#jomitch

Friday, June 24, 2016

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

“Come on, Adam,” Johanna instructs gently. “You can do it, baby.”

She holds his hands as she rests her knees on the grass. Adam stands an arm’s length away from his mother, his eyes wide and his legs shaking, as he looks at her.

Tentatively, he takes an experimental step towards her. Our son looks at Johanna once more and then takes another small step before his shaky legs give out and he plops back down onto the grass.

“It was a good try,” I say as I join them.

Adam looks up at the sound of my voice and holds his arms out, his smile bright at seeing me. I can’t really resist that smile—Johanna’s smile. So, I pick my son up and he lets out a happy laugh. He loves that he gets to see a lot more being held by me.

Johanna and I have learned that Adam is quite the curious little boy. I supposed that he always was.

As the months have gone by and Adam learned to sit up, crawl, and explore, Johanna and I have spent a lot of our time rushing after him. If we are not within eyesight, he will push his boundaries.

Once, I turned away for a minute and he found a box of tissues, pulling out the white sheets within record time.

“He’s never going to walk if you keep picking him up,” Johanna warns as she joins us. Her hand goes to her swollen belly. “If you’re spoiling Adam, I don’t even know what’s going to happen when Callie comes along.”

“I promise that her tiara won’t be too ostentatious,” I reply with a grin. Putting my free arm around her shoulders, I press a kiss to the top of her head. “You okay there, soon-to-be-mother of two?”

“I still have another month or so to sow my wild oats,” she tells me with a grin.

Together, we walk out of the garden where we have just finished having lunch.

“What are you planning to do with your time?” I ask. “Body shots?”

Johanna snorts, her hand caressing her stomach. “I could probably serve a few glasses on this belly. She’s a lot bigger than Adam, isn’t she?”

“All the better to stomp over the boys that try to mess with her.” We get to our car and I give her a smile as I open the back door. “I’m sure, however, that Calliope will have your huge spirit. So, she could be ten feet tall or three feet tall—the boys will still be falling to their knees in front of her.”

“You’re making me out to be some sort of giant,” Johanna tells me as she lifts Adam from my arms.

I watch her kiss his cheeks and he lets out a happy jumble of sounds, his hands playing with her dark hair. She carefully straps him into his car seat and places the little stuffed bear that Adina gave him in her lap.

“Goddess, actually,” I reply as she turns to me.

A smile graces her lips and I lean down to kiss her softly.

“I’ll be expecting rose petals at my feet after I pop Callie out,” Johanna whispers against my lips.

“Of course. As if there would be any less,” I reply with a chuckle.

“Haymitch?” The light voice calling out causes me to freeze in place.

I haven’t heard that voice in years. The last time I heard it, we were in the middle of an argument.

And then, she was sending me divorce papers.

Turning, I see her standing a few feet away—Maysilee, my ex-wife.

“Who’s that?” Johanna asks.

“It’s May,” I reply as she walks towards us.

“May…as in your ex-wife?” Johanna says.

I nod as she stops in front of us and gives me a tentative smile. “Hello Haymitch.”

“Hello May,” I say slowly. My hand reaches for Johanna’s. “This is Johanna. Johanna, this is Maysilee.”

“It’s really nice to meet you,” May says, her eyes flitting over to Johanna’s stomach.

“Nice to meet you,” Johanna replies, squeezing my hand in support. Her free hand shakes May’s. Adam lets out a wail from his seat and Johanna quickly turns. “I’ll go check on Adam.” Johanna looks over at me and then gives May a quick smile. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too, Johanna,” May tells her. She watches Johanna go to the open car door. “She’s beautiful.”

“She is,” I agree. “I’m lucky to have her.”

“She’s young,” she adds. There isn’t any malice in her tone. It’s as if she is remarking on the weather.

“Compared to us, I suppose she is,” I reply. “She’s an old soul, though.” I look over at the woman next to me. She’s a stranger now. The woman I married is gone—her once long blonde hair is now bobbed and the long, flowery dresses she once wore are replaced with a cardigan and straight leg jeans. “So, what’s been going on with you?”

“I’m married, working as an accountant in San Jose, three kids,” she tells me. “I just had lunch with my daughter. She’s interning at the California Academy of Sciences in their Entomology department.” She looks over at Johanna, who is now walking back and forth with Adam in her arms. “Your son looks a lot like you.”

I laugh softly and shake my head. “No, Adam is all Johanna.”

