Rafe
“Rafe.”
I was heading out to pick up Emery, but at the sound of Mateo’s voice, I stopped walking and backtracked to his office door. In the five weeks since the rest of the family returned from Barcelona, I hadn’t seen him or Ava nearly as much as I would’ve expected, considering we were living next door to each other. They’d gone to dinner with us and also toured the house Emery and I bought, but for the most part, they’d been busy with one thing or another.
“Can you come over—alone—to talk to me after your meeting with the contractors?”
“Of course. Is everything okay?”
“Everything is fine. I just need to talk to you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “This isn’t some bullshit where I come over for you to tell me you hate my girlfriend, is it? Because that will not go over well with me.”
He shook his head emphatically. “Of course not. We all love Emery. If you are smart, you will lock that down sooner rather than later.”
I snorted out a laugh. “I bought a house with her, dumbass. We’re in this for the long haul.”
“You say that, yet I do not see a ring on her finger. I heard a rumor that you and Alejandro went to see Juan Carlos earlier this week. Tell me—was that trip for you or for him?”
Juan Carlos was our family’s go-to jeweler. Every significant piece of jewelry my father had bought my mother—from her engagement ring on— had come from his shop. Mateo was continuing the tradition with Ava, and it was expected the rest of us would do so as well.
I shook my head as I crossed my arms over my chest. “The gossip chain in this family is too much. Yes, Alejandro and I went to Juan Carlos. We went together because we both needed rings. Wedding bells will be ringing all over the place before you know it.”
Mateo’s face lit up with a triumphant smile. “This means Alejandro owes me fifty dollars.”
“Of course there was a bet. I should’ve known. What was it?”
“He bet me that he would still be single many years from now. I win.”
“Good bet,” I laughed as I stepped back into the hall. “You have that look. I’m guessing you’re leaving early?”
He nodded. “I start to really miss Ava around noon and it goes downhill from there. I do my best to tough it out every other day of the week but on Fridays I give in early and go home to my wife.”
“It’s Thursday,” I pointed out dryly.
Mateo shrugged. “It feels like a Friday to me.”
Two months before I’d have mocked my brother for being pussy-whipped. I couldn’t do that anymore since any time I was in the office I counted down the hours until I could get back to Emery.
“I’ll be over after the architects go over the plans with us. Knowing my woman it’ll take a few hours.”
“See you then.”
* * *
Once we got back to my parents’ after the meeting with the architects, I left Emery in the backyard playing catch with Elvis so I could go over to Mateo and Ava’s.
When he opened the door of the villa as I came up the driveway, I noticed that he looked uptight.
“What’s up with you?” I asked.
“Nothing bad,” he assured me.
Closing the front door behind us, he led me into the great room. I was surprised that Ava wasn’t there waiting for us.
“Where’s the old ball and chain?” I joked as I dropped down a leather recliner.
“She will come down in a few minutes,” he answered as he sat in the recliner next to me. “First, I must talk to you alone.”
He’d said whatever it was wasn’t bad, but the way he was acting was stressing me the fuck out.
“Jesus, Mateo. What the fuck is going on? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is better than okay. I wanted to tell you before anyone else. Ava is pregnant. We are having a baby.”
I got it then, why he looked so tense. He was anxious about my reaction, worried that it would set me over the edge. He’d stressed for nothing, of course. I was happy for them—and I would’ve been able to say that honestly even before I fell in love with Emery.
“I hate that you thought I wouldn’t be happy about this, brother. You never had to worry for even a second. I’m thrilled for both of you, and I can’t wait to be an uncle. How far along is she?”
It had been a long time since I’d seen my brother so emotional but right then he looked ready to cry. His entire body relaxed as he beamed at me. “As of yesterday, she’s thirteen weeks pregnant.”
“I told you he’d be happy,” Ava said as she came into the room.
I stood and opened my arms as she came right for me. “Is this why you’re hiding from all of us?” I asked.
Stepping out of my hug, she smacked my shoulder before she turned and sat down on Mateo’s lap. “I wasn’t hiding, dork. I did so well at first but the last few weeks have been brutal. Once we got home from Malibu morning sickness hit me hard. I basically just sleep or puke all the time now.”
“But everything is okay?”
Ava nodded. “I’m officially out of the first trimester, and everything looks great. Aside from the vomiting, my biggest problem is that your brother is driving me nuts with his Nurse Nelly routine. When a girl is puking, she really doesn’t want someone watching.”
He grumbled and hugged her to him. “This is the pregnancy hormones talking. She wants me there,” he insisted.
I bit back a laugh when Ava looked at me and rolled her eyes. There was a fine line between overprotective and overbearing. My brother straddled that line much the same as our father did. I wondered if Emery thought the same thing about me, but quickly shrugged it off since I was sure I was nothing like those Neanderthals.
“When are you telling the rest of the family?” I asked.
“Well,” Ava laughed, “I told this big lug that once everything went perfectly fine with you, we’d go next door and tell Mamá and Papá. Mateo will tell Alejandro and Dio at work tomorrow, and we’re hoping to FaceTime with Joaquin sometime tonight.”
“Sweet. Come over now and do it over dinner. Mamá is making chicken piccata.”
Ava’s face went a little green as she sagged against Mateo. “No to dinner,” she mumbled. “I can eat like six things, and that isn’t one of them. Text me after you’ve all eaten and we’ll be right over.”
Noticing how upset Mateo looked that Ava wasn’t feeling well made me feel for him. I hoped that when it came time for Emery and I to have children I’d be strong enough to withstand being helpless to do anything to make that kind of nausea go away.
* * *
I couldn’t keep a secret to save my life, which meant I told Emery the second I got home. She seemed stunned and also ecstatic about my reaction.
“Miel, you know I want kids, right?”
Her eyes filled with tears as she shook her head. “Ever since you told me about what that evil bitch did I’ve worried that maybe going through all that meant you didn’t want them at all.”
“Ah, Dulce Niña,” I chuckled as I pulled her onto my lap, “I love you so much it hurts. How could I not want little versions of us running around? I was thinking we’d get started making babies to fill our big house as soon as we move in.”
She wiggled against me as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “Until then we can practice,” she giggled.
“By the time the house is finished, we’ll be Olympians,” I joked. Threading my fingers through her hair, I drew her in and kissed her deeply.
“Ahem,” my mother coughed from the other end of the porch. “Dinner is ready.”
With Emery’s arms still around me, I stood from the chair and started walking toward the house. She giggled and begged me to put her down as I walked, but I kept right on going until I got to the table and deposited her in her seat.
The second dinner was over and the plates were cleared I texted Mateo and told him to come over. My parents were beside themselves with joy, and everything seemed to be going perfectly until a few minutes later when my Papá started to cry. Ava knew right away what had him emotional and she flew into his arms with a sob. It was hard, watching two people I loved so much mourn the absence of the uncle I missed every day.
When Uncle Quino died, Ava lost her father, and Papá had lost his best friend. The loss was always there, but never was it more noticeable than when there was a significant event—like the birth of what would’ve been the first grandchild for both my Papa and my uncle.
Hearing my father promise to tell the baby everything he possibly could about Uncle Quino got me choked up. Partially because I was sad for my father, who I knew felt a responsibility to do everything Quino would’ve done—to grandfather for both of them, in a way—and partially because it was a reminder that time was not guaranteed.
I needed to find the right time to ask Emery to marry me sooner rather than later.