“Do you want me to go with you, Kitten?” Callum asks, nuzzling my neck.
“Sure, baby, he might talk to you better than he will for me. Let’s go find him and see what’s going on. Vivi said he punched and pushed her. I don’t know what’s going on with him,” I explain as we head towards the playroom.
“There have been a lot of new and different things going on recently. Let’s just talk to him and see what’s going on. Maybe we should look into getting the kids into therapy. I know you said they were in it after Corin died to deal with everything, but I think it might help with all the recent changes.” He’s looking at me out of the corner of his eye as we walk down the hall, waiting on my response.
“Honestly, that sounds great, love. You don’t have to worry that I’m going to be upset. As far as I’m concerned, you and the other guys are their dads. Y’all have a say in how they are raised. I don’t want any of you to feel like y’all can’t express your options on how you think something should go.” I pull him to a stop in front of the playroom door so I can look him in his eyes.
“I want all of you to feel comfortable making decisions when I’m not around. I put you all on their emergency contact forms at school as well,” I tell him.
He leans down and kisses me. “Thank you for trusting us with your kids and your heart, Kitten. Let’s go see what’s wrong with our little man.” He grabs my hand and pulls the door to the playroom open.
Arden is sitting under the indoor tree house on his beanbag playing his Nintendo switch. “Arden, where’s your brother?” I ask calmly as I walk over. He glances up at me and points up to the inside of the treehouse before resuming his game. I look at Callum, and we both move towards the ladder so we can climb inside. Callum helps me into it and follows me up. There is a Lochlan sized lump curled up under a blanket in another one of the beanbags.
I slowly knee walk towards him and pull the blanket off. Lochlan is lying in the middle of the bundle, balled up and crying. I scoop him up and set him in my lap. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt sissy! She wouldn’t stop taking my toys, and I just got so mad. I don’t want to be like our old daddy! I don’t want to hurt sissy, you, or the babies.” He’s full out sobbing at this point. I glance at Callum. I’m at a loss for what to do or say at this point.
Callum reaches out his arms. “Come here, buddy.” Lochlan shuffles over and curls up into his lap. “Arden, bud, why don’t you come up here, too?” he calls out, and a couple seconds later, Arden crawls into the vacant space in my lap.
Callum sighs and looks at the boys. “I’m going to tell y’all a story, okay? A long time ago, there were five best friends. Four of them had really hard lives at home, and some of them had mean dads, some had mean moms, or both. When things would get tough for those four, they would all show up at their other friend’s house. Now, he didn’t have a dad, but he did have an amazing mom.”
He sighs and rubs his hands up and down Lochlan’s back. “ His mom would cheer his friends up and show them how they should be treated. However, that didn’t always help. All five ended up having anger issues because they didn’t know how to properly express themselves and their feelings. Even the boy with the amazing mom, because he missed his dad and was angry he had left them. You know what his mom taught them?” Callum smiled at the boys as he waited for an answer.
“No, what?” Arden asked.
“She taught them that it’s okay to have big feelings, but it’s not okay to put your hands on anyone in anger. That if you wouldn’t like something being done to you, don’t do it to others. If you are having trouble expressing yourself and someone is making you mad, come tell your mother, or one of your dads. We will help you. No matter what, if either of you need to talk about anything, it doesn’t matter what, you can come to any of us. Okay?”
“Okay, daddy. I’m sorry I hurt sissy. I promise I won’t do it again,” Lochlan says softly.
I lean over and brush his long brown hair out of his face. “We understand, baby. How about we go tell sissy you’re sorry?”
Isla
As we are walking into the living room, the doorbell dings. “Callum, will you take Lochlan to apologize to Vivian? I’ll go get the door,” I ask as I turn to walk to the front entryway.
“Yeah, Kitten, I got it. Come on, buds, let’s go find sissy and get ready to enjoy all the amazing food Mommy and Bodie have been cooking.”
I really wish we would have gotten a definitive count on who and how many people were coming, but thankfully, we cooked enough for a small army. Maw-Maw, being the planner, had a ton of folding tables and chairs so we would have plenty of room for everyone. I’m mentally checking my list to make sure we didn’t forget anything, as I’m walking to the door, worried I forgot something.
I pull the monstrosity of a door open to the welcome sight of some of the amazing friends I’ve made since moving here. Chris and Nathan, my friends turned co-workers. Chris is the principal at the kids’ school, and Nathan is his husband as well as the school counselor. They have been amazing through everything and the short time I got to work at the school.
“Isla! You look amazing babe! I’m so glad you’re up and about now. We hated seeing you laid up in the hospital,” Chris rambles as he pulls me in for a hug.
“Thank y'all for inviting us. We brought some corn casserole and bread pudding. I know you said not to bring anything, but my momma would whoop my butt if I showed up empty handed,” Nathan says as he holds up the box containing the dishes.
I chuckle at that. “Good ol’ southern moms. I get that completely, though. Wait till you see Maw-Maw running around hosting. Y’all go on in!” I step out and to the side so I can greet Jose and Joe. As they are getting out of Joe’s truck, more cars pull up, as well as a firetruck, since we told the guys on shift to come by too.
“Hey, guys! Glad everyone could make it! Everything is set up in the main dining and living room!” I call out as people start walking up.
“It’s great to see you. I’m glad you’re okay,” Joe says softly as he pats my shoulder when he passes.
“Good to see you standing, mama. I knew nothing could keep you down. You’re too strong for that.” Jose pulls me into a hug.
“Thanks, Jose, and I’m trying my best,” I softly reply.
“That’s the best we can hope for some days. I’ll see you in there,” he smiles as he walks in toward the back of the house.
A line of firefighters, EMTs, and police come next–all with their own greetings and well wishes–when I see a black Dodge Journey pull up, and a small older woman with long brown hair gets out. There is no denying who this is. However, I wasn’t expecting to meet Callum’s mother today. She’s walking up to the front door as we both wait to greet each other until she’s on the steps.