“The smirk on his lips is yours,” May tells me. “How long have you two been married?”

“We’re not married,” I tell her.

May turns to me, her brows raised.

“Did I mess you up that badly?” she asks, her eyes boring at me. “We weren’t married that long, Haymitch. Not enough to cause you to hesitate marrying the woman who has your children.” May looks over at me, her eyes serious. “As far as I could tell, you love her and she loves you—more than you and I ever loved each other.”

“It has nothing to do with you and me,” I reply. “Johanna and I don’t need a piece of paper to tell us to be loyal to each other and to always love one another.”

“And, we did,” May states, her eyes contemplative. “I guess that’s why we couldn’t make it work. We needed that assurance, when it should have always been inside us.”

I nod in agreement. “You’re right.”

“I still think you should marry her.” May looks over at Johanna, who is now rocking a sleeping Adam in her arms. “I mean, back to back babies? The woman deserves a goddamn crown.”

“She doesn’t need it,” I say with a grin. “I already worship her, because she is a queen. I mean—she puts up with me.”

May laughs at my words. “You’re not so bad. For the short time we were married, you made me laugh.” Her smile fades.  “But, you and I both know that we didn’t love each other enough to be there when the laughter stopped.”

“You’re right,” I say. “And, Johanna has been with me through more tears than laughter.”

I see Johanna strapping Adam back into his car seat.

“Just think about it.” We both stand up and she suddenly hugs me. “Are you happy, Haymitch?”

“Crazily,” I tell her. My arms reach around her waist to hug her back. “It was nice to see you.”

Pulling away, May nods quickly.

“I’m in the phone book under the last name Sloan. We should all go to dinner, one evening.”

“Sure,” I say with a final nod.

“Goodbye Haymitch.” May gives me a sad smile before turning and walking away.

We both know that this dinner will never happen.

++++++

“It looked like a successful talk,” Johanna says as we drive home.

I turn to look at her quickly as I drive. She looks pensive, her hands resting on her belly, as she bites her lower lip.

“It was,” I inform her. “Maysilee really likes you. Actually, she was wondering why I haven’t married you yet.”

“Huh,” she responds in a deadpan tone. Johanna goes silent for a moment. “Do you not want to get married because of her?”

“Is that what you think?” My eyes remain on the road as I speak to her. “Johanna, I’ve wanted to marry you since Africa—since Adam.” My mind goes to our son’s namesake—whose death had been the catalyst for Johanna and me. When he died, we realized that we didn’t want to waste our lives wandering. We wanted to create a life. “I just didn’t know if you wanted to.”

“It’s definitely something that I’ve been thinking about lately,” Johanna replies slowly. “One day, Adam and Callie will wonder why their parents don’t have the same last name.” She looks over at me and gives me a smile. “At the same time, I’m happy with our life—me, you, Adam, and Princess Callie in my belly. This is it for me, really.”

I take her hand, as my other steers the wheel. “You’re it for me. Don’t let anything or anyone tell you any differently. I guess May got me thinking about this whole marriage business since even she could see that you and I belong together. She’s thinks that she messed me up.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Johanna says thoughtfully. “Marriage never seemed that important when it was just us.” She looks over at me, her dark eyes penetrating. “But, it’s not just us anymore; we have Adam and Calliope. We won’t be able to tell them when we decided to be together and become a family. We can’t tell them when our anniversary is—because, we don’t have one.”

I make a quick turn and park in our front driveway.

We just purchased the two-story house in the Inner Sunset three months ago. Our home in the Mission had been enough for three, but the unexpected addition of our little girl had us scrambling to find a bigger place.

Our friends, Thresh and Teddy, just happened to pass this place during an open house. They managed to bring the realtor down by five percent before we even saw the place—both of them very well versed in negotiation.

That is why they are Calliope’s Godfathers. They will guide her on how to be savvy.

And, if necessary, they’ll teach her how to argue herself out of trouble.

“I didn’t know that having an anniversary was so important to you,” I tell her softly.

Johanna wipes her eyes quickly, a symptom of having too much baby inside her. “I didn’t either.” She looks in the backseat at our sleeping son. “We should get him inside.”

Opening her door, Johanna pushes herself out of her seat and goes to the back door to get Adam from his seat, quickly stopping the conversation.

That’s how I know that Johanna is really hurting. She shuts down and focuses on everything else but the pain she feels.

Quickly, I jump out of the car and round it to where she is.

“I’ll get him,” I tell her gently. She stares me down for a moment before walking to the door to the house.

