Finding Abel

Chapter 16.

Jax

Two hours. I had left the boys alone with my mom and Tara for two hours. Now, I have a crying toddler with a bad haircut. "What happened?" I asked while trying to soothe Henry. His hair was uneven and I could tell that he probably moved during his impromptu haircut. Erin was going to kill me when she saw him. This could quite possibly send her over the edge if I didn't fix it.

Everything was going so well when she originally dropped them off. She brought Abel and Henry to the house this morning with everything they would need for about two days, even though we were only going to be with them for a few hours. She didn't give them breakfast because she knew that I wanted to have breakfast with Abel. She was as hands-off as possible, and I was extremely grateful for that. But then I got a call from Chibs that they needed me to help with a shipment. I wasn't going to leave Tara all by herself with two toddlers and a baby, so I called my mother to help her out.

Anita was no longer available since she got hired by another family, so it was either my mom or a croweater at the club. And when Tara found out her options, she reluctantly agreed and chose my mom. My mom came over in a matter of seconds and she was super excited to help. I heard her comment on Henry's hair, but her comments didn't mean anything to me. If anything I thought she was just taking jabs at Erin, but had I known what she was thinking I would have never left.

Henry's hair was long with naturally bumped ends, kind of like the statues of angel children. It reminded me of my hair when it was that long too and had I been his father I would have kept it long as well. Plus, he was only a toddler who was insanely shy, he wasn't ready to sit in a barber's chair yet. But now, upon coming home I noticed Henry crying with a deep red hue on his face. He must have been crying for a while because my mom was trying her best to calm him.

I thought he had hurt himself from the way he was crying, but when I came closer I noticed his hair. The hair on his left was much short than the hair on his right. His bangs were uneven and there was a chunk from the back missing. This kid's hair was past shoulders this morning and now half of it was at the nape of his neck. I didn't even know what to say when I saw it, I'm pretty sure I even stopped breathing.

"I told her not to do it," Tara said nonchalantly as she burped Thomas.

"Oh please, you practically handed him to me when I got here. Just so you could spend time with Abel and Thomas," my mother spat.

I glared at Tara because she of all people knew what my mother was like, and even though she didn't like Erin, why let this happen to Henry? I tried to regulate my breathing as I slowly took the toddler from my mother's arms. He was all too happy for me to grab him as he wrapped his body around mine. Abel came running into the kitchen with Henry's toy, "don't cry Henry," he said shaking it in his small hands.

"Look Henry," I said pointing at the bunny in Abel's hand, "It's Mr. Bunny, he doesn't want to see you cry." Henry had started to calm down when he noticed the bunny in Abel's hands. "Daddy, his name isn't Mr. Bunny," Abel giggled, "it's Mr. Rabbit!"

I resisted the urge to laugh at Abel's correction because I had to fix Henry's hair. I was no barber by any means, but I took care of my own hair, so I had some kind of experience. The trick though was getting Henry to remain still so I wouldn't cause any more damage.

"Abel, why don't you give Mr. Rabbit to Henry so I can cut his hair," I suggested to Abel. Abel handed the stuffed animal to Henry and I placed Henry in Thomas's highchair while Tara went to grab some scissors in the bathroom. Henry became antsy when he noticed the scissors in Tara's hand, but then Abel reached out to hold his hand. "It's okay Henry, don't cry," their bond with each other was so sweet as Abel took on his big brother role. He grounded Henry long enough for me to work on the back of the toddler's head.

It took everything in me not to snap at my mom when I realized how much of his hair was actually gone. I would be giving him a totally different hairstyle, and that was much different than just 'evening it out.' I took a big, therapeutic breath before the scissors closed in on the long chunk that still remained. Once it was gone, I gained enough confidence to work on the rest of his head. Like I said before, this kind of thing wasn't really my thing, but thankfully the natural curls that Henry still had left saved my choppy work. His bangs on the other hand, well, they were a bit uneven. Whoever my mom brought him to cut a huge piece off, there was no evening it out, unless I wanted to make him a target on the playground.

When I was finally done, I let Henry out of the highchair and he and Abel ran off to play in the living room. I was still beyond upset with my mother and I was trying my best to calm myself before I snapped at her.

"Jax," my mother began.

"You had no right," I stopped her, "you had no right to touch that kid's hair. I mean, what were you thinking? Did you even stop to think about how this could affect my relationship with her? How this could jeopardize her trust in me? She asked me to watch the kids for a few hours, and now one of them looks like a member of the Beetles!"

My mom put her hands up in surrender, "I was just trying to help. He could hardly see with all that hair on his face!"

"I don't care if he was bumping into doors, you had no right to touch his hair, mom!"

"It's just hair Jackson, it will grow back!" my mother continued to argue. It baffled me that she didn't see how wrong she was in this situation. "Get out," I said scolding her.

"But Jax," she protested.

"Get. Out." I was shaking with so much anger, I was way past mad, I was livid. She finally got the hint and grabbed her belongings as she marched out the door dramatically.

"Wish you had done that sooner," I felt Tara's hand run up and down my back, and I stepped back from her in disgust. She was confused by my action until it dawned on her, "Jax, you can't possibly blame me for this! I wasn't the one who cut his hair!"

"But you stood by while my mother took this kid to God knows who and cut his hair!" she flinched when I yelled, "what would your excuse be if he had been cut during the process? Came home with a nice little scratch on his face, what would you say? Or do you not care since he isn't my kid!"

She gasped, "Jax, I would have said something obviously. What has gotten into you?"

"You should have said something before she took him, but you weren't concerned about him at all. you went to that room," my finger pointed to Abel's room down the hall, "and you shut him out. And the only reason you give a damn now is because you got called out." I brushed past Tara as I went to join the boys in the living room.

I was in no mood to speak with her anymore because I was still very angry. I didn't want to say something I would regret because I felt overwhelmed. The most important thing was that the kids were safe and that Henry was no longer crying. Erin would be here in another hour or so, so I had just about thirty minutes to come up with a soundproof apology for what happened today. I had no idea how she would react to Henry's hair, but all I needed her to know was that I tried to fix this. And that I took full responsibility for what happened to Henry today. I just hope that my apology will be enough.