by Reeni Austin
“No. I just can’t be seen going up to your room, okay?”
A wry grin passed across his lips. “Maybe you’re afraid of what’ll happen if you get me alone. You don’t trust yourself.”
She let out an abrupt chuckle, surprised by the sudden glimpse of his sense of humor. This was the Armando she remembered. “I just...can’t.”
“We could have dinner in public. At a different restaurant. Where everyone doesn’t know you and your fiance.”
She sighed. “I don’t know. This town’s a lot smaller than you think.”
“Okay, what about this. You come out to the ranch tomorrow and we can talk in private.” Armando handed her his business card. “I’m probably gonna check out of the hotel in the morning and stay there instead.”
“I have to work tomorrow.”
“Then come over after work. We’ll have dinner.” He cocked his head to the side. “Unless you have big plans with the fiance.”
“No, actually. He had to go out of town for work at the last minute.”
“Hmm. Leaving you all alone on a Saturday night.” Armando slowly shook his head. “Shame on him. Call me tomorrow when you’re on your way.”
Katie stashed the business card safely in a pocket inside her purse, her hand gently trembling. Here he was, back in her life again. Exciting and terrifying all at the same time. She cleared her throat and steadied herself. “I’ll think about it.”
Then his eyes fixed on hers. And Katie felt as though she was in a trance, unable to look away. Wondering if he was real or a figment of her imagination. She didn’t want to go home. Didn’t want to leave him again. Katie wanted to go to his room, like he’d asked.
And for a second she envisioned them in his car on that fateful day. Those warm brown eyes full of life and love, peering into her soul. The same way he looked at her tonight. Maybe they should run off again and leave their lives behind.
But she snapped back to the present as soon as his eyes broke contact.
“Tomorrow,” Armando said. “I’ll be waiting.”
In silence, Katie watched him walk away. Knowing she would soon have to make a choice.
Chapter 8
It was early Saturday morning. Sunlight cut through a tiny gap between the curtains and threatened to wake Victor several times. But every time his eyes opened, he put his arm around Cara and sank once again into his peaceful slumber. They stayed up late the night before, celebrating their engagement.
She said yes. That’s all he cared about. They could finally start planning a real future together. Vague, “someday” wants could now be fulfilled with more permanent plans. He felt safe, knowing the woman he loved would be his, for life.
The room was just cold enough to require the use of a blanket as he spooned Cara underneath it. Her blond hair gently tickled his chin as she nestled against him. He awoke for a second, but quickly fell asleep once again.
Until he heard the sound of tiny, loud footsteps, followed by the smell of coffee wafting in from the kitchen directly below them. Still his eyes remained shut, hoping he was having a dream.
Then the door creaked open, and the footsteps came into the room. And then the mattress springs squeaked at the same he heard, “Suh-pwize!”
“Hmm?” Cara winced against the sunlight, her voice weak. “What’s going on?”
Isaac again yelled, “Suh-pwize!”
Victor opened his eyes to see Isaac in his Spiderman pajamas, jumping up and down on the bed near Cara’s feet. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. “Isaac, buddy, don’t jump on the bed. You’re gonna hurt yourself.”
Cara extended her arms to Isaac. “He’s right. Come here.”
Isaac giggled and ran down the bed, flopping into his mother’s arms. “Suh-prize, Mommy!”
Cara chuckled and kissed his forehead. “Okay. Good morning, sweetie. You’re surprising us by waking us up at,” she glanced at the clock, “six o’clock on a Saturday morning?”
Isaac smiled. “I can have my baby bwothow now, okay Bictow?”
Cara’s eyebrows furrowed at Victor. “What?”
“Oh.” Victor closed his eyes and used one hand to rub his temples. He dreaded explaining this to Cara. “Let me go downstairs and have some coffee first, okay?”
“Okay!” Isaac tore away from Cara and hopped out of bed. “I see if it’s weddy.” He instantly ran out of the room. They heard him yell, “Wuh-moan!” as soon as his feet hit the stairs.
Cara yawned and let her head fall down to the pillow, her eyes wide open. “You mind telling me what that’s about?”
