Chapter Sixty-Seven
After six weeks, Exton returned to the Capitol. Effie continued her treatment through long distance phone calls twice every week. Each morning, Haymitch hovered next to her watching her consume the prescribed medicines and on some nights, he held her close when she cried to him about being dependant on her pills again. He would whisper in her ear, telling her she was getting better, that she was doing this for the boys and it would calm her down slightly.
Effie was getting better. She was functional again. She could get out of bed, spend time with the children. It almost felt like everything was back to normal.
With Effie's encouragement, Haymitch began to work on the law. She would help him where she could, just as they had before. At night, Effie would sometimes sit with him in the study and they would work quietly.
Just as her therapist had advised, in order to give Effie back that sense of familiarity and control, they stuck to their usual routine. They went grocery shopping every Sunday morning and instead of them taking turn like they had done when they boys were younger, Effie and Haymitch now took their sons with them. It was her suggestion, of course. Effie took the opportunity to convert the trip into a learning journey.
"This is an apple," she smiled, lifting the fruit up to the twins that particular sunny morning.
Ethan stared at his mother, lost interest and hurried after Haymitch who was walking slightly ahead.
"Ethan, come here! Don't… Oh, never mind, then. Here, Tristan, that's my little prince. An apple! A-P-P-L-E!
It was slow progress but Tristan had started to talk, forming words to get his parent's attention. As Effie repeated the word, Tristan echoed the last syllable after his mother.
"That's very good! You're such a smart boy," Effie gushed, beaming at him as she pinched his cheek. "He's the smartest, isn't he, Haymitch?"
Haymitch paused at how familiar that sentence sounded. He had heard it often albeit in a different voice, in a time long gone.
Oh, he's the smartest, isn't he?
That was something his mother used to say about him. The smartest, the bravest, the strongest. She was always praising him.
Haymitch grunted a reply, turning his attention back to getting everything that was on Effie's list. For the umpteenth time, he checked the crumpled list again with one hand holding tight to Ethan's small palm as they walked down the farmer's market.
"What else do we need?"
"Cheese," he muttered.
Effie navigated them down the correct way and soon enough Haymitch had struck off cheese from the list.
"Do you remember Klaus Adler?" she said out of the blue, rearranging vegetables in her basket. "I think we have everything, Haymitch. We can head home now. Anyway, Klaus… I came to know that he now -"
Haymitch's eyes were already on her the moment the name passed her lips. His brows crinkled into a displeased frown.
"Came to know? I've made it clear to him that if he has anything, he runs it by Plutarch," he growled.
"I'm sure he has been doing just that," Effie assured him.
Haymitch glanced at her but before he could say anything, Ethan was already tugging on his hand towards the playground, having seen it as they passed by the place.
"Not today, tiger. Another time," he told the boy.
His reaction was instantaneous. Ethan dropped to the dirty ground and laid spread eagle on it, sulking. Effie gave an incensed gasp.
"Get up at once young man!" she said. "You're dirtying your clothes. Haymitch, pick him up!"
"If you're going to have a temper tantrum, I'm going to leave you right here. Someone will send you home. I'm not going to deal with this," Haymitch stood over him, ignoring the angry wailing.
"Come on, sweetheart." He took her by the elbow and walked a few steps away. Tristan pointed at his brother urgently. "You'll see," Haymitch said. "Your brother won't stay there."
The crying trickled out before it eventually stopped.
"We shouldn't leave him there," Effie hissed.
"Walk slowly. Don't turn around to look at him. He'll follow us."
True enough, they were less than five steps away when Ethan caught up. He pointed to the playground again when Haymitch lifted him off the ground.
"Dada!"
"I already said no. Now we go home to feed the geese," Haymitch told him. At the promise of feeding the geese, the playground was all but forgotten. Ethan fell in line next to his brother, holding on to Tristan's hand as they walked home.
Effie gave Haymitch a smile. "You handled it well."
XxX
It wasn't until they were home, the groceries kept away and the boys had taken their afternoon nap that Effie brought Adler up again. She poured Haymitch a small measure of bourbon as she did so.
"This conversation requires a drink?" he lifted an eyebrow.
Effie smiled. "It's not that bad. I don't think it is but if it helps you relax, all the better."
With a shrug, Haymitch flopped down on the sofa, sipping his drink.
