Chapter 211: Coaxing Her Son
He looked very serious, and his look was so scary that Carlos was practically moved to tears. When Scarlett saw that, she said, “Let me do it. You are scaring him now!”
Francis shook his head and handed the spoon a little closer to him. Carlos’s eyes were becoming watery with tears because of the wrath of his father.
“Carlos, you eat yourself, or I feed you? You are a little man now, and you shouldn’t cry so easily.”
Scarlett coaxed him and said, “Oh, my sweetheart, you eat yourself; when you finish, I will tell you a story.” Scarlett held back her anger and put on a smile, and continued, “How about the story of the Three Little Pigs? That’s your favorite story, right?”
Carlos was interested, and then Francis put the bowl in front of his child’s chair. After that, Carlos picked up his spoon and started eating slowly. He ate one bite after another without complaint.
Scarlett felt very relieved and gave him a kiss on his head; she knew that her son would listen to her.
After the dinner, Skyler started playing with Carlos, and Scarlett took Francis aside to lecture him and said, “You are not allowed to be hard on him. Do you know how scary you look?”
“Oh? Do I?” Francis doubted as he touched his face; he hadn’t realized how intimidating he could be with his son.
Scarlett thought to herself that she was still afraid of Francis at times, not to mention Carlos.
“Anyway, you are not allowed to use violence to lecture him and scare him. You need to talk sense with him.” Scarlett said.
Francis had his hand around her waist and said softly, “Scarlett, he is our first child, and he will be the elder brother of two young sisters. He can’t be spoiled, do you understand? It’s important that we raise him to be disciplined.”
“You can teach him slowly, don’t you see how scared he was of you?” she said.
“He has to be in awe of his father, that will be helpful to him as he grows up. Scarlett; he is our child, do you think that’s possible that I don’t love him?” he explained patiently.
“But you can’t treat him so strictly!” she said, frustrated.
Francis held her and smiled, “I don’t want my children growing up spoiled, Scarlett. You need to know that I have high expectations for him, so I have to be strict with him.”
Scarlett felt kind of disappointed and feared that Carlos wouldn’t have a happy childhood.
Francis touched her hair and kissed her cheek.
***
To keep the promise she had made to Carlos at the time of dinner, Scarlett took him to the bed in the main bedroom.
After the shower, Carlos smelled very good. With the scent of strawberries and cream wafting around him, Scarlett was about ready to take a big bite of him. She pretended to bite Carlos’s arm, and Carlos laughed gleefully. He loved being close to his mother. Of all the people in the world, it was her kisses that he liked the very best.
“Come on, come here and lie down,” Scarlett said as she patted the bed next to her.
Carlos was wearing a tiger jumpsuit– it even had ears! Scarlett thought he was the cutest little cub. Hearing his mother beckon him, he crawled towards Scarlett like a little puppy. He lay down next to his mother gleefully and kept cooing and giggling. He was thoroughly pleased to have his mommy back from the hospital; still afraid of losing her at any moment, he knew he had to make the most of the time he got with her.
Scarlett patted him gently and then lay down with him. With that, she started the bedtime story.
When Francis came out from the bathroom, Carlos was already fast asleep on the bed, and Scarlett was playing some game on her phone. The minute Scarlett saw him, she instantly threw the phone into the drawer of the bedside table. But she was still caught by Francis.
“I mean, he fell asleep… I was just feeling kinda fidgety, so I started playing a game….” Scarlett said guiltily. She knew that Francis didn’t like her spending all her time and energy looking down at her phone. He didn’t like that she was constantly distracted by some shiny images on a phone screen.
As Francis was about to lie down next to Scarlett, Scarlett instantly stopped him and said, “Your hair is still wet. Won’t you get a cold if you go to bed with sopping hair? It would be best if you tried it first. Here, you can use my hairdryer if you want. It’s under the sink in the bathroom!”
“When have you seen me with a cold?” Francis asked.
“Well, you are not allowed to catch a cold, and the cold will be contagious. So if you do, I will ask you to sleep in the guest bedroom.”
For the sake of her health, Francis just took her advice and decided to dry his hair. He had never really used a hairdryer in his life since his hair had always been cropped pretty short. He got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to dry his hair without any further protestations. He figured it wasn’t worth a debate.
“My sweet boy, I have punished your dad for you, and now you two are even.” Scarlett smiled as she gave a gentle kiss on his forehead. That night, having seen Francis’s temper flare-up, she felt more protective of her dear son Carlos than ever before. She wanted him to grow up to be a firm and assertive man, but that didn’t mean that he had to lose his softness and vulnerability. After checking to see if Carlos was comfortable, she finally lay back down on the bed.
Without knowing that his wife was playing around with him, Francis returned to bed with completely dry hair and held his beloved wife in his arms. Within moments, he fell right asleep.RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only
As Scarlett was now eight months pregnant, she was barely able to walk without falling over. It was difficult for her to stay balanced and walk unaccompanied. Once she walked a few steps, she would be out of breath and feel entirely exhausted. Because she was now eating for three, she had gained a lot of weight, which was adversely affecting her sense of self-esteem. She barely recognized herself in the mirror anymore.