Page 33 of His Little Ametrine
“Oh right. Will you help me? I want to sit up. I want to get stronger.”
I detach the hanging toys from the railing closest to me and lower the side. “Of course I’ll help you, Baby girl. I don’t want you to get frustrated, though. You’re way ahead of schedule.”
“I want to run, though,” she argues.
I lift her into my arms and nuzzle her neck, inhaling her sweet scent. Heavens, I love her. As I lower her onto the changing table and pull the restraint over her torso, I give her an admonishing look. Or I try to. “No running, Little one. I’ll spank your bottom if I catch you running.”
She frowns. “No running? That’s silly, Papi.”
I tap her nose. “It’s not silly. It’s a rule. Except when we’re at the park. You may run in the grass. Not in the house. There are too many obstacles. You might fall and bonk your head on the corner of a table or chair or the wall.” I remove her diaper and clean her up while she glares at me.
It’s almost cute. I want to chuckle at her reaction. To see how she’ll react, I decide to lay down several more rules. “Nogoing outside without Papi either. Don’t ever open the front or back door unless I’m with you and I’ve given you permission. No climbing on the furniture. You may only be up on the sofa or chairs if I’m holding you, and I lift you there. As you get more mobile, I want your bottom always on the mattress in your crib or the floor if you’re in your playpen. No climbing out of either of them. No standing inside.”
Her gaze narrows. “Surely you’re kidding.”
I shake my head as I grab her hands with mine and bring her knuckles to my lips. I kiss them, hoping to ease the blow.
She shoots daggers at me with her eyes. “Don’t you dare try to distract me with your kisses. I thought you were kidding when you told me I’m not permitted to touch the stove. Surely you don’t expect me to do all those things.”
“I wasn’t kidding, and those are Papi’s rules. If you break them, you will end up standing in the corner, nose to the wall, bottom red and heated.” I know she’s shocked, but it’s better to rip this bandage off now. She needs to understand.
She shakes her head. “Those are the silliest rules I’ve ever heard. I’m not a baby, Papi.”
I unfasten her waist and lift her into my arms. “You’re my Baby girl. Those rules are for safety, Little one. Every Papi on Eleadia has the same basic rules. My goal is to keep you safe.”
“Are you going to wrap me in bubble wrap?” she asks, sarcasm oozing from her voice.
“Mmm…” I pretend to mull over her question. “It’s not a bad idea.”
“Papi!” she shouts as she grabs my pinky with her entire fist. “I could get hurt doing all kinds of things. People get hurt sometimes. I could choke on my food.”
“Not if I don’t feed you solids,” I point out.
She gasps.
“I’m teasing, Little one. But it is true that I won’t introduce you to our foods for quite some time. And even then, I will start out with one soft food at a time. I want to be absolutely certain you have no allergies and are able to chew and swallow solids without choking.”
Her pretty voice rises. “I’ve been chewing and swallowing without choking for twenty-five years.”
“You haven’t swallowed anything you had to chew for six months. We will take our time with that.”
She humphs. If she could cross her arms and stomp her feet, I’m certain she would. “I’m not allergic to any foods, and my teeth work fine.” To demonstrate, she chomps them at me.
I chuckle. “You’ve never had any of the foods we have here on Eleadia, Little one.”
“Really?”
“Yep. We don’t have the same plants as you.”
“Do you have hamburgers and French fries?”
I can’t keep from laughing. “No, Baby girl. We don’t eat meat at all. We’re a plant-based society. We eat healthy. That’s partly why we live so long.”
She pouts, pushing out her bottom lip. “I’m going to miss hamburgers. You didn’t tell me that before we left Earth. I might have changed my mind about coming.”
She makes me chuckle again, and I roll her up closer so I can kiss her forehead as I enter the kitchen. “You might have noticed denying me wasn’t an option. I’m sorry about your burgers. I’ve heard about them. Eating animals is so foreign to us. It’s one of the weirdest things we’ve learned about your planet. That and the horrifying ways humans have destroyed their precious Earth without a care in the world for the future. I’m not entirely sure it’s salvageable even with the help of my people.”
She draws in a slow breath. “I think you’re right about that. Humans are stubborn and make very bad choices. They onlycare about themselves. It’s hard to get them to care about the planet at all.”
