by Ginger Sharp
“I agree. This has to change for all of us.”
We pull up to Paolo’s house. I gather my son and head home. Paolo and Lasaro follow me back to my house. Ramón goes off to bed and I start pouring drinks for my brothers. I look over at Paolo who seems worried about why I want to talk tonight.
I start off by telling them about Las Vegas. I tell them that I married Katie and that her parents have yet to know.
Laraso looks over at me. “So, we must keep this a secret until she tells her parents?”
I nod. “Yes, and then Ramón and I will go live with her in the States.”
Paolo sits up. “That is not going to work out for you. You are going to want to be here. Believe me, I left too wanting more. I married Kimma in Germany and I completely lover her. I brought Kimma back here and she is completely unhappy living our lives.”
Lasaro smiles over at me. “It will work out. That family is different and you do not have to worry about making a living for your family like Paolo and I.” He pauses and stares at me. “So, how was it after all these years?”
I shake my head in confusion. “That was something else I want to talk about. It was horrible, she was so scared being a virgin and all. She fought me. She screamed and bled. It got better with each time after that, amazingly better.” I shake my head. “It was not like that with Cyntia at all.”
Paolo moves closer, rubbing my shoulder. “Every woman is different, you know.”
“No, not according to Nick. He said all virgin are the same.”
Lasaro puts his hand up. “Paolo, he has Katie now. I think we can be honest now.”
Paolo shrugs his shoulder. “I guess so.”
Lasaro looks right into my eyes. “I am going on a rumor and what Galiana said, she would never lie to me. She told me about Cyntia’s promiscuous behavior before she married you. When she left with her family to the other village, she met another older man who sweettalked her into giving it up. She loved him. After he had her, he wanted nothing to do with her. Her family pushed her away and that is when she came back looking for you. So, no, you were not her first.”
I nod, taking in the truth calmly. “So, Cynthia lied to me.”
Paolo steps forward. “She may have lied about her virginity, but Ramón is real. She loved you after she became pregnant.”
Lasaro nods. “Yes, she did love you, but her heart was with another older man from her family’s village. You were not her desire. You were just a boy. She was going through the motions with you.”
Paolo cuts off Lasaro, “So, Olivia and Ryan are in the dark about your marriage to their daughter?”
“Yes, Katie will tell them in time. She will be coming down in two weeks. We have to start acclimating Ramón to the fact that I am remarried.”
Paolo nods. “I will do whatever to help, but I know you will not be happy living in her lifestyle. Ramón may not be able to adapt to American schools. What about you? What will you do for work?”
“Katie wants me to be home for Ramón, taking care of his needs with sports and friends.”
Paolo laughs. “So, you will be an at home dad. I guess that works when the new babies come.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Katie does not want children as she told me before. So this works for me with my curse and all. We will raise Ramón together and that will be our family.”
Paolo laughs. “I guess you found the perfect woman. Olivia was complaining to me last fall that Ryan was trying to talk her into having a baby through medical channels. She refused.”
I look over. “I guess she is on birth control too.”
He shakes his head. “Olivia got a tubal ligation and Ryan had a vasectomy after their son was a few years old. Ryan was pushing her into an in vitro fertilization for another child. She refused knowing that they are too old to go through raising another child, plus she felt like Ryan was trying to make up for his mistakes.”
I tilt my head. “Yes, they do not need to have another child. They messed up with Katie exposing her to their bizarre sexual behaviors.”
Lasaro laughs. “No, Pedro. They are very normal with their desire for each other. I have no doubt in my mind that they completely love each other. You will understand soon.”
“I think I am already understanding.”
Two week later, Katie arrives back in Costa Rica. Katie is staying with Rosalie and Henry. They are aware of our union and are very accepting. I am shocked one evening coming home from working out in the coffee fields to see Katie in my kitchen cooking dinner. She is so beautiful. I have missed her completely. She is so elegantly petite in her flowery sundress with her blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail. I pull my eyes away from her, as I glance around looking for my son. Ramón may be still playing outside. I turn to see, Ramón watching videos that Katie brought him on her laptop. He has headphones on and glances up smiling at me. I smile back to him as I stare back to Katie.
