So Much to Overcome
Set post Genes, I loved how they threw in a hint that Olivia had talked to Barba about what was going on with Noah. This story is in the same "universe" as my story Know My Heart but can be read on its own.
"I'm telling you Liv, it wasn't that big of a deal, typical kid stuff." Barba explained to his wife for what seemed liked the hundredth time that night.
"Rafael, we are not going to be those parents who excuse away our son's bad behavior as no big deal." She argued.
"Stop Liv, I already told you that I made him sit in time out and apologize to the little girl, Noah knows there are consequences for his bad choices. I am just saying that our son isn't the first child to push another child when they don't get their way. It's a normal part of growing up and learning boundaries." He reminded her.
Olivia nodded her head and smiled at him, "I hate it when you are right."
Barba grabbed her hand and pulled her close, "I thought you would be used to it by now." He said with a grin, kissing her before she responded.
"What do you say we both take a few days off when we wrap this case? I think we could use some family time." He suggested when he finally released her from the kiss.
Olivia ran a hand through his hair, he was right since they had gotten back from their honeymoon a few months ago it seemed like they had been going nonstop, they hadn't been out to the shore since the wedding. Olivia missed their little cottage and the simple days they could have there.
"I say you are right again." She said before kissing him again.
Three Weeks Later
"I am glad that you came Lucia, it's been too long since we've seen you." Olivia told her mother in law as they finished preparing breakfast. They were staying at the shore for a week and Lucia had come to spend the weekend with them.
"Yes, I have missed my nieto, and of course his parents." Lucia said with a smile as she set a bowl of fruit on the kitchen table.
Olivia looked up from the pancakes she was flipping when she heard the front door close, expecting to hear the normal sounds of Rafael and Noah talking about whatever they had seen on their morning walk. That was not the case this morning however.
"No" She heard Noah say and there was no missing the defiant tone in his voice.
"Noah Benson Barba, you will go back and apologize and then sit on your bed or we will put the sand toys away for the rest of the day." Rafael told their son firmly.
"Mami" Noah started to cry from the other room.
"You need to listen to Papi." Olivia told him not knowing what happened but trusting her husband's parenting.
"Do you want to tell Mami what happened?" Rafael coaxed the boy.
"Layla took my bucket of shells." The four year old told his mother defensively.
"Then what happened?" Olivia asked knowing that was not the entire story.
"She wouldn't give it back." He added defiantly
"Noah" Rafael said the boy's name sternly.
"And I pushed her down into the water." He finally confessed
"Noah you could have hurt Layla, Papi is right you need to go apologize and then go sit on your bed." Olivia admonished her son.
"Yes Mami." The boy finally agreed as Rafael took him back to find his playmate.
Olivia returned to the kitchen where Lucia had taken over the pancakes. Lucia could not miss the concerned expression on her daughter in laws face.
"You two are good parents and Noah is a good boy, he will get past this phase." She told her softly.
Olivia sighed and gave her a half smile, "Thank you Lucia, sometimes I worry..."
Lucia put her hand over Olivia's, "We are mother's that's what we do, finish the pancakes we will talk about it later."
They spent the rest of the morning playing on the beach flying kites and building sandcastles. Noah played with his friend neither of them fighting over toys. Shortly after lunch Noah and Rafael both began to yawn.
"I think it's about our naptime, what do you think Noah?" He asked the boy.
"Can we read books first?" He asked with a yawn.
"Of course." He said as he gathered him up and carried him to the house.
"I love you Papi." Olivia overheard Noah saying as they walked away.
"I love you Hijo." Rafael said as the door to the house closed.
Lucia stood up from the chair where she had been sitting.
"Walk with me Hija." She requested offering her hand to Olivia.
They walked with their arms linked in silence along the shore for a while until Lucia finally spoke.
"What is it you worry about Olivia?" She asked.
Olivia paused a moment before answering, "I guess I worry that Noah has so much to overcome, his genetics, not having anyone to attach to the first year of his life, I worry that no matter what Rafael and I do it won't be enough to overcome all that. What if we miss something?"
"You think that Rafi is a good man, that he is a good husband and father, right?" The older woman questioned.
Olivia looked at her in disbelief, "Of course, Lucia, he is the best man I have ever known, nobody has ever loved me the way he does, and I never dreamed that Noah would have a father like him. "
"How much has Rafi told you about his own father?" Lucia pressed further.
"I know he could be cruel, that Rafael never spoke to him again after he left for Harvard. Rafael has said that if he was still alive he would not let him be a part of Noah's life." Olivia answered, filled with a different kind of sadness that the man she loved had to overcome so much.
Lucia nodded still able to feel her own regret that her son had lived through what he did as a child. "You do not talk about your mother often but I believe you are raising Noah very differently than how she raised you?"
Olivia paused unsure how much Lucia knew, "Yes, I try very hard but sometimes I still hear her voice.
"That is not always a bad thing Hija, it reminds you of what you do not want to become. You and Rafi both had so much to overcome, your genetics, your childhoods, yet look at the people you have become, look at the parents you have become. You see some of the most horrible things in the world yet you fight every day for good, and you are raising Noah in a home full of love. Do you not see that you both have already overcome so much of what you worry about for Noah? You two are the perfect parents to see him through all of this. Yes, he is going to make bad choices, get into trouble, and worry you endlessly that is part of him growing up. In the end though he will be a good person, of that I am sure."
Tears flowed down Olivia's face as she listened to the older woman's words. She thought back to herself as a girl when she was growing up and even as a younger woman who had so desperately craved those words of affirmation from her own mother but had never heard them. She hugged Lucia tightly, "I know that Rafael would not be the man he is today without you, I will always be grateful to you for that and Noah could not ask for an abuela who loved him more, thank you Mami."
They walked back to the house to find Rafael and Noah asleep on the couch the book they had been reading laying on the floor. Olivia kissed both of them softly before covering them with a blanket, reminding herself that yes there would be hard days but she was so thankful for her little family and everything that they had already overcome.
The End