In the back seat, I look to see that Adam is awake. He remains silent—his dark chocolate eyes boring at me.

“You mad at me, too?” I ask him.

Adam just sticks his fist in his mouth.

++++++

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Inner Sunset, San Francisco

“So, everything is all set,” Katniss tells me with a smile. We sit in the living room of my barely moved-in house. Johanna is asleep upstairs having spent last night letting Calliope kick her bladder every few minutes. “All you have to do is make sure that you get her to the old house on time.”

“Are you going to let me in on the theme this time?” I ask and she shakes her head. “Thought you wouldn’t.”

“I’ve had a hard enough time keeping this a secret from Jo-Jo,” she tells me. “I bet it would be twice as hard on you.”

I shake my head as my eyes go to Adam playing with Cinna, Katnis and Peeta’s little boy. They are content with piling blocks together and then watching them crash to the carpet.

“She’s not exactly happy with me right now,” I informed her. “Can I ask you something?”

Katniss nods, her grey eyes curious. “Sure.”

Taking a deep breath, I meet her eyes. “Do you think that Johanna wants to get married?”

“Is this about Maysilee?” she asks.

I look over at her. “So, she told you.”

“A bit,” Katniss tells me. “I don’t think Johanna cares, either way. I think that what’s bothering her is that there is very little commemoration of what you’ve been through together. You have important dates, like Adam’s birthday—and the day that the other Adam passed away. She knows the day that she realized that she was pregnant with Callie.”

She looks over at me, her stare serious.

“But, when did you ever celebrate just the two of you? In some way, Johanna thinks that you’re embarrassed by her,” she continues. “Johanna told me that you introduced her as just Johanna—not your girlfriend, or wife, or partner—to Maysilee. That’s painful, especially to someone who just realized that these traditional events and titles are actually significant to her.”

I nod, letting her words sink in. “I guess we’ve been so used to being non-traditional—like, we both thought that it was a bad thing. I guess time and circumstance changed us.”

“Johanna didn’t have a stable childhood,” Katniss relays. “She wants her children to have more than she ever did and in the process, she realized that she wanted more, too.” She pats my shoulder. “Think about that.”

The front door opens and Adina and Peeta enter quickly. Father and daughter beam at us, identical grins on their face.

I can’t help but wonder if Calliope will have my smile.

“Thanks for letting us take your car,” Peeta says to me before he goes to Katniss to kiss her in greeting.

“How did your errands go?” I ask. The two had disappeared on some mysterious task that had taken them the whole morning.

“Well enough,” Adina tells me as she joins us on the couch. “What have you been talking about?”

“Tradition,” I reply as I put an arm around her. “You want to help me out with something?”

“Sure,” my pseudo-Goddaughter replies, her grey eyes sparkling with amusement. “What do you need?”

“Some suggestions,” I reply and stand up, turning to Katniss and Peeta. “Can you watch Adam for a bit?”

“No problem,” Peeta agrees and his wife nods. “Where are you two going?”

I give them a smile. “Shopping.”

++++++

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Noe Valley, San Francisco

“I look stupid,” Johanna tells me as I help her out of the car. She meets my eyes worriedly. “And, how could you let Adina take Adam for the day?”

“She wanted to spend time with him,” I tell her gently. “Adina doesn’t get see him often—and she is his Godmother.” I step away to take in her appearance and find myself a little breathless at the sight of her. “And, you are beautiful.”

This morning, Katniss had surprised Johanna with the long, layered white dress.

It is capped sleeved, resting elegantly on top of her shoulders exposing Johanna’s toned arms, the front has a v-neckline exposing her fuller cleavage, but the gathering of silk and chiffon covers it elegantly. The empire waistline flows over her stomach and the skirt dances on her feet.

She looks like she’s floating.

“I look like a marshmallow,” she protests, though her lips are curved in a smile.

I gather her shoulder length hair to one side and kiss the exposed part of her neck. “I just happen to like marshmallows.”

Johanna turns to me, her arms going around my neck. She presses her lips to mine and I sink into the taste of the sweet chamomile tea that she drank this morning.

“You’re perfectly welcome to unwrap me later on,” she offers, her brown eyes warm and molten.

I take her hand and lead her back to the car. “Fuck this—let’s go home.”

“Ahem.” We turn to find Adina standing before us in a one-shoulder rose colored dress, a gold cord belt tied on her waist. “Where are you two going?”

