So I know I still have like other stories to finish and such, but I can't help myself. This was just supposed to be a cheesy one-shot but oops, my fingers slipped.
Anyway hope you enjoy and tell me what you think!
"Tino…" she whispered with her final breath. Her lips forming the name like a gentle lullaby, her eyes slowly closing over her oddly colored lavender eyes. The room around her turned hazy as the blond, lavender-eyed baby boy, as vulnerable as a newborn could be, began to disappear from her sight. Her lips turning up into a gentle smile, one so tender and loving, so innocent and heavenly, it was the only thing she could offer to her child. A first hello, and final goodbye for the child she loves so dearly, and yet doesn't even know. The type of smile only a mother could give.
The once calm baby boy now began to shift in the mother's limp arms, a soft cry breaking the heavy silence of the room. The others in room barely able to move a muscle, the anguish crushing them slowly. And the cries finally reached their ears after some time, there were timid sobs from some of the family members in the room. A man, looking upon the dead woman; his best friend, his wife, his love. Dead and gone, only to leave him a precious son in her place. He carefully leaned over to take the fragile boy into his large hands. He was so small, able to fit into his hands perfectly. He had her beautiful light blond hair and oddly colored lavender eyes. He resembled her so much, and he finally felt himself shaking. He hadn't realized the tears streaming down his face as he looked over his beloved son. "…Tino," he muttered and gave a small, shaky smile. He turned toward the others in the room, lifting his arms slightly as if to present the newborn to them. And to the world.
Taisto was a tall man, with broad shoulders, a clear cut jaw, his eyes were a dark brown with dark skin and black hair. Quite the opposite of his son, Tino was pale by comparison, lavender eyes, and even at such a young age, it was clear he wasn't going to be nearly as big as his father. He looked to scrawny, like a twig. But nevertheless, Taisto hoped that maybe puberty would do his son good.
It was another day at the small cottage they lived in, that Taisto built himself from the ground up. It was meant to be small from the beginning, it was all they could afford. But he and his adored, now deceased wife, Naimi, had many nights of conversation on how they would expand it. That was until she fell ill and passed. They wanted to make many rooms for the rather large family they were planning on having. Now those plans have long been forgotten. The small cottage slanted slightly to the left, the roof had a lot of cracks and looked like it needed to be repaired. The house itself had paint chipping off of it, the pieces of paint decorating the ground surrounding it. The gate that surrounded the house and the land was splintering off and in some areas broken, but only temporarily fixed with some rope. The garden looked like it hadn't been touched in many years, weeds springing up wherever they pleased, glad not to have a single hand pull them up and tell them not to grow. The grass had grown far too tall and needed a good cutting as well. But alas, with all its flaws, it was a place Taisto and Tino called home.
The small cottage was a bit off from the main town, away from the bustling market morning and when the rooster sang it's early morning song, it didn't disturb the townspeople one bit. Taisto was up early, as usual, and preparing a morning breakfast for the now two-year-old Tino, who was just now getting the hang of walking and only able to repeat words he heard. He could be heard waddling barefoot on the hardwood floor and walking toward the small kitchen. Taisto smiled hearing the small footsteps and poured the porridge into the two wooden bowls. He turned and handed small Tino a bowl and a small wooden spoon, carved especially for him. Taisto sat beside him, making sure helping him eat. "Today you have to go with your aunt Helina," Taisto said as he wiped porridge from the small boy's mouth.
"Aunt Helina," Tino repeated between bites and smiled up at his father. Which made him laugh a little bit as they finished up breakfast and he went to go set the bowls in a larger bowl that held water. He bathed and dressed Tino, then he too got ready for work. He worked down in the mines, they were a bit far from town, but it was what the town was built on. They walked out of the slightly slanted cottage and down the dirt road toward town. As they walked past they saw a couple very familiar to them, they waved hello and the cool morning slowly began to heat up as the sun rose higher in the sky. They finally made it to a house not too far from the main market.
Before Taisto could even knock the door opened, and a woman who was rather large and voluptuous in many places, smiled brightly at the two. "Tino!" she shouted and picked the small boy up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Tino smiled and put his arms around her.
Taisto smiled, "Thank you again, Helina. It means a lot to me."
She waved him off with a little playful scoff, "No need to be so formal to me, I would have done it even if she were alive. She was like a sister to me, and she would have done the same for me and my little babies." She smiled at him and he nodded as the memory of the bubbly Naimi flashed through their minds. They fell silent for a few moments, as if out of respect, and then the silence was broken as Taisto shifted a bit and cleared his throat.
"I'll be off then, I'll come for him after work." He said and began to walk off opposite of where he had come from.
