Garcia

I’ve never been so relieved in my life. When Kimber said the words I forgive you it was like my heart started beating again. If my parents were being held in a prison nearby I would go and thank them personally for being so timely with their fuck-ups. It’s like the universe knew Kimber and I were meant to be together and called on karma to have them arrested just for us.

I spent the afternoon at the police station near the base telling the police what little I know about my family. They probably already had all of the information I gave them. The DEA has been building a case against them for years. They even knew Sebastian and Diego had been in town recently. But there was nothing that could link me to their illegal activity since I’ve been a Marine for over ten years and I never call or visit them ever.

I pull into the driveway and find everyone on my porch hanging out having drinks, smiling, and laughing with their luggage lined up at the bottom of the steps.

“Hey, the gang’s all here! This must mean everybody can go, huh?”

They all erupt in a collective cheer and raise their bottles and glasses.

“What time’s our flight?”

“Eight o’clock but you’re all packed and ready to go. Here, have a beer.” Kimber tosses me a Corona and I smile.

“Damn, life doesn’t get any better than this.”

They all get quiet and look at each other. “What? What’d I say?”

“Can you come inside for a second, I want to show you something,” Kimber says.

“Can’t wait till we get to Vegas, huh?” I say walking past our friends but nobody laughs.

“Stop, you’re such a heathen. Come on.” She pulls me by the arm and I stumble along behind her to her office upstairs.

“Where’s Grayson?”

“Asleep, my mom’s coming with us to babysit. She’ll be here in a little bit.”

“So, what are we doing in here?”

She closes the door and passes me on her way to her desk. “I got this in the mail today.” She holds up a large manila envelope addressed to Mrs. Kimber Johnson.

“What’s that? And why is it addressed to Mrs. Kimber Johnson?”

“Because the lawyer who sent it was lead to believe I was still married to Caleb.”

“Huh? Lawyer, what lawyer?

“Do you remember me telling you my grandmother died right before I married Caleb?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, she was very wealthy, my grandpa was a famous photographer and he left her a fortune.”

“Okay.”

“Anyway, she also loved kids, like really loved them but she was only able to have one, my mother. We always wondered where a large portion of her money went to when she died. Nobody was able to account for it and after a while we gave up trying to figure it out.”

“So she left you money?”

“Well, sort of but it had stipulations. It’s a trust fund only to be given to Caleb and me when our first child was born. She didn’t want us to rush so the lawyer had to keep it a secret until I got pregnant.”

“Wow, that seems pretty elaborate. So, what now, you get the money because you had Grayson?”

She’s bobbing up and down on her toes with excitement and her smile is so big it looks like her face is going to split open.

“Yes, but that’s not what’s so interesting.”

“Okay baby, you got me hooked, spill it, what’s the deal with this money?”

I don’t ask how much it is or when she’s getting it because I don’t care. All I want in life is standing in front of me and sleeping in the room next door. I don’t need money to be happy. I need Kimber and Grayson.

“The money was supposed to be for Caleb and me, so all the legal paperwork was drawn up in both of our names. Caleb got the notification about it but I didn’t because he had our mail forwarded to his new swanky house alone with mine. He’s been keeping this a secret all this time. He found out when I moved to California and he contacted the lawyer and acted like we were still married. He signed my name to everything and he’s been getting money from my grandma’s trust all this time. That’s why he was so hell-bent on being a daddy and falling in love with Grayson and bonding blah, blah, blah. God, he makes me sick.”

“I knew it had to be something, I knew it!” I punch the air in front of me. That bastard has been ripping Kimber off and trying to get her back so he can keep getting money from the trust.

“Yep. And I called the lawyer and the police this morning and he might just be sitting in jail right now. The lawyer says he has to pay back all the money because we weren’t married when I delivered Grayson and it was my blood relative who left the money.”

“Wow, that’s incredible. So he’s going to be gone? No more shared custody?”

“Nope, he will be a convicted felon, no custody for him. Not that he will want it now that he’s not getting a dime. And there are a lot of dimes to get. Julián, we are financially set for the rest of our lives. We don’t even have to work if we don’t want to. I want to, though, I love my work and I know you won’t give up being a Marine but we can have a soccer team and send them all to college and take them on family vacations…”

She’s talking a million miles an hour and I cross the room and shut her up with a kiss. This is like a fucking fairytale, where all the bad guys get punished and all the good guys get rich and live happily ever after.

I kiss her until she’s weak in the knees and panting and I’m considering a quickie before we leave for the airport.

“Wait, there’s more,” she says untangling herself from my arms.

“More? How could there possibly be more? There’s nobody left to arrest and apparently you’re rich.”

She smiles a I know something you don’t know smile and pulls something out from the top drawer of her desk.

It’s a pregnancy test and the word in the tiny box says pregnant.

“No, what the hell?”

“I guess condoms aren’t 100%,” she says with a shrug and tears in her eyes.

“We’re having a baby? Another baby?”

“Yep,” she says laughing.

“Holy shit! We’re having a baby!” I yell at the top of my lungs.

“Shush,” she says holding her finger over my lips, “you’re going to wake the one we have now.”

“I don’t care, wake him up! We have to go to Vegas so I can marry you and we can have another baby! I am the luckiest fucking man alive, Kimber Garcia, do you know that?”

“I think I do, and I’m the luckiest woman alive, Julián Garcia. I love you more than fuzzy socks.”

“And I love you more than pudding.”