by Emerson Rose
“Cabo?”
“Yes, we went six weeks ago, remember?”
Her expression is blank as she stares at the floor trying to remember her own honeymoon.
When she looks up she has tears in her eyes. It’s as if she knows she should remember this but she can’t. Her brain injury, it must still be affecting her.
“It’s okay, baby, we can show everyone the pictures later. That will jog your memory, it always does.”
She nods like a zombie and Mattie glances up at me before leading her out onto the deck to a chair.
“Shit, I didn’t mean to mess that up. I didn’t know she was having so much trouble remembering,” Tiana says when they are out of earshot.
“Don’t feel bad, I didn’t know either. I don’t think any of us did,” Kimber says.
Tiana pokes her lip out in a pout and frowns. “Mattie should have warned us.”
“Yes, that would have been helpful for everyone,” I say and Kimber moves closer to look at Grayson who is now sleeping in my arms despite all of the activity going on around him.
“It would be so sad to forget the most important moments of your life. I can’t imagine forgetting one single part of Grayson’s birth and life so far, or meeting you, or loving you. Garcia, I love you so much, don’t let me forget.”
Note to self, Kimber is an emotional drinker. “Nobody’s going to forget you, baby, and you’re not going to forget us. I think maybe we should slow down on the drinking.” I shift Grayson into one arm and take her glass and set it on the counter.
“Who’s we? You’re not drinking tonight, I am.”
“No more for a while, trooper. Let’s go help Drake with the grill.” I guide her by the waist to the door and she wobbles a bit on her heels grabbing onto my arm.
Tiana is staring at us with a curious expression. She’s been drinking quiet a bit too but she’s not quite as bad off as Kimber. “You okay?” I ask.
She looks at me like she’s forgotten I’m here and shakes her head. “Yeah, sorry.”
“Nothing to apologize for, you coming?”
“Yeah, yeah, I am.” She sets her empty glass on the counter next to Kimber’s and follows us out onto the deck. I never said anything about her not drinking, it’s not my place, of course. I wonder what’s going on inside her head?
Outside Belle is sitting in a lounger and Mattie is behind her massaging her shoulders while he and Drake talk about a crash that happened during a recent NASCAR race. Tiana sits down next to Drake and Kimber and I take the double glider on his right with Grayson.
The atmosphere has changed dramatically in the past fifteen minutes. No one is drinking, the volume on the music has been turned down and Tiana and Kimber have stopped laughing and dancing.
I feel like telling Kimber to slow down has ruined her fun. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be bossy about your drinking in there. I just think you should pace yourself, that’s all. I don’t want to ruin your fun.”
She turns to me with her big round green eyes batting her lashes “I like it when you’re bossy.” She snuggles against me and I consider taking her home right now. It hasn’t been six weeks but there are hundreds of other things we can do.
“You’re tempting me, future Mrs. Garcia.”
She giggles and slides her hand up my thigh. I don’t want to but I move it down to my knee. She’s drunker than I thought. She wouldn’t be this forward in front of our friends if she weren’t. I swear she only had two margaritas but I guess when you haven’t had any alcohol for a year two margaritas would fuck you up.
“Garcia, do you watch NASCAR?” Drake asks.
“On TV?”
He smirks, “Well, yes, unless you attend in person.”
“Nah, we don’t watch much TV but I did go to the Indy 500 about four years ago. My buddy and I set off firecrackers under the bleachers. I was deaf for a week.”
“You’re a practical joker, huh? Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Drake says with a chuckle.
“You have no idea,” Kimber says under her breath.
“I think somebody wants firecrackers under her bed tonight,” I say quietly into her hair.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, now don’t you know that’s the worst thing to say to the class clown?”
“I’ll be sure to call the fire department if I hear fireworks coming from your house tonight,” Mattie says.
“I think Grayson would be pretty pissed if somebody woke him up like that,” Drake says standing to check on the meat.
