Where the hell are my shoes? Hill wondered as he buttoned his shirt. Smirking over the question, he silently noted that he held out even less hope of finding his socks. The smirk defined as he wished Persephone luck with explaining that should they happen to be discovered by the wrong party.
He buttoned the shirt just to the middle of his chest; and was debating on checking the maple base of the bed’s platform, when he felt himself being watched. Slowly, he raised his gaze.
Two little girls stood just inside the doorway, identical from the tops of their heads all the way to the pink sneakers peeking out beneath the cuffs of their jeans. The little girls from all the pictures in the front room, he realized.
Their eyes were even more remarkable than they’d appeared in the picture. Their small, cinnamon brown faces were framed by hoards of loose curls. Hill saw none of Persephone's onyx waves streaked with the distinctive chestnut brown. Instead, their locks were full on black and the same texture as...his.
His heart made an unexpected swan dive to his stomach as one of the girls stepped forward.
“Hi Daddy,” she
said.
~~~
“So just call me with the schedule changes and we’ll work up a new plan,” Jesse was saying as she and Persephone wrapped up their conversation that had turned to the girls’ upcoming instruction dates.
“You’ll hear from me in a couple of days,” Persephone tugged at the sleeve of Jesse’s multicolored tunic blouse. “Thanks again for letting the girls tag along to the sleepover.”
“Oh please,” Jesse waved airily. “They’re the sweetest little things and we’re happy to have them over any time,” Jesse pulled Persephone in for a hug and then she was making her way to the large, bricked driveway.
Persephone waved Jesse off and watched until the woman’s car disappeared around the bend leading back to the security house. She shook her head upon closing the front door and noticing the state of the foyer. Dutifully, she collected the girls’ small duffle bags and other knick knacks and prepared to carry them to their rooms.
“Just like ‘em to run off and not grab their...shit!”
Persephone broke into a run, not stopping until she was arriving breathless and wide-eyed in her bedroom door.
Hill sat on the bed- a little girl on either side of him. Tiny hands were folded trustingly on each of his knees.
Leeya and Layah gazed upon their father. Happiness, wonder and just a hint of shyness illuminated their round faces. Hill sat in a state of curious devastation mixed with a hint of uncharacteristic fear.
Leeya, the bolder of the twins got past her shyness first. “Mommy look, it’s Daddy!” She called when Persephone arrived panting in the doorway.
“Yes uh-yes Honey I-I see-”
“Can he sleep in our room?” Layah got past her shyness to ask.
Persephone was barely able to swallow, let alone form a response. Hill’s dark eyes were fixed on her face then. The look in them was both confused and accusing.
“Can he, Mommy? Can he stay?” Layah persisted.
“Honey, I-” With effort, Persephone forced out more words. “I don’t know.”
“Well he already stayed in your room, didn’t he?” Leeya pointed out.
The twins cast pointed looks toward the tangled bed. The parents worked desperately to school their expressions.
“Can he have breakfast with us?” Layah asked, looking to Hill again and giving his knee a gentle pat. “Do you like pancakes, Daddy?”
“Mommy makes good pancakes,” Leeya added.
Hill was making a slow sweep of Persephone then. He took his time as his gaze ascended her legs long and bare beneath the short flannel robe she’d thrown on. “Yeah,” he agreed finally, “yeah, she does.”
“Can you stay, Daddy?” Layah asked.
“Mommy you make pancakes. We want Daddy to see the pictures.” Leeya decided, already taking Hill’s hand.
“Lee, honey-”
“Come on, Daddy,” Layah took Hill’s other hand and assisted her sister with pulling him to his feet.
Of course the little tugs did nothing in the way of getting Hill off the bed. The girls couldn’t have succeeded if they’d used ropes and pulleys to get him to stand.
The girls. His girls? Somewhere deep, a weak voice was pleading with him to rise. Nothing was working. His muscles had gone lax, his thinking sluggish-muddled. It took every ounce of focus to get to his feet.
The girls tugged excitedly. Amused by their father’s stumbling strides, they laughed and tugged with greater intensity. Persephone just managed to move from the doorway when the trio arrived. She didn’t want to spare Hill the briefest of glances, but felt compelled to do so as he cleared the doorway.
The twins rambled on excitedly, their words
little more than a high pitched buzz to their parents’ ears.
Persephone lifted her eyes to meet Hill’s and she absorbed the
weight of the glare that should have reduced her to nothing.
~~~
Hill was certain that he’d reached the height of his devastation. He hadn’t even scratched the surface of it.
The room was an oasis of purples and creams with splashes of pink in the heart shaped throw rugs, pillows, artwork and furnishings. Two double beds filled the space and were covered in purple comforters with pink stitching. Pink scoop chairs and sofas decorated the living area of the suite and were offset by purple round tables trimmed in silver.
Along a far wall, a big rectangular work table was set up and teemed with all sorts of arts and crafts supplies. The opposing wall housed a gaming and entertainment center neatly stored on built in shelves done in the room's official colors of pink, cream and purple with a light dusting of silver.
It wasn’t the looming threat of a sugar rush that solidified Hill’s prediction of additional devastation. It was the large oval alcove the girls twirled around in once they’d pulled him through the room.
There was nowhere to sit in the big petal pink space, except the pink and purple checkered carpet or the massive purple beanbags that squished into makeshift chairs to conform to small bodies.
