#he does worry

“Look!”

Hayden pointed at a fin in the water. They had seen dolphins many times, but this time he noticed it was different.

“A shark, a fairly big one too.” “Oooooh!”

They watched the large animal slowly glide passed them and then disappear into the water. Hayden running along the pier to see as much as he could. He liked the dolphins and the turtles, but the few times he saw sharks his fathers had to stop him from jumping in the water, just in case they didn’t like the company.

“Dad?” “Yeah?”

He noticed how he was breathing quickly, something he had noticed him doing whenever he had been running and playing, even for short times. It was quiet for a while, before he suddenly noticed the tears on his son’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

When he didn’t get an answer, he pulled his son into his arms just hugging him tight. He could easily guess what was on his mind, but he wanted him to be able to talk to him and Hayle about it.

“I’m scared.”

He found himself without an answer to that, so he did the one thing that came to mind and kept his arms tightly around him.

“I know it’s scary, it’s a little bit scary for me and your dad too.” “It is?” “Of course, we only want the best for you and your brother, and not knowing how to make that happen is scary.” “So it is okay for me to be scared?” “Of course it is, and you can always talk with us about it okay?” “Okay”

As much as it hurt him to hear his son tell him he was scared, he was happy he did. He had seemed to take his own condition just a little too well, and it felt good to know that he felt he could tell him that he wasn’t. He could already hear Hayle quote some parenting book he had been reading of how this was something good and so on.

“I love you dad.” “I love you too.”

He dried away the last tears on his cheeks, then smiled, and ran off to find his brother. Chris knowing, he would have to have a long talk with Hayle later.  One thing they also learned was how quickly time flew by, between school, movies, long splashing contests and board games, they realized their two little ones would soon be teenagers.

“So, birthday party?” “YES!” “Not like last then.” “No, big one at the beach!” “Oooooh”

This time Hayle and Chris had been prepared for their birthday, asking family and friends to come if they wanted too, including their uncle Kagu who said he wanted to come. All the planning had been done, invites had been sent, and the two main attractions for the day had gotten to choose all their favorites. Having finally gotten the two to sleep, double checking that everything was ready for the big day, he had decided to take a bath.

“You do know I know you’re, there right?”