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"How many months are you?" Claude asked

"A little hed I guess Tara had gotten used to relative strangers asking her personal questions She&039;d told me before that all conversational bars were re," she&039;d said "And the women&039;ll tell you labor and delivery stories that make your hair curl"

"Do you want to knohat you&039;re having?" Claude asked

That ay out of bounds "Claude," I said reprovingly "That&039;s too personal" Fairies just didn&039;t have the same concept of personal inforize," ht enjoy knowing before you buy their clothes You color-code babies, I believe"

"Sure," Tara said abruptly "What sex is the baby?"

"Both," he said with a sirl"

"My doctor&039;s heard only one heartbeat," she said, trying to be gentle about telling hi

"Then your doctor is an idiot," Claude said cheerfully "You have two babies, alive and well"

Tara obviously didn&039;t knohat to o in," she said "And I&039;ll tell Sookie to let you knohat he says"

Fortunately, Hunter had nored this conversation He had just learned how to throw the softball up in the air and catch it, and he was distracted by the effort to put my mitt on his little hand "Did you play baseball, Aunt Sookie?" he asked

"Softball," I said "You bet I did I played right field That irl batting would hit the ball out my way Then I&039;d catch it, and I&039;d throw it in to the pitcher, or whichever player needed it ht fielder in the history of the Lady Falcons," Tara said, squatting down to talk to Hunter eye to eye

"Well, I had a good time," I said

"Did you play softball?" Hunter asked Tara

"No, I came and cheered for Sookie," Tara said, which was the absolute truth, God bless her

"Here, Hunter," Claude said, and gave the softball an easy toss "Go get it and throw it back tothe ball to each other with very little accuracy They were having a great time

"Well, well, well," Tara said "You have a habit of picking up faet a cousin? He&039;s not a secret by-blow of Jason&039;s, right?"

"He&039;s Hadley&039;s son"

"Ohoh my God" Tara&039;s eyes widened She looked at Hunter, trying to pick out a likeness to Hadley in his features "That&039;s not the dad? Impossible"

"No," I said "That&039;s Claude Crane, and he&039;s my cousin, too"

"He&039;s sure not Hadley&039;s kid," Tara said, laughing "And Hadley&039;s the only cousin you had that I ever heard of"

"Ahsort of wrong-side-of-the-blanket stuff," I said It was irity into question

Tara sa uncomfortable I ith the subject of Claude

"How are you and the tall blond getting along?"

"We&039;re getting along okay," I said cautiously "I&039; elsewhere"

"I should say not! No woo out with anyone else if she could have Eric Beautiful and smart" Tara sounded a bit wistful Well, at least JB was beautiful

"Eric can be a pain when he wants to be And talk about baggage!" I tried to picture stepping out on Eric "If I tried to see soht "

"Kill that someone else?"

"He sure wouldn&039;t be happy," I said, in a massive understate?" Tara put her hand on mine She&039;s not a toucher, so that meant a lot

"Truth be told, Tara, I&039; was askew, soer on what that ot to go into the shop," she said "McKenna opened for me today, but I can&039;t ask her to do that for ood-bye, happier with each other than we&039;d been in a long time I realized that I needed to throw Tara a baby shower, and I couldn&039;t iine why it hadn&039;t occurred toIf I made it a surprise shower, and did all the food myselfOh, and I&039;d have to tell people Tara and JB were expecting twins I didn&039;t doubt Claude&039;s accuracy for a second

I thought I would go out into the woods myself, maybe tomorrow I&039;d be alone then I knew that Heidi&039;s nose and eyes - and Basim&039;s, for that matter - were fari stirred in the back ofto do with the woodswith a hurt man in the woods I shook my head to rid myself of the haziness, and I realized I couldn&039;t hear any voices

"Claude," I called

"Here!"

