“Pa! Is everything ready? Stevie said they’re leaving now! He only lives like 5 minutes from here!” I shouted down the hallway from my childhood bedroom and my father Sparrow poked his head into my room, his deep auburn waves swinging wildly.

“Jesus Christ, Cinn calm down. Yes the food is ready and I made sure the living room and all that was safe. I raised twins. I can handle one baby. It’s just a dinner so we can meet your new friend. Why are you panicking?”

“Literally never made a friend before. Jenna doesn’t count, she forced me into loving her. This is… this is different, I asked him.”

“And is this why you’re in here literally redoing your hair over and over?”

“I…” my cheeks flared and I went back to braiding my hair, staring at myself in the mirror.

Sparrow slowly walked behind my chair and gently squeezed my shoulder and I sighed softly, tying off the bottom of my hair before smoothing the front of my pants.

“Hyacinth… oh you… you're attracted to him. Aren’t you?”

“Well… he’s really handsome. Funny. Kind. We’ve been texting or calling constantly for two days and I… yeah. I suppose I am.”

After Maddox had fallen asleep again at the hospital, I stayed with Stephen for what I assumed was a bit longer. In reality, we had sat there talking for six hours, the conversation flowing easily between us about our pasts, goals for the future, likes and dislikes. It was strange, a conversation I later found out from Phoenix was close to a first date and as I got ready to leave that night he had asked for my phone number. I immediately gave it to him before meeting Cove outside who had gotten off of work and came to give me a ride home. I hadn’t even made it home before texting Stephen and we had talked constantly other than when we slept. Maddox had been released from the hospital a few hours after I left, his lungs clear and other than being a bit grumpy that day, Stephen told me that Maddox was the same lovely little boy he always was. It had helped me to calm, knowing that Maddox was okay and I had finally talked to Sparrow and Thomas about Stephen and his son, both of them thrilled I was attempting to make a friend.

“I don’t mean this rude,” Sparrow fixed a button on my shirt that was misplaced, “but I always assumed the only person you could be attracted to was Ocean…”

“I’ve had crushes and felt attracted to many people. Men and women alike. I just never bothered to do anything about it. But Ocean clearly doesn’t care about how I felt toward him or… well maybe he does but he met someone else, Cove is right. I’m 24. Peak time to try and meet someone. I’m not going to throw everything into Stevie until I can fully trust him but I do like him. He’s gentle and caring. I like being around him.”

“It’s sweet. I love that I can still learn these new things about you. You’re the best kiddo I could have asked for,” he hugged me around the neck and I patted his hands.

“Don’t let Nix hear you say that, Pa. He gets pissed.”

“Hyacinth?” Thomas smiled from my doorway as he fixed his bright red curls, “Stevie and Max are here.”

Taking a shaky breath, I followed my parents to the living room where I found Stephen looking at all of the family photos on the walls, Maddox toddling around his legs. They were wearing matching outfits, simply beige tshirts and jeans with black boots but it was adorable to see as Maddox continually looked up at Stephen with an expression of love. As if he knew that his Dad would always keep him safe.

“Stevie,” I smiled and he looked at me before returning it, “hi.”

“Hi,” he crossed the room in two steps, “thank you for inviting us.”

“Th… thank you for agreeing to come over here and meet my parents. It’s a bit weird I know.”

“Not really,” he tucked a loose piece of my hair back and picked up Maddox who had toddled after him, “I wanted to meet them, remember?”

“Mhm,” nodding, I rubbed Maddox on his back, “hi baby! How are you? I missed you.”

Maddox wrinkled his nose as he smiled, wiggling in Stephen’s arms.

“Oh! I’m being rude, sorry. Stevie, this is my father, Sparrow,” I pointed to my father who waved, “Pa, this is Stephen O’Ryan. He goes by Stevie and that’s his son Maddox. Or Max.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Sparrow came over and shook Stephen’s hand, “Hm. I expected a stronger grip. You’re more muscle than person.”

“Jesus Pa,” I grumbled, making Stephen laugh.

“It’s okay, Hyacinth. I actually hear that a lot. Tell me, Mr. Williams, if you looked at me, what would you say my job was?”

“Fire fighter,” Sparrow answered immediately.

“Military police,” Thomas added.

“While I was in the military until 4 years ago, no. I’m a hairstylist.”

Sparrow froze, looking at Stephen in shock and Thomas smiled brightly, something that made me laugh as I took Maddox from Stephen and carried him to the middle of the living room, sitting on the floor.

“Huh? Hairstylist?” Sparrow sputtered.

