When he went back over to the living room he noticed that Leo wasn’t really focused on anything around him.
“You okay, buddy?” Maverik asked.
Leo nodded.
“Don’t seem like it. Something I can do to make it better?”
Leo shrugged one little shoulder.
“If you tell me what’s wrong, I might be able to fix it for you. But I can’t if you don’t tell me.”
Leo looked up at him, then glanced at the other adults in the room to make sure that they weren’t paying attention. They of course were, but looked away quickly to make it look like they weren’t. “My dad was one of those bad guys,” he said quietly.
Maverik huffed out a breath and leaned forward. “I know.”
“I don’t know why he brought people to hurt us,” Leo said.
“I don’t either, Leo. But he didn’t hurt you. And he didn’t hurt your brother, or your mom. She’s got a bad bump on her head because she fell trying to make sure that the bad guys followed her and not you.” Maverik knew full well the fuckers had hurt her, but he didn’t want the kids to know somebody had hurt their mother. Somehow her falling seemed a lot less threatening than somebody intentionally inflicting pain on her.
“He scared us.”
“I’m sure he did. And that was wrong. Very wrong. And I don’t know why he did it, either. But I know that sometimes people have babies, but that doesn’t make them a good mom or a good dad. It’s not the kids’ fault. It’s all about how the grownup thinks and feels and the mistakes they made. Some people just shouldn’t be parents. And they hurt their kids and they hurt the people that love them, and they even hurt themselves.”
“I hate him,” Leo said, his eyes glassy with the tears he was trying to hold in.
“Me, too!” Matteo said around a mouthful of cereal. “I want Ronan to be our dad.”
“Well, after tonight you won’t ever have to worry about anybody hurting you or scaring you again. Because we chased them off. And we told them if they ever try to hurt you or your mom again, we will hurt them .”
“Did they listen?” Leo asked, his eyes clearly hopeful.
“They did. They ran and they cried and they begged us not to hurt them,” Maverik said.
“That is true,” Bam said, nodding. “They begged a lot.”
“They did?” Leo asked, smiling for the first time that night.
“Yep. I saw them begging, too,” Maverik said. “Okay?”
“Okay,” Leo said, wiping the back of his hand across his eyes. Then he looked up at Maverik. “Do you think Ronan will want to be our Dad?”
“I know he does. And you know what else? That makes me your grandfather.”
“No! That makes you Puppy!” Matteo said as he drank rainbow colored milk from the side of his bowl.
“It sure does. It makes me Puppy,” Maverik said, chuckling.
“And you have a grandma, too,” Bam said.
“We do?” Leo asked hopefully.
“You do. Her name is Valerie, but all the kids call her Val.”
“And we’re all your uncles and your aunts. And you have so many more to meet. And more cousins to play with. You have the biggest, best family!” Brandt said. “You just don’t even know yet!”
Both boys grinned at each other.
“How about some cereal now?” Maverik asked Leo.