I walked around a clu the whirligig That&039;s what I&039;d always called it, anyway It&039;s circular, several kids can stand on it, a few others run around the edges pushing, and then it whirls in a circle until the ih Hunter was enjoying it, his grin was looking a little tense, too I could see the fear in his brain, seeping through the pleasure

"Whoa, Claude," I said, keeping h speed for a kid" Claude stopped pushing, though he was reluctant He&039;d been having a great ti, I could tell he was relieved He hugged Claude when Claude told hio to Monroe to open up his club "What kind of club?" Hunter asked, and I had to give Claude a significant look and keep my head blank

"See you later, sport," the fairy told the child, and hugged him back

It was time for an early lunch, so I took Hunter to McDonald&039;s as a big treat His dad hadn&039;t ured one trip was okay

Hunter loved his Happy Meal, ran the toy car from the container over the tabletop until I was absolutely tired of it, and then wanted to go into the play area I was sitting on a bench watching hi the joys of the tunnels and the slide would hold him for at least ten more minutes, when another woman came out the door into the fenced area, with a boy about Hunter&039;s age in tow Though I practically heard the ominous thud of bass drums, I kept a smile pasted on arding each other warily, the two boys began shouting and running around the sether, and I relaxed, but cautiously I ventured a s off into the distance, and I didn&039;t have to read her(I discovered that her dryer had broken down, and she couldn&039;t afford another one for at least twoto look cheerful and interested

"Yes, youngest of four," she said, which explained her desperation about the dryer "All the rest of &039;eue baseball practice It&039;ll be summer vacation soon, and they&039;ll be hos to say

My unwilling cohts, and I did le, because she was like a black hole of unhappy thoughts, kind of sucking arding her with open-reat effort

"Do you really want to run away?" he asked

This was definitely an "oh shit" ," I said quickly "Come on, now We&039;re late, late!" And I picked Hunter up and carried hi in protest (and also much heavier than he looked) He actually landed a kick on h, and I al after us, her ape, and her little boy had come to stand in front of her, puzzled at his playood tio?"

I looked hiht in the eyes "Hunter, you be quiet until we&039;re in the car," I said, and I h the restaurant while he was yelling had focused every eye on us, and I hadn&039;t enjoyed the attention I&039;d noticed a couple of people I knew, and there would be questions to answer later This wasn&039;t Hunter&039;s fault, but it didn&039;t make me feel any kinder

As I buckled his seat belt, I realized I&039;d let Hunter get too tired and overexcited, and I ain I could feel his little brain practically jiggling up and down

Hunter was looking at ood tiain "That boy was my friend"

I turned sideways to look hi to his mom that let her know you&039;re different"

He was realistic enough to ad "She was really mad," he muttered "Moht for a second about what I could say I decided to ignore the darker theme here Hadley had left Remy and Hunter, and now she was dead and would never return Those were facts There was nothing I could do to change them What Remy wanted me to do was to help Hunter live the rest of his life

"Hunter, this is hard I know it I went through the sa, and then you said it out loud"

"But she was saying it! In her head!"

"But not out loud"

"That hat she was saying"

"In her head" He was just being stubborn now "Hunter, you&039;re a very young man But tobefore you talk"

Hunter&039;s eyes ide and brimful with tears

"You have to think, and you have to keep yourtears coursed down his pink cheeks Oh, geez Louise

"You can&039;t ask people questions about what you hear from their heads Remember, we talked about privacy?"

He nodded once uncertainly, and then again with rown-ups and children - are going to get real upset with you if they know you can read what&039;s in their heads Because the stuff in someone&039;s head is private You wouldn&039;t want anyone telling you you&039;re thinking about how bad you need to pee"

Hunter glared at ood, does it?"

"No," he said, grudgingly

"I want you to grow up as nor up with this condition is tough Do you know any kids with problems everyone can see?"

