Page 200 of Solanum

"Blame Mercy. She picked it out." She smirked and motioned to the basement door. "I set up that thing for you downstairs. Olivia helped. She thinks it's an indoor swing set. So…good luck with that."

I laughed and shook my head. "I'll fix the lock on the door."

"Better." Sali snickered and clapped me on the shoulder again.

Maggie toted the eggs and toast to the table then joined us. She smiled at Nora and Olivia before calling out for them to join us. They abandoned their tea and when Nora sat on the other side of me, Olivia climbed into her lap. Nora kept one arm around Olivia while she plucked a strip of bacon from the plate in front of her. In Olivia's presence, she didn't appear anxious, and the way the kid engaged her appeared to come across with ease.

Harper seemed to catch my train of thought when she said, "You're very good with kids, Nora."

"Kids are easy. Adults are difficult," answered Nora, bouncing Olivia on her knee once. "Right?"

"Right." Olivia held her toast in the air as if saluting her.

"Ever seen a psychopath kid, Nor?" asked Sali in between bites of toast. "Like Damien or whatever. Soulless freakazoid."

"No." Nora chuckled, shaking her head. "I've seen kids with Reactive Attachment Disorder who can display disturbing behavior or early psychosis with the same, but no soulless demon children yet."

"I guess that's where nature versus nurture comes in to play," reflected Sali.

Nora nodded. "Right. Are sociopaths born or are they created?"

"That's always the question." Sali poked at her eggs and Maggie nudged her. She picked up her fork and ate a bite. "So, what's the answer?"

"Perhaps a little bit of both," answered Nora, though her gaze landed on Harper whose quizzical expression broadened.

Harper seemed to pick up on Nora's awareness of her and asked, "Do you really think that or is it what you've settled on?"

Nora ran her fingers through Olivia's braids, then toyed with the beads on the end of one. Olivia watched her, as if expecting to understand her answer.

"What I've settled on for now," answered Nora. "What do you think?"

"I don't believe that humans are innately evil. We create our own suffering, and it bleeds into others. Anger, greed, and the thirst cause it and its spread." Harper's thoughtful disclosure continued along with her wrinkled brow. "By my engagement with greed and anger, I therefore impact my children, changing them. And the cycle goes forward until awareness and choice break it. Action and reaction."

Nora's face cooled to a thoughtful one as she seemed to consider what Harper said. Maggie and Sali shared a look, and the latter met my gaze. We both shrugged at the same time and I smirked.

"I suppose it makes sense. When we study the histories of serial killers and sexual predators, we usually find that the environment that raised them was laden with anger, greed, violence. Most of them experienced something similar to what they caused later in life," said Nora, both arms now around Olivia's middle while she ate the eggs off Nora's plate.

Harper nodded while nibbling on some bacon.

"Are those Buddhist beliefs?" Nora asked her.

"Partly, but mostly they're mine." She smiled at Nora and reached across the table to pat Nora's hand.

Harper's warmth shone from her, bringing smiles to everyone in the room, save for the clueless kid.

Sali and I shared yet another glance and she shook her head. I chuckled and leaned over to kiss Nora's cheek.

"Ready to go, Kitten?" I asked.

"Guess so." She hugged Olivia who returned the gesture accompanied by a cute strangle hug around Nora's neck. "We'll finish our tea party later, okay?"

"Uhkay." She giggled when Nora stood then settled her back in the chair. "Bye, people."

"Bye, Ollie." I laughed and waved to them. "Later, fam."

"Later." Sali saluted us.

"Text us if plans change," called Maggie.

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