This new version of Eric was so addictive. Leah found herself drawn more and more to his laughter, and she did everything she could to make him laugh.
She tried to spend as much time as possible with him. And as it was the holidays for Leah and the kids, Eric had taken a couple of days off too. This made them spend every hour of every day together that week.
"Good morning," a voice came through the door as she slowly drifted out of sleep. "We've got something for you!"
Leah pulled herself up to sit straight and saw her beautiful kids and her husband standing with a tray at the doorway. The kids giggled and jogged to her as Eric carefully brought the tray to their bedside table.
"What time is it? Are you guys up too early or did I oversleep?" Leah asked.
"You overslept, duh!" Eric said and the kids laughed.
"It's almost 9:30 Miss Leah," Haley said laughing.
"Ugh, why didn't you wake me?"
"You were sound asleep and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to call a teacher out on waking up late."
Leah laughed. "You're evil!"
"And you are indiscipline."
"And I'm rewarded with coffee from my darlings," she ruffled through Haley and Sally's hair. "Lemme quickly brush and we'll have coffee together."
"Oh, today you get to be completely indiscipline. You can have your coffee without brushing."
"Ew, no."
"Then consider it a punishment. You gotta drink it up now! Cause we've been waiting to have ours for you to wake up! You owe us at least that much, right kids?"
The girls nodded grinning and Leah could just swipe them all into a bear hug. It was the best gesture anybody had ever done for her and her heart grew a size bigger with love.
"Fine, fine."
They all say together on the bed, Eric by her side and the kids opposite to her. Eric leaned in to pour coffee into their cups and his arm slightly brushed against hers. She expected him to move, but her didn't and continued pouring the coffee.
"Haley and Sally get coffee too today, for being such disciplined kids."
"Wow," Leah said laughing. She had a feeling he was going to hang on to that the whole day, teasing her.
They sat together, drinking coffee as a family, teasing and laughing and playing. Leah had once dreamed of having a beautiful family of her own. But this, right here, surpassed every dream she'd ever dreamed.
*******
Since they were both home, Eric and Leah cooked together. Eric had offered to cook along and Leah who'd been looking for chances to spend time with him, didn't want to let the opportunity slide.
Today Eric was making biriyani. Leah could do so many dishes so well but biriyani was not one of those. She'd tried many times and failed until she decided to let it go. But after marriage Eric had made it once and Leah loved it. Just thinking about it made her mouth water. So today Eric would cook while Leah would do the choppings and other chores.
"You know, biriyani is the easiest dish to make," Eric said as she chopped onions.
"I get it. You don't have to run it in my face," she hissed smiling.
"No, seriously. It's just all about timing. It's pretty easy. I can teach you."
"I've seen so many YouTube videos and my mom has shown me too. Didn't help. I do something or the other wrong. It's...just...I don't know. Guess it's fixed in my head that I can't."
"Well, let's break that."
"Maybe another time. Today I just want to make you do all the hardwork and just eat happily."
Eric laughed. Leah swooned.
When Leah was done chopping onions, Eric started cooking. He sauted the onions while Leah chopped tomatoes.
"When did you learn to cook?" She asked in way of starting a conversation.
"A few years back. When I was left with alone with the girls."
Leah didn't think before asking the question. Of course he learned after his ex wife left him and the kids. She cursed herself for starting a sour conversation and wondered how to divert from here when he continued.
"Sharon - my ex wife, she left when they were just over 3 years old. I cooked before that but that was just basic survival cooking. The kids needed special and healthy food. In the beginning, my mom came to stay with us for a few months and when she cooked I observed and learned a couple of things. I knew she wasn't here to stay forever and even I didn't want her too. She had her life and... honestly? She was a little too whiny," he laughed without humour. "She'd be fine one minute but the next she'd be looking at me and my girls and would be weeping. And I would end up consoling her while I myself was angry and frustrated. I'm not complaining. She was the only help I had and it would've been so damn hard if she'd not been here. But then I didn't want to be dependent on anyone, cause you know, someday everyone leaves."
