THEN YOU CAME BACK [mcd]

chapter fourteen

Two serious talks regarding the same topic in two months is a lot to take in as a three year. It's a lot for a twenty nine year old too. I'm just thankful Holden is too young to understand any of this. It may look normal to him as he grows.

Our three year old sits on the couch, her legs too short to hang over the edge. This time, it's Garroth's turn to have the talk while I support him from the side. Thankfully, I'm hoping Elizabeth will understand a bit better this time around.

"Daddy, why do we have to talk again?" She asks, her blue eyes saddened by the idea of a "serious" talk.

"Because Pumpkin, you're a big girl now. We can have these kinds of talks now."

"I think that's 'tupid."

I hold a laugh back, but I crack slightly and have to turn it into a fake cough. Garroth turns to look at me skeptically before going back to hold Elizabeth's hand. Serious Garroth.

"You remember when we told you about Uncle Laurance?" Garroth asks, and she nods her head with a question of her own. When is Uncle Waurance coming for a visit? "Soon. But Elizabeth, you have another uncle. You have Uncle Travis, Uncle Zack, Uncle Laurance. . . and Uncle Vylad."

"Uncle. . . B-Bylad?"

"Vylad. You'll meet him soon, I promise. He was like Uncle Laurance. He lived far away for a long time, and he has come to visit us. We didn't know if he could come visit, so we didn't want to make you sad in case he didn't. So, we never told you about him."

"Sad like how Uncle Waurance made mommy sad?" Her expression falls, and at that moment I can't help but to nod slowly at her, but try to reassure her in the end. "Do I have any more uncles? This is toooooo many."

Garroth and I exchange a look before he slowly turns back to Elizabeth, mentioning that she has one more. She has Zane. Though, he quickly covers it up by saying he doesn't like talking about him because he's dead, and that makes him sad.

Elizabeth seems to be understanding the conversation, and she's allowed to go play. This is after she tells Garroth she expects to see her "Uncle Bylad" here for dinner. She held her finger up "matter-of-factly" with her other hand on her hip. She can be very sassy.

When she's fully out of ear shot, I can finally let the laugh I've been holding within me out. Garroth's face is slightly pale. I can't figure out if it's because of the conversation or that he just got scolded by his own toddler.

"You heard her," I say between laughs. "Go invite him."

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Walks with Laurance have become normal again. He talks about his day and the newest problems he's gone through. For a man who didn't want to be seen, he sure does have a lot. "Those damn Ro'meaves," he complains, pouting.

"I'm a Ro'meave."

"That's even worse."

He's complaining about how awkward it's been between him and Kandi. She's pregnant, and they had a weird flame in the past that wasn't correctly put out. While neither have feelings for the other one, it's the idea that there was once something there that makes it awkward.

"Kandi's technically not a Ro'meave anymore. She's a Valkrum now."

He looks at me. "Those fucking Valkrums."

I don't comment on anything else. He didn't like my idea of actually talking to Kandi instead of acting like a baby and hiding from their problem. He acted like that was a stupid idea, and he could've thought of something better. Has he thought of anything? No, but he's considering hiding from his problems.

He's even considered living in the awkwardness and taking it with him when he leaves again. I hope he realizes that once he comes back, it'll appear all over again. And then amongst that, there's still an awkward air around him and Travis because of the Kandi situation. If the three of them would sit down and have a reasonable discussion about this, maybe they'd get places. I've had more successful conversations with Elizabeth in the past two months alone than they have. I could probably have a better conversation with Holden than this silence between the three of them.

Slowly, we make it back to my house. There's a sweet scent of pie cooling by an open window, and Laurance moves closer to it. He's always been a sucker for sweets. An idea pops into my head.

"Why don't you come for dinner tonight? Six sound okay?"

He shrugs before nodding. "Yeah, that sounds fine."

"Awesome. Also, Kandi will be there, and Vylad is back in town," I say before slipping into the door. "You already agreed to come, so I expect you to be here!"

He scoffs under his breath. "Damn Ro'meaves."