Behind me, Johanna snorts as I look at Adina, almost pleading.

It’s been weeks since Johanna and I have had a chance to be alone.

“Give us thirty minutes,” I tell her. “I’m begging you.”

I know how pathetic I look.

Adina shakes her head, grinning. “Take a deep breath and come on!” She rushes into the house, her dress floating as she moves.

Johanna takes my hand, laughing at my downcast eyes. “It was a good try, sweetheart.”

Together, we walk into the house and towards the den where the entrance to her backyard is. With Johanna’s due date in a month, we didn’t want to risk surprising her and making her go into an early labor.

However when we both enter, we both let out a yelp of surprise.

“Welcome to Mount Olympus,” Adina greets us with a gracious smile.

Katniss and Peeta have really outdone themselves.

They have pitched an arena-sized white tent, thin enough to let the afternoon light filter softly in. The floor is a marbled and there are long columns around the borders of the tent.

Around us, our family and friends eat, drink, and talk with gold goblets in their hands.

Everyone is wearing a toga, even Chaff, who is drunkenly waving his glass at me.

“I am Aphrodite, Goddess of Love,” Adina continues. She takes Johanna’s hand, who pulls me along. “Please, come with me.” She leads us to two large golden thrones. “Your seats—Zeus and Hera.”

“You crazy bunch of freaks have thrown us a Greek party?” Johanna asks Adina, as I help her to her throne.

“Of course,” Katniss says as she approaches us. She is wearing a short, off-the-shoulder dress similar to Adina’s, except that she has a hunting bow in her hands and a set of arrows that she is carrying in an across-the-back carrier. “Nothing but the best for our little muse, Calliope.”

“And who are you supposed to be?” I ask her.

“Artemis, of course,” she tells me. “Goddess of the hunt.”

Johanna chuckles. “Isn’t Artemis supposed to be a virgin?”

Katniss sticks her tongue out at Johanna. “This is a very loose interpretation,” she replies.

“Not the best choice of words, Mom,” Adina says to her.

“Where is Adam?” I ask her as my eyes look over the crowd.

“BROTHER!” My eyes go to Finnick, who is striding forward—an arrogant grin on his face and in an aqua-colored toga that is hanging loosely around him and barely covers anything.

“There are children here, Finnick,” Johanna says with a roll of her eyes. “Cover yourself up!”

“Why?” Finnick flexes in front of her. “Do you find this…” He winks at her. “…distracting?”

“Nauseating, actually,” she replies.

“Ouch,” Finnick tells her. He reaches behind my throne. “I just wanted to present you with your staff.”

The staff is as tall as I am—heavy and gold plated, with a thunderbolt sitting on the top of it.

“Let me guess,” I say to him. “Poseidon, right?”

“In the flesh,” he retorts.

“Now then, brother, will you tell us where our son is?” I ask.

“With me,” Peeta says with a smile. “I’m afraid that he is using my lyre as a toy.” Adam is in his arms and plucking the strings of the small instrument. He wears a laurel wreath on his head and thankfully, his white toga covers more than Finnick’s does. “Apollo, at your service.”

“This is getting even worse,” Johanna says, her arms reaching for our son. Adam is in his own toga, closed by a thunderbolt pin. “Have any of you actually read up on Greek mythology?”

The group standing in front of us shakes their heads.

Johanna looks over at me, exasperated. “Pathetic, the whole lot of them.”

“Why?” Annie asks as she approaches in a wheat-colored Grecian dress. She is carrying a cornucopia in one arm and Maggie, her three-year-old, in the other.

“Because, Apollo and Artemis are brother and sister.” Gale says as he walks over in a charcoal toga. He grins at Peeta and Katniss, who are blanching as they look at one another. “So enjoy your incestuous marriage.”

“Finally! Someone who knows how to open a damn book,” I say and meet Gale’s laughing eyes. “Hello, Hades.”

Gale nods, a smile threatening to break onto his lips. “I’m trying to keep in character.”

“Where is Persephone?” Johanna asks him.

“Over there with Dionysus and Hermes, organizing the gifts on your thunder cloud,” he replies.

Johanna and I look across to where Madge, Thresh, and Teddy are organizing our gifts on a giant paper-mache cloud.

Every once in a while, Madge will pull a grape from the wreath on Thresh’s head and throw it at Teddy’s head. Besides her are Hanna and Olivia—who are dressed in their own little togas as they twirl to see which one can make their skirt go higher.

