Thank you so much to Ro-Lee, Randommmfanatic, vampluver19, iiMuffinsaur, and my guest reviewer! Welcome to the final installment of Original Sin.
Absolution
Ash smiles his first real smile today. Rain, never one to let her brother outdo her in anything, quickly follows suit. Maysilee is lucky to have her camera—a gift from her parents when the twins were born—on hand. She manages to capture the moment before the twins fall back into their default squabbling, as much as three-month-olds can squabble.
The camera churns out the photo, and Maysilee waves it dry before adding it to the baby album. Every single milestone, however small, has been carefully documented. She knows she'll appreciate looking back on it years down the road when Ash and Rain are older.
Their father will possibly appreciate it even more, not having been present himself for those milestones.
She hasn't seen Haymitch since she glimpsed him out the window when the twins were born, as Jon and Dell hauled him away. They regularly bring her news about him, and it's usually news that makes hope swell in her chest. After a week of self-pity and trying to die of alcohol poisoning, Haymitch shook himself awake, told Ripper—the woman at the Hob who provides spirits—not to sell him anything ever again, and went back to Jon and Dell for help.
"He's had his relapses," Jon told her once. "But he's trying. He's really trying. I swear half the Seam is in on it. When he gets desperate, there always seems to be someone around to stop him from doing something stupid. They all want him to get better. They all want him back. They're all rooting for him."
Soon after that, Maysilee orders dozens of loaves of bread from Farll Mellark, and Jon and Dell hand them out in the Seam.
Farll is one of the few people in town who are rooting for Haymitch. Most people, Maysilee's parents included, seem to believe that he's in too deep to be able to get out of the hole of his own making. Whenever she brings out the twins for a walk, there's always one of her old town friends around to coo over them while telling her to forget about Haymitch.
If he weren't trying, she would do it. She would do her best to forget him. But he is trying, so she won't give up on him either. Ash and Rain don't deserve an alcoholic father, but they do deserve a father, and Maysilee hopes they can still have one. On the nightstand next to the twins' crib, she keeps a small framed photo of Haymitch. She cut it out from a Capitol magazine from right before their Games. In that photo he's still proud, wonderfully snarky, and whole. She shows it to the twins every night—"Say goodnight to Daddy," and they'll babble incoherently—but one day, one day soon, she wants to be able to replace it with the real thing.
That day creeps up on her unexpectedly. She's taken the twins to the yard to enjoy the pleasant October afternoon, and Ash and Rain are fascinated by the bright red and gold leaves on the grass around them. Ash picks one up, inadvertently crumpling it in his pudgy hand, and holds it up to her. Maysilee thanks him graciously and picks him up to blow raspberries in his stomach as he squeals.
Rain makes a curious sound, and Maysilee turns around, Ash still dangling from her hands. Haymitch is standing on the walkway, uncertain and hopeful and afraid and anxious.
She blinks. "Haymitch. You… You look well." It's the truth. He's a little thin, but by no means underfed. His face is no longer bloated from drink, his eyes no longer red, and the bags beneath them are mostly gone.
"So do you," he says quietly.
Maysilee takes a breath. "Are you well?"
He hesitates, then nods. "I think so."
They continue staring at each other. Maysilee's mind is numb, unable to tell her what to say or do next. Fortunately, Rain intervenes, grabbing the hem of her pants and making nonsensical baby noises.
Maysilee shakes off her stupefied haze. "Well, get over here, Haymitch, and meet your son and daughter already."
She doesn't have to tell him twice.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this prequel to The Sweetest Mockery. :)