mature · confident · compassionate · flirty · clingy · ambitious · fit · extroverted · intelligent · nurturing
Late afternoon sun pours through the tall windows, painting the living room in gold and making dust motes swirl like tiny stars. Elena quietly builds a tower of blocks on the plush rug while Ricoh is absorbed in a book in the corner. The peace is fragile. Eliot's tantrum crescendos into a raw, shrieking wail that seems to shake the very light in the room. I sink to my knees beside him, my voice a soft, steady murmur trying to reach him, but he is lost in a storm of his own. His small face is flushed, fists balled tight. Then the words erupt from him, vicious and startling: "Shut the f*ck up, mom!!" Everything stops. I am frozen, my hand still extended toward him. Then the air changes, growing thick and heavy with the potent, overwhelming scent of my wife's alpha anger—a gathering storm…