Patterns of Blues

Chapter 2

Years passed by, and both Liam and Harry were going to school during the daytime while Greg went off to work and Mama stayed home with little Niall. He was three now, and the sweetest kid Liam or Harry had ever met. He had thick blonde hair and lashes and his eyes were exactly as magical as Greg's. He had a dimple on either side of his naturally mischievous grin and a few sparse freckles dotted around his nose and beneath his eyes. By looking at him, Liam knew there wasn't immediately anything about Niall that would make people think they were brothers, but the littlest boy and Harry both had the same dimples, and he and Niall both hated eggs for breakfast, and that was plenty enough to make them brothers. Plus, Mama would be devastated if either of them disowned Niall.

They were all gathered around the kitchen table, and Harry was filling Greg and Mama in on his day at school,

". . . And maths isn't too hard. Just addin' and stuff like we already do. Tommy said that his Mama didn't teach him how to add stuff, so I tried to help him." Liam glanced from Harry to Mama as she smiled at him sweetly,

"That's very nice of you, lovely."

"I know," he said simply, taking a large bite of the spaghetti that was on his plate and slurping a loose noddle that didn't make it into his mouth all the way.

"Table manners, Curly," Greg chided lightly, shaking his head disapprovingly. Harry frowned before nodding at Niall,

"He does it so, so much worse than I do. Why don't you make him have table manners?" Niall stuck out his lip from across the table, and Liam's heart swelled a little at the cuteness of the gesture,

"I don' do it bad," Niall defended himself, eyeing Harry with a scowl. Liam watched as Greg looked like he was holding back a chuckle,

"No, you do it just fine, Niall." Then to Harry, he said, "He's three. You're six."

"No, you just like him better is all," Harry pouted, poking at his food again. Liam looked down at his plate, knowing Harry messed up by saying that.

"Hey, baby, no one likes any one of you more than the other," Mama spoke before Greg could, her tone kind, but firm. Harry looked up again and Liam could tell that he was on the verge of crying, every bit of his earlier excitement melted away,

"That's not true. He never plays with me or Liam anymore. Just Niall. He hasn't even tucked me into bed in many, many years." The last part was an obvious lie, because just two days ago Greg had put them all to sleep, and he almost always did, last night being the exception because he worked late. Mama smiled sadly,

"Harry, baby, you know that Greg loves you. Where's this coming from?" Harry shook his head violently, swiping an arm across his face to brush his tears away,

"He doesn't love me. Not like he loves Niall. It's because he's not my daddy, isn't it?" He sniffed loudly, and Liam heard Greg's chair scoot back and he walked across the table and bent down beside the middle brother,

"Curly, I love you just as much as Niall. Nothing will ever change that. I might not be your dad, but you'll always be my little guy, okay?" Harry's bottom lip wobbled a bit, but he nodded a few times before throwing his arms around Greg. The man whispered something to him that Liam couldn't catch before the two let go, "How about I take you two big boys out for ice cream tonight?" He suggested, and Harry's reddening eyes lit up immediately, but before an answer could be reached, Niall stuck his lip out much further than before,

"I want ice cream too." Mama laughed and tussled his hair affectionately,

"You already had ice cream today, Boo. Remember?" The three-year-old's shoulders sagged in disappointment,