She walks next to me touching my arm. “Ramón seems content.”
I avoid contact with her because of my son’s presence. She notices my avoidance and I can see that she is getting upset with me.
I speak over to her quietly, “After dinner I will take him to Paolo’s house for the night.”
Her face turns red. “No, he stays here tonight. We deals with this tonight. He needs to know that we are married. He needs to know that you share your bed with me. Tomorrow, when he wakes. I will be the one who will make breakfast for him while I tell him that his daddy needs to sleep-in. I will take him to the beach and watch him while he plays with his friends then go off to lunch with Rosalie. You need to start trusting me with your son. Sorry, our son.”
I am nervous at Katie’s forwardness on how to deal with my son. I need to remove him and take him to my brother’s house. He shouldn’t be here in this house during our first night as a married couple. I know that Katie will not be able to contain herself. I am already aroused just by looking at her plating the dinner that she has cooked for us. Yet she is trying. She wants to make this work for us and my son. She really loves me. I am so proud of her wanting to be a mother to my child since she never wants any children of her own. She is so accepting of me and Ramón, wanting to be a nurturing mother. I am afraid, but I will follow her lead for the night.
Dinner is awkward for me. Katie is growing more and more impatient with me. She glares over at me waiting for me to talk to Ramón. I could see that Ramón is confused by Katie’s presence in our house. He has only seen her a few times. I should have already told him when I got back from Las Vegas, but I did not know what to say to him. I get up and clear the plates away, bringing them to the sink. Ramón runs over to me and starts washing the dirty dishes. I lean on the counter trying to find the right words for Ramón. I am distracted when I hear rumbling outside. I walk to the window and look out to see a storm off in the distance.
“Ramón, please hurry with those dishes and get ready for a storm.”
I leave going outside to close up the outbuildings and to put away the equipment. Katie runs out of the house, chasing behind me.
“I do not understand you, Pedro. Why are you having an issue telling your son that you married me?” I ignore her while I gather the drying screen as her voice rises. “Pedro, answer me.”
“Katie, I really can’t get into this with you right now. There is a storm approaching,” I say calmly.
“You know, Pedro, that you had two weeks to tell him. Why didn’t you tell him?”
“Not now, Katie.”
“Fuck you, Pedro. You are a coward.”
“Katie, do not swear at me.”
It starts to rain and she is still yelling at me. She follows me into the grain shed, telling me off as I tune her out while putting the drying screens away. Her harsh words are eating away at my patience as I stew up anger towards her.
I spin around glaring at her. “Katie, go in the house.”
She is all red with anger and soaking wet from the rain.
She balks as she tur
ns to leave. “Yes, I will go in the house. I will tell Ramón myself about us.”
I grab her arm harshly. “No, Katie.”
She gets angrier trying to pull away from me. I am losing my temper as she continues to rant. I snap, yelling back at her and she seems unfazed as she continues to taunt me pointing in my face.
I smack her hand down pushing her into the bags of grain. I hold her there, yelling at her, “Katie, you are not his mother. You will never be his mother. I do not want him to know that I stopped loving his mother. You do not get the right to tell him anything, Katie. He is mine, not yours.”
She is very silent, looking up at me in shock by my candor. I can see the hurt in her eyes. I reach out taking her hands.
“I am sorry Katie. That did not come out right. That was my anger speaking. What I meant to say is that you have been here for an hour. Please do not come here and take control of my family. I am all he knows. It is going to take time for this adjustment.”
Katie sighs, nodding. “I am sorry too. Ramón is not to know that you stopped loving his mother. He needs to know that you will always love her and that you can love me too. Just because I am here doesn’t mean you have to stop talking about her. When your father was with Rosalie, did he stop talking about your mother?”