I turn to look to Johanna, who is quietly speaking to Adam. Our son stares up at her, his small hand reaching to play with the locks of her hair.

Suddenly, she looks over at me and winks.

I am overwhelmed by her.

For the millionth time, I wonder how I have gotten so lucky to have Johanna.

Blunt, brash, beautiful Johanna, who has been with me through everything.

And suddenly, everything becomes clear.

++++++

Monday, June 27, 2016 3:00AM

“She says baby It’s 3AM, I must be lonely When she says baby Well I can’t help but be scared of it all sometimes…”

I hear Johanna’s soft singing as I get to the doorway of Adam’s nursery. She is rocking our son gently, her arms wrapped protectively around him. Her white nightgown moves gently with her motion and the sudden daze of watching her overwhelms me.

“What are you doing up?” I ask her.

Johanna looks up at me and gives me a soft smile.

“Couldn’t sleep. Callie was kicking me and it was getting painful,” she explains. “Then, I heard Adam crying. So, I just came to rock him to sleep with the soothing sounds of Matchbox Twenty.”

I walk forward and take him carefully from her arms. “You should be resting.”

Cradling Adam, I kiss his forehead and he sighs in his sleep as I lay him down in his crib.

“When he sleeps, Adam looks exactly like you,” Johanna says as joins me by his crib. “Do you think that he knows how much his life is about to change?”

“I think so,” I reply as I watch our son sleep. “Sometimes change is good, though. Helps you learn and grow. I know that since we’ve been together, my life has changed for the better.”

“I’m sure that traveling the world followed by year to year children wasn’t exactly in your life plan,” she replies with a bemused smile.

“No. That was actually a much better plan,” I say as I walk behind her to wrap my arms around her shoulder. Closing my eyes, I kiss her temple gently. “Thank you for choosing me.”

“We chose each other,” Johanna replies as she rests back against me.

“Johanna?”

She sighs contently, “Yes?”

“Marry me.”

Johanna turns to me. “I told you that marriage wasn’t important—“

“But, an anniversary is,” I finish for her. “You wanted a date to remember, didn’t you?” I reach into my pants pocket and pull out the velvet box that’s been burning a hole in it. “Today is the day that I gave your first ring.” Opening the box, I take out the thin white-gold ring with the small diamond held in its leafy setting. “And, it’s the same date that I’m giving you this.”

I hold it up to show her the engraved name inside: Calliope.

“Haymitch, what are we going to do?” she asks, her eyes wide as I slip her band off her finger. “Are we just going to get dressed in the morning and then drive to City Hall for a piece of paper?” I slip the ring on her finger and she stares at it in wonderment for a moment. “It really is fucking breathtaking, though.”

I meet her eyes as I press my forehead to hers.

“We don’t need to do that,” I whisper against her lips. She looks up at me as I take her hand. “This is just the day that I promise to love you, honor you, and keep you. For better or worse.” I slip her band back on her finger. “As I always have and always will.”

Johanna nods, her lips shaking, as she wipes away the tears from her face. “Fucking hormones!”

“I love you, too,” I say with a laugh. “Now, we should go to bed.”

Johanna nods and then looks over at me with a grin. “I suppose you’ll want a proper honeymoon.” She cocks her head towards the door. “Well, come on then—let’s finish what we started this afternoon.”

Taking my hand, she begins to lead me out of the room.

When we get to the door, Johanna gasps and the grip of my hand tightens. “Oh shit.”

“What?”

She looks up at me, a grimace on her face. “I think I might be in labor.”

++++++

Monday, June 27, 2016 7:00AM

San Francisco General Hospital

“When you give birth, you make a show of it, Johanna,” Portia says with a grin. “A whole month early.”

“I think that Callie is just meant to steal the show for the rest of our lives,” Johanna replies, her voice hoarse and her smile wide.

By the time we arrived at the hospital, Johanna was fully dilated. Turns out that the nagging recurrent back pain that kept her up was actually contractions.

So, Johanna pushed our daughter out into the world au natural; there had been yelling on both our parts.

Portia goes to me and peeks at the little pink bundle in my arms. “How is your little muse?”

I take in her thick, raven hair and porcelain skin; her eyes are closed though long lashes flutter every so often.

“She is perfect,” I say, my throat tightening as I look at her. My eyes look to Johanna. “But, we only make perfect babies.”

“Well, perfect family,” Portia says. “I think there is a little boy out there waiting to meet his sister.”

I nod and go to Johanna. Gently, I place Calliope in her arms before kissing Johanna softly.

