Chapter Fifteen
Alma
It was two in the morning before I left his backyard and three by the time I got home. The house was dark but as I dragged myself up the stairs, the sounds of my father’s snoring roared through the house.
He was home.
Funny how he could snore through my turmoil.
I laid in bed for hours until I rolled over toward my bedroom window to see the sun coming up over the mountains in the distance. With my eyebrows scrunched, I sat up and looked around the room. My room was still pink like a cotton candy fairy threw up all over it. I’d loved it as a girl.
My dad had picked out the colors, telling my mom that his girl needed a room fit for a princess.
The clanging of pots being put on the stove told me that my parents were already up and starting the day.
I didn’t know if I could face them yet.
A lone tear ran down my face. Austin’s face had been indescribably painful to look at the night before. I was causing him pain – again.
The thing was, I had no idea why.
I walked down the stairs in a fog, still in my pajamas that I barely pulled on.
I couldn’t go through this again.
I couldn’t lose Austin again.
“Buenos dias.” I grumbled under my breath.
I didn’t get a response. So, this was how it was going to be. I made myself a cup of coffee and sat next to him. He was staring at his cup, not even making eye contact with me. As tired as I was, I grew angrier.
There was no doubt I love Austin. None. However, picking him over my father was a choice more difficult than I could handle. I know how Papa was with his stubbornness and being bullheaded. It was where I get it from.
“Did Mama tell you how great the party was last night?” I asked as she set the breakfast plates in front of us.
He didn’t answer.
“The food was outstanding. The company was amazing. Sad you had to miss it.”
Again, he remained quiet.
“What was more important last night you couldn’t come?”
He continued to eat, not even noticing me. I was invisible to him. My parents and I have butted heads a lot in my years, but I was twenty-three now. My heart wanted Austin. It was time for me to live my life. My way. For too long, I’ve done what they wanted. Now, it was my turn to be selfish.
“I think it was terribly rude for you not to at least come for a moment. Austin worked hard to make last night perfect.”
He finally glanced over at me, acknowledging I was there. “It was a spectacle for you two.”
“No, you’re wrong. It was a couple celebrating their love with people who love them. I guess that’s why you didn’t show.”
“He’s not right for you.”
“A hardworking, honest, kind hearted man is wrong for me? Then maybe I should go to the jail and see who’s up for parole and ask them out? Would that make you happy?” My voice grew louder.
He went back to being quiet.
“I’m a good person, and Austin makes me better. Just like Mama makes you better. He’s my everything and I’ll pick him every day of the week over anybody else. This is it, Papa. I’m not a kid anymore, and I’m not scared of losing your love. If I lose it, then that’s your fault.”
I began to walk away but stopped in my tracks at the clearing of his throat. Papa always cleared his throat when he was about to say something profound as if he had to choke up his bravery.
“Mija, listen to me. I will love you no matter what. But that boy was… you were not even an adult yet. What was he thinking? You were too young and he was way too old. Don’t you want someone who can carry on our legacy? Our language? Our traditions?”
I huffed out a laugh. I understood his reasons, but they were antiquated at best.
“Papa, you forget that I’m part of that, right? My children will speak our language because of me. They will carry on our traditions if they want to. I would rather love Austin for the rest of my life, no matter how different he is from me, then spend five minutes not loving someone because they happen to speak our language or know our culture. Love doesn’t care, Papa.”
He sighed longer and harder than I’d ever heard and clanked his fork down on the plate in front of him.
“This is it then? You’ve made your decision? Are you marrying him?”
The thought of marrying Austin fluttered in my belly like a thousand caterpillars.
Yes, that was what I wanted.
“I want to, Papa, but after the fit I threw last night about you not being there, I’m not even sure if he wants to marry me anymore.”
“I didn’t do it to ruin your night, mija. I was making a point.”
“Point taken. You hate Austin. The thing is, Papa, I don’t care if you do. I’m done. We aren’t kids hiding our relationship anymore. I’m gonna go try to fix this now.”
I gasped at my own admission.
“One dinner.” My papa coughed out.
“What?”
“One family dinner. Here. Tonight. Let’s see how it goes. I don’t want to lose you over this.”
“You know what, Papa? I will ask him. If he wants to come, great. If he doesn’t, then nothing about what I said changes. Just know that before you work up some plan to humiliate him or get angry, he’s it for me – no matter what.”
I went upstairs and showered as fast as I could, throwing on the same scrubs I’d worn the day before. Glasses on my face and hair wild and tangled in a bun on the top of my head, I headed to Austin’s house, hoping to God we could work this out.