Victor propped himself up on his elbow. “You have a very intelligent child who remembers everything you tell him. That’s what.” He sighed. “You see, I made the boneheaded decision to ask Isaac’s permission to marry you.”
“What?”
“Well, maybe not his permission, exactly. But I just felt like having a talk with him was the right thing to do, since he’s the most special guy in your life. I wanted to know what he thought about me being in your lives, for a long, long time.”
“Did he know what you were talking about?”
“Well…” Victor winced. “I don’t know. I didn’t think he did, then all of a sudden he asked if he could have a baby brother. Like, somehow he connected that to marriage but I didn’t ask how. I was afraid it’d lead to a conversation we didn’t need to have right then. I don’t know when you’re supposed to talk to kids about sex and I’ll be ready to talk to him someday if you want me to, but that wasn’t the time.”
“Aww.” Cara rolled on her side to face him. “You’d do that?”
Victor shrugged. “If you want me to. I figure that’s the dad’s job. Or, well, stepdad in my case.”
Cara smiled. “Stepdad.” Tears filled her eyes, but she continued to smile. “It seems so real now.”
Victor leaned forward to kiss her, then sat up, peering into her eyes. “I guess I’ve never said it out loud before. But you know how I feel about Isaac. I’d like to adopt him, if that’s okay with you.”
Cara blinked and tears ran down her face, which she immediately wiped away. “Yes.” Her eyes darted around the room. “If I didn’t want you in his life I never would’ve started seeing you. But...somehow, now that we’re engaged...I…” Her voice trailed off as she stared blankly up at the ceiling.
“Are you sure it’s okay? Did I do something wrong? I didn’t mean to rush you.”
She let out a small chuckle. “No, it’s good. It’s just...I don’t know. He won’t just be mine anymore. He’ll be someone else’s. I guess I never really thought about it.” She looked at Victor. “But it’s good. Really good.”
Victor let out a relieved sigh. “I’m glad.”
She laughed and wiped away the last of her tears. “I don’t know if he’ll ever call you Daddy. You may be ‘Big Toe’ forever.”
Victor laughed. “That’s fine. And it’s also perfectly fine if you don’t want me to have the sex talk with him someday. Just thought I’d put it out there.”
She sighed. “Okay then, back to that subject. What’s this about a baby brother?”
“Oh. Yeah.” Victor cleared his throat. “He told me he wants a baby brother because he heard me call Ramon ‘baby brother.’ Then I told him I actually have two brothers, so Isaac said he wanted two baby brothers. And somehow we made a deal where he promised not to tell you about our little talk until today, and in return I’d see about getting him a baby brother.”
Cara smirked. “Well, I’m glad the two of you decided to include me in this decision.” She sighed. “So that’s why he made that weird comment the other night.”
“Yes. It was the same day we had that talk.”
“But he wants two brothers.”
“Yes.” Victor chuckled. “No sisters. And he wanted the first brother as a birthday present next month.”
Cara laughed. “Oh no. What’d you tell him?”
Victor mentally winced. “I told him maybe next year he could
have a brother, but this year he’d have to settle for a race car instead. Something he can ride around the ranch.”
“Huh?” Cara sat up, scared. “No.”
“Why not? They make these cool little cars for kids his age. Kinda like a souped-up tricycle.”
She shook her head. “You don’t mean one of those little four wheelers, do you? The ones with a motor? They go way too fast.”
“No. It’s nothing like that. They have pedals.”
Cara let out a sigh of relief. “Well, please be careful what you promise him. You don’t have to buy his love. And I’m absolutely determined not to spoil him. He needs to appreciate what he has.”
Victor nodded in agreement. “Yes, absolutely. Look, I was desperate, trying to keep him from ruining the surprise. I can’t believe he didn’t ruin it anyway.” He looked in Cara’s eyes. “I know I have a lot to learn about being a parent but I swear to you, from now on I’ll talk to you before I promise to buy him anything.”
“Or promise him a brother or two?” Her eyes grew wide.
Victor grinned. “What? Seemed like you were okay with it the other night.”
