Storm and Silence Daydreams

One Shot 3: The Rose In Ambrose

Since the previous chapter was sad, this chapter will be a fairly happy one.

My siblings and I were seated around a table spending quality time with each other.

The ball starts only after dusk, and we still had much time to spare, so we decided to have our late afternoon snack together while catching up with each other's lives.

The ball was in celebration of the birth of my second-oldest brother, Raymond's, son.

Mama's face turned sour when she was told there'd be a ball to celebrate the occasion with.

Not that she doesn't love her grandchildren, she clearly dotes on them. In fact, she was particularly ecstatic when she was told of the news that Raymond and his wife were expecting their third child. She was jumping with joy knowing that she was going to have another grandchild. Papa, on the other hand, was expressionless, but all of us knew he was ecstatic too from the very faint tug at the corner of his mouth.

Papa's not the type of person to show emotions, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel emotions. It's true that to most, he's cold and uninviting and unmovable, and that his glare is comparable to the frozen tundra. What the majority doesn't know is that he can be such a teddy bear, that he is capable of great love, only to and for his family of course. He used to read us, my siblings and myself, bedtime stories or tell stories of his adventures with Ma before Robert was born. He used to tuck us to bed before turning off the lamp and wishing us sweet dreams. He did so until we each grew older and grew out of it.

Another example is whenever he looks at Mama. The hardness in his eyes softens, and the icicles in his gaze thaws , it's the only time he seems almost warm.

He truly loves her.

Growing up, my father was a strict parent. He made sure to hammer into our characters the importance of working hard. He was especially strict on my brothers. He reasons that one day, they'll be the breadwinner and need to be able to support their family in future, that they need to be tough.

Despite all the canings and scoldings and coldness, he makes sure that all of us were and are aware of his love for us.

Since I am the only daughter, and the youngest at that, I was spared from most of the canings, but I received my fair share of scoldings too. Although I know in my heart that he dotes on his children, I sometimes catch myself wishing for Papa to loosen up more, as a parent. But I guess where Papa lacks in, Mama balances him out. While Papa is coiled uptight, Mama is insane. The good sort of insane, of course.

"Rosaline, do you know what time Mama and Papa are arriving?"

I turned to my third brother, Raphael, as he called to me.

"I'm not too sure Raph...When I left home Pa forgot where he hid his wallet and Ma was scolding the seamstress for presenting her such a frivolous gown with too many sequins. Perhaps they'll be an hour late."

As I was heavily pregnant with my second child, my husband refused to let me go with him on his business trip. While my husband's away, Ma insisted that I stay with her and Pa first, so that they can take care of me while pregnant. I was supposed to arrive at my second eldest brother, Raymond's, place with them but I just couldn't wait to see my brothers, it's been a while since we've last seen each other.

"Oh Mama and her dress antics... She especially hates those extravagant ones, she has hated them since long before any of us were born," Robert, my eldest brother, said to make conversation