Promises Not Kept

34

            Charlie was thoroughly confused. One minute his nanny was telling him storks deliver babies and now his parents were saying otherwise. He was sitting in the big room by the fire. His feet just barely dangling off the deep armchair that Tommy had sat him down in. Leah was perched on the arm of the chair, her hand affectionately smoothing back his blond hair. Tommy was kneeling in front of Charlie, a hand placed on his son's knee.

"M'I in trouble?" Charlie sunk into himself, looking a little sheepish. Maybe his father had found out he was the one that knocked over the vase in the foyer because he was roughhousing with Cyril. He'd blamed it on a ghost but wasn't sure it had really worked or not.

"No, poppet," Leah assured him. "Daddy and I just have some news to talk to you about."

Tommy smiled. "Charles, what would you say about being a big brother in a few months?" He asked.

Charlie's brow furrowed in confusion. "Big brother?"

"You'd have a little baby brother or sister. Like your cousin Billy. He's a baby, right?" Leah murmured.

"Oh. Okay." The little boy suddenly perked up. "So the stork's r'gonna bring me a baby!" He appeared overjoyed at the idea of getting a present when it wasn't even Christmas or his birthday yet. "When?"

"Well, it's going to take some time. Mum's got to deliver the baby." Tommy tried skirting around the uncomfortable conversation of where children came from. But he was also afraid that Charlie would freak out once Leah began to show.

"Mum delivers the baby...but she's not a stork." Charlie looked even more confused.

"The baby's going to live in my stomach until they're grown enough to be born." Leah hoped that would be enough of an explanation but of course, it wasn't.

The thought made Charlie's eyes widen in horror. "Mum ate a baby!?" He yelled.

Tommy did his best not to burst out laughing. He put a hand over his mouth to stifle the reaction and let Leah take over for a bit.

"No, poppet, that's where babies come from. They don't come from storks." She winced. It would be one of the first blows to Charlie's childhood imagination. Hopefully, it would be some time until they had to break the news that Tommy was Santa Claus.

The boy pouted and crossed his arms over his chest in defiance. "Frances said they did."

"Frances was just telling stories, Charlie." Tommy regained his composure.

"Oh." Charlie was still perplexed. "So the baby is in mumma's belly."

"That's right, and soon you'll be able to feel the baby kick," Leah explained. "Won't that be exciting."

The boy squirmed in his seat. That did not sound exciting, in fact, it sounded mildly terrifying to him. "I guess..."

"When the baby's born you'll be able to show them the horses." Tommy tried to get his son excited for the new arrival. It wouldn't do anyone good if he suddenly got possessive and jealous. "You'll be able to teach them so many things."

Charlie seemed a little pleased at the notion that he would be older. He was getting to be the age where he resented being called a baby. And although he loved affection, he sometimes got a little huffy if Leah babied him too much. "Okay." He straightened up a little. "So when will the baby come?" He wondered.