“He’s pissed off every two hours like clockwork anyway.”
“He’s just hungry, aren’t you, sweet boy?” Kimber says reaching up to stroke him on the cheek.
“You guys make a beautiful family,” Tiana says with a sigh and a slow dreamy voice.
I would normally make a smart-ass comment or simply thank her but knowing just how fucked up her family was I’m not sure what to say.
“Tiana wants babies,” Drake says rolling his unseeing eyes.
“I do, at least two or three.”
“I want six or seven,” I announce. Kimber sits up and turns her whole body to face me on the swing. She looks absolutely sober, clear-eyed, and shocked.
“Six or seven? You never told me that. Are you messing with me? You’re messing with me, right? Class clown and all that.”
I cock my head to the side and think back about all of the discussions we have had about our future. I could have sworn I told her I wanted a big family.
“No, not clowning, I want a lot of kids, don’t you?”
“I only want one or two, two max. I had no idea, Juliàn, I hope this isn’t a dealbreaker.”
I stare at her with my mouth hanging open, stunned.
“Uh oh, trouble in paradise,” Mattie says standing up to make his way back into the kitchen.
“This meat is done, you want to grab the salads out of the fridge, babe?” Drake says to Tiana. She hops up and follows Mattie. Even Belle is uncomfortable and starts digging for something in her purse.
Everyone scattered the second things got serious between Kimber and me. No one is interested in being part of a family argument.
“Okay, everybody, stop. I’m messing with you. I know you want your own soccer team. Sorry, baby, sometimes the prankster needs to be pranked. Thanks, Tiana, perfect timing.” Tiana wiggles her eyebrows up and down and smiles a mischievous smile. Kimber narrows her eyes and points her perfectly manicured nail at me, “I finally got you back for scaring me with that giant spider taped to the roll of toilet paper.”
Mattie sticks his head out of the door, “Ha, she got you, man. I can’t believe you did that with the spider, dude, you’re wicked clever.” He’s such a surfer boy. I can’t believe he’s a Marine.
Drake is laughing and a shy smile plays on Belle’s lips. These guys may as well have just declared prank war on me. I can’t wait to start planning my revenge.
I sweep my pointed finger through the air gesturing at each of them, “You are all targets now, watch your backs, I will seek revenge.”
“I’m exempt, I can’t see,” Drake says.
“No way, you were in on this, you’re fair game.”
“Damn it, I thought I could use this blindness shit to my advantage once in a while,” he mumbles to himself removing the meat from the grill and placing it onto a plate that Tiana has brought outside.
“Not this time.”
“Let’s eat,” Kimber says getting up to help Tiana set the table. They have a gorgeous solid wood patio table and benches. It looks handmade and expensive as hell. A pergola covers the deck with tiny white twinkling lights woven into thick purple wisteria. The lights came on automatically at dusk transforming the party from the drunken party bus it was before the sun went down into a romantic softly lit dinner.
I watch them moving from the kitchen to the table several times before getting up and laying Grayson in his stroller. “Does this thing have a bug net?” I ask Ki
mber looking through the things she has stored under the stroller.
She frowns, “No, I never thought of that. Is he asleep?”
“Yeah, I’ll just roll him into the kitchen and close the screen door. Is it okay to leave your back door open, Drake?”
“Sure, of course. He’ll be fine, we will be able to hear him if he wakes up.”
“Thanks.” I push him just inside the door where I can see him from the table and I close only the screen part of the door.
The six of us get to know each other while we eat. I learn that Belle is a librarian which fits perfectly with her quiet demeanor but I wonder if she’s been able to go back to work with her memory problems.
Tiana is originally from the UK, I thought I’d read that in one of the news articles about her brother, her faint accent also gave that away. She’s a singer who is currently waitressing until she decides what her next move in her career will be. Drake is a retired Major in the USMC, I knew that, but I learned tonight that he is coming up with a program to help disabled veterans cope with the loss of their sight. I knew he wouldn’t last long sitting on the porch and doing yard work.
