His life.
Drying wet kid clothes in the bathroom at the Disney Resort while his wife, kids, and the rest of his friends waited outside. They still had yet another day of dealing with squealing kids, crotch-grabbing little boys who barely made it to the urinals—every time—and lots of sticky faces and fingers to clean. Not to mention diapers to change, grumpy little guys who need a nap and a wife and mom who make up the most ridiculous things about his baby girl.
A few years ago he might’ve said no way was he ready for all this. Now all he could say was bring it.
They finished up and walked back out where Nellie was standing looking toward the restroom. When they got to her, she looked at them questionably. “You guys took long. Did something happen?”
Abel looked down at his son and patted his head. “Nope, some things you just can’t rush.”
Nellie gave him a knowing look and nodded. Abel winked at his son before the little guy took off running again.
Felix and Ella were already at the buffet table. “I see they finally made it,” Abel said, wrapping his arms around Nellie’s waist from behind.
“They’re acting weird,” Nellie said.
“How so?”
“I dunno. Like they have a secret.”
Abel could bet what their secret was—whatever they were doing all this time while the rest of them were down here running around after their kids. He watched as Felix and Ella walked back. They had that same look on their faces as Hector and Charlee, who were also just now getting back from the changing her shoes B.S.
“We’ll eat quickly then we’re out,” Ella said as they sat down. “The walk doesn’t start for another twenty minutes.”
“Take your time,” Nellie said. She glanced at Charlee and Hector, who walked over and picked up their now wide awake baby, then whispered to Abel. “Maybe I should go change my shoes too while Felix and Ella eat.”
Abel’s head jerked back to her, eyes wide open. He liked how she was thinking but said, “We don’t have enough time.”
She leaned into him. “Maybe we could find the ice vending room instead of going all the way up.”
The way she looked at him he knew she was only kidding, but that wasn’t helping the cause in his already twitching crotch. “Stop,” he whispered and she giggled.
Abel suddenly knew what his mission would be today. He’d be tiring these kids out until they were spent because when they got back to the room tonight it was on.
~*~
Felix
It didn’t matter.
Felix now understood completely. In the beginning he’d been leery about letting people know the whole truth. He figured it was no one’s business but theirs. As usual, in Ella fashion, she made Felix understand why she didn’t care if everyone knew the truth—because it didn’t matter. The bottom line was she and Felix would be giving life to these babies. They would be born from their love regardless of the technicalities. Truth was Ella was right—as usual. Neither one of them wanted to heighten the odds of having to be challenged so tragically again.
He’d had his doubts in the beginning that Ella might regret it, but from the moment she was told she was pregnant she said she felt instant love for that baby. Then they were told there were two, and that feeling of immense love doubled over instantaneously.
They decided to keep the whole thing a secret until the biggest risk was over. They both agreed that the fewer people they told—the fewer people asking questions—the easier it would be if things didn’t work out. That’s why when they decided they’d tell everyone they wanted to do it in a special way. So they’d flown everyone out to Disney World. They thought they were here to help them celebrate their anniversary and participate in today’s cancer-awareness walk. The only ones who knew were her brother and Sonia, who couldn’t be here because Memo was off in spring training for a triple-A team he was on and Sonia didn’t want to come without him. Then there were his brothers, who’d made it to their wedding but weren’t able to make it this time because they were in a middle of some record-breaking mountain-climbing race in the Alps. But Felix and Ella had spoken to them a few days ago just before they’d started the race and told them about the pregnancy. As expected, they were ecstatic.
They’d also told her dad, who didn’t come either on this trip because his new wife, and ironically neat freak, Margie, was afraid to fly. Felix had promised them the next trip would be a cruise.
It was crazy what a difference a good woman could make in a man’s life. Ella’s dad was happily married and now free of hoarding. He was still collecting, but Margie hadn’t allowed it until he’d gotten rid of all his other stuff first. She had her sons, who owned online businesses, help Ella’s dad set up one for him. So he was allowed now to collect stuff, fix it, and then sell it online. But she set limits on how many items he could store at home at a time before he could go out and get more.
Felix had made sure of two things when he’d bought them a place as his and Ella’s wedding gift to them. One, it was far away from Grayson’s patrol area. In fact, it was just around the corner from Ella and Felix’s place. And two, it had a nice big storage work area in the back. That kept the limit Margie set for him to a good size without any of it making its way into the house, and everyone was happy.
So everyone back home knew the news. Now it was time to tell everyone here. Ella and Felix had just been waiting for one more call from the doctors to make the announcement. That’s why they’d been late that morning.
Felix glanced at Ella, who gave him the go-ahead nod. “So we have an announcement to make.”
Aside from the kids, who didn’t quiet or slow down even for a moment, all the adults were looking at them now.
“We hadn’t told anyone,” Felix began, “because we knew it’d be a process. First, we had to make a decision and be sure it was what we both agreed on.”
Felix turned to Ella, and she took a deep breath then stood up. “First of all, I wanna say you all look so cute in your pink shirts. Guys”—she looked at Abel specifically—“I know you fought for the pink ball caps only, so I appreciate seeing you in the T-shirt as well.”
The guys laughed, nudging Abel, whose face soured. “I wasn’t the only one,” he reminded them. “And it was just a suggestion. I never said I wouldn’t wear it.”
He tugged at his tight shirt as Hector tried to keep from laughing. Hector was the one who’d suggested they get Abel one that barely fit so the big guy would look even cuter in his pink T-shirt.”
“Looks good, man.” Hector nodded at him, trying to keep as straight face as possible, but Abel shoved him anyway.
“As you all know,” Ella continued, “Felix and I would like nothing more than to be parents, but with my medical history, we had to decide whether or not that was a chance we wanted to take. Any child of mine would be automatically susceptible to a very high probability of getting cancer.” She glanced at Felix and smiled at him.
It took everything in him to not reach out and rub her belly as he’d been doing nonstop since they found out she was pregnant. But he’d wait until she’d told them all.
“We knew that the rare condition Felix’s son was born with was not genetic. So several months ago we began seeing fertility specialists about using an egg donor. If we went this route, I could still carry the baby, and one of us would be blood related to our baby, but, of course, once he or she was in here”—she rubbed her belly—“the baby would be all mine too.” She smiled as her eyes welled up, and Felix brought his arm around her waist, a little concerned. She turned to him and smiled. “They’re happy tears, baby. I promise,” she whispered then laughed, wiping a tear away with her finger. “But I think you’re gonna have tell them the rest or I’ll be a blubbering mess.”
Felix cleared his throat. “Long story short. We chose a donor, went through the procedure that we were warned may or may not take the first round, but”—he kissed Ella on the cheek—“it took first try.”
The girls
already had their hands to their mouths, looking emotional, and Felix couldn’t even look at them for fear their teary eyes might make him get all choked up too. He swallowed back the emotion and continued. “Because we were told that there was still a chance the pregnancy might not stick, we didn’t wanna to say anything until she was further along. But now that she is, we want to announce we’re gonna be parents!”
They all started to cheer and talk at once. Ella suddenly chimed in, waving her hands in the air. “Can I tell them the best part?”
Felix nodded. Seeing Ella this happy only made him even more choked up, and he was glad she was taking over. “Well, like you guys, in my family, it’s customary to name your first son or at least one of them after Daddy.” She turned and smiled even bigger at Felix. “But he’d told me in the past that if he ever had another baby, boy or girl, he wanted to name it Jordan in honor of its big brother. I completely agreed and respected that. It all depends on how this goes. We may or may not try again, so to me this could be a onetime deal. I was all prepared that if we had a boy he could be Jordan Felix. But if it were a girl”—she scrunched her nose—“well, I wouldn’t do that to her. Felix is not exactly a feminine name even as a middle name.”
They all laughed, and Ella brought her hands to her face, all giddy. Felix nodded so she’d tell them. “We’re having twin boys!”
There was screeching and clapping and even some whistling from Hector as the girls began hugging Ella and then Felix.
“Our first born will be Jordan after his big brother,” she explained even as everyone took turns hugging them, “and the second will be Felix after his daddy.”
Felix was trying so hard to hold it together, but the joy he felt was so overwhelming it was hard to. The guys hugged him surprisingly hard, which only made him that much more emotional, damn it. Abel even held on for a while.
“Welcome to the club, man,” Abel said as he finally pulled away. “Say goodbye to sleep and sex on a whim.”
“Yeah.” Hector laughed. “It gets so glamorous that after a while you don’t even smell the puke in her hair when you make love to her.”
They all laughed as Charlee approached them. “What did he just say?”
“Something about your hair smelling like puke when you were looking for your walking shoes earlier,” Abel said.
The guys all laughed, but Felix was lost. Whatever the joke was made Charlee’s face turn bright red. Hector pushed Abel, pretending to be mad when Charlee walked away, but he was grinning from ear to ear when he went after his embarrassed wife.
“Well, I say this calls for a toast,” Noah said, flagging over one of the waiters who’d been walking around refilling everyone’s mimosas, “although, half the women here will have to toast with orange juice only.”
When they’d all been refilled, they held out their glasses. “To filling 5th Street with a new generation of fighters.” Noah smiled. “And to Jack for starting all this and making us promise we’d always stay together like one big family.”
“Hear, hear!” Hector said. “To family.
They all toasted and drank then began getting ready to leave. Felix watched as they all put their walking strollers together. Most had doubles and made sure their baby bags were all filled and ready with whatever they’d need on their two-mile, kid-friendly route. Felix and Ella normally did the five-mile route, but with her pregnant now, he didn’t feel comfortable doing the five-mile today.
Abel and Hector walked out to where Felix had been waiting for everyone, lost in thought. They both had their filled strollers ready. Hector pretended to rev up his stroller loudly as if he and Abel were gonna race. “Honey,” Charlee said gently to Hector, “you’re gonna wake the baby.”
Hector stopped the revving noise, and as soon as Charlee was far enough away, Abel squeaked. “Yes, dear.”
“Shut up,” Hector said, shoving his brother with a smirk. “I never call her dear, ass.”
Noah walked up next with his two in a sit down/stand up stroller so Jack could stand in the back.