"I spoke to Elias recently," Effie said, watching Haymitch's reaction warily. After she had found out the truth from Adler, Effie seldom initiated any conversation with her cousin. She would talk to him when he called if only to keep up the pretences.
"What does he want?" Haymitch scowled.
"That's the interesting thing," she sat on the sofa next to him, legs folded underneath her and turned to face Haymitch. "He called to tell me that Klaus has a daughter."
The glass he had brought up to his lips paused in mid-air. Haymitch tilted his head to the side, thinking that he must have misheard it. "Come again?" he asked. "Isn't that man –"
"Yes, exactly, he couldn't. Which begs the question – where did the girl come from?"
His eyes narrowed. "And I'm guessing you know the answer to that question."
Effie nodded, scooting closer to Haymitch.
"Elias told me, of course. But, Haymitch, I think this is all a vindictive move on his part."
That got his attention. He placed the glass down on the coffee table, giving Effie his full attention.
"I think he knows that we know," Effie worried her bottom lip. "That you won't take his deal or that Klaus is voluntarily helping Plutarch with the law."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because he told me that Klaus bought that child from a couple in the district. They're selling children and babies, Haymitch. I have heard rumours about it from one of my contacts before but it was not something that could be established until Klaus. Think about it, though, it's an easy solution for those who never wanted children, sell the child off but still get the baby bonus from the government. I mean, Klaus could have adopted from an orphanage but there are strict -"
"Effie," Haymitch said slowly. "Those are serious allegations."
"I'm not the one making them!"
Haymitch stood up but Effie was quicker, moving in front of him to block his way.
"Where are you going?"
"To call Plutarch, see if he can investigate further. If this is true, it's just another way that the law is failing. We can use it."
"You can't do that! This is exactly why Elias called to let me know, because I think he expects you to make full use of the information. Klaus will be captured and the biological parents of that child will have to face heavy consequences."
By now, Haymitch looked mildly annoyed.
"If it wasn't your cousin, I would still have found out about it sooner or later," he said, side-stepping her.
"No," she placed a hand on his chest. "Haymitch, think about it! Maybe it's better for the child. Maybe Klaus could care for her; give her the life she couldn't have with her biological parents."
Haymitch paced the room, thinking to himself. Effie watched him.
"We don't have to give out names .You said so yourself; one of your contacts heard rumours which means, Adler isn't the only person to have done this. We can't lose him, anyway. He is a source. This is something, Effie. One more thing to stack up against the Council."
The slight frown on her face told him that Effie wasn't particularly thrilled by it but she nodded her head, knowing that Haymitch was right.
XxX
Throughout their phone conversation the next day, Haymitch harboured the impression that Plutarch was highly distracted. Once everything that needed to be discussed was covered including the fact that he was back working on the law and the issue on Adler, Plutarch blurted out the news that he had been trying hard to contain until the timing was appropriate.
"Fulvia's pregnant!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Isn't that marvellous?"
"That's – "
"We've only found out two days ago and a good thing, too, because officials have been coming around the past few months asking questions. We decided there's no point putting it off. We've been married for a while now, as long as you and Effie! There was no point abstaining anymore because abstinence is the only option now that all forms of contraceptive are illegal so Fulvia and I started – "
Haymitch shuddered, blinking the intrusive image away and cut Plutarch off. "I think that's … that's more than enough information."
"Oh, right you are, of course," Plutarch laughed.
"Congratulations, I supposed," Haymitch murmured.
"Yes, thank you. It's all very exciting!"
"Hmmm," Haymitch scratched the back of his neck, wondering if it would be rude to just hang up on his friend. He couldn't quite share Plutarch's sentiment because when Effie broke the news, being excited was the last thing on his mind. He had been furious.
Plutarch, as usual, was oblivious to how uncomfortable the conversation was quickly turning out to be for Haymitch because he prattled on.
"Only about 6 months or so till I become a father myself. You probably don't share my sentiment," he laughed to himself. Haymitch resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You were never excited for Effie's pregnancy as I recall."
Haymitch scowled. There was no need to bring that up, he thought. He glanced over at Effie and the boys in the sitting room.
"I am truly looking forward to meeting this child. A little odd though - the concept of being responsible for someone but I always like a good challenge. Can't be any more difficult than being a Gamemaker or leading a Rebellion, am I right?"