“Mhm. I own the salon across the street from your bookstore. It’s not open yet but soon. When I was in the army, I was trained to be a barber. I loved it. So when I left, I decided to get my cosmetology certification. I had a leg up so that was helpful. I just transferred it to Idaho a few weeks ago actually. I’m from Georgia,” Stephen joined me on the floor after setting his backpack down and Maddox paid him no mind, too busy playing with my braid.

“I’m surprised. Sorry," Sparrow laughed, sitting on the couch with Thomas, “I expected you to do something involving carrying heavy things around. Then again, you’re the same size as most of Thomas’ side of the family and they’re all teachers. You’re a bit taller than Uncle Jace was and he was… a principal of a high school and a professor. Hyacinth's grandpa Theo is 6 foot 5 and he was a veterinarian. Elliot is a paralegal and Dexter… what the fuck does Dexter even do?”

“No one knows,” Thomas shrugged, “oh but Elijah, that’s Hyacinth's cousin, is the exact same height as you and he’s… oh he’s an interior designer and architect.”

“Your family is interesting,” Stephen laughed softly, “my dad is a long haul truck driver. Mom never worked. Dorothy Ann, that’s my sister who lives here in Melba, she’s still in college. Only 19. Um Dina is a medical assistant and Deanna works at a hardware store. I have three sisters. I’m the fourth child. It goes Shane, Dina, Deanna, me, then Dorothy Ann. But we don’t talk about Shane and I only talk to Dorothy Ann.”

“Bad blood?” Thomas whispered, rubbing Sparrows back softly.

“Yes. Between Shane and me. I have other issues with my older sisters and dad. My mama is wonderful though. She’s mad I left Georgia and says I should have let… Maddox go into foster care but I couldn’t do that,” Stephen smiled when Maddox flopped into my lap, playing with my hands and making me giggle, “he’s supposed to be with me after all.”

“You’re not his biological dad? He looks just like you!” Sparrow gasped.

“Nope. He’s my nephew. Well biologically he is but he’s my son. Shane is his birth father. But Shane and Kim will never get out of prison so he’s mine now. And I’m happier than I’ve ever been because of my little guy. He’s my best friend. We do everything together. It’s rare I actually have Dorothy take him on Friday nights. I just happened to this week and it… was a good thing,” Stephen poked my arm and I smiled gently at him, squeezing Maddox.

“Stevie?” I whispered and he tilted his head, “you don’t have to answer yet. But why is Shane in jail?”

“Well… I… no I don’t… feel ready yet. I haven’t come to terms with it myself.”

“Okay,” I laid my head on his arm and Stephen softly touched my leg, “then tell me when you’re ready.”

“Thank you.”

“I made dinner,” Sparrow cleared his throat, “if you’re hungry.”

“Very much so,” Stephen nodded and jumped up, taking Maddox before holding a hand out to me, “come on.”

Taking his hand with a smile, I allowed Stephen to pull me up and we headed to the dining table, Stephen gasping at what was sitting on one side of the table.

“A… high chair?”

“For Max. We didn’t want you to have to hold him the entire time. It’s Hyacinth’s so it’s I guess almost an antique but we tested it and made sure everything was still good,” Thomas nodded as Stephen set Maddox into the chair before sitting next to him, “it was fun actually.”

“More like funny,” I snorted and Thomas glared at me, “what so I shouldn’t mention that you sat in the chair?”

Stephen started laughing loudly, his eyes crinkling at the corners and my heart leapt, my cheeks growing warm at his genuine laughter.

“Shut up, Cinn,” Thomas grumbled, sitting at one side of the table as Sparrow took the other, “sit down you weirdo.”

“Oh right,” I scrambled into my seat, scratching at my eyepatch, “did… has my new eyepatch come in yet?”

“No,” Sparrow sighed as he started serving dinner to everyone, “I tried tracking it but I can’t figure out where it went.”

“Ugh,” groaning, I took a small piece of napkin and wrapped it around one of the straps, “it’s scraping me really bad.”

“Take it off,” Thomas touched my arm and I shook my head, “baby…”

“No.”

“Hyacinth?” Stephen leaned down to get my attention and I stared at him, “it’s because of me. Isn’t it?”

“Mhm…”

“Would it make you feel better if I showed you something?”

“That sounds worse than I think you mean it to but probably.”

Stephen shook his head and slowly reached up, moving his hair away before suddenly pulling at his ear, shocking me when it came away and he turned his head to show four small magnets and the hole where his original ear should have been.

“What…” I gasped.

“I got shot in the head,” he pointed to a scar that had been hidden by his hair, “through my ear. Completely destroyed everything and they had to remove it. But since I normally wear glasses, I need a way to balance them. So I have a prosthetic ear that’s purely cosmetic. It’s held to my skin by the magnets you can see. I can still hear no problem, but I hated the way people pitied me over it. The military covered the cost and I was sent home on an honorable medical discharge so I didn’t lose my benefits.”

