The Velvet Cradle of Everwood – Chapter Fifteen – A Walk Through the Wishing Hollow
The golden light of Everwood’s afternoon dappled the meadow with soft shadows as the Cradle Club slowly wound down for the day. Littles toddled sleepily across the grass with plushies in tow. Caretakers folded quilts with one hand while the other cradled their charges against their hips.
Eliot stood beside Liora, his hand tucked tightly into hers, still freshly diapered and dressed in his new lavender romper. The ducky on his chest looked vaguely embarrassed—which somehow matched how he felt.
Except… maybe it wasn’t really embarrassment anymore. Just softness. Bashfulness, maybe. His cheeks still flushed, but it wasn’t the burning heat of shame—it was the pink glow of being small. Seen. Cared for.
“I thought we’d take the long way home,” Liora said, giving his hand a squeeze. “The Wishing Hollow is still quiet this time of day.”
Eliot looked up at her. “What’s the Wishing Hollow?”
“A special place,” she said with a little smile. “A part of the forest where littles can let their wishes whisper out without having to speak them aloud. Some say the trees there remember every wish ever made.”
He blinked. That sounded… safe. And maybe a little bit magical.
But before he could take another step, Liora knelt beside a nearby shrub and gently summoned something with a flick of her wrist.
With a shimmer of pastel light, a stroller bloomed into existence.
It wasn’t just any stroller—it was clearly enchanted. The frame shimmered faintly with golden inlays of vines and stars. The seat was wide, plush, and inviting, lined with soft silken padding and a blanket shaped like a sleeping bunny. Little bells dangled from the sunshade, chiming softly when the wind blew.
Eliot froze.
“W-wait,” he said quietly. “That’s… for me?”
Liora tilted her head with the gentlest smile. “It’s a long walk, and I know your legs are still adjusting to waddling in your new thickness. Besides…” She leaned closer. “There’s no rule saying big littles can’t ride sometimes too.”
He hesitated. The thought of being pushed through a public part of Everwood in a stroller—even one this beautiful—made something twist in his stomach.
But the look in Liora’s eyes wasn’t mocking. It was inviting.
He looked down at himself—his thick diaper peeked slightly beneath the hem of his romper, his legs still bowed from the bulk—and realized: he was tired. The idea of curling up in that seat, wrapped in a blanket with nothing to do but watch the world drift by while someone cared for him… it wasn’t awful.
It was tempting.
Still blushing furiously, Eliot gave a small nod.
Liora smiled and helped him climb in, lifting him with gentle ease and settling him into the soft seat like he was something precious.
Once he was tucked in, she buckled a soft strap across his middle—not too tight, but secure—and spread the bunny blanket over his lap. She slipped a bottle of warm milk into his hands before he could think too hard, and before he realized it, the nipple was already between his lips.
The first sip made his whole body relax.
The stroller glided forward, whisper-quiet on the path, and they left the meadow behind.
The Wishing Hollow wasn’t far—but it felt like another world.
Towering trees arched above the path like a cathedral made of bark and leaves. Light filtered through the branches in shifting patterns, casting slow-moving shadows across the mossy trail. Lantern bugs hovered in the air, their soft glow pulsing in time with Eliot’s breath.
Nestled in the stroller, Eliot drifted in a daze. The milk was warm and comforting, and Liora’s hands rested occasionally on his shoulder as she pushed, reminding him he wasn’t alone. The pacifier she tucked into his lap waited patiently for when he finished.
Birdsong echoed above them, high and clear but never startling. The forest air smelled of pine and crushed berries.
Eliot hadn’t felt this calm in years.
And then… they reached the heart of the Hollow.
The path opened into a small circular clearing surrounded by trees whose bark shimmered like starlight. In the center stood a stone well—not deep or dark, but glowing faintly with pulsing color. Around it, soft cushions had been placed, and wind-chimes dangled from branches shaped like reaching hands.
Liora stopped the stroller and knelt beside him. “This is the Wishing Well,” she said. “But you don’t have to throw coins or speak aloud. In Everwood, your wish is something your heart sends out when it’s ready.”
He looked at the well, then back at her.
“Do… people really wish here?”
“They do,” she said, brushing a strand of hair from his forehead. “Some wish to be brave. Some wish to be small forever. Some wish for the strength to surrender.”
Eliot swallowed.
He didn’t know what his wish would be.
But he knew it would be quiet. A whisper from inside. A wish not to be alone. A wish to be held, even when he couldn’t hold himself together.
She unbuckled him slowly and helped him out of the stroller, guiding him by the hand toward the well. The moss was springy underfoot. The air shimmered.
“Do you want to go alone, or shall I stay close?” Liora asked gently.
“Close,” he whispered, and she wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
He stood beside the glowing stone, eyes half-closed. He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to.
Inside his chest, something fluttered.
A small voice. A tiny, unseen part of him that said:
I want to stay. I want to belong. I want someone to love me even when I can’t grow up again.
The wind shifted.
The lantern bugs circled him once.
And from the trees, a soft chime echoed.
Liora leaned in and kissed the side of his head. “Your wish was heard.”
Eliot turned to her, eyes glassy. “Did I… do it right?”
“There’s no wrong way to wish,” she said, wrapping both arms around him now. “But yes, Sprout. You did beautifully.”
She changed him again at the edge of the Hollow—this time on a mossy stump that turned into a padded surface at her touch. Eliot was wet again, though he hadn’t noticed.
He didn’t feel embarrassed anymore. Only soft. Safe. Willing.
She redressed him slowly, hummed to him while smoothing the creases in his new romper, and then lifted him back into the stroller, where he snuggled under the blanket without hesitation.
As they strolled back through the trees, Eliot sucked quietly on his pacifier, watching the lantern bugs dance above them.
For the first time, he didn’t wonder when he’d leave Everwood.
He just hoped—gently, deeply—that he wouldn’t have to.
The End of The Velvet Cradle of Everwood – Chapter Fifteen – A Walk Through the Wishing Hollow
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