it is hers or his that would prove the outlier.
In any case, it is not a debate she wishes to have, and most certainly not now. She has grown comfortable in their unspoken compromise. Has been lulled by the ease with which Ellie and Lumi had prospered. Whatever they had done seems to have worked out just fine.
Her gaze lifts to find his as he speaks, his words simple and matter-of-fact. “Yes,” she replies, her soft voice equally so. She is silent for a moment, brown eyes searching his before falling to the wing he still seems to hold with unconscious gingerness. “How is it?” she asks, unaware of the faint lilt of concern in her voice.
- noel
@[Nashua]