To his surprise she murmured back, “I love you, too.”
A little annoyed at himself that he woke her he whispered, “Go back to sleep.”
Suddenly she clutched his hand and went tense.
“What’s wrong? You okay?” His anxiety levels since he witnessed a few of her dizew of hezy spells had been at an all time high lately.
“I think…” She went stiff again. “There it is again..”
“What?” His heart was now going a mile a minute.
“The baby.”
“What about it?”
She spun around and put his hand on her belly. “I felt it move.”
Sal concentrated but felt nothing, still it was exciting to see the emotion in her eyes. “I felt it, Sal. On my wedding day. Our baby.”
Sal took a deep breath and smiled. “He or she is up early and ready for the day mommy and daddy say I do.”
“I’ve said it a million times in my head already,” Grace said smiling at him.
Sal kissed her. “This is just a formality for everyone else’s sake, Gracie. You’ve owned my heart since day one.”
She wrapped herself around him, Sal’s breathing was just beginning to accelerate as he kissed her deeply, when there was a knock at the bedroom door. They both froze. Grace pulled away and made a pouty face, obviously reading the disappointment in his face.
“Come in,” she said unwrapping herself from him and sat up.
“Sorry,” Rose said chewing her bottom lip. “I was waiting for you guys to wake and I heard you talking so I just thought…”
“What’s up?” Grace asked.
“I made the team,” Rose said with a smile.
“You did?” Grace got out of bed and rushed over to hug her. “Oh my God I knew you would!”
Since Rose was now living with them and Sal remembered Grace telling him about her mother not willing to pay for her club soccer team all year round, he decided he’d sponsor her. At first Grace said it would be too much but Moreno’s sponsored plenty of players, so Sal insisted they could sponsor her too. The only club teams in this area were silver teams or higher and Rose had only ever played on bronze teams. But Grace said that was only because in their area they couldn’t afford better coaches or scouts so the only teams they had out there were bronze. She said Rose was a stand out. Rose was nervous about trying out for a silver team. But here she was, smiling big.
“Way to go, Rose. You see your sister was right. You are a superstar. Can’t wait to see you play.”
After giving them the rundown on everything about her practices, uniforms and games she excused herself to start getting ready. Sal had to laugh. The ceremony wasn’t until late that afternoon, but Rose always took hours to do her hair. Today she would be Grace’s maid of honor so he supposed this called for an even longer grooming session.
Grace closed the door after Rose walked out and Sal smiled when he saw her lock it. She turned around with a wicked smile.
height="0" width="0"> “What are you up to Mrs. Moreno?”
She smiled even bigger as she climbed onto the bed. “Ooh I like that.”
“I love this,” he said wrapping both arms around her and pulling her tightly to him.
“But that reminds me of something scary my mom said before she left.”
“What’s that?” Sal searched her eyes curiously.
“She said she had a sneaking suspicion both her girls would be Morenos someday.”
Sal smiled and kissed her. “You never know.”
Rose and Vince had gotten nerve-wrackingly close this summer. And even though the summer was over now and Vince had gone back to La Puente, they were still going back and forth texting nonstop. Her mom could be on to something.
Her mom had been right about one thing. Turned out Frank had come in handy. Ruben got a DUI over the summer and his class A license was taken away. With Frank’s plans to open a restaurant out here with Grace foiled and Ruben no longer able to drive long hauls; Frank offered them both jobs at his busy casino. Grace’s mom wasn’t thrilled about having to work but at least she’d be living in a fancy casino now with maid service instead of the run down apartment building so she took the offer
and they moved out there.
There was never even a question of where Rose would stay. With three extra bedrooms in Sal’s house there was more than enough room and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
The look on Grace’s face said it all. She was still apprehensive about Rose and Vince. “He’s not as bad as I made him out to be. Just hung out with the wrong crowd for a while there but he actually has a good head on his shoulders.”
Finally Grace gave way to that smile he loved so much. “I guess anyone related to you has to be pretty awesome.”
Sal laughed. “I wouldn’t say all that.” The Morenos weren’t without their loonies. What family wasn’t?
“I can hardly believe I’m going to be part of such a big family now.”
“You already are, sweetheart.” he said moving a strand of hair away from her eyes. Then he brought his hand back down, placing it over the small bump on her belly. “And we’re gonna make this family even bigger now.”
She closed her eyes. “It’s hard to believe I’m not dreaming.”
“Open your eyes, Gracie,” he whispered against her lips. “We’re living the dream. Forever starts today.”
She opened her eyes and stared at him. “Forever?”
He smiled nodding before kissing her again. “Forever.”
Epilogue
Alex
Sienna ran up to Alex sopping wet and handed him another rock. “Where’s your life jacket, baby?”
She ignored the question and skipped away. Back toward the water.
“The life jackets were giving them both rashes under their arms so I took them off.” Valerie said, walking up to him with Savannah in her arms.
Alex frowned, putting down the fishing pole he was trying to untangle. “I don’t want them near the water without them, babe.”
“Relax, we’re all watching them. No one’s letting them out of our sights.” She leaned in and kissed him, before grabbing her sunglasses from the beach bag that hung on his chair.
Savannah puckered up so Valerie leaned her in and Alex kissed her, too.
“Daddy fish?”
“Yeah,” Alex smiled. “Daddy’s gonna catch a big one for us today.”
