I always find you

Chapter 10

The plan seemed easy and Owen and Gabriel had trained the children well to remember it. Andrea, for her part, had made a special dinner for everyone to welcome Carlos back home.

"You must be very careful with Dad," Owen had told them. "Especially when you hug him. His ribs hurt and if you hug him with all your might..."

"We could break Dad?" Gwyn asked.

"Of course you can break him, as brutish as you are," Gabi replied, punching her in the arm.

"Girls, girls." Gabriel pulled them apart and knelt down next to them. "What Grandpa Owen is trying to tell you is that Daddy needs quiet and for you not to jump on him."

"But Gwyn is such a donkey. She's sure to hurt him," Gabriella continued as she shot murderous glances at her sister.

Andrea turned around while preparing an omelet with chorizo and smiled as she saw Gabriel and Owen doing their best to separate the two girls so they would stop arguing.

But as she looked a little closer, she noticed Tomi in the corner of the room, his head down, staring at nothing, and if she knew that boy well, she could be sure he was about to burst into tears.

She tossed him a ball of hard breadcrumbs that landed on the boy like a mysterious shower of dust and winked at him as the boy looked up and smiled at the impromptu spectacle.

Andrea motioned for him to come closer.

"Is everything okay, sweetie? Are you feeling sick, does anything hurt?"

Tomi shook his head and looked back down at the floor.

Andrea knelt down and handed him an already cold sausage she had prepared a while ago. "The remedy for all ills."

"I'm not hungry."

"Ah, then something terrible must be happening to you, my life." She put her hand on his forehead, though and knew he had no fever, then on his heart, and finally gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Something tells me you are sad. I thought the three of you would be very happy about daddy's return."

"I'm very happy, yaya. It's just that..." Tomi ran a hand under his nose and tears welled up in his eyes, "I had a nightmare during nap time that daddy was hurt and was taken back to the hospital. I don't want daddy to be away much longer and I don't want him to get hurt again."

The little boy wrapped his arms around his grandmother and buried his face against her clothes.

"Hey, my love. Daddy needs to rest for a few days, you know he hurt his hands and he's tired. But as soon as he gets home he'll be much better because he'll be with his family."

Tomi stared at her. "Promise?"

"Of course, honey, I promise. Will you help me finish the special dinner for your parents?"

The boy nodded and went running to grab his favorite apron.

An hour later, they heard noises at the door and the children were almost hysterical in a second even though they were all doing different things to entertain themselves.

They ran to the door and as soon as they saw it open they rushed towards the figure they all recognized: Carlos. They had soon forgotten about being careful or how little or how much their father's ribs hurt.

They hugged him as if they had not seen him for months and Carlos had to make a great effort not to scream because of the pain.

"Hey, hey, kids." TK caught their attention and grabbed Gabi in his arms because she was the one closest to him. "How about letting daddy get comfortable on the couch? The trip from the hospital has left him a little tired."