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“Have you always known him?” Chris realized that Violet’s friend was invisible, and he wondered if everyone knew. They probably did.
“He used to live in the house with us. Now he only walks me home from the bus. But when Mom told me about Agatha’s baby, he vanished. I was looking for him,” Violet admitted as her eyes swept the street again. She sat down on the step, just like her sister waited for her every day.
“You were looking now? Here? Outside?” He looked out and saw nothing. Chris shook his head. Violet’s friend had to be invisible.
She sighed. “Yes, but I don’t think he wanted Agatha to have a baby.”
“But Agatha can’t see him?” he asked, sitting down on the step with her.
“Sometimes she does, but it makes her sad. Really sad.”
“You can tell when she sees him?”
“Sometimes people don’t see me. I’m ultraviolet then,” Violet confided.
“I know, you told me on Friday.” He chuckled. Chris loved the name she’d given herself and wondered how stealthy she really was.
“I hear things and know things that others don’t,” Violet whispered.
“Like what?”
“I know about Agatha’s baby. Agatha and Mom don’t know I know. But I do,” Violet whispered as she looked behind her to make sure nobody else was around.
Chris smiled at the little girl with the big imagination. “Agatha told your mom today about Poppy, remember?”
“Not Poppy, Jet. He was born the same day as me, but he died. But he’s my friend.” Violet looked down at the street as if trying to see her friend.
Leaning back, he looked down at the street to see if he could see Agatha’s lost baby waiting for Violet. “I think we have to go inside now. Maybe they’re eating already.”
“I will introduce you to everyone, but they don’t like you,” Violet confided.
“Why not?” He already knew that they didn’t, but it eluded him what he had done to deserve it.
“Because you will make Agatha sad, just like before.” At his stunned expression, she said, “I’m ultraviolet, remember?” She led him into the room full of people who already didn’t like him because they thought he had hurt Agatha before and would hurt her again.
Chris was happy that Violet was willing to introduce him to her family because Agatha was busy getting drilled by her sisters about the baby. Not that he was going to remember anyone he had just met since the names and faces were a blur. Even meeting Agatha’s sisters was confusing. Nobody looked like Agatha, and none were too happy with him being there.
While two of Agatha’s sisters cooked dinner in the kitchen, Chris sat in the living room with Harrison and Jonas. Harrison, he knew, and Jonas he learned was married to Agatha’s baby sister, Buzz. They were talking politics, and he was content to just listen to the conversations swirling around him. He did notice that while two of the other men in the family referred to her as Agatha, Buzz and a twin called her Ag. It seemed she was right; only her sisters used the nickname.
“So Agatha has been hiding quite a bit lately. You in particular,” Jonas said to him.
“I wouldn’t call it hiding; I would call it not sharing right away, letting us have time to get to know each other better.” Chris looked around room to see if Agatha was paying attention.
“It was hiding, Chris, Agatha is a clever little secret keeper.” Cliff sat forward a little and went on, “So football. My wife says you were good, and my wife is always right.”
“Yes, NFL for a year, then blew out my knee,” he admitted, though he was surprised he hadn’t been thinking about his lost career in a while. His attention had been on other things.
In the kitchen, the twin cooking suddenly looked up and swore, catching everyone’s attention. All were looking at her as she dropped the serving spoon on the counter with a loud clatter. “One of the twins needs a diaper change. Maby, help me.”
The other twin shook her head. “No diapers. I have told you I do not do diapers.”
“Yes, it’s a twin thing. Now,” the cooking twin demanded and started pushing her sister out of the kitchen and down a hallway until they vanished. Babyless.
“Agatha says you’re renovating the house across from her. How is that going?” Jonas asked, as if what just happened hadn’t.
“Agatha says not well,” Harrison answered for him with a laugh. It seemed Agatha had talked about him, just not in his best light.
Cliff was about to say something but stopped when his wife and her sister came back into the room. His eyes followed her until she gave him a little wave, which he smiled at and leaned back in his chair.