“Your daddy don’t know about this,” Romero said.
Alex glanced over at Romero who sat under the tarp trying to untangle the fishing line on his pole. He’d been at it for over fifteen minutes and it looked worse now than when he started.
Alex shook his head as he reached over and stroked Valerie’s belly. “How you feeling?”
“Perfect.” She put her sunglasses on. “After the hell I went through when I was pregnant with the girls I’m shocked I haven’t had any morning sickness this time.”
“Don’t be a braggart,” Isabel said, sitting up from where she was lying on a towel next to Romero’s chair.
“You still feeling nauseous, Izzy?”
Alex glanced at Isabel. She nodded miserably. Her face was as pale as he remembered Valerie’s getting when she was pregnant with the twins.
“Try sucking on a lemon, Isabel.” Valerie suggested. “That always used to help me.”
Romero put his pole down. “Don’t get up, babe. I got it. One lemon coming up.”
Alex chuckled. Isabel’s pale face also reminded him of when she gave Romero the news she was pregnant two months ago. Since both she and Valerie found out they were pregnant almost at the same time they decided to plan a night out with all the couples and announce it together. Alex thought Romero was going to pass out.
“How did Grace hear about this place anyway?” Romero asked, slicing a lemon on the picnic table. “Elephant butt—what the hell’s that about anyway?”
Alex shrugged, concentrating again on untangling the damn line on his pole. “Sal said her dad used to bring her
here when she was a kid. I think it’s cool.” Alex glanced up at Valerie who balanced Savannah on her hip. “You sure you should be carrying her?”
“Alex she’s not even two. She weighs nothing.” She turned toward the shore where Sienna ran past baby Sal who was still taking wobbly steps nearly causing him to tip over, but Grace was there, arms out ready to catch him if he did. “Sienna, honey be gentle with your cousin. He just learned to walk.”
Sal grabbed Sienna as she tried to run past him and she squealed when he spun her around.
Alex eyed Sarah and Angel who sat on beach chairs in the water. They were supposed to be on twin patrol but Angel held a Corona, and Sarah held a red cup, no doubt sipping on wine. Sarah lifted her cup to them and smiled.
“You’re supposed to be watching my girls. Not drinking.”
Sarah put her hand to her ear pretending not to hear. “What was that?” Then took a sip of her cup with a smile.
“That brat,” Valerie said. “She knows I’m dying to have a glass of wine.”
Alex shook his head. “Not happening.”
“I know.” Valerie said, putting Savannah down then walking after her as she ran toward Sal and Grace.
He watched as she reached Grace. Alex was surprised Sal agreed to make the trip since Grace was five months pregnant. This family—he shook his head. Next year they’d need an RV; their SUVs weren’t going to cut it much longer. The only ones left were Sofie and Angel.
Sofie and Eric were newlyweds and she said they were going to wait, but Sarah and Angel had been trying for over a year now so it was just a matter of time before those two started popping them out.
Romero opened the ice chest, pulling out a beer. “You want one man?”
“Yeah, I’ll take one.”
Romero handed it to him before sitting down. He took a long cold sip, glancing around at his fast growing family and smiled. Life was good.
Sofia
They were so far away from the shore they could barely make out who was who from where they stood in the lake. Sofia smiled wickedly at Eric whose heart was still pounding against her chest as she kissed him one last time.
“I can’t believe we just did that, Sof.”
She giggled. “Why? We did this in Hawaii.”
“Yeah, but your brothers weren’t sitting just couple hundred yards away on the shore.”
She laughed even more at his exasperated expression. “We’re far enough there’s no way they can see what you just did to their little sister.”
Eric smirked and glanced back toward the shore. “Not funny. This was your idea as usual.”
Sofia wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms round his neck agd his neain. “Tell me you didn’t enjoy it.”
That finally made him smile and he groaned, kissing her. When he was done he pulled back. “So did you decide?”
Sofia rested her cheek on his shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe we should wait until we get back home. I’d hate to ruin the trip for Sarah and Angel.”
“You really think it would ruin it?”
She lifted her head up to face him. “When Valerie and Isabel announced they were pregnant at that dinner, they seemed happy enough for them but I’m sure it had to be hard, especially since Grace got pregnant again so quickly after having the baby.” Sofia thought about how devastated they’d felt after finally getting pregnant only to have Sarah miscarry. “They’ve been trying for over a year now. Here we’ve only been married three months and already I’m knocked up.” She shook her head. “No I don’t think we should say anything until we get back.”
“It’s your call, Sof.”
She nodded, a little saddened that she knew it was just a matter of time before Sarah and Angel knew even if it wasn’t until they got back but she was certain it would touch a nerve. She remembered the last time Sarah thought she might be then when it turned out to be a false alarm she’d cried when she told Sofia but made her promise not to tell Angel. She didn’t want him to know how heartbreaking each month that went by and she wasn’t was for her.
They made their way back to the shoreline. Sal and Alex were already working on getting one of the tents up. Sofia walked up behind baby Sal who was tugging on one of the corners of the tents and squeezed him kissing his fat little cheek. “Hey little man. You helping daddy?”
He garbled something loud and with conviction. Sofia lifted her eyebrow pretending to understand him. “Really?”
“I still can’t get over how much he looks like you, Sal,” Eric said.
“You think? I think he looks like Grace.”
“Nah,” Romero shook his head. “That’s all you. