Broken Boulder no children

Honestly, it can never even be remotely close to anything he might expect, can it? It's obvious from Delight's tone and expression that Queenie's gone for more than just a pack of smokes, and despite what he might have thought before, his first instinct is to feel guilty. Queenie may have been awful, but she was Delight's friend and the mother of his children, and now she's gone. It's his fault, of course, as most things tend to be; he thinks fleetingly that he's grateful Delight isn't blaming him, at least not yet.
But mostly he thinks about how he has no idea what to say. Oh, He manages quietly, dimly aware of a tiny chocolate figure worming her way toward him. He presses a little closer to Delight, quiet for a few more beats before he finds something else to say. I'm sorry. Other things come to him, but he swallows them back; abandonment is a deep wound, and this is fresh. He doesn't want to risk hurting him more— god knows he knows what it's like to not want to talk about something.
Instead he gently grooms behind Delight's ears, settling comfortably against him. At some point he feels something small and warm press against him; he doesn't need to look to know it's his partner's daughter. He does pause a moment when she starts chewing on his toes— but it's not really hurting anything, so whatever, right?