He knelt before the girls to explain the situation. By the time he was done, Leeya and Layah were hugging his neck and pressing kisses to his cheeks when he tapped a finger there to request them. Afterwards. The girls waited patiently while their dad loaded two carseats into the truck’s rear compartment.
The night was pleasurably breezy, so dinner was enjoyed outside on the lanai. Persephone’s disapproval of the meal, shifted when the salad she’d prepared was devoured as heartily as the pizza. The family was over halfway through the meal, when a dinner conversation took shape.
“Daddy?” Leeya folded her tiny hands over her half-eaten third slice.
Hill was topping off Layah’s glass of orange juice. “Yeah, Lee?”
“Why didn’t you ever come see us?” Leeya’s voice was all curiosity, no accusation.
Here it is, Persephone silently acknowledged. The time had arrived for the fireworks she’d earlier anticipated. She was certain that Hill had masked his reaction to the innocent query too soon for either of the twins to notice, but she caught it clear enough. The lightning flash of hot emotion in his eyes was as loud as a blow horn.
“Didn’t you want to, Daddy?” Layah followed with her question next and in a manner so seamless it was as though her train of thought was already in sync with her sister’s before the first question had even been uttered.
There was no trace of Hill’s initial hot reaction when he reclaimed his seat and raised both hands to gesture with a beckoning wave to the girls. The sisters left the oversized lounge they shared and climbed into Hill’s lap when he patted a hand to each knee.
“What’d Mommy tell you?” He asked after pressing soft kisses to the tops of their heads.
The girls looked to Persephone, who offered a weak but encouraging smile.
“She said you were working to keep us safe.” Leeya shared.
“It’s not easy work, you know?” Hill replied.
“Is it dangerous?” Layah asked.
“It is- very,” Hill snagged the olive branch with both hands, “it’s very dangerous. I never wanted the dangerous part of my job to follow me to where you were. Do you understand that?” He smiled when the children gave obedient, eager nods. That time, he dropped kisses to their delicate brows and let them linger for a time.
“Will you leave again?” Layah followed up with another question.
“I’ll have to,” Hill rubbed one of the little girl’s curls between his fingers. “There’re some people I need to see about some stuff, but I’ll never be gone so long again.”
“Not ever?” Leeya asked.
Hill set his forehead against hers. “Not ever.” He smiled when she did and then put a third set of kisses to the twins’ small, bow-shaped mouths.
“Now that I’m back, nothing- not one thing- will keep me away,” he vowed.
Hands clasped between their knees, the girls beamed while lifting their shoulders. They kept them so positioned in a gesture meant to relay extreme delight.
Feeling as though he’d just cleared a fragile hurdle, Hill got the girls settled back to the lounge with their food. When he turned, he saw that Persephone was gone.
~~~
“You left before taking your turn on my lap.” Hill found Persephone in the kitchen busily wiping down the counter.
“Sef-”
“We’re lying to them. I’m lying to them,” she half turned to gesture with the dishcloth. “I’ve been lying to them their whole lives.”
“Yeah, all six years of them,” His smile was playfully sympathetic.
Persephone wasn’t amused. She continued her counter wipe down with renewed vigor. “They’ll hate me when they know the truth.”
“Sef-”
“It’s true and you know it,” she slammed down the rag and turned to him. “They will hate me. You do.” Her bright gaze fell to the polished pine floor, but she didn’t turn away.
“Have I ever said that?” Hill shaved off what distance stood between them. “Have you ever heard me say those words?”
Persephone stubbornly refused to answer and managed to get over some of her stubbornness, when she guessed he must have tired of it. “Hill-” her mind blanked of more words when he sat her atop the spotless counter as if she were the third little girl he’d have to reassure that night.
“No, I never heard you say those words.” She hated the sullen cast to her tone, but acknowledged that the words were true. “Maybe ‘hate’ was a strong word.”
“Strong?”
Challenge plumped his query and she rolled her eyes. “Okay-wrong,” she conceded.
“Better.”
“But you are pissed and unhappy with me-that’s truth.” She stabbed his shoulder with her index finger. “The girls will be pissed and unhappy too and that’ll be a thousand times worse,” she quickly tacked on.
He bent to look into the eyes she tried to keep downcast.
“Do you know why this is so hard for both of us?”
“I’ve got a few ideas,” Persephone sighed.
“Because we’ve got all this going on and we know we’ll have to work together to fix it. It won’t be an easy fix, but I very much want us to fix it together.”