After a, except you can hide your difference, and Jenny can&039;t," I said I was feelinga little kid that he should be stealthy and secretive, but the world wasn&039;t ready for afive-year-old, and probably never would be

I felt like a mean old witch as I looked at his unhappy and tear-stained face "We&039;re going to go home and read a story," I said

"Are you mad at me, Aunt Sookie?" he said, with a hint of a sob

"No," I said, though I wasn&039;t happy about being kicked Since he&039;d know that, I&039;d betterme, Hunter, but I&039;m not mad anymore I&039;m really mad at the rest of the world, because this is hard on you"

He was silent all the way home We went inside and sat on the couch after he paid a visit to the bathroom and picked a couple of books from the stash I&039;d kept Hunter was asleep before I finished The Poky Little Puppy I gently eased hiot ot up froet some small task done Hunter slept for almost two hours I found this an incredibly peaceful tiht si

After I&039;d started a load of laundry and tiptoed back into the roo boy and looked down If I had a child, would my baby have the same problem Hunter had? I hoped not Of course, if Eric and I continued in our relationship, I would never have a child unless I was artificially inse Eric how he felt about nated by an unknown er

Eric was very modern in some respects He liked the convenience of his cell phone, he loved auto the news on television But artificial inseminationI didn&039;t think so I&039;d heard his verdict on plastic surgery, and I had a strong feeling he&039;d consider this in the saory

"What&039;s funny, Aunt Sookie?" Hunter said

"Nothing important," I said "How about some apple slices and soer and French fries and a Coke at lunch I think we&039;d better stick to the apple slices"

I put The Lion King on while I prepared Hunter&039;s snack, and he sat on the floor in front of the television while he ate Hunter got tired of the movie (which of course he&039;d seen before) about halfway through, and after that, I taught him how to play Candy Land He won the first tiame, there was a knock "Daddy!" Hunter shrieked, and pelted for the door Before I could stop hilad he&039;d knoho the caller was, because it gavethere in a dress shirt, suit pants, and polished lace-ups He looked like a differentat Hunter as if he hadn&039;t seen his child in days In a second, the boy was up in his arht I had a little lu Remy about Candy Land, and about McDonald&039;s, and about Claude, and Reave reet me in a second, once the torrent of inforet all your stuff together? Don&039;t leave anything," Remy cautioned his son With a quick smile in my direction, Hunter dashed off to the back of the house

"Did it go okay?" Reh in a sense Hunter was never out of hearing, it would have to do

"Yes, I think so He&039;s been so good," I said, resolving to keep the kick to round, but I think it led to a good talk with him"

Remy looked as if a load had just dropped back onto his shoulders "I&039;m sorry about that," he said, and I could have - well, kickedyou brought him here so I could help with," I said "Don&039;t worry about it My cousin Claude was here, and he played with Hunter at the park, though I was there all the time, of course" I didn&039;t want Remy to think I&039;d farmed Hunter out to any old person I tried to think of what else to tell the anxious father "He ate real good, and he slept just fine Not long enough," I said, and Rehed

"I know all about that," he told me

I started to tell Remy that Eric was asleep in the closet and that Hunter had seen hi that Eric would be one man too many I&039;d already introduced the idea of Claude, and Rehted to hear about that A typical dad reaction, I guessed

"Did the funeral go okay? No last-minute hitches?" You never knohat to ask about funerals

"No one threw therave or fainted," Remy said "That&039;s about all you can hope for A few skir rooht then"

I nodded I&039;d heard h the years about inheritances, and I&039;d had my own troubles with Jason when Gran died "People don&039;t always have their nicest face on when it co up a household," I said

I offered Rely turned me down He was obviously ready to be alone with his son, and he peppered me with questions about Hunter&039;shabits, which I was able to admire, too Hunter wasn&039;t a picky kid, and that was a blessing

Within a fewrooh I did a quick patrol and found two Duplos that had escaped his notice Since he&039;d liked The Poky Little Puppy so much, I stuck it in his backpack for him to enjoy at ho froo down the driveway

The house felt oddly empty

Of course, Eric was asleep underneath it, but he was dead for a few more hours, and I knew I could rouse him only in the direst of circumstances Some vampires couldn&039;t wake in the daytime, even if they were set on fire I pushed that lanced at the clock I had part of the sunny afternoon to myself, and it wasout on the old chaise before you could say, "Sunbathing is bad for you"