I feel a sense of regret for snapping at her. “No. He talked about her until the day he died.”
I step closer to Katie’s wet body, reaching to touch her face looking for forgiveness. Her eyes mesmerize me, captivating me as always. I know it has only been two weeks, but I missed my wife so much only having that one night with her after we married. I want her to forgive me for being forceful with her. I need to touch her. I trace my thumb across her chin as I tilt her head up and kiss her lips tenderly. She places her hand on my shoulders and slowly slides them down my chest. I feel her hands immediately tugging at the top of my shorts. I break the kiss, looking down to watch her unbutton them then pull my zipper down. I pull my head back and look down at her gorgeous features. She stares back at me with a seductive wicked grin on her face as she removes my cock from my shorts and stokes me with her one petite hand. Her other hand removes her panties. I grab her by the waist lifting her up onto the stacked bags of grain. Now we are eye to eye so I can gaze into her crystal blue eyes. She raises up her sundress spreading her legs apart as she slides her hands up to her breasts. She rubs them aggressively and I am instantly burning with desire just watching her. My mouth goes dry as I take in every part of her that is exposed to me. There is another crack of lightning which illuminates her face. I rush in to her, kissing her profusely. She digs her fingernails into my backside wanting me to enter her. I move myself into her wetness as she screams out. We start moving together as she begins to moan. My fingers are entwined in her hair as I insistently kneed her breast with my other hand. She hisses out since I am being too rough with her. I remove my hand as she rapidly snatches it back placing my hand back to her breast. She moves her hips meeting me thrust for thrust. She satisfies my ache from being apart from her. She touches her breast as her other hand grips my bicep. She gets wilder screaming out my name as her body goes limp pulsating around me. She shudders as she still moans. I roll my hips a few more times, grunting as I am releasing myself into her as she continues to moan in ecstasy. Another crack of lightning warns me that the storm is nearing. I exit her rapidly and put myself away and pull down her dress. She lies back on the grain bag all breathless staring up at me with glossy eyes.
I guardedly shake my head at her. “This is why I can’t have you in the house yet. You are too loud when I make love to you.”
She unreservedly laughs. “I promise to keep quiet later tonight.”
“The storm is getting stronger. Stay here. Give me ten minutes before you come back to the house. I am going to cut the power to the house and tell Ramón that you are my wife.”
She looks at me confused while she is still panting, but she just blissfully nods.
I cut the main breaker that powers the farm. I hear more thunder a little off in the distance. We still have some time before the waves of storms fully gets here. I go into the house to see that Ramón has lit the candles. He is sitting at the kitchen table, coloring in a book that Katie brought him. I move the lantern closer to him so he can see the crayon colors better. I sit down and watch him.
“Ramón, I want to tell you about Katie and me.”
He smiles. “I know, Daddy. We are going to live with her.”
I am in shock. “Yes, but how did you know that?”
He focuses on the crayon. “I heard Aunt Kimma and Uncle Paolo fighting about it.”
“Yes, we are married now. I love Katie very much just like how I love your mommy.”
He smiles. “I love Mommy too. Katie is nice like Señora Nora.”
I laugh. “Señora Nora is Katie’s mommy.”
He stares up at me. “Daddy, I know that.”
“You are a very smart boy, Ramón. I love you.”
I hear the rain start to pellet the house. I stand up to look out the window to see a crack of lightning in the sky. The door opens and a wet Katie walks in. She has mud all over her legs. She looks over at me and I nod at her letting her know that I told him. She glances around at the candles.
She smiles. “I guess this is what you meant about cutting the power. It is pouring out there. I am going to take a shower.”
I chuckle at her. “You can’t. No power, no water.”
“Oh, okay. I will just wet a towel then from the rain to get this mud off my legs.”