"Leaving without me?" came another rough voice, a man walked out of the house. He was tall with, very much built like Taisto and he smiled at him. "Come on now, we both have to get to work on time." He laughed and gave Helina a kiss, "I'll see you afterwards." Helina nodded and smiled against his lips as he pulled away to follow Taisto down the dirt road.
She watched them walk off and sighed softly walking back inside the house and closing the door. She set baby Tino down and smiled at him, "Lukas!" Helina shouted. Just then a boy, about the same age and height as Tino appeared. He had blond hair and bright ocean eyes, he seemed a bit shy and was partially hiding behind a wall. Tino smiled at him and waddled over to him, although Lukas slightly cowered away and tried to hide behind the wall even more. Helina laughed watching him, "Come now Lukas, don't be so shy, it's only your cousin Tino." She said as she walked past the two young boys toward the kitchen where she was cleaning up from the morning breakfast.
The boys were left to go outside in the yard where the chickens roamed freely along with a single goat that stayed grazing on some grass. The two boys ran around the yard chasing the chickens and bothering the goat. Getting scolded a few times but in the end they decided to play with the mud. Helina laughed as she walked out with a basket and headed toward the little fenced in garden. The two boys followed her eagerly as she stepped onto a stony path and kneeled down near a row of carrots. She began to talk to the boys, as if they understood, about all the little plants and bugs that were found in the garden. Lukas didn't really take much interest in the garden and simply walked off to go play with the mud again. But Tino on the other hand was very interested, repeating whatever he pleased and even played with the bugs. Helina laughed as she moved about the garden, Tino following happily and would ask a few simple two or three word questions. Something Helina was pleased to answer, as she picked a few vegetables and then walked out from the garden wiping off some mud that stained her dress. "Lunch will be ready in a few minutes," she said and smiled at the boys as she walked back inside. But Tino was left to stare at the garden and all its wonders.
Later that day, when the sun was getting close to setting and the day's light was now slowly disappearing the men had returned from work. Taisto and Elo, Helina's husband, returned exhausted and covered in black coal dust mixed with sweat. Helina was pleased to see them and had supper already cooked and served, the men sat down and smiled thanking her as the warm and welcoming smell of fresh supper filled their noses and soon their taste buds as well.
Taisto broke off a piece of fluffy fresh bread, "How was Tino?" he asked looking up at Helina.
"Oh just an Angel," she smiled as she wiped her hands, "He really took a liking to the garden, just like Naimi." She said smiling at the memory, "I think if you let him be a little longer he will start helping out in that poor garden of yours."
This made both men laugh as they ate, but Taisto sighed looking over to the next room where Lukas and Tino laid asleep and tired from a day's worth of play. "Perhaps he can learn how to cook too," he said jokingly, "God knows how much longer he can put up with my poor excuse of porridge." The three of them laughed again and enjoyed the rest of supper.
Afterwards Taisto had gathered up Tino in his arms, the sleeping boy whining a bit as he was moved from his position. He thanked Helina once more and then made his way into the dark night. As they left town he looked up into the sky to see all the stars twinkling brightly, as if they smiled upon the two. He found himself smiling, there were so many starts, he was sure one of them was Naimi, looking down on the both of them with that gentle loving smile of hers. They soon made it back to the cottage and Taisto wiped his boots clean as he walked in and set Tino down on his own bed. Then he went to go wash up and get ready for bed. His tired and aching muscles were a sign of a good works day, and he gathered the water into his black tinted hands, making him seem darker than he really was. He washed his face and grabbed a little cloth to wash the rest of his body. He let out a long, heavy sigh, and looked around the small cottage. He could only imagine what it would look like if Naimi was still alive. It would be so lively and bright, probably another baby or two walking around with another on the way. He smiled at the dream as the wind howled outside bringing him back to reality and taking the dream with it. He sighed again and finished up as he went over to his bed, collapsing onto it and falling into a deep slumber.
-5 years later-
Tino, now seven, was running after Taisto on the dirt path toward town. It was like any other day as he carried a small nap sack with him. He jumped a bit and smiled up at his father, "Aunt Helina is going to teach me more about the garden today!" he smiled. Taisto smiled as well putting a hand in Tino's hair and ruffling it slightly.
Over the last few years Taisto had watched Tino grow up so quickly, now he was running around and learning all sorts of things. He was friendly, a bit too friendly Taisto thought, but then again his mother was the same way. He pulled Tino close to his leg and simply kept the smile on his face as they passed the few familiar farms with their roosters crowing.
