Epilogue
Iago sat at the dining room table, his laptop open while they ran through footage to decide what would go into the show. Everybody had come to his house instead of him going over to Gent’s or Mason and Law’s because that way he didn’t have to take the baby out in the cold.
She was so sweet and so perfect with her little cupid’s bow mouth and her tuft of red hair that never went away. It was just getting bigger. All the guys were in love with her, and even Abby thought she was okay because she was an Abby sibling.
She was sweet and wonderful until she was hungry, and then she let everyone know.
Now she lay in her little carrier that was still big enough to be a little bed for her.
Soon he would probably have to either go to a blanket or the floor system or a pack and play.
She was a big baby; she’d never lost any weight like a lot of babies did when they came out her size.
He watched her suck on her little pacifier for a few that’s before he turned his attention back to Gent.
“I think we should run it like this.” Gent gave him a storyboard with notes on it about the clips that they had. He liked to be analog sometimes and see things laid out on a whiteboard or a long piece of paper.
It was funny because Gent was one of the most technologically sound people he knew.
“Okay but timeline-wise I think this one needs to move up three spots.” He took a sticky note and wrote three spots up, putting an arrow in the direction that it needed to go, and stuck it to the board where Gent had put one of the house visits.
Gent tilted his head, staring at the storyboard, and Mason chuckled. “He’s right you know.”
“He is but it’s really hard not to do everything just in the order it happened.”
“But the narrative is more important.”
Iago turned to glance at Law, who was on the couch behind them in the living room.
He lay with his feet up on the arm and he was studying his toes.
How he could go barefoot in February in Hot Springs Junction, Iago didn’t know.
He was bundled up in a sweater, a pair of sweatpants, a T-shirt, and two pairs of socks.
Next year he and Xander were going to get a new furnace, but that was one of the things that they decided to wait and replace while they did some other work that would help with the baby, like putting in that stackable washer and dryer upstairs after they’d put in a tankless water heater.
“Yeah okay, you guys are right. Gent got up and started to pace and then if we put in the cemetery scene…”
The front door opened and Xander and Colton breezed in. They had gone out to get doughnuts he thought. Xavi had called from the coffee shop and said they’d had a delivery from the bakery in Secret Springs with all sorts of new flavors.
“Hey, babe,” Xander kissed the top of his head on the way by to the kitchen.
“Did you get lots of good stuff?”
“We did. We got there first so we have a wide selection.”
Colton settled in the chair across the way from him. “Is this the action board?”
“It is, and we’re just trying to figure out how to end the show.” Gent pointed to the blank boxes at the end of the line on the board.
“Hmm. We’ve got the cemetery footage, but I really think we should do something from the house, something amazing, a scene where something moves or floats, just to remind people that this was a super-active haunt.
” Colton traced his fingers across the table.
He was never really still, always on the move. That’s what made him a good front man.
“We should.” Gent waved a hand at him and Iago started scrolling through the various videos that they had to string together.
He had to smile to himself, though. They were still an active haunt; Helena and Lefty and little baby Ursula were still very much here, and even Xander had learned to stop being grumpy about it and live with them.
“Here you go, my love.” Xander put a paper plate with two donuts in front of him. One was chocolate with Bavarian cream. There was something that smelled maybe like coffee mousse. That was perfect. He was still kind of drinking decaf most of the time, and he did crave the flavor.
“Thanks. Those smell amazing.”
“Some of them were still warm when we left Xavi’s.”
The door opened again, and Sebastian came in, Colton going to help him with all the kids and the stuff. “We heard there were donuts and we had to come.”
Abby bounced. “I love donuts.”
“Me too.” Iago held out an arm to her. “Come sit with me.”
Xander went to get another plate and it appeared with a cinnamon sugar donut and one classic glazed. Abby would nibble on them and whatever she didn’t eat, somebody else would finish.
“Okay, so I think we’ve got a good arrangement. What if we put this scene here?” Gent scribbled on the board, indicating he wanted to end with a scene where they’d caught a letter floating in the air and landing on the dining room table.
“Sounds perfect.” Colton nodded, his mouth full of donut, as he held Dani and fed her bites.
Iago had just picked up his donut when little Diana started to wail.
Her outraged scream, not the one that meant she was hungry.
When he glanced down, she had lost her pacifier, spitting it out so that it rolled down her chest and almost all the way to her feet.
Her little hands flailed with rage and he shook his head. She sure was getting it said.
He went back to eating his doughnut, and Colton glanced at him, eyebrows raised. “Are you a just let her cry it out sort of dad?”
He looked at Xander, who had come back in and was watching with an amused smile, a pastry in one hand.
“I just don’t worry about it, at least not when we’re here at the house.”
As if figuring out there was something in his tone they should all be paying attention to, Law sat up on the couch and grabbed his phone. Mason stood so he could see over the table and Gent turned in his pacing to look at little Diana’s carrier/basinet.
It didn’t take long. Sure enough while they all watched, and while Law recorded, the pacifier lifted up into the air, floated across Diana’s little body, and then plopped right into her open mouth.
“Thanks, Helena.” Iago said. “I appreciate the help.” He smiled at the guys, who were standing around with their mouths hanging open.
“Helena can’t stand a baby to cry for very long.
And I have a feeling Lefty’s going to be the one who keeps her from falling down the stairs occasionally when she’s toddling. ”
Gent burst out laughing. “Well I think we have our end sequence guys. You get that with your phone, Law?”
“I sure did.” Law cackled. “God I love this town.”
Iago did too. He held out his hand and Xander came over and took it and they both looked down at their little girl, who was now peacefully sucking and falling back asleep. It was home and his family was here and he couldn’t ask for anything more than that.
End