“Oh!”
Violet was finally learning to form words, and that was one of her favorite things to say these days: “oh.”
“What’s ‘oh’ supposed to mean?” Mr. Fisalis wondered.
“Hmm... No idea,” I replied.
Neither of us had a clue what it meant. We could only watch as she smiled and continued to say, “Oh.”
But eventually, the meaning of that sound became clear.
“Ohtah!”
One day, all of a sudden, the word had leveled up from “oh” to “ohtah.”
“Wow! Her vocabulary’s growing! Mr. Fisalis would be so happy if he were around to hear it.”
“It’s a shame he’s at work.”
“He always has the worst timing. What’s ‘Ohtah,’ though?” I posed my question to the servants, giving a puzzled tilt of my head. Even now that it was up to two syllables, I still had no clue what it meant.
“Ohtah!” The next time she said it, Violet was looking straight at Rohtas.
“‘Ohtah’... Oh! Do you think she’s trying to say ‘Rohtas’?” I asked the butler himself, struck with the sudden realization.
That seemed to click for him too. “Oh... Now that you mention it, it does sound that way.”
Just to be certain, I pointed at Rohtas and asked her, “Who’s this, Lettie?”
“Ohtah.”
That settled it.
“Gosh... So Lettie’s first word is ‘Rohtas,’ huh?”
“This may be presumptuous of me, but I must admit I’m quite pleased.”
Hearing Violet’s first words had me overcome with emotion, while Rohtas cracked a delighted smile.
“But ‘Rohtas’? Not ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy’? I wonder why,” I murmured as I gazed down at Violet, who was looking at the butler with a smile.
“Because ‘Rohtas’ is the most commonly used word in this house, no?” Mimosa cheerfully suggested.
Oh, good point!
The word (or name, I guess?) that Mr. Fisalis, the servants, and I all said most often was “Rohtas.” With how many times Violet was hearing it a day, it was no wonder it was the first word she learned. That checked out.
Besides, Rohtas did love to pamper her! (That went for everybody in the mansion, though!)
“Huh! Now I get it. Still, Cercis’s gonna cry when he hears this.”
“I’m sure.”
Picturing his reaction with ease, a rueful smile rose to the servants’ faces.
✦ ✦ ✦
But seriously, now that I was thinking about it, Mr. Fisalis had started off the morning with, “Rohtas, about my personal plans for the day...”
And from there...
“Rohtas! Where do we put this?”
“Rohtas, Cartham said he wants to talk to you about purchasing the next batch of ingredients.”
“There’s a letter for you, Rohtas.”
“I think that’s enough training for today, Rohtas!”
And so on and so forth. The whole day was one big “Rohtas” parade. And since Violet spent most of her hours in the parlor, she had front row seats to the spectacle whether she liked it or not.
“Rohtas. Do you remember the matter I asked you about earlier?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
Even now, Violet was watching as Dahlia flagged the man down for a discussion.
“No wonder she learned his name.”
“Indeed.”
And is it just me, or do we work Rohtas way too hard around here?
✦ ✦ ✦
“Have you and Lettie been well?” Mr. Fisalis asked.
He was saying it a lot more conversationally now, but it was the same line that always used to follow his “I’m home” toward the start of our marriage. Of course, back then he’d disappear off to the cottage as soon as it’d left his mouth, so it was high time I let that go.
Filling him in on how the day had gone was a part of my routine, but today I had something special to report.
“Yes! We had a great time today. Plus, I have some big news!”
“Hmm? What is it?”
The meaning of Lettie’s “oh” had finally been revealed. I had to wonder what kind of face my husband was going to make when he learned the truth.
“Lettie said her first word today.”
He looked surprised. “What? She did?”
Oh, but just wait until you hear that it was “Rohtas”! I was smiling just thinking about it. No, no—I can’t spill the beans just yet. Restraint is key!
“Yeah. You know how she’s been saying ‘oh’ a lot lately?”
“Uh-huh.”
“We found out what she’s been trying to say with that. It even evolved from ‘oh’ to ‘ohtah.’”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yep. Hey, Lettie, who’s this?” I asked right before my astonished husband’s eyes, suddenly pointing to our butler.
Violet smiled and answered, “Ohtah.”
“Ohtah... Oh, so it’s ‘Rohtas’! That’s what ‘oh’ meant all along. But I can’t believe this... ‘Rohtas’ is the first word Lettie learned?!”
Mr. Fisalis was clearly devastated to discover the true meaning of “Ohtah.”
“Well, what can you do? It’s got to be the word she hears most often.”
“Yeah... You’ve got a point...”
He looked like he’d begrudgingly accepted the explanation, at least!
✦ ✦ ✦
“Lettie, this is ‘daddy,’ okay? Go on—say it.”
“’Kay!”
“Not, not the ‘okay’ part! Dad-dy!”
“’Kay!”
“Please, Lettie... Daddy wants to hear you say his name!”
✦ ✦ ✦
Since that little incident, Lettie’s vocabulary had grown exponentially. She could respond to things with “okay,” and she could manage easy words like “ball.”
And as for Mr. Fisalis? Whenever he had a moment to spare, he spent it giving Violet a crash course(?) in how to say “daddy.” Rohtas beating him to the punch had been a bitter pill to swallow, it seemed.
He was currently in the middle of giving Violet a lesson atop his lap, but it didn’t seem to be going too well if the sour look on his face was any indication.
“Oh, I know! If I make everyone else in the mansion call me ‘daddy,’ I bet she’ll pick up the word faster!”
“Cercis, please. Nobody’s going to agree to that.”
“No? And here I thought it was a great idea.”
“Besides, no one here says your name as often as Rohtas’s.”
“It’s true, but you shouldn’t say it.”
Crestfallen, Mr. Fisalis squeezed Violet against his chest. But c’mon! No duh we didn’t use his name that much—he wasn’t home most of the day!
And then...
“Dada! Hee hee!” Violet giggled at her demoralized father.
Huh? What did she just say?
I looked over at Violet with a start, and Mr. Fisalis seemed to have come to the same realization.
“Lettie? What did you just say?”
“’Kay!”
“No, not that! Wait, I have an idea. Lettie, who’s this?” he asked her, pointing to himself.
“Dada,” Violet answered with a giant grin.
“Oh, Lettie! You’ve made Daddy’s day! Did you hear that, Vi? Did you?!”
“Yep! Loud and clear!”
“I can’t believe she learned it so soon after I started teaching her! Our little girl’s a genius!”
Overjoyed, Mr. Fisalis pulled Violet into another tight hug. I wasn’t sure about the genius part, but it seemed my husband’s persistence had won the day!