Things had gone relatively well for us since we’d moved in. I was spending a lot of my free time painting walls and ceilings.

Xander had given me carte blanche when it came to decorating, which was nice, and not once did he say, or even appeared not to like my choices colours, so I went a little wild. I’m not really used to be given so much freedom, beyond that, he’s turning into a great enabler.

Xander made himself a small temporary office to work from home, which was not ideal and a bit messy actually, so I decided to concentrate efforts on his future long-term office.

All the walls were patched up, modernised electricity done, primer on the ceiling done. Wood paneling restored. All that was left was to paint the ceiling and varnish the wood.

It was a nice room with lots of natural light and absolutely stunning built-ins.

Once the ceiling and walls would be finished, we could buff the floor and varnish it, then move in the furniture and he could finally have a good place to work in, somewhere where all his things would be reassembled so that he wouldn’t have to go from one room to the other and he wouldn’t have to dig into boxes all the time to access archives and such.

Once it would be done, the twelve-foot ceiling would be a nice midnight blue, all the moldings everywhere pearly white, the built-ins and wood panelling a deep dark colour. I had also started the selection of furniture to put there. Some of the pieces he had were perfect, others didn’t work so we had sold some and I scoured the internet for replacement. I found a few good secondhand pieces that were perfect, and one was the main desk. I found an antique massive desk that had been very damaged, and so we could easily do a few modifications without feeling like we were damaging a valuable piece. It had been stripped of layers and layers of paint, and returned to its original wood finishing. We will varnish it the same tint as the wood panneling and built-ins. It had indicated sculpted designs on the sides, it would fit in perfectly.

Xander helped me with all this when he had a bit of time, the contractor and his team now concentrating on finishing the plumbing in the basement and also the new radiant eating system.

Eloim would spend a lot of his time with me. Sometimes he would help me scrape of paint, I tried to give him projects that if he messed up, it wouldn’t be too bad, while at the same time involving him in everything. Other times, he’d play in the room not far from me, with his toys, something he occasionally did next to his working father too, but he spent more time with me.

I was afraid he’d bother Xander during his important business calls.

Eloim, seemed a little better, but I noticed a few times when he would look strangely at random things, then go and hide somewhere. Sometimes covering his eyes and ears and staying this way, abnormally long.

I tried to ask him what was going on, but I never managed to help in anyways. Though, I could take his kitten named Billy, put him on his lap, and he would return to his normal self within a few minutes.

He would carry that kitten everywhere. We had to make sure he wouldn’t drag him around by the neck, but the kitten has grown pretty docile to Eloim’s treatment, and the boy has learned to be gentle.

Lily would look at them from one of her perches around the house, once in a while coming for a rub, then running back to her perch when she thought it was enough and overlooking the scene with detachment, like all cats do.

Miki stayed mostly where I was, which was possibly one of the reasons why Eloim spend so much more time with me than his father.

We had accumulated quite the menagerie, but the house was large and it really affected Eloim positively.

At night, interruptions were becoming more and more part of the routine. Sometimes Eloim would sneak into our bedroom, at time refusing to sleep in his own bedroom, and others he would wake screaming about nightmares.

We were growing worried.

“I don’t know what is going on,” said Xander one evening after he went to check on Eloim for the second time. “He’s doing increasingly better, but at the same time it’s worsening.”

“What do you mean,” I asked as he slipped back under the covers.

“He’s more open, he talks more than ever, he’s comfortable with you, he clearly likes you, he called you Mommy today.”

“Did he?” I asked surprised.

“When I put him to bed. He asked why it was me and not Mommy tucking him in tonight.”

I had been in the shower, washing off all the paint and whatnot all over me around Eloim’s bed time.

I smiled unable to contain the glee of such news.

“But he’s having more episodes. The nightmares are getting worse. He hasn’t had so much difficulty sleeping for at least a year.”

“Do you know why?”

“No, I thought he was progressing so much in the last few months that I didn’t push for his psychiatrist’s appointments. He really dislike it, I don’t know why. But maybe we’ll have to resume that. Maybe I was too quick into dismissing it.”

“Nothing can happen overnight,” I said circling my arms around his neck.

“I know, I just hoped he would get better faster. You don’t know how he was before all this. He was a little ball of energy, he loved being the center of attention and always clowning around, now he’s just … in his head. Lost. The old him seems to want to peek out from time to time, but something happens and he reverts to his shell.”

“Maybe he just needs time. He is progressing after all. Maybe that progress is part of his new-found struggles?”

Xander’s head popped up. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Change is never easy. Maybe he struggles with it. Or maybe not. We just have to be on the lookout, and maybe make a new appointment too.”

He nodded, and turned us on our side.

“You know, a lot of women would have run off by then.”

“Not all. There are parents who adopt children with handicaps or trauma.”

“But most don’t.”

I shrugged. “I knew there would be challenges. But so far, nothing is impossible to face, and I’m not doing it alone, it would be a lot harder without you.”

He kissed me.

“We can do this, right?”

I smiled at him. “If we can go through this together, then the rest will be a piece of cake.”