Evelyn had gotten word shortly before leaving Sonora, and so far, she'd told no one. What was she supposed to say? "Dear Malikhi, hope your first summer without your dad doesn't suck. My dad is trying to be a good dad finally, but apparently not to me." "Dear Ness, tell your mom hi for me! My mom's going to be a mom again." It simply wouldn't do.
She settled into home life much easier than she had anticipated after spending so long away. The tree tops were as familiar as ever and she'd missed leisurely days reading more than she thought. The biggest difference now was that everything was completely different. At first, it had been nice that her dad seemed genuinely happy to see her and that they'd gotten along fairly well now. He seemed tense, but that was to be expected when your entire personality was under renovation. It was nice, although Evelyn wasn't sure how much she really trusted the changes. Things with her mom were worse off.
The two had been friends for so long and Evelyn was originally excited for this summer in particular for that reason. Come August, Evelyn would be the 13 and a proper teenager made for better company. She and her mom would go get their nails painted, brew some new concoction that wasn't actually a potion, and talk about whatever they wanted to talk about. Instead, Evelyn was spending most of her time as far away from her mom as possible. And from HIM.
Charles James Stones, born just days before the end of year fair at Sonora, had only ever been in one letter. He'd been born early, sure, but it was hard to imagine that something as rotund as pregnancy had escaped her mom's notice and that she'd just forgotten to mention it. The hardest part was that Evelyn was quite sure she'd love the little bundle of mousey brown hair and rosy cheeks. He was nothing like her and would grow up nothing like she had. His magic was already strong and his father was already prouder of him than he'd ever been of the elder Stones child. The problem was that she wasn't ready to love little Charles just yet. She'd never gotten to see all the changes her father had supposedly been working on because he'd only ever been mean to his only child, and kind to his two children. Was this little boy the only reason?
The idea struck Evelyn as entirely unfair, and she was pondering this in particular when she pushed open the back door to her house and stepped inside, cutting off the sound of the ocean as she snapped it shut again. She thought to call out to let her parents know she was home, as it was later than she usually returned and they might be worried, but decided against it. Her mom had obviously made dinner without any worry at all, since leftovers were sitting on a plate in the kitchen for her. Evelyn frowned and then sighed, accepting the plate of spaghetti and meatballs. It was still warm, a nearly impossible feat considering the open windows and generally chilly kitchen. Evelyn wondered whether her dad had left a warming charm on it and sighed again before taking a bite of the delicious meal.
Carrying the plate into the living room and wondering at the quietness of it all, Evelyn was greeted by her sleeping parents. It had been nearly a month since Charles had been born, which meant they'd hardly slept for a month. With all the festivities of 4th of July at the beach and everything else going on, it was no surprise they were exhausted. What was more surprising was the infant, floating happily in the air above them. Evelyn blinked, surprised to see her brother suspended in space like that, and quickly set down her plate on the coffee table as she darted towards him.
"Come on, you," she cooed, keeping her voice cheery and keeping any panic off her face as she reached for him. He certainly wasn't old enough to smile or do much of anything yet, but apparently was old enough to be irritated by their mother's snoring and had found an escape. Evelyn stifled a laugh, wondering if it was too early to suspect the boy had a sense of humor. "How about you sit with me instead?" she said, pulling him into her arms and sitting on the floor beside the coffee table. She propped him in her lap, smirking at his derpy face as he yawned, and continued with the next bite of her spaghetti.
Wrinkly and potato-like, the baby seemed too small to be a "Charles James." Evelyn supposed her father had once been a wrinkly potato named "Mathias" but that was its own sort of weird and she put that aside.
"You're sort of okay," Evelyn murmured when the potato baby grabbed her finger with his whole tiny hand. "I think you're sort of okay, CJ," she said, trying out the first thing that came to mind. Either the baby had gas or he liked it, but his small toothless smile made Evelyn's heart feel warmer than it had in a long time. A protective instinct had taken hold there and she was suddenly sure that she'd never love anything as much as CJ Stones. "You're still a potato though," she added, taking a bite of a meatball and wondering when she could introduce her brother to brownies.