Little Girls and Boys
If Aimee and he ever had a son Horatio would be happy but he was truly happy at the thought of two little girls. And any son of theirs was not going to be named Horatio Junior. Besides the fact his wife loathed this 'junior thing' and always had, Horatio told everyone he would never 'curse' a child with that name. He lost count of the number of times he was teased in school over his name. The couple that would be "lucky enough" to have four children, a large family by today's standards but that was nobody's business but their own.
For H, his home was finally his 'soft place to fall.' Lingering at work just to avoid going home to an empty house was long gone. His house was anything but empty or quiet these days and Horatio thought that was great. Hearing the pitter-patter of little feet start to run down the hallway to the front door when he came home. The moment Horatio stepped through the door and took off his shoes he'd start counting. He usually got to four or five before Rachel rounded the corner and raced toward him to be picked up.