"Oh, if you only knew," Haymitch snorted. "When you have to wake up at four in the morning because the bugger is crying at the top of his lungs wanting to be fed, it'll make you wish you only had the Rebellion to worry about."
Effie heard that bit of conversation and turned to glare at him.
"Take your regrets somewhere else," she hissed.
Haymitch grinned at her causing her to shake her head.
"I hope none of the children inherit your sense of humour," she said. "It's appalling and sometimes, not at all humourous, if I were to be completely honest."
Haymitch gave Ethan a pointed a look because evidently, the boy's idea of humour was to break crumbs of biscuits on to his brother's hair. She followed his line of sight and when she saw it, Effie threw her hand up in frustration at the mess.
"If it's a girl, I was thinking, we could marry our children; my girl to one of your boys. We'll officially be a family."
"Can't tell if that is a joke," Haymitch narrowed his eyes. "Back to what we were discussing, you gonna talk to Adler about his newly acquired daughter?"
"Don't be so crass. There is no need to phrase it that way. I will meet up with him and try to find out more. And before you remind me again, yes, I do remember to let him know that it'll only be between us. It's just information we need."
"Good," Haymitch said. "No need to alarm that man. We still need him."
"And what about Effie's cousin? I think you should be careful. He's already threatening Klaus, coming out with that kind of information. We don't know what he'll do next."
"I don't think there's anything he can do now that he's lost his hold on Adler. The deal he's been trying to get me into is off, clearly. But he'd probably try to get something out from Effie. He set that meeting up between her and Adler after all."
"Yes, yes. Just be careful is all. You never know what he is capable of."
"Yeah. I'll get Felix to keep an eye -
"No, stop it, Tristan," Effie screeched.
Haymitch broke off, craning his neck to get a view of the sitting room so he could see what the commotion was about.
"I got to go. Call me if there's any development," he hung up.
As it turned out, in a fit of rage, Tristan had grabbed a hold of Ethan's bottle and flung it to the other side of the room, milk spilling from it. Tristan may be a quiet child with the patience of a saint but as he grew up, his parents began to realise that during those rare moments when his anger was stoked, Tristan's temper could rival Haymitch's. It had only ever happened twice before when Ethan had sat on him and when Prim had been too rough with him while they were playing. In both cases, Haymitch thought he had thrown a tantrum merely to stand up for himself, a concept that Tristan probably didn't understand yet but protecting oneself was innate after all.
"What the hell happened?"
"Ethan was pulling on his hair and he didn't like it," Effie answered.
Always watch out for the quiet ones they say, Haymitch thought.
"Knock it off," Haymitch said sternly. "Both of you."
"Don't shout at my babies, Haymitch," Effie said with consternation.
"I'm not even – Stop pampering them, sweetheart. Go to your mother," he turned towards Ethan. "That'll teach you not to bully your brother so much."
Tristan was red in the face; his lips forming an angry pout. He pointed at his brother and then up to his head. Haymitch ruffled his hair.
"Come on, it's just a little pull. The pain won't last," Haymitch spoke to him quietly as he lifted the boy off the ground. "What's the matter, peanut? You don't usually get angry even when your brother took your toys. A bit too much for you this time?"
"The both of you need to apologise to each other. That was very rude of you, Ethan. You shouldn't do that. Don't take after your father."
"Excuse me?" Haymitch glared.
"And you, Tristan. That was not acceptable. In this house, we don't throw things around when it doesn't go our way."
"I remember you throwing things at me when it didn't go your way," Haymitch muttered under his breath.
"Haymitch, please," Effie pursed her lips. "I'm trying to instil some form of discipline and you're undermining me."
He grunted something unintelligible which was a good thing because Effie would not have permitted such language, especially not in the presence of the twins.
"Well, let's all just apologise like civilise people do and we'll put this behind us," she said cheerily. Effie tugged Ethan forward. "Brothers shouldn't be fighting each other."
She gestured at Haymitch. He knelt with one knee on the floor holding Tristan in his arms so that Ethan could kiss Tristan on his cheek at Effie's behest.
"See, isn't that better? Now we're all happy again."
Haymitch rolled his eyes.
The boys are growing so they're throwing temper tantrum and annoying each other. I really enjoy writing this chapter and I would love getting some feedbacks from you! :) There will be some Felix & Johanna (probably Annie & her son) visiting them soon. But my exams are coming up next month so if I miss the usual weekly update it's cause of the exams!
Thanks for reading!