Felix informed them they’d be joining them on the two-mile route because he didn’t want Ella doing the five-mile just as Gio walked up with a wagon full of stuff and no kids, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know why she made me rent this. The boys are not gonna wanna sit in it. I would’ve rather rented a wheelchair in case she gets tired. She and the boys can take turns.”
“What was that?” Bianca asked, walking up adjusting her sun hat. “Oh perfect,” she said when she saw the wagon.
Hector was already making faces at Gio, who failed to continue with his frustrated talk about the wagon in front of Bianca. Abel’s little guy came rushing toward Abel, holding his crotch. “Again, dude?” Abel asked, looking around. “Jesus, you must have a bladder the size of a peanut.”
“I want peanuts!” Reina yelled, jumping up and down.
“You just ate,” Abel said, rushing off with little Abel. “Watch her,” he said at no one in particular, but they all would.
“Abel, I thought you talked to him about waiting until the last minute,” Nellie said.
“I did!” he yelled back.
Just then Hector’s little one started wailing. Abel’s mom scolded the four boys for playing too roughly and bumping the stroller and waking him. Hector tried calming his mom, saying they were just being boys. Just as Ella walked out finally from the restaurant where she said she’d use the ladies’ room one last time, Felix took her in from top to bottom in her runner’s tights, the kind she always wore for these walks. The small baby bump would likely put an end to these kinds of tights very soon.
His eyes went upwards to her tight pink shirt as she approached him. Just like all her shirts, it looked painted over her ample breasts. Felix had been playing when he’d suggested a full D cup, but the girls were the ones who’d convinced Ella that if she was getting new boobs she may as well go all the way. Ella refused anything bigger than a full D, but with her petite frame, her full D’s really popped out. Felix wouldn’t lie. He’d had his fun with them, but he’d found himself grinding his teeth when Ella had mentioned she missed the days of blending in with the crowd.
As the chaos continued with the crying babies and kids running around, Felix took Ella’s hand, backing her up and away from the crowd. “Ella, sweetheart,” he whispered, glancing around nervously. “Are we ready for all this?”
Ella laughed, looking around him at the disorderly loud crowd of their friends. “What are you talking about? It’s been like this all week.”
“Yeah, but now that we told them”—he lowered his voice, feeling genuine fear—“it’s like we agreed to join that wild bunch.”
Abel walked by them with little Abel. “Nellie, did you bring another pair of pants for this one? The air dryer in that restroom wasn’t working.”
Ella giggled. “Ready or not you have two of them coming at once.”
In the midst of voices warning of time outs, babies wailing, little ones whining along with laughter, and even another of Hector’s mimicking high-pitched “Yes, dears!” Felix leaned his forehead against Ella’s.
“I’m ready for the rest of my life with you and this crazy family.”
“Good,” she said, pulling him along, “’cause we have to go register for the five-miler.”
“But I thought we should do the two-miler, babe.”
“No way. Why?” she said, waving at the rest of the gang. “We’ll see you guys at the end.”
Felix’s eyes met Hector’s stupid smirking expression. “Yes, dear!”
Felix laughed out loud as he kept up with his rushing wife. She turned back to see if they were far enough. “It’ll probably take us longer to finish the two-mile walk going with them with all the stopping they’re gonna have to do anyway.”
This was true. He hurried to stop right in front of her then kissed her. “I love you so much.”
She smiled. “I love you too,” she said quickly then tugged him along. “But we gotta hurry. We�
��re already late.”
As much as he’d like to slow Ella down, Felix knew there was very little that would ever slow his girl down, and there was no way he’d ever complain about that.
A Note to My Wonderful Readers
To all my wonderful readers, I hope you enjoyed reading about Felix and Ella and catching up with the rest of the gang. Please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon.
The first four books in the 5th Street series, Noah, Gio, Hector, and Abel are also available.
If you haven’t already read them, please check out the books in my first series, The Moreno Brothers!
Forever Mine—Angel and Sarah’s story
Forever Mine is now available in Spanish version: Para mi. . . por siempre
Forever Yours—Angel and Sarah’s story continued
Sweet Sofie—Sofia and Eric’s story
When You Were Mine—A prequel to Always Been Mine (Also listed in the Moreno Brother’s Novella Series)
Always Been Mine—Alex and Valerie’s story
Romero—Romero and Izzy’s story
Making You Mine—Sal and Grace’s story with a bonus Angel and Sarah short story.
A Moreno Brothers Novella Series
When You Were Mine—A prequel to Always Been Mine (Alex and Valerie’s college romance)
Tangled—A Romero Christmas story
Fate is a spinoff series of my first series, The Moreno Brothers. Also in the Fate series and now available!
Fate (Fate #1)—Vince and Rose’s story
Breaking Brandon (Fate #2)—Brandon and Regina’s story
Still to come in the Fate series are Sydney and Lorenzo's stories.
Also available is my debut traditionally published novel with Simon & Schuster/ Atria
Desert Heat
An excerpt from Desert Heat
Atria Books and Simon & Schuster bring you this addictive and steamy romance novel by Elizabeth Reyes, the USA Today bestselling author of the Moreno Brothers, 5th Street, and Fate series.
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