Leah swallowed at that last sentence. Would he leave her at some point? Or does he think she would leave too?
"Anyway, guess I got carried away, sorry. But that's how I learned most of what I cook. After that I slowly started trying new things, there were recipes all over YouTube and mom would guide too, so... Tadaa," he jangled the ladle victoriously.
Leah smiled. She could only imagine how hard it must have been to be left all alone to fend for the kids. And two of them at that. And to answer questions about their mom? God!
A wave of pity rushed over Leah and on instinct she put a hand over his arm.
"Haley and Sally are two lucky girls."
He smiled and went back to sauteing. Leah wished she'd met them sooner. She wished she'd been more help to him early on. She felt bad that he had to go through so much for so long all alone. Her heart went out to him.
She was so deep in thought that she didn't even realise that she was slicing through her finger instead of the tomato. A sharp pain shot up and she hissed. Eric immediately rushed to her side and took her hand in his.
A streak of blood dripped down from her finger and Eric hurriedly dragged her to the wash basin. He opened the tap at full force and let it run along her bloody finger. The pain was terrible but one look at Eric's concerned face made it all better. To be cared for by someone was the best feeling ever.
When the blood slowed down to just a drop once in a few minutes, Eric turned the stow off and guided Leah to the bedroom. He sat her down and fetched his first-aid kid. He took some cotton and wet it with some Dettol. He sat next to her and took her wounded finger and gently pressed the cotton over it.
A sharp sting shot up through her fingers and Leah gripped the hem of her dress tightly.
"It's a wonder you can cook at all!" He exclaimed.
"What?"
"You're so careless!"
"No I'm not!" She protested.
"Then explain this."
She wanted to tell him that he was the one that distracted her. "I was trying to see how you cook," she blurted the first thing she could think of.
"I was just sauteing!"
"Why are you yelling? It's already so painful."
"Yeah, that's because you were careless. You were just chopping tomatoes fore heaven's sake and you cut your finger."
Leah could feel the anger churning. She was already in enough pain. And as nice it was to have someone care for her, she hated that he was yelling now.
She yanked her finger out of his grip and this made her finger sting more.
"I can take care of myself. You can leave," she blurted angrily.
"Yeah I saw how well you take care of yourself."
"Eric, just leave."
"No," he pulled her hand back into his. "You can be stupid all you want but I won't leave."
"Damn it, Eric! I'm in pain. I understand you can't do much in the way of soothing me but the least you could do is be kind! I don't have to sit here and take your rudeness. I'll take care of me. Please leave."
Leah expected Eric to storm off, but he sat there, looking intently at her. She was still pissed off. Then slowly he let of a breath and this time very gently took her hand in his.
He took off the cotton from the finger and took a closer look at the wound. He got some fresh cotton and applied some ointment over it and wrapped it around her finger. She hissed a little and he blowed over her finger, surprising her.
When he looked up at her, their eyes locked. After a moment, he brushed her hair off her face, the gesture completely taking her by surprise.
"I'm sorry. I got a little worried. Are you alright now?"
His hand had left her face and was now gently cupping her wounded palm, but she could still feel the ghost of his fingers across her face. She nodded breathlessly.
"Good," he sighed.
Eric had been worried. That's all Leah could think of now. He was worried for her and he had yelled at her because he'd been scared for the tiniest bit. Regardless, it felt like a huge deal. It was. Eric had cared for her.
A month ago, Leah would've laughed at this thought. Even if Eric had left her to die, she wouldn't have been surprised. But now? So much has changed. Eric not see how much this means to her and it may not mean anything to him.
But to Leah? She just fell deeper in love.
********
Author's note: I can't believe this story has crossed 5k views. When I started this story I hardly expected a 100 views. But this is just so amazing and overwhelming!!! Thank you so, so much!!
Your love keeps me going!
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