*Back to our primary narrative.*
The Massimo family home.
November 11, 1982, was a special day.
Kael’s third birthday.
Though it was still early morning, the family was already in a festive mood.
The smell of fresh baking wafted through the first floor.
A birthday cake with three colorful candles sat on the table.
Pillows and stuffed animals were scattered everywhere.
Not a typical picture for an English family.
But what did their opinion matter to us?
Right, it didn’t concern us at all.
In the kitchen, the only woman of the family, Sara Massimo, was bustling about.
This day was a celebration not only for the birthday boy but also for the woman.
After all, on November 11th, exactly three years ago, she had given life to her beloved son.
A son who had never ceased to delight the older generation of the family for a single moment of his life.
Life with her husband and son was the best part of Sara’s life.
She was happy.
And even if that might change in the future, we live in the present, don’t we?
The future is the future; it’s uncertain.
We have the power to influence it.
What we cannot influence is the past.
It is unshakable.
Or is it?
For Sara, Kael himself was something special.
Could an ordinary girl, an orphanage alumna who had once just been trying to survive, have ever dreamed of living in a family with a loving husband and son?
No, back then she had been constantly fighting for survival and spending the rest of her already limited free time studying, just to make something of herself.
No matter what people say, it’s better to know and be able to do things than to not know and not be able to do them.
Anything can be useful in life.
Even the smallest detail that might have seemed unnecessary.
Could Sara Jones, as she was then, have dreamed of a family?
No.
But fate loves to joke.
And it joked with her.
Back in her youth, at the London Medical University, she met him.
Thomas Massimo.
For her, it was love at first sight.
And when they were placed in the same study group, she was ready to jump for joy.
Her only thought at the time was, “Here’s my chance.” She just had to not miss it and not scare him off.
And Sara didn’t miss it.
She latched on with the tenacity of a real attack dog.
And thank God, Tom picked up on her hints.
As she later learned, Tom also liked Sara.
Somehow, they became a couple within two months.
A year and a half later, they officially registered their marriage.
Now, all these years later, she couldn’t help but smile at those memories.
Oh yes, so many stories they had lived through.
So many annoying girls she’d had to chase away from her boyfriend.
And she and Tom could spend many an evening by the fireplace telling those stories.
A magical time.
Now they had the fruit of their love.
Kael Massimo.
Kael was an unusual child.
Even now, at just three years old, he knew the elementary school curriculum.
Oh, how she and Tom had discussed whether to reveal Kael’s abilities or keep them secret.
No matter how much of a genius Kael was, he was still a child.
But the reverse was also true.
Kael was an unusual child.
He wasn’t interested in children his own age, or even in those up to fifteen years older than him.
Even Sara herself understood that her son’s loneliness was inevitable.
The difference between him and other children was too stark.
And teenagers much older than Kael wouldn’t take him seriously.
How ironic.
Sara herself wouldn’t take him seriously if she hadn’t witnessed his growth firsthand.
But with every genius comes downsides.
Unfortunately, in Kael’s case, there was more than one.
The first was described above: socialization problems.
The second was a reflection of his gift, his intellect.
Because of his undeniably highly developed intellect, Kael himself was not very emotional.
At moments when not just children but even ordinary adults would laugh or cry, Kael would only slightly raise or lower the corner of his lips, or narrow his eyes.
And it wouldn’t affect his behavior at all.
That’s why any moment when their son smiled was the family’s greatest treasure.
One they would stand by until their last breath.
Unfortunately, there weren’t as many of those moments as they would have liked.
The first was during family get-togethers.
That’s why Tom and Sara spent all their weekends and vacations with Kael.
Whether it was trips into nature, flights to France, or just sitting by the fireplace with a book.
All these moments were sacred to the whole family.
The second was learning something new.
Or rather, self-improvement.
As Kael said, “There’s no better feeling than growing above yourself, whether it’s ordinary running or new knowledge, like a new language.”
Oh, new languages.
That was another source of pride.
As it happened, Sara had studied French at the orphanage in addition to English, and Tom had studied German.
So their son knew not only English but also French and German.
Not just knew them, but could speak, read, and write them.
From all of the above, only one conclusion could be drawn: hide Kael’s abilities.
This decision had not come easily.
Deep down, Sara still held onto a faint hope for her son’s normal socialization.
But Tom and little Kael convinced her not to send him to school.
Officially, Kael would be homeschooled and take exams every year, like ordinary children.
The only difference was that a separate commission would be assembled for Kael.
At first, they thought about taking all the exams early.
But in the end, they decided against it.
That would attract too much attention, which Kael and Sara didn’t want, unlike Tom, who wanted the whole world to know how brilliant his son was.
Now Kael and Sara had to convince Tom otherwise.
At that thought, the sound of the front door opening and closing echoed through the house.
Sara turned off the water, dried her hands on a towel, put it back in its place, and went to the foyer to greet her husband. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
He was the only one with the keys, and he was supposed to be arriving home from work right about now.
At the front door stood Tom, who was taking off his coat.
“Good morning, dear,” Sara said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.
“How was the drive home?
Did anything happen on the way?”
“Everything’s fine,” the man answered.
“The weather is beautiful outside.
It’s as if nature itself is celebrating with us.”
“Wonderful.
Maybe we can even go for a walk in the park with Kael,” the woman said with a smile, releasing Tom from her embrace.
“How was your shift?
Are you very tired, or was everything okay?”
“You know, everything was just perfect.
Not a single patient all night.
I even managed to get a few hours of sleep.
So I’m completely ready for our celebratory activities.”
“Great.
Let’s go to the kitchen.
You can have breakfast while Kael is still sleeping, though he’s probably already awake and reading again.
Let’s not disturb him.
You’ll have scrambled eggs and bacon, right?”
“Anything, as long as you made it with your own hands.”
“Go on, you ladies’ man,” Sara said, playfully punching Tom’s shoulder with her fist.
“Yes, my queen,” the man said with a mock bow, and quickly disappeared into the safe refuge from his wife’s righteous anger.
They sat down at the table and began breakfast, discussing the latest news.
It was a family idyll.
Which was shattered in an instant.
Suddenly, rain began to fall outside.
Water poured in a continuous stream.
From the outside, it looked less like rain and more like a solid wall stretching from the heavens to the earth.
A frightening and beautiful display of nature’s power unfolded outside the window.
Somewhere high above, lightning flashed.
It split the sky with a web of shimmering lines.
The sound of thunder and raindrops was comparable to a symphony of history’s greatest maestros.
From the second floor, laughter echoed.
Laughter filled with happiness and joy.
Sara and Tom seemed to fly up the stairs in an instant and opened the door to their son’s room.
They saw him floating.
Kael seemed frozen in the air.
Blue rings of energy radiated from his body like ripples on water.
The boy was laughing.
For the first time in his life, he was laughing with boundless joy.
He was even crying.
Crying with happiness.
And while the couple stood frozen, watching their son, a stack of books appeared on the table next to the birthday cake, as if by magic.
Along with them was a note.
On it was written the following:
*To the Massimo family, from the Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, Lord Regulus Black.*