Moon Stalk

Chapter Fourteen

By the time the police had left to track down Ryan, it was 9:42 in the morning. I caught sight of my sister cooking breakfast for everyone after the harrowing night.

The smell made my stomach rumble as I sipped my coffee. Exactly how I like it, black with two shots of espresso and about two pumps of hazelnut.

Delicious.

I sat talking with Byron when a set of tiny knocks sounded at the door, setting Zeus into a set of growls and barks. Byron stood with the biggest grin on his face as he went to open the door, bending down into a crouch.

"Hey baby girl. Did you have fun with your cousin?" He cooed softly.

That must be his daughter, Avery.

In walked a little girl, probably only six years old who matched the child in Byron's photograph. Only she wore a baby blue checkered dress and her strawberry hair was in one long braid down her back, and a flower pinned in her hairline.

But this was most definitely his daughter, Avery Camilla Hughes.

Picking his daughter up, Byron delivered several kisses to her cheek, making Avery giggle wildly. Aaron joined him by blowing raspberries on her other side, making her flail wildly, trying to escape.

Seeing my wide smile made Byron grin in return. "Go say hi to the nice lady over dear. That's right, in the chair. Go on."

Walking over to me, I saw Avery holding a brown teddybear stuffed animal. "Hi sweetheart. My name is Sierra. What's your name?"

"I... I Avery." She misspoke but I understood she was saying her name.

"I see. And whose your friend there?" I ask, pointing to the bear.

"This Mr. Baba. My best friend!" She smiled at me with a toothy grin.

"Well you both look lovely. Are you hungry?" I ask, knowing I had a few frozen waffles in my freezer.

"Yeah, I always hungry!" She said, making us all chuckle at her words.

"Well I have some waffles, if that's okay with you and your dad." I looked up at the parent in question, who gave me an approving nod.

"Go and take a seat honey. I'll get you a waffle and some milk." Byron said, pulling a seat out for his daughter.

She sat next to me, fiddling with her toy bear's ears. It was sweet seeing Byron next to Laurence cooking, making food specifically for Avery. He must really love his daughter, which was rare in my opinion. Not unheard of, but unfortunately not as common as it should be.

As he whistled a tune, moving briskly as he put fruit on the side of the plate, I watched as Margaret was watching too, though with a sad smile. She was raised with only Laurence as a parental figure, so seeing a good father must have made her have self pity, though not for long as we all heard the television being turned on by Aaron.

"Holy shit." He said in shock.

"What's shit, daddy?" Avery said, confused.

"It's a bad, grownup word. I don't want to hear you say it again or I'm gonna give you a little tap on the bum." Byron said sternly.

"But uncle Aaron said it!" She whined.

I couldn't help but chime in "He's getting a tap on the bum too. Only Gabe's gonna give him the tap, and not your daddy." I grinned as Gabe choked on his eggs and Aaron turned beet red.

I saw Byron barely stopping himself from bursting out laughing as he grinned at me. "Yep so don't say it again, ok?"

"Ok daddy. Just no bum taps!" She yelled, scared.