Blue Eyes

7

            About a week after her hunting trip with Tommy, Ella was at Ada's. She was watching Karl for her sister while she was at the library. Her five-year-old nephew was always a joy to be around. Ella had grown much closer to him and her sister when she moved to London. They were the only family members she kept constant contact with. They were sat in the parlor, kneeling on the floor and constructing a train set that Arthur and Linda had sent him for his last birthday.

"Is your dad in heaven too?" Karl asked out of the blue.

Ella glanced up in surprise. The young boy had been starting to ask odd questions. But they were innocent. Where did babies come from? Why does a caterpillar live on Uncle Arthur's lip? Where does the sun go at night? Can he go to the moon next summer?

But this question completely disarmed Ella. "What do you mean, love?" She asked gently.

He shrugged and struggled to interlock two wooden pieces of the train track. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked uncannily like Freddie. But he still had Ada's soft eyes. "Mummy says that my daddy lives in heaven now, that's why I can't see him." He explained.

Ella chewed on her lip. She felt terrible for Karl because she knew what it was like to grow up without a dad. She reached out and helped him get the track pieces to fit. "Yes, but he still loves you very much." She said softly.

He looked up at her with a smile. "That's what mummy says."

"It's true." She brushed her nephew's brown hair back.

"I think it makes mummy sad though." He shrugged and grabbed the train to set on the incomplete track. Mindlessly, he pushed the train back and forth. The small wheels squeaking.

"It's hard to lose someone." Ella agreed. "But you still have many people here who love you."

Karl was quiet for a moment. He looked at his aunt's hand as she continued to build the track for him. "Where's your thing?" He continued asking questions that had been on his mind all morning.

"Where's my what?" She smiled and tilted her head to the side with a quizzical look. "What're you talking about?"

"Your thing." Karl pointed at her left hand. "Mummy has a thing there."

Ella held up her hand and observed her bare ring finger. "Oh, a ring?" She nodded. "I don't have one, poppet."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not married. People wear rings when they're married." She explained helpfully. "Your mum was married to your dad so that's why she has a ring."

"Why aren't you...married?" He tested out the difficult word.

"Because I haven't found the right person yet. Why aren't you married yet?" She teased and grabbed him.

"Auntie El!" He squealed in protest when she pulled him into her lap and tickled him. "Stop!"

Ella smiled and kissed his cheek, letting him free. "Silly boy."

Karl plopped back down on the rug and smiled cheekily. "Fuck!"

Her eyes widened when he blurted out the cuss word. "Karl Thorne, where on Earth did you learn such language?" Of course, she knew exactly where he had picked up the word. She knew for a fact that she had learned all the words she knew from her brothers. From an early age, she'd had a mouth like a sailor. It was easy to mimic her brothers and the words they spit out every two seconds. Frankly, it wasn't too surprising growing up in Birmingham. But Karl was in London and in a nicer area at that. Ella was sure Ada would get some looks if her son was walking up and down the block spouting out obscenities.