With one arm around her shoulders, I use the other to run my hand up and down her arm. I brush over a small spot on her shoulder and tilt my head a little to examine it in the firelight. It’s very small—just about the size of the tip of my smallest finger—right at the top of her arm. Just a little, rigid bump under her skin. I run my finger over it.
Beh sits back in my arms and glances at her shoulder and then to me. I see a red tinge cover her cheeks for a moment before she lays the side of her face against my chest.
“Beh loves Ehd,” she whispers softly.
“Luffs!” I call out, and look to her face for her smile.
She doesn’t have one.
“Luffs.” I repeat, and her eyes turn to me. “Beh luffs.”
She reaches up with her fingers and strokes my cheek. She makes more rapid sounds, which I can’t follow and don’t recognize, but at least she finally smiles at me.
“Khizz?”
Her smile broadens, and she leans up to place her lips upon mine as I brush the tears from her face.
Lah grows so quickly, I begin to wonder if she will catch up with Lee.
Beh laughs as Lee tries to run away from her, his tiny feet carrying him much faster than I would expect from someone so small. Lah laughs, too, and tries to keep up with her brother with her rapid crawling. Beh quickly catches first one, then the other, and brings them back to the cave for the night.
As she does most nights since Dad disappeared, Beh brings out the rectangular flat thing that opens up over and over again from the container. Each time she opens it, there is something different to be seen. Yesterday, it looked like seeds inside. Tonight, the flat part appears to be flowers, but when I try to touch them, they are just smooth and a little warm—not like flowers at all. My fingers grace over it and my eyes narrow. I shake my head a little, not understanding her fascination with a flower you can’t eat.
My mate is weird.
“Khizz?”
Beh places her mouth on mine for a moment before turning back to the flat thing. I return to ushering Lee and Lah toward the sleeping furs. There are many strange things in the container left by Beh’s father, and I try not to touch them if I can help it. Beh usually pushes my hand away when I do try.
The children are a little more difficult to get to sleep now. They want to play with each other instead of lying down and closing their eyes. It takes some foot rubbing and some time, but once Lah is asleep, Lee gets bored and follows his sister’s lead. Beh puts the flat thing back in the container and closes it before lying on the furs beside me.
I roll over on top of Beh, who covers her mouth to stop her giggle. I touch her bare sides with the backs of my fingers, and I run my nose across her shoulder, over her collarbone, and down to her breast. I continue down, and Beh fists her hands in my hair as I take her sex in my mouth. When I look up through my lashes, she is biting down on her lower lip, trying not to cry out, which makes me smile and work harder.
I feel her shudder around me, her thighs practically smashing my head before I rise up on my knees and guide myself inside of her. She’s so warm and slick inside…it is not long before I have to stifle my own cries against her shoulder to keep from waking our children.
I think she already has another baby in her; she hasn’t had her bleeding time for quite a while, but I want to make sure.
As the seasons pass, our children grow.
I awake to Lah and Beh making soft sounds by the fire.
Lee is stretched out beside me, and I am amazed at how long he is. I’m sure he will be a tall, strong hunter when he is fully grown. Someday, he will make a good mate.
Of course, I still need to find another tribe.
It is a thought that comes to my mind often now with both of the children growing so fast and learning so many things. Beh has been teaching Lah how to boil water, using rocks heated by the fire, as well as showing both children the inside of the flat thing and pointing to different flowers and trees outside. Lee has been trying to help me make tools from flint, though so far, he has only ended up with broken pieces of stone. He’s learned to set traps for rabbits and caught his first one just a few days ago.
Beh makes noise at both of them all the time, and they make noises right back at her. I don’t mind though. The constant sounds remind me that they are all here with me. They can make as much noise as they like as long as we all stay together.
Though we haven’t seen anyone since the man who attacked Beh, I still wonder what others will think of their sounds. I’m concerned it will make it hard to join another group if we do find one. I know we need to search, and with spring near, it will be a good time to travel to find other people. If we don’t find anyone before summer, we can make our way back and start saving for winter again.
Though the cave seems smaller now that Lee and Lah are bigger, the work goes much faster with them helping. Of course, now that they no longer drink their mother’s milk, much more food needs to be gathered, too.