Cara blushed, thinking about it. “I know.”
Victor cradled her cheek with his hand. “Cara, my love. I want a big family. With you.” He kissed her, then pulled back. “If Isaac gets sisters, I guess he’ll deal with it.” His ears perked up at the sound of feet quickly ascending the stairs. “Speaking of Isaac…”
“Yeah.” Cara covered her mouth as she yawned. “I knew I wouldn’t get to sleep in today.”
Victor gave her a peck on the cheek then threw the covers off and headed to the dresser. “I need to go downstairs and have a talk with Ramon anyway. Saw Armando last night. He’s supposed to come out here today.”
Cara walked to the closet. “Armando? Last night? How? Why are you just now telling me?”
Victor laughed. “Didn’t seem as important as asking you to marry me.”
Right then, Isaac entered the room. “Hey! Coffee’s weddy!”
Victor and Cara talked Isaac into returning downstairs to help Ramon with breakfast, then locked the bedroom door and sneaked into their bathroom for a quick shower...
Five minutes later, the fringes of his hair damp, Victor went downstairs in jeans, a T-shirt, and socks while Cara stayed to finish getting ready. The first thing he noticed in the kitchen was Isaac struggling to open the refrigerator with his arms wrapped around a gallon of milk.
“Hold on there,” Victor said as he took the milk from Isaac. “You’re gonna drop it.” He looked over his shoulder at Ramon, who was standing over the stove. “Hey, be a little more careful with him.”
Ramon wiggled a spatula inside a skillet of bacon. “What? He’s helping. He can handle putting the milk in the fridge.”
Isaac nodded proudly. “Yeah. I’m a big boy.”
Victor sniffed, then squinted in Ramon’s direction as he headed to the coffee pot. “What’s burning?”
Ramon shot Victor a mean glance over his shoulder. “Nothing. This is what good food smells like.”
Under his breath, Victor muttered, “If you say so.” Then louder, “Need me to help with something?”
“Nah, I got it.” Ramon looked at Isaac, who was now standing close by. “Hey, go get me a roll of paper towels. They’re in that big cabinet.” He nodded behind him toward the other side of the large kitchen.
“Okay!” Isaac took off to fulfill the request.
“So.” Ramon placed the spatula on the stove. “How’d it go last night?”
Victor smiled as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “She said yes.”
Ramon chuckled. “So, it went well then?”
“Yes. Very.” He took a long sip then put his mug on the counter. “In other news, did you know Armando’s in town?”
“What?” Ramon’s eyebrows shot up. He turned around to face Victor. “No. Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I spoke to him. He’s here about that Katie girl.”
Ramon shook his head, his eyes wandering aimlessly around the room. His voice was quiet. “Well I’ll be damned. He didn’t even call me.”
“Didn’t call me either.” Victor shrugged, then picked up his coffee. “I happened to see him before dinner. He was just sitting there in an SUV in the parking lot across the street from the restaurant. Wouldn’t tell me what was going on. But I told him to come out here today for lunch.”
Ramon let out a disbelieving sigh and reached into the pocket of his jeans. “I’m gonna call him.”
* * * * *
Armando eased onto the brake pedal when he heard his phone ring. He hit the speaker phone button. “Hello?”
Ramon said, “Are you really here in town? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
Armando wished for a moment that he had stayed at the hotel. He kept his groan to himself and said, “I’m on my way to see you right now. Be there in a few minutes. Bye.” And then he hung up.
In no mood for his brothers’ goodhearted ribbing, he regretted that he hadn’t been able to hide from Victor the previous night. All he wanted to do today collect his thoughts. Maybe have a few beers. Hopefully talk to Katie again.
He took the long way from San Antonio to Turnbrook this morning to avoid passing the house where Dwayne McCormack still lived with his wife. It felt like it all happened yesterday. Armando’s rage was closer to the surface than ever, after a decade of lying dormant. Especially after seeing Katie last night.
He felt a spasm of dread in his stomach. There would surely be a million questions today. He could already imagine the worst one: Why are you still pining away over your high school sweetheart, pendejo?
Armando had already asked himself the same question more times than he wanted to admit. He had stayed awake all night, staring at the ceiling, seeing only her pretty face in his mind. Hearing only her voice.
It took every ounce of his self-control not to kiss her last night.
Maybe I’m not still in love with her...maybe I just need closure. Maybe that’s why she’s all I can think about.
Armando took a deep breath as he turned down the long driveway that led to his destination. A few seconds later he gritted his teeth and jerked the steering wheel as his vehicle hit a pothole he didn’t notice. A little further on, he noticed a large portion of a wooden fence that was broken and splintered. “Shit, Ramon. You’re lettin’ the place go to hell.” Armando squinted and looked in the rearview mirror, trying unsuccessfully to see that pothole. When he turned to the expanse of road in front of him, he saw another one, but this time he was able to swerve around it in time.
Soon, he was heading up the circular driveway where he parked close to the porch and sat there for a second with the engine off, bracing himself for the day ahead of him.
Finally, knowing he couldn’t avoid them forever, he stepped out of the vehicle and headed to the front door. It swung open before he could knock, with his brother Victor standing there to greet him. A precocious wide-eyed young boy with blond hair, who Armando assumed was Isaac, peeked out from behind Victor’s leg.
“You’re early!” Victor welcomed him with a hug, patting him heartily on the back. “Glad you came. Been worried about you.”
Armando pulled away and looked into Victor’s eyes. “You don’t need to worry.”
Ramon stepped out of the kitchen, immediately giving Armando’s shoulder a smack. “Pendejo. First you don’t tell me you’re comin’ to town. And today you hang up on me? So rude.”
Armando rolled his eyes and put his arms out to give Ramon a quick hug. “Nice to see you, too.” He quickly let him go, sniffing the air. “What’s that? Smells like someone’s burning breakfast in there.”
Ramon groaned and turned around to the kitchen. “Shut up.”
Armando looked down to see the little boy staring up at him, still hiding behind Victor’s leg. In a soft voice, he said, “Hi there. Are you Isaac?”
Isaac grinned, nodding vigorously.
Vi
ctor put his hand on Isaac’s shoulder and said, “This is my brother, Armando.”
Isaac let out a tiny giggle then whispered, “Baby bwothow.”
Victor smiled and said, “Isaac, don’t be shy. Shake Armando’s hand and introduce yourself. Come on, you can do it.”
Isaac looked up at Armando, smiling, after Victor gave his shoulder another friendly squeeze. He extended his hand. “I’m Isaac.”
Armando took the miniature hand in his, surprised by the boy’s firm grip. “Hi. I’m Armando. It’s nice to meet you. That’s a very firm handshake.”
Victor nodded proudly. “I taught him that. Firm handshakes go a long way in this world. It’s good to learn early.”
Armando let go of Isaac’s hand and smirked at his brother. “Oh really? You’re turning him into a stuffy old business man? Already?”
Isaac’s eyes narrowed as he examined Armando. “You wook wike Bictow.”
Seeing the confusion on Armando’s face, Victor spoke up. “He said, ‘You look like Victor.’”
Armando slowly nodded. “Ah. Yeah, that’s what they tell me. Personally, I don’t see it.”
Victor was about to reply to his comment when he heard the stairs creaking. “Cara’s on her way down.”
Armando said, “So, how’d it go last night?”
Victor smiled. “Very well.”
“Good. I’m happy for you.” Armando nodded and waited patiently as Cara entered the room.
“Hi,” she said, extending her hand as she neared him. “Armando? It’s nice to meet you.”
Armando smiled and opted for hugging her instead of shaking her hand. “Cara. It’s good to finally meet you. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Cara said.
Armando pulled away and said, “Welcome to the family.”
Isaac patted Cara’s leg and looked up at her, loudly whispering, “He wooks wike Bictow.”
Cara nodded. “Yeah. I’ve seen pictures and you two looked a little bit similar but in person it’s much more prominent.”
Armando shrugged, shaking his head. “I don’t really see it. When I look at him,” he gestured at Victor, “it doesn’t feel like I’m looking in a mirror.”