Chapter 2.31-Tiny Bit of Happy

          “Sally!” Layla exclaimed a little breathlessly into the phone. The birthday guests were long gone, dinner dishes had gone into the dishwasher and Layla was getting ready for bed. Her stress over the day had left her far more tired than she was used to. Tiburcia was still up riding the rocking horse for all it was worth and she had no idea what Ignacio was up to.

          “What’s-” Layla began to ask, but Sally interrupted her.

“Oh no, honey. How-” Again, Sally cut her off.

“Well, are-” Layla could barely get a word out of her mouth, she hugged herself with her free arm. Sally was obviously still very upset with Layla, and this was probably not an event that could fix that relationship.

“Thanks for letting me know, yeah.” A sentence finally. But that would be all.

          “I’m so sorry,” Layla said, then looked at the receiver in her hand for a sad moment before replacing it on the cradle.

          “Who was that?” Ignacio’s voice behind her surprised her, but for once, she didn’t startle or jump. Her heart gave a tiny leap that maybe things could go back to normal between the two of them if he was taking interest in her phone call.

          She dipped her head a little that she could feel any hope when she had such news. But she couldn’t handle repressing that tiny bit of happy.

          “It was Sally,” she said, turning around. “She called to say that Uncle Trigger passed away today.”

          Her words were only just louder than the extremely noisy dishwasher and Ignacio had trouble distinguishing them at first. When they sank in, his stomach sank a little. Another death, and they’d all been so close together. At least Trigger’s passing was merciful. The entire town knew how hard he’d been grieving about losing Estella.

          “I’ll have to call Daddy to tell him about it,” Layla continued, making Ignacio very seriously think about opening the door of the dishwasher so he could get it to stop it’s racket. “I really doubt Sally will remember to call and tell him. He should know his brother is gone, even if they’re still not really speaking.”

          Ignacio nodded. More grief. Buck would still mourn, and that would hurt Layla even more.

          “At least it is the third death, right?” he finally asked her. “As death always comes in threes?”

          Looking blankly at him a moment, Layla jerked open the dishwasher unleashing a cloud of steam and the hiss of falling water before walking to stand in front of him.

          “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said,” she said sadly.

          For a long moment, Ignacio just looked at her. It had been a while since she had stood so closely to him and he was surprised at the dark bags under her eyes, and the haggard look of her cheeks.

          “I said that at least this is the third death, since death always comes in threes,” he repeated.

          “Oh,” she said. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

          Deciding he’d had enough of their tiff his shoulders relaxed.

          “Look, thank you for having my family over for Tibi’s birthday,” he said. “It meant a lot to her and it was nice to have everyone over. We do not get together as a family nearly enough. It was nice.”

          Nodding, Layla attempted a thin lipped smile. She was just so tired of it all that she could hardly focus on his words, or the apology implied in them.

          “Ah, Mi Llamita,” he said quietly, reaching for her and crushing her against him. “Things have been very hard for you lately, huh?”

          Not trusting her voice, Layla, again, nodded. Her heart pounding and the relief she felt at his touch caused a well of emotions to rise within her causing a lump in her throat. Too much was happening all too quickly. She’d give anything for a break and it was nice that Ignacio recognized it.

          Allowing herself to be cuddled for a little while was probably the most relaxing thing she’d done in a while, and with a shock she noticed how light it still was outside while she contemplated going to bed. Was she really that tired? Winter was just around the corner, she knew. So the days were much shorter, night falling earlier each day.

          “I have something I want to talk to you about,” she said finally. She hated to break the embrace, but she needed to tell him this. She’d needed to tell him this for a while.

          “I’d like to hire the custody lawyer Ned hired for you,” she said. “I’ll pay for them. Don’t worry about that. I just want to make sure Tibi is well taken care of.”

          Almost unable to believe what she was saying, Ignacio took a minute, blinking, to formulate his response.

          “She asked me today if she could call me Mom,” Layla continued shyly. “Because she says she doesn’t know her mother. I told her that was okay, but only if it was okay with you.”

          “It is fine with me,” Ignacio said. “That is wonderful, really. Tha’s- Tha’s great. And thank you.”

          “Don’t thank me,” Layla said. “There’s nothing to thank me for. I just, kind of want to keep this odd little family we’ve got here safe and sound.”

          “Family?” Ignacio raised his eyebrows. He figured she’d hold him at arm’s length until he told her whatever it was she wanted to hear. Neither of them had even said those big words to each other, just in case either wanted to walk away. Just so they could pretend they wouldn’t be terribly hurt. So ‘family’ was a big step between the two.

          “If that’s okay, if not-” her words rushed out in a tumble.

          “Shhhh,” he shook his head, grabbing her arms. “Shhh. Family. Our family.”

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Baby steps between these two you guys. And Sorry that was so short, but like I said: baby steps (also, the next chapter is a monster.) That was a big deal for them to come to a type of understanding about anything. And Layla’s energy bar really was low for that time of day. I kind of think Nalleli or Raul tried to cast some spell on her that lowered several of her motives. Lol. Oh well.

So if you will all kindly cast your eyes to the right I have a little announcement. Layla and I don't get along. Really. Between the two of us we cannot agree on a name for the heir and so we came up with what we hope is a workable solution. There is a poll up consisting of two names for a girl and another poll up with two names for a boy. If you would all kindly cast a vote I'd really appreciate it so I can stick it to the incredibly pigheaded girl who lives in my head. Er... So I can move forward a little with what is going on. *shifty eyes. The poll will be up for one week at the end of which I hope to be able to make an announcement in story. Thank you to those who participate! I really appreciate it.

A final note: Sally had also just given birth to a boy SP named JJ. Roughly 6 sim hours later she was expecting again.  FYI.