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“What’s going on with Mom? I mean…” She ducked her head again. “CanweseehersometimeyouthinkCyclonemissesher.” She finished in a rush, and damn.
Panic flared over Peter’s face.
Peter looked cautious before he moved farther back, leaning down so he could look Seraphina in the face. “Heya, cupcake.”
Seraphina’s response: “Heya back, pound cake.”
“You’re missing your mom?”
She didn’t reply at first, then her head bobbed up and down. I heard a sniffle. “Yeah.”
“You and Cy talk about your mom?”
Another pause. “Yeah.” A third sniffle.
“Well, she’s in a criminal trial. You know what that’s all about?”
Seraphina didn’t reply, not right away.
“That’s ’cause of what she tried to do to Bailey, right?”
“Yeah.” Peter was speaking so quietly now. He visibly swallowed. “Your mom wasn’t thinking right, and she decided to do something to hurt your sister—”
“But that’s why Bailey came to us, right? Because of what Mom tried to do.”
“Yeah.” His voice grew rough. Hoarse. “And because she tried to hurt Bailey again.”
Seraphina pressed even closer to Peter, whispering, “But she wouldn’t hurt us, would she?”
Peter froze.
He blinked at her. “Well. The thing with your mom is that I don’t know. Something’s wrong for her to try and do what she did to your sister twice. You can go and see her, but I have to go, or another chaperone has to be with you. The court won’t allow her to be alone with you and Cyclone, not now anyways.”
“What about Aunt Payton? Is she going to come back, too?”
Peter frowned again, his head inching back to take in his daughter’s face more clearly. “Would you like Aunt Payton to come back?”
She nodded.
“You miss Aunt Payton?”
“She’s nice.” Her head went down again. She started scratching idly at Peter’s armrest of his chair. “She draws with me, and she talks to Cyclone about his robots. I know he misses her.”
A look flashed over Peter’s face, his features hardening a second before he blinked and it cleared.
I frowned, seeing it.
“Okay.” He coughed, clearing his throat. “I’ll—um—I’ll have a word with Marie and then give Payton a call. I’m sure she would love to come and spend more time with her favorite niece and nephew.”
Seraphina giggled. “Dad. You’re silly.”
He chuckled, softening. “Only for you, cupcake.”
“Thanks, Dad.” She wrapped her arms tight around him, squeezing. “Thanks, pound cake.”
Another chuckle as he watched her leave the office. She never looked toward my corner, and I was glad. She had an easier bounce to her step, and if she saw me, I knew that lightness would evaporate. I would need to dedicate quality time to Seraphina to find out the reason why I made her uneasy, and she was the most reserved of the Francis children. Handling Sera- phina was like moving a delicate diamond found in nature. You saw the gem there, the beauty of it, but you needed to be gentle in washing away the dirt that it grew from.
Once the door closed, Peter let out an audible breath, leaning back in his chair. “Fuck.”
