Page 50 of Arthur
I shook my head. “Actually, no. He has three older siblings, but they are much older. Patrick and I have been mated for centuries and had our first three fairly early on. After our third, things seemed to stop when it came to babies, so we accepted the fact that we would have three. Then, eight years ago, we were surprised when Patrick became pregnant with Edric.”
“Understood. So he’s sulking because he doesn’t have a sibling close in age here.”
I nodded. “Yes. Patrick has become pregnant again, but the baby isn’t due for another three months. Edric seems excited about the new baby but is still upset when he’s not continually entertained when he’s in our quarters. It’s become even more of an issue since Patrick is pregnant, and this pregnancy seems to be taking all of his energy. He’s not had the energy to spend the time with Edric that he used to.”
Dr. Brauer nodded slowly. “So what you’re saying—and this is just a quick opinion on the very limited information you’ve given me— is that your son is incredibly spoiled and acting like a brat because he won’t entertain himself.”
I grinned, and it grew into a full-out smile. “You tell it like it is, don’t you?”
Dr. Brauer shrugged. “I see no reason to sugarcoat things. I’m sorry, but yes, your son is acting as a brat because, most likely, he’s been catered to his entire life.”
“Why do you say that?” Had we done that?
“You said his siblings are centuries older. So that tells me that your son was a much-later-in-life baby. He was most likely a surprise, and you weren’t expecting him.” I nodded because I’d said as much. “It’s possible that subconsciously, you weren’t expecting him, therefore, you weren’t expecting others to follow. You were acting as if he were your last chance to have a child, and therefore, you spoiled him. You showered him with love and attention, but it has now backfired, and your son has a sense of entitlement. He’s spoiled, and unless you break that now, he will become a difficult adult who will have issues with life in general.”
I took several deep breaths, wondering if that was the case. It was true, we had given Edric a lot of attention. But he was the only child we had at the moment, and aside from ourselves, we had nobody else to direct that attention to. Our other children were grown and had families of their own. We spent time with our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but aside from Miles, they didn’t live with us.
“Are things clicking into place, or have I stepped on your toes and insulted you?”
I shook my head. “No, you’ve not insulted me. You’re, of course, correct. We’ve spoiled Edric because he is our only child at the moment.” I suddenly thought of something. “Will he become jealous of the baby Patrick is carrying?”
“Most likely, to some extent. You can involve him in the caring of the baby to some level to help him feel as if he’s not being overlooked. I also recommend that the two of you also spend time with him without the baby if at all possible. I understand that can be difficult when you have a new one inyour family. But this is a coven, and the covens I’ve been around before have always been very family-oriented.”
“This one is no different. Our coven doctor is actually mated to one of our grandsons. But even before that, Constantine was more than just our coven doctor to us.”
“That’s good to hear. I understand it can be difficult to hear these things from someone you’ve just met, and I will admit if I’m wrong. But from what I’ve been told, the issue is Edric and the fact that he’s spoiled.”
I sighed and nodded. We’d created this issue. “How do we fix it?”
“It won’t be fixed overnight. But your son will have to learn to entertain himself. Not everything revolves around him, and he needs to understand that. Especially once the baby comes, he will have to understand that although his parents love him, he is no longer their sole focus.”
“Understood. If you have any suggestions for us, I’m open to any and all of them. We take him to Montana at least twice a month so he can see his grandfathers as well as two of his siblings and their families.”
Dr. Brauer nodded slowly. “Perhaps those visits need to not necessarily stop but slow considerably. Again, the world doesn’t revolve around your son and his entertainment. He will have to come to the realization that he has to be able to spend time doing things on his own.” Dr. Brauer looked thoughtful. “Is he the only child in the coven? I understand he has siblings, but they’re much older, and Edric hasn’t been raised with them.”
“No. Cornelius and Matthew actually only have one child, and they only want just the one. Most everyone else has at least two, if not several more than that. Edric spends several hours a day with the other children in the classroom out back. Then, if there are any studies to be completed, he does those with one of us, and then the children in the coven spend some time playingtogether until it’s evening, and we all tend to go to our quarters and have family time.”
Dr. Brauer nodded. “During your family time, are you constantly interacting with Edric? Does he not have quiet time at all?”
I thought about it and shook my head. “He used to. We used to have him spend an hour or so alone simply because he seemed to need it in order to be able to go to sleep. We, of course, read to him at bedtime, but before that, he seemed to need time to shut down from the day.”
“He no longer does that?” I shook my head. “What changed? Why does he no longer have time alone?”
I tried to think about it but couldn’t come up with a specific incident where he was with us the entire afternoon and evening. “I’m not sure. It just seems as if he was suddenly just with us all the time. Then it was nighttime routine: bath, reading, and then bed.”
“I will, of course, still meet with Edric and talk to him, see how he’s perceiving life at the moment, but I believe that he needs to have an hour of alone time every evening. I’m not suggesting that you lock him away and ignore him completely. But Edric needs to spend an hour of time entertaining himself. He can spend it reading, playing quietly, something else along those lines. Once he becomes accustomed to it, he will most likely realize an hour of alone time isn’t all that much, and then an hour will turn into more. We’re not wanting him to become a complete introvert, but he needs to have the balance of being with others and being able to be alone.”
That made sense. “I’ll discuss this with Patrick, and we’ll work on getting that implemented as quickly as possible.”
“You said the new baby is due in three months?”
I nodded. “Yes. Costas believes Patrick will give birth the first half of April.” It was January now, and although it seemed asif Patrick and I had just returned from Montana after his last fertile period, that had been six weeks ago now.
“That is more than enough time to start implementing changes. Edric will be able to have a new routine of spending time alone doing his thing while you and Patrick spend that time focusing on your new baby. Then, once he goes to bed, the two of you can spend time focusing on one another. I understand you have been mated a long time, but couples can tend to slip and shift priorities too much when a new baby arrives.”
“Yes. We had that issue, thankfully only briefly, when our first was born.”
“The goal is to not repeat that while ensuring to Edric that although you love him just as much as any of your other children, he needs to understand that he has to be able to spend time on his own as well. It will take some patience, but it is possible.”