Mattie grew up here in North Carolina with Kimber. They went to the same school and hung out with the same crowd. There is a lot of familiar banter between them and even though I know it’s only friendly it makes me the tiniest bit jealous.
I want that with Kimber, I want to have years of experiences and history between us. I want something that seals us together and bonds us for life. We need to get married. Maybe I’ll mention pushing up the wedding?
When we are finished eating Kimber disappears into the house to feed Grayson while I help Tiana and Belle clear the dishes off the table.
Drake’s house happens to be positioned on the inside curve of the street making my driveway visible from one section of his deck. When I stand with a stack of dishes in my hands, I notice headlights swinging into my driveway and I freeze. It’s too dark to recognize the car so I wait for its occupant or occupants to exit.
The trees in our yard shield the driver when he or she exits the car and walks up to the porch to ring the bell. It’s not a Bentley so unless my dad sent my brothers up in two cars it isn’t them, thank God, but if not them, then who?
The person doesn’t wait long after ringing the bell, like it was only a formality. They open the screen door and place something inside closing it and hurrying back to the dark blue sedan. I can see them better coming toward the car to leave less than a second later. It’s a he and he is wearing a suit and tie, definitely not one of my dad’s thugs, he’s dressed like a business man or a lawyer… Fuck, Caleb sent his lawyer to personally drop off custody papers on a Saturday evening. What a fucking cowardly dick.
This has been pretty much a perfect night with friends and family. I don’t want it ruined by Kimber finding out Caleb is seeking partial custody of Grayson. I watch the car pull out of my drive. I lean around the deck and watch it turn off of our street and when I’m sure it’s gone I make my way over to Drake who is sitting alone with a drink and a cigar. I’m glad he’s outside with that nasty thing and not smoking it near Grayson.
“Hey, I have to run home for a second and Kimber’s inside feeding the baby, will you let her know I’ll be right back if she comes out before I get back?”
The corners of his eyes twitch and he turns to face me, which is a bit unnerving since he seems to look straight through me with his blank eyes.
“Why don’t you go tell her yourself?”
I take a deep breath and blow it out, “I think Caleb just had legal documents left on my doorstep. I’d like to get them put away so she isn’t upset by them tonight.”
“What do you mean you think?”
“I saw a man in a suit put something in my door just now.”
“Oh no, you’re not going over there alone. What if that’s not what it is? What if it’s a special delivery from your brothers?”
“Not their style. They would want the satisfaction of seeing us suffer when they told Kimber about my family. It’s got to be Caleb.”
“Alright, but take Mattie with you. I’d go but I wouldn’t be much help.”
“What am I supposed to tell him I’m doing?”
“True. Okay, I’ll go and we will take Tango. I’ve been teaching him how to be a detection dog. He knows how to identify most drugs and explosives already. Go tell Mattie we are running across the street for more beer. The fridge is almost empty anyway but he doesn’t know I have another one full in the garage.”
“Thanks, man, really, you’re a life saver.”
“You have to promise me not to keep those papers from her, though. I know you want to and I agree tonight’s not the time but she has to know what he’s up to.”
“I know, yeah, I’ll tell her, just not tonight.”
He stands and feels for the edge of the deck to lay his cigar on the edge of it and places his beer bottle on the glass lawn table with a clink.
Mattie steps out onto the deck as if on cue. “Hey, we’re going to run to my house and get more beer, be right back.”
“Okay cool, I was just gonna tell ya we were running low.”
“If Kimber comes out tell her I’ll be right back.”
Mattie nods and flops down in a chaise lounger patting his lean flat stomach. “I’ll be right here. I’m too full to move.”
“No shit, for a little guy you can put away some serious food, man,” I say. He grins with pride like eating a ten-ounce sirloin, three huge servings of potato salad, and half of a cherry pie by himself was an accomplishment.
