Mouse

chapter twenty seven

I let him feed whilst I admired his tiny fingers that curled around one of mine, and stroked the wispy dark silk of his hair, overwhelmed by the strong feelings I already had for him. When those little eyes locked onto my face, and I couldn't resist kissing his cheek, as I rocked back and forth quietly humming until he had his fill, then I rubbed his back gently getting his wind up, until he fell back to sleep again.

It had the affect of making me sleepy myself, so I placed him back in his cot, making sure he was comfortable and content, before leaving him and going back to my own bed

As I climbed back in, I notice Ricardo stirring next to me, in the semi darkness, and although his eyes didn't seem to be open he spoke his voice still husky and slurred with sleep, "Is everything ok?"

"Yes," I replied as I lay down, "I was just giving George his night time feed, but he is asleep and settled again"

"Good," Ricardo mumbled and although I had my back turned to him, I felt him shift closer to me, his arm going around my waist and pulling me against him, "Now perhaps you can try and get some sleep and stop tossing and turning for the rest of the night," he then said, making me realise that when I thought he had been sleeping earlier, he had been very aware of my restlessness

The heavy weight of his arm around me certainly had the effect of stopping me tossing and turning. I didn't dare move at first. But eventually I let myself relax, realising he seemed to have fallen back to sleep again.

The warmth of his body next to mine, seem to wrap me in a cosy cocoon, and I finally fell asleep listening to his heavy breathing close to my ear, feeling strangely more contented than I thought I should.

*************************************

The Circus was touring France the following month, so I wasn't overly surprised when Ricardo insisted that he wanted pay it a visit, now he was more or less back on his feet again, although he was still using the crutches

I had mixed feelings about the whole expedition; excited and pleased because this was something he had been looking forward to doing. But also I was a little worried how it might affect him in other ways. I just hoped he wouldn't get too despondent because it was a reminder of what he had, but could no longer do.

His father came to collect us in the car, Ricardo firing questions at him about what was going on, wanting updated on everything

When we finally arrived, even I felt an uplifting in my heart, at the familiar sights and smells, despite the fact it was almost a year, it almost felt like we were coming home again.

As soon as we got out of the car everyone gathered around to welcome us.

Ricardo immediately was hugged and there was a lot of backslapping in delight. Those who gathered around me were of course wanting to see little George so they could 'ooh' and 'ah' over him. I had a feeling he would be handed around a lot of people and fussed over terribly before the day was out.

The animation that now lit up Ricardo's face said a lot about how he was feeling.

He was back where he belonged, even if it was just for a little while. And despite the fact he was still on crutches he had become so used to them, he moved around swiftly enough wanting to explore his old territory.

My cousin Alex had been doing the trapeze act with Ricardo's sisters, but insisting he was only doing it as a 'temporary stand in' until Ricardo could have his pride of place again.

So when we ventured into the Big Top, along with his family and my cousins, I wasn't sure how Ricardo was feeling as he looked up where they were setting up the apparatus for the trapeze, but I guessed it had to be a very emotional moment for him all the same.