The sun was rising over the horizon and shining on the freshly rained landscape. Animals waking from their winter slumber and stretching their limbs in order to welcome spring in properly. New plants were now getting ready to bloom, and Tino was rather excited. He loved spring and summer the most, the two times of years where everything seem so alive and at peace all at once. Luckily in the small town of Spring Meadow fall nor winter lasted very long. Perhaps both seasons combined lasted just a little over two months, nothing more and nothing less. But Tino was always restless and wanted to be outside in the warmth and out in the garden with all the little creatures that called it home.
They soon came to aunt Helina's house and Tino basically ran up to the door, Taisto chuckled under his breath watching him go. The door opening as soon as he stepped onto the front porch, "Lukas!" he smiled and ended up hugging the blond, calmer natured boy. Lukas smiled a bit and hugged back for a moment before his father, Elo showed up at the door. He gave Lukas a small kiss atop of his head as he was heading off for work. Helina quickly gave him a kiss as well as he walked out to join Taisto onto the dirt path going off to work. She watched them leave along with other men that joined them on the dirt path. The number of workers had increased since there was such a large demand for coal in recent years. She sighed a bit uneasily and walked back inside closing the door and smiling at both boys. "Alrighty then, spring is here and the garden awaiting us!" she exclaimed and both boys followed her out into the back.
They assisted with chores like cleaning the chicken coop, feeding the chickens. Milking the goat and pulling out winter weeds from the garden. "Come here boys, quickly but quietly," Helina whispered as both boys scurried over. At the end of the garden was a single plant sprouting up; it pushed its way up from the cold earth and out toward the warm sun that was up above.
"What is it?" Lukas asked crouching down near the baby plant. It was odd, not in the way a regular plant would grow, it had a rather small green stem but with silvery leaves coming out from it.
"It's a moon rose," his mother replied as if awed by the wondrous plant.
"What's a moon rose?" Tino asked softly staring in awe as well.
"A moon rose my darling boys," Helina started as she reached for her spade, "Is a wonderful magical rose. It can heal almost anything and all it takes is a few silver leaves with some warm water and honey to cure the sick person." Both boys stared as she also grabbed a little pot and piled in some dirt, making a hole with her fingers and then carefully, like a mother handling a newborn, picked up the tiny plant to put it inside. "This also means that a family is extremely blessed," she said with a wink. She stood up and walked out of the garden to put the small pot near the window seal where she knew it was going to get just the right amount of sunshine and be protected from all and any harmful elements. She stopped to stare at the darling baby plant, her hand landing on her stomach.
These past few years she hadn't been able to conceive another child, just this past winter she had yet another miscarriage and had to bury the baby out in the winter earth. "Perhaps…" she whispered to herself, "It can fix even my curse."
Tino looked up at Helina and then at her hand that had rested on her stomach. He did not hear what she had said, but his eyes then fixed upon the odd plant. He wondered if it really did work and then she smiled looking down at him and ruffled his hair. A smile played onto his face and he giggled loudly as she walked him back toward the garden. He looked back at the odd little plant and then ran back toward Lukas.
Taisto listened to his son as they walked in the dark toward their little cottage. "And then she said it was a magical plant!" Tino smiled clinging to his father. "She said when it grows big enough I can have a snippet of it to grow in my own garden!" Taisto smiled loving the excitement in his voice and looked up at the stars as they shined against the ebony sky. Tino had fallen quiet looking up as well, "...You think mommy is watching us?" he whispered.
Taisto looked down at his son, "Of course she is, she is always looking down at us. Protecting us." He picked him up and kissed Tino's chubby little cheeks. "You're getting heavy," he smiled and touched Tino's little stomach as he giggled. "Your aunt says you've been eating really well, there is hope for you yet."
They got back to the small cottage and Tino went to go and take a bath as his father went to the kitchen to heat up some water. He made himself a small cup of coffee and sat at the small oak table in the middle of the room. He stared about until his eyes landed on a small book sticking out a barren cupboard. He slowly stood up, his muscles aching and wanting to rest. He pulled the book off the shelf and blew off some dust from it. He recognized is at Naimi's journal, and he slowly opened it up seeing the familiar writing. He had read the book from front to cover, and he knew each word in it. His fingers brushed against the last page the once white pages now turning brown with age. "Seven years…" he whispered, "Seven beautiful years," he smiled.
"Daddy?" he heard and he looked up to see Tino standing there with a small smile. "I'm ready for bed," he said. Taisto nodded and got up still taking the book with him as he led Tino to his room. "Daddy what's that?" he asked, "Is that a new bedtime story?"
