"A mistake?"
"Dad, you're in jail. You would have been a lot better off without us."
"Amy, I'm in jail because I happened to be exercising my rights – in a way that the truncheon-wielding jackass who insisted on getting in my face didn't like. And I would not have been better off without you. I love you. From the bottom of my heart, I love you, and I will never stop loving you, no matter how crazy your nutjob granny drives you. Do you understand me?"
As she opened her mouth to say the same, the door slammed open. It bounced on its rails. Amy looked up and saw a blur of motion aimed straight at her before a small pair of arms and legs latched around her tightly and pinned her to the ground. Javier's boys stood in the threshold. Their simultaneous wince was perfectly identical across each of their faces.
"Honey, did you just get tackled?"
"Um – yeah, Dad, I just did."
Amy looked down. Junior took up her whole torso, now. He was longer and leaner, less like a toddler and more like a preschooler. His arms had lost their pudgy little rolls, and his chin felt sharp where it dug into her shoulder. Presently his face rose, and he stared at her with his father's dark eyes and perfect lashes.
"Everything's OK, though," Amy said. "No need to worry. Everything's going to be just fine."
"That's all I needed to hear."
The tooth buzzed for a moment as the line died. Amy reached in, plucked out the tooth, and put it on the table. She sat up. Junior refused to let her go.
"Sorry," Matteo said. "We tried telling him you were busy, but he didn't listen."
Javier entered behind them, carrying a massive coil of fabric under one arm. He dropped it, whistled at it and pointed to one corner of the room, then watched it begin inching itself in that direction. Then he reached over and tousled Junior's curls. "La vi en primer, cabrón." Junior crossed his ankles over Amy's back. Javier nodded. "Oh yeah. That boy's one hundred percent my code."
"He's so big." Amy adjusted his weight in her arms. "What have you guys been feeding him?"
"Roroids." Ignacio nodded at his father. "What's up? Why are we here? The botfly said we should bring our stuff. Nice car, by the way."
Javier pointed to the scroll. "I'm going to Mecha."
Matteo and Ricci traded glances. "What?"
"That's impossible," Gabriel said. "There aren't that many visas."
"There are visas for both of us."
"Both of you?" Léon asked. "Really?"
"Really," Amy said. "Right, Rory?"
"Right!" Rory said. The boys startled, and stared suspiciously at the ceiling. "I'm in chat with your Mecha media rep's profile persona. She wants to do a show. It'll offset the cost of your citizenship. I'm showing her old Brady Bunch clips."
"What's that?"
A very cheery, annoying song filled the room. Javier covered his ears and grimaced. "Turn that shit off!"
It turned off.
"When do we leave?" Amy asked.
"Tomorrow morning," Rory said. "There's a boat. I'm sorry, but I couldn't secure a plane. They're very twitchy about vN just now."
Ignacio rolled his eyes. "I can't imagine why."
Javier nodded at him with his chin. "You got something to say?"
Ignacio looked away. "No."
"Don't lie to me. I taught you how."
Javier's oldest whirled to face him. "Yeah, and you also taught me to recognize a set-up when I saw one! This smells bad and you know it! You're just ignoring it because you're halfway to failsafe for a puta with corrupted partitions!"
Javier's fist popped out and landed right on his son's nose.
"Javier!"
"Dad!"
Matteo and Ricci quickly pushed their father and brother away from one another. Ignacio tried jumping toward Javier, but Ricci dragged him back down. Their feet left the floor as they struggled, and the table bounced a little when they hit the ground again. A slender earthenware vase containing a single beautiful orchid clattered to the floor and broke. Gently, Gabriel ushered Léon behind his own body.
Finally, Javier pushed Matteo back. He stood with his arms open, plucking the air with his fingers.
"You wanna hit me, kid? Take your best shot."
"You self-righteous prick." Ignacio strained against his brother's shoulder. His toes slipped across the bamboo matting underfoot. "You don't just get to jump back into our lives and then jump out again when you feel like it!"
"I'm not the one who came looking for you!"
"Yeah! We noticed!"
Javier's arms fell. He looked much smaller, suddenly. His gaze searched the room. "Is that how you all feel?" He frowned at each of them in turn. "Is that why you came looking? Because you wanted to tell your old man what a fucking bastard he was? You think I don't know that, already?"
Javier shook his head and shut his eyes. "Rory. Pull up the porno you showed us, before."
"Will do!"