Ramón looks up at her. “I filled the tub with water. You can dampen the towel in there.”
She smiles at him. “You are very smart.”
He nods. “Just do not use too much. We do not know how long we will need it.”
She looks over at me confused.
“Katie, when we have storms like this we get flooding, washed-out roads and power could be out for a while. I cut the power to protect the farm from surges.”
She nods her and heads off to the bathroom. I follow her standing by the open door.
“He already knew. He overheard Kimma and Paolo arguing about us.”
She bends down and wipes the mud from her legs.
“Oh, I am sorry, Pedro, that he had found out that way.”
I watch her as she places the towel near the hamper. She touches my face lightly with her hand as she walks past me. She sat down at the table with Ramón coloring. I watch as they talks and giggles at the funny images in the book. She tells him about his new bedroom at her house and the playgrounds. I love her. This was the right choice for me. She will love us and take care of us.
That night after Ramón goes off to bed, Katie and I make love over and over again. She tried to keep quiet the best she could. There were times I had to muffle her mouth with my hand when she got too carried away. I was lucky for the rain that was pounding the roof of the house or Ramón would have woken up.
The next morning I test the breaker and we do not have power. As I start to walk out to the field to assess the damage I can hear Parker’s motorbike coming up the hillside. I watch as he gets closer. He turns off the bike.
“That was one really bad storm last night. I came up to see if you guys need any help.”
I nod. “We might. I am just getting out now to check the fields.”
The door of my house opens and Katie walks outside with a towel and toiletry items.
Parker stares at her. “What is she doing here, Pedro?”
She walks up to us. “Pedro, I assume we do not have power. Can I take your truck to drive down to my parent’s house? They have that generator and I want to take a shower. I need to shower.”
I look at Parker. “Any roads washed out?”
He shakes his head no.
I look back at her. “Do you know how to start the generator, Katie? Better yet, I do not want you driving my truck. I drove with you all those hours back from your graduation. You are a horribl
e driver, Katie. Give it a few minutes, Paolo will be here. He can drive you down and start the generator for you. Then just come back with your mother’s Land Cruiser.”
She turns and walks away, talking over her shoulder to me, “Screw that, I will take my father’s Range Rover.”
“Katie, I would not do that if I were you. He hates it when you touch his vehicles.”
She turns back around. “I do not care. He is not here and he will not find out.”
I laugh at her. “You are a spoiled rotten princess, but you know that already.”
She giggles. “Yup, I get everything I want.”
Paolo pulls up and she jumps into his truck. I wave them off, letting him know that it is okay.
Parker stares at me. “What just happened here? You said graduation. You went?”
“Yes, Ryan took me.”
“You did not tell me.”
“I know. You haven’t been around much. I just got back from Las Vegas two weeks ago. Ryan invited me to a before-the-tour party.”
“Yea, I had to go back to New Zealand to renew my passport. It took eight weeks to get that accomplished. So, how was that tour party? Was it fun?”
“Yup, Katie and I got married. But Ryan and Olivia do not know yet. She will tell them soon.”
His jaw falls open. “You married that crazy girl?”
I laugh. “She has matured a lot since all that happened. I’ve always known that I loved her. It was the right thing to do.”
Parker smiles. “Yes, I know you always loved her. Ryan is going to flip out though. He and I e-mail once a week with updates. I can’t wait to read that e-mail from him when he finds out.”
I laugh. “Hopefully, he will find out without me being there. I fear his wrath.”
We both laugh as we check for property damage.
CHAPTER 14
Over four months later, Katie and I are still sneaking around flying back and forth to see each other. She comes up with excuse after excuse of why she can’t tell her parents yet that we are married. Henry comes up to my farm repeatedly warning me that I must encourage her to tell them. Every time I see Olivia, she just shakes her head at me, telling me that I am stupid for running around chasing after Katie. I avoid Olivia and Ryan as much as possible because there were a few times I almost slipped up.