"Ah…" Taisto looked at the book in his hand and smiled a bit, "Yes, it's actually one your mother wrote,' he said softly. Tino lit up as he rushed to his bed hopping on and quickly slipping underneath the covers. He took a small teddy bear and held it close looking up at Taisto. Taisto turned the oil lamp up a little higher to produce more light, and then turned to the very first page.
He took a deep breath and began to read, "Dear Tino," he began, "It is late summer outside and we can't wait until your arrival. Even now as I write your father is outside carving you a beautiful crib where we can lay you every night and rock you to sleep. He has made such beautiful things and currently I'm sowing you a small teddy bear that I hope you'll forever." He glanced over seeing Tino hold the small teddy bear closer to him. He smiled before continuing to read, "However there is also another reason why I'm writing to you. You see my beautiful Tino, there are many things about this world that may seem strange as you grow older. But I always want you to remember a few things, and today I will write to you about kindness."
"Now not everyone knows what kindness is, but kindness comes in many forms. From giving a helping hand, to hugging someone when they feel sad, even teaching someone how to read and write. You see when I was a young girl I used to travel a lot with my parents, and we would go to all sorts of places, and then one day we stopped in this little town you will call home someday. Well in this little town I saw a blind man begging for money and a small boy in his lap…" Taisto stopped for a second before swallowing some, "My parents and I had just entered the bakery but I kept staring at the man as people seemed to pass him by without noticing. When my parents asked me if I wanted something, I thought about how hungry the old man and child must be. So I asked to get them some bread."
"Well my parents did buy the bread and I went outside and went up to the blind man, 'Excuse me sir,' I said as politely as I could, 'I brought you a loaf of bread.' I held it out to him and his hands felt the bread and he smiled. 'What is your name?' he asked me. 'Naimi,' I replied and I saw the most gracious smile cross his face. 'Thank you, Naimi. Thank you for your kindness.' Then you'll never believe what happened, the old man offered me a piece of bread! Even if it was just the little bread I gave him, he still had a kind heart to offer me some. So you see Tino, kindness can come in many ways, and if you can, always remember to show a little bit of kindness to everyone."
Taisto took a deep breath and smiled, looking down at the paper. He knew the story all too well, and yet it was as if he was hearing it for the first time again. As if he was reliving it again. He remembered the day Naimi walked up to him and his father, offering that loaf of bread that soothed the aching hunger pains in his stomach. He had never been more thankful. "Daddy read some more," Tino yawned as he rubbed his eyes.
"Another one?" Taisto asked with a small chuckle. Tino nodded and smiled sleepily at him, "Okay fine, but this is the last one. Then off to bed, okay?" Tino nodded as Taisto flipped the delicate page over.
"Dear Tino," it began, "Summer is fading away and the leaves are starting to turn different colors. The cold is starting to set in, but do not fret, the cold here never lasts long. Your father is currently chopping wood outside and he finished your cradle! It has come out just as beautiful as I thought it would be! I can't wait until you're out and you can see for yourself! I've also finished a little bit more of the teddy bear, I put on two small black buttons for eyes and sowed his little nose and mouth on. Oh, I hope you do love it. But enough of my ranting darling, today we will talk about something else very important. Love."
"Love is a very precious thing Tino, and there are many types of love. Like kindness, love can come in all shapes and forms. Love comes from your heart as well; it feels like a warm fuzzy feeling. Love can be the way you love your parents, or how you love your aunt and soon to be cousin, it can even be loving someone whom you wish to be with." Taisto smiled looking over to see Tino struggling to keep his eyes opened and listen. "You see Tino, nothing can stop love. Not even death. Love can conquer anything and overcome anything as long as you believe."
"I fell in love with your father, and that's when I knew love could overcome anything. Your father and I, weren't meant to be together," he paused slightly and then continued, "We came from different classes, and therefore people saw it as wrong. But we didn't. We knew deep in our hearts that we cared for one another very deeply and that we wanted to be together. To raise a family together, to grow old together. We knew this and we believed in it. With a little bit of effort out love overcame it all. We were allowed to marry and now, my beautiful ball of sunshine, you are on the way. But no matter who you love, any way you love them, love can overcome everything and anything."
He sighed and closed the book setting it on the bed stand beside him. He stood up and pulled the covers over Tino before kissing his head gently. "Good night," he whispered with a small smile. Tino only muttered a good night already falling asleep and holding the small teddy bear close. Taisto turned off the oil lamp before walking out and to the bathroom where he undressed and sighted. He missed Naimi with all his heart, "Love is even stronger than death…" he whispered and felt a tear roll down his face.
Slow start, I get it. But crucial information that is needed. Next chapter will be a lot better I promise! Thanks again for reading and please leave a review with what you think!