Avery on his children

A note from Zayne: Avery did not know about his children. I've got a full explanation somewhere, but the short version is this: while Avery spent a lot of time in France with Evelyne, he did leave for months at a time. He may have sworn of sailing as a pirate, but he'd taken up a small fishing job, that sometimes took him all over that side of the world. Twice, he'd been gone for terribly long, once for 10 months, and once for a year. Charles and Ariel, the twins, were born during the ten months, and Jaylene the year.

Jaylene was 5 years old when we were introduced. She was not the least bit shy. When her mother introduced us, she walked right up to me and shook my hand. 

She had her mothers green eyes and my red hair, freckles, and was missing a front tooth that left her with an awkward lisp.

Jay was not afraid to take charge in any situation, whether is was dinner that night or stopping a row between the twins. She was not afraid to get dirty or a bit bruised to get something done. 

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Charles was 8 almost 9 the day we were introduced. That was the only thing he said to me that day. His mother introduced us, told me they were eight, and he butted in with an indignant “But almost 9!”, and did not say another word. 

At first, Charles did not like me. He did not like that I was not present in his life for those 8 years, even after his mother explained that it was not by choice. 

For the first few weeks, he was only there if Ariel was there. 

I got him to talk to me, one day, while making lunch for the children and their mother. It was just a response to what he wanted to drink, but it was progress. 

A week later, he shocked me. When he came in the room, he walked right up to me, hugged me tight, and apologized. We talked for a few hours that day, and I promised him I would do what I could to make up those years I was not there.

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Ariel was 8 almost 9 when we were introduced. She made it very clear that she was the older, therefore more mature, of the twins. Like her brother, she was upset that I had not been in their lives previously, but quickly pushed it aside. 

While she forgave me for not being there, she had a hard time accepting me as her father. She would refer to me by whatever name I had been using in that time period.

Ariel was very shy and sot spoken, but would not let you walk over her. She stood up for herself whenever necessary.