If I can stop one heart from breaking
If I can ease one life the aching
If I can ease one life the aching
It's a hollow comfort, but as he watches her prepare the stove and select her pan he knows it's not her fault. She doesn't know Jude any other way, how could she possibly mourn the weight on the boy's shoulders when she'd never seen him without it?
"He is wonderful," he agrees quietly, for that was never in question. "But I wish he wasn't so self-conscious. So anxious and worried all the time - for me especially." He feels like a failure of a father to have burdened Jude, no matter how unintentionally. Clearly he hadn't hidden things well enough back then. Such were the downfalls of an open relationship with your child. It was easy to forget some things were better off with them not knowing.
Groaning, he pushes a hand through his hair. "Gods, sorry. I shouldn't be putting it on you either." Aside from Hadama he has nobody to talk to about these things, and it never gets any easier. "What I should be doing is getting his baby photos, the best form of revenge a parent has." It's not far actually, the scrapbook sitting on the bookshelf in the adjacent living room. He retrieves it swiftly and lays it out on the counter next to the stove for her to peruse, happy to distract them both. "This one is my favorite from when he was a newborn." Pointing to a picture of a tiny baby Jude holding a dragon plushie bigger than he was, completely asleep and drooling with the tip of one wing stuck in his mouth.
"He is wonderful," he agrees quietly, for that was never in question. "But I wish he wasn't so self-conscious. So anxious and worried all the time - for me especially." He feels like a failure of a father to have burdened Jude, no matter how unintentionally. Clearly he hadn't hidden things well enough back then. Such were the downfalls of an open relationship with your child. It was easy to forget some things were better off with them not knowing.
Groaning, he pushes a hand through his hair. "Gods, sorry. I shouldn't be putting it on you either." Aside from Hadama he has nobody to talk to about these things, and it never gets any easier. "What I should be doing is getting his baby photos, the best form of revenge a parent has." It's not far actually, the scrapbook sitting on the bookshelf in the adjacent living room. He retrieves it swiftly and lays it out on the counter next to the stove for her to peruse, happy to distract them both. "This one is my favorite from when he was a newborn." Pointing to a picture of a tiny baby Jude holding a dragon plushie bigger than he was, completely asleep and drooling with the tip of one wing stuck in his mouth.
I shall not live in vain
HARPER