On my side of the street, Drake stops me at the bottom of the stairs to the porch with his arm stretched out in front of my chest.
“Search,” he says to Tango and Tango starts sniffing his way up the steps and all around the porch and along the edges of the screen door. When he’s done he returns to Drake’s side and sits down.
“All clear, no drugs, no explosives. You can see what it is now.”
I take the stairs two at a time and open the door. A large manila envelope addressed to Kimber Johnson, her married name, is propped against the dark wood door. Inside I find what I expected, a petition for shared custody. I fucking hate that man more than anything or anybody right now, more than my crooked father, more than my asshole brothers and my weak mother. Caleb Johnson is enemy #1 in the war to save my family and I’m going to take him down.
“Got it?” Drake asks.
“Yeah, I’m going to run inside and put it where she won’t see it tonight,” or ever if I can help it, I need to have another chat with Caleb. This time it won’t be on the base and it won’t be cordial or fake. I’m going to tell him what I think of him and where he can shove his custody petition.
I put the envelope in our safe on the floor of the linen closet upstairs. We keep important documents in it as well as an extra gun. Kimber isn’t crazy about having a gun in the house so she will never look there.
Drake, Tango, and I make our way back to his house and enter through the garage where I get a twelve pack of beer from his extra refrigerator and carry it inside just as Kimber is coming downstairs holding Grayson in one arm and a bottle in the other.
“Oh good, you’re here. Can you take him for a minute while I use the restroom?”
“Yeah, hold on, let me put this in the kitchen.” Drake and Kimber follow me into the kitchen. Drake and Tango keep walking out onto the deck where everyone is spread out on lawn chairs groaning about being too full.
“You going to let me have a drink now that I’m full and sober?” she asks. I put the beer in the fridge and turn to take Grayson. I bend down and kiss her full lips while removing the baby from her arms. I kiss her harder than I intended and slip my tongue between her lips searching for reassurance that she will always be mine and only mine.
I have her backed up against the refrigerator when we pull apart. I press my forehead to hers, we are both panting and she is smiling looking at me with her be
droom-eyes.
“I asked for a drink but I like that a lot better, Mr. Garcia.”
“Me too. Let’s make it an early night, okay?”
She nods and Grayson squawks as if to say nobody’s having any fun tonight unless it involves me.
“I don’t think he’s going to cooperate.”
“I can be very persuasive.”
“Yes, I know, I’ve fallen victim to your persuasiveness.” She smiles and takes my hand leading us back to the party to put in an acceptable amount of time before we leave.
I hope she’s right. I’m going to need those powers of persuasion to convince Caleb not to go forward with his plan if he keeps pushing. Someone needs to show him he’s not cut out for fatherhood and that someone is going to be me.
Chapter 13
Kimber
I hear crying and open one eye. The room is still dark. I’m lying on my stomach spread out with the sheets tangled around my feet and Julián’s arm slung over my waist. He’s on his stomach, too, facing me. The hair that has come loose from my messy bun flutters against my cheek every time he exhales. I missed sleeping this way when I was pregnant. I used to watch him sleep on his stomach with envy.
I begin to roll away from him and he tightens his grip on my waist. “I thought you were asleep, I have to go get Grayson. I’ll be right back.” I attempt to move again but he’s still not letting me go.
“Six weeks.”
“What?”
“It’s been six weeks today,” he says opening his bedroom-eyes halfway. I love his eyelashes. They are the longest lashes I’ve ever seen on anyone ever. I wonder what our babies will look like when we have one together. My olive toned skin, green eyes, and dark hair mixed with his caramel skin and dark features is bound to make a pretty baby. I hope our first is a girl. I like the idea of Grayson being the protective big brother for his little sister.
“Yes, six weeks, finally.” He’s been so ridged about this rule, and I don’t mean the good kind of ridged. I was ready a week ago, maybe even two, but he insisted on following the doctor’s orders.