Since he apparently did not know, I had to give the answer. "You should care. Leonardo is my son, your brother. I love all of you. It would hurt me to see him killed. You would also miss him just as much as I would." I said. He gave me a really patronizing nod. "Of course, Father." he said before going back to his letter. Anthony gave me a dry laugh. "So this is the caliber of the demon spawn. At least this one speaks some sense. You taught them right from wrong. If they go off and commit heresy, they can stand in judgement." My shoulders drooped. "What is in that letter?" I asked. Anything would be good if it distracted me here. "It looks like I have a child on the way. The girl that I met at the wedding is pregnant." he said out loud. "Oh. You should go marry her then." I said. He looked at us. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Yes. Bastard children are looked down on. Getting married will give the child some level of legitimacy when it is born." I told him. Anthony agreed with me. "I suggest you should get it done quickly. You don't want to be accused of rape." he encouraged. Lenard was convinced.
The next several days were a really dark time for the family. I made it a point to get the children to go with me to visit him every day. It was very strange. He did not have any remorse for what he did to Higg. "I don't feel I did anything wrong." he protested every single time. He would ask for us to take him home. "Leonardo, you did something wrong. You raped somebody. That is bad. I've told you that no one has a right to force themselves on you to touch your body as they please. I've modeled that from the time you could walk. Don't you remember that I always ask for permission to hug you?" I begged. He nodded his head. "You taught all of us that, Father. What of it?" he asked. I was stunned for a second. "Leonardo. If you have the right to bodily autonomy, why don't you understand that EVERYONE is worthy of that same level of respect!? Nobody should ever be touched, especially in a sexual way, without their informed consent!" I snapped. All 3 of my boys looked surprised. "Really!? Aren't we special!?" Lenard asked. "I did not know that it's for everyone." Lennox admitted to me.
I wanted to cry so badly. "Leonardo. Lenard. Lennox. Of course it was for everyone. I love all of you from the bottom of my heart. Never in my life have I thought of you as less than human because you have a dryad mother. The world might hate it but not me for a second. But that did not mean that I hold you above other humans. I am a human. Your sisters are human. Would you be okay if someone held us down and killed or raped us!?" I asked. They blinked before looking at each other. "You're really strong, Father. That's not going to happen." Leonardo said. I repeated myself: "Would you be okay if it happened to us?" They did not seem to have an answer. "Say something!" I demanded. "I'd protect you." Lennox said. "I would protect you too." Lenard said as well. "I would kill anyone that tried to hurt you." Leonardo promised. He meant it from the look in his eyes. Sighing, I shook my head. "Listen to me carefully, Leonardo. I don't care what anyone else says to you. What you did was wrong and you deserve to be here. That does not mean I hate you or want you to die. We'll be back."