“I’ll get Adam,” I tell her.

“We’ll be right here,” she says before looking down at Calliope in adoration.

“Let’s go, father of two,” Portia says quietly.

I look at Johanna and Callie once more. They are two most important women in my life.

“Anne,” I suddenly call out.

Johanna looks up at me. “What?”

“Thought that we’d keep the whole Persuasion theme going,” I say to her. “Calliope Anne Abernathy.”

“I love it,” she replies before kissing our daughter’s forehead.

Portia leads me out the door and shows me where the waiting room is. “There’s a bit of a crowd out there.”

Walking into the waiting room, I’m shocked to find not just Adam with Katniss, Peeta, and Adina but everyone else as well. Thresh and Teddy sit by the door that I’ve opened. Finnick and Annie are sitting next to the reception desk, while Madge and Gale sit closer to the window of the small room.

Katniss stands up anxiously along with Thresh. “Is everything alright? How’s Johanna?” Her two best friends look at me worriedly.

“As of an hour ago, you have a brand new little girl to spoil,” I say to her and Thresh. “Johanna is great—she’s in the room waiting to see Adam.”

Katniss and Thresh rush over and embrace me together, as I am the extension of their best friend.

“Congratulations,” Thresh tells me in a choked voice. “A little girl just like Johanna.” He laughs gruffly. “You’re in trouble.”

“Don’t say that!” Katniss admonishes him with a smile.

“Haymitch.” We all pull away to look over at Adina, who sits with Adam in her lap. Placing Adam on his feet gently, she gives me a smile. “Call him to you.”

Kneeling down, I look at my toddling son. “Come here, Adam.”

At the sound of my voice, Adam is rushing over to me easily and I pull him into my arms.

“You’re walking!” I say in a thick voice. “Adam, I’m proud of you.”

He gurgles his mouth trying to say the words that I know will eventually form on his lips. Finally, my son just lets out a laugh and throws up his arms.

“You better walk him over,” Adina tells me. “He’s excited to meet Callie.”

Nodding, I take his hand and carefully we walk out of the room. I watch him proudly as he teeters through the hall. Nurses call out their congratulations to me and smile at Adam, who stares up in wonder; his feet amazingly solid as he walks.

Finally, we reach the door to Johanna’s room.

“You want to surprise your Mama?” I ask Adam, who gives me a gummy smile. I assume that he agrees and so I pick him up.

Knocking on the door, I open it and find Johanna still holding Calliope in her arms. Her mouth bursts into a smile at seeing our son.

“Sweetheart,” I say to her and then put Adam on his feet. “Call him.”

She raises her brows in question and I nod back in assurance.

“Adam, baby—come to Mommy,” Johanna calls out softly.

Easily, he walks over to her bed; then turns to look at me to help him join his mother.

“Holy crap! Did he just do that?” she asks me in shock. “He made it look like he’s been doing it forever.”

I pick Adam up as I sit on the edge of her bed. “Apparently, it’s a special day all around.” I look to Adam, who staring at the sleeping baby in Johanna’s arms. “Adam, this is your little sister, Calliope.”

“Introduce yourself, sweetie,” Johanna instructs him softly. He looks at Johanna and she opens the blanket so he can see a little more of his baby sister. “She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

Adam crawls out of my lap and towards Johanna. He looks at Calliope for a moment and then smiles.

“Ba?” His voice is soft and excited looking at his sister.

“I think they’re going to get along,” I say to Johanna and she chuckles.

There’s a knock on the door and a nurse peeks her head in.

“Everything okay? Did you folks want any water? Or food?” she asks cheerfully.

“Maybe some water for my wife?” I ask her. “Her voice is a little hoarse after all the hollering she did. And, maybe some crackers for our boy.”

The nurse nods and then closes the door behind her gently.

I look over at Johanna, whose eyes have suddenly filled. “What?”

“You called me your wife again,” she remarks simply. “It’s been a year since you’ve called me that.”

I nod, quickly realizing my words. “I should say it more often. It’s what you are, right?”

She stares at me for a moment, before finally nodding.

Adam lays his head on her lap tiredly. Fluidly, I take Calliope from her, so she can hold Adam against her chest. She kisses the top of his head as I look at our daughter peacefully snoozing in my arms.

“Haymitch?” I meet Johanna’s blissful eyes. “Happy Anniversary.”

I take her free hand, the one with her ring, and kiss the top of it.

“Happy Anniversary.”