“So you…”

“So you taking off your eyepatch isn’t going to bother me. I don’t want you to do it if it makes you uncomfortable, I’d never want that, but I’d rather you felt comfortable in front of me. No rush though,” he put the prosthetic back on and started eating and I slowly reached up, pulling my eyepatch off and setting it into my pocket.

“That does feel better,” I whispered and started to eat, my parents silent until Maddox started babbling, squeezing the soft carrots Sparrow had made.

“They go in your tummy silly,” Sparrow cooed, taking a spoon and slowly scooping some, feeding it to Maddox who happily wiggled, “I know they’re yummy!”

“He loves vegetables. Hates fruit. I've tried every fruit I can think of and he can’t stand it,” Stephen sighed, taking a sip of wine.

“So he’s like Hyacinth then,” Thomas laughed, “when they were about the same age, we tried everything to get them to eat a banana, a strawberry, anything. But they were so against it. So tomatoes and broccoli were the snack foods and they were thrilled. Peas and carrots. It made buying groceries easier because Nix hated vegetables and Cinn hated fruit. So we just bought the amount of both we normally would for one baby and split it between the two of them. Phoenix is the only one who started eating meat. But he was really respectful of us being vegan and never expected us to make it for him. He would order out until he learned to cook and if he was going to make something he would go next door to Cove’s house and eat there.”

“How does someone raise children to be so thoughtful?”

“By respecting who they are,” Sparrow smiled, still feeding Maddox who was staring at him, “by knowing that they are little people too. Not just a being you control. They have their own separate lives, thoughts, and emotions. I had a hard time with that the first few years. Seeing Phoenix and Hyacinth as people separate from myself. But as I got help, as they grew, I could see it and it saved everything.”

“I struggle with that,” Stephen cleared his throat and I reached over to gently touch the back of his hand, “I take Maddox everywhere I can because I… I can’t…”

“Your situation is different,” Thomas started, leaning back a bit in his seat, “Sparrow had postpartum depression and separation anxiety. It sounds like Maddox was a massive surprise in your life and you didn’t have the preparation time of being a parent, the time to get your emotions straight. It’s fear, Stevie. That something could happen to him when you’re not around.”

“Well something did but… but Hyacinth saved him. I didn’t know baby CPR but I guess they did and I am forever appreciative of that. Wait, how do you know baby CPR?”

“Oh,” I smiled, “I just learn random things I suppose.”

“They’re lying,” Sparrow rolled his eyes, “Hyacinth worked as a lifeguard for a few summers during college. They never left home, but wanted to do something other than work at the bookstore. So they became a lifeguard and had to learn to do CPR. Fantastic swimmer as well.”

“Pa,” I grumbled, “stop it.”

“No, I'm proud of you.”

“How is Max feeling today? Other than the fact I can see he’s super happy to get my Pa’s attention,” I quickly changed the subject, hating the attention on me.

“They didn’t need to drain anything out of his lung so he’s fine. No sickness. I just have to take him to the doctor next week for a chest scan to ensure he’s fine. Dr. Warner is helping me to get all of his medical files from before I had him. He’s been living with me for 7 months but I just officially adopted him two weeks ago and the State is moving slow as far as getting his records to me. I hate it. I need to know everything. I’m his dad,” Stephen sighed, rubbing Maddox on the top of the head, “I know more about Star’s medical problems than my own kid and it pisses me off.”

“What medical issues?”

“Star is blind in one eye. Got attacked by a rottweiler when she was a puppy. Her entire right side is scarred and she can’t see. But she’s the best girl.”

“Oh I just realized you’re talking about a pet!” Thomas snorted, “I thought Star was a person for a minute.”

“Oh! Star is my Samoyed. I found her at a shelter in Georgia and immediately adopted her. Love that little girl. She’s the best dog I’ve ever had and we had a ton when I was growing up.”

“We never had any pets,” I shrugged.

“Your brother is effectively a dog, Hyacinth,” Sparrow laughed, cleaning Maddox’s face, “with the amount of medical bills we had to pay for him, there was no way we could have had one.”

“True. Phoenix was notorious for breaking bones.”

“Is that why half the pictures on the walls have Phoenix in a cast?” Stephen laughed, finishing his wine.

“Mhm. Always. Hazard to himself.”

“Tommy?” Sparrow smiled, “do we have that gift?”

“Oh! Yes of course!” Thomas ran down the hallway, returning with a gift bag and handing it to Stephen, “it’s for Max.”

“But his birthday isn’t until next month?” Stephen slowly opened the gift, his eyes wide, “what in the world?”

I hope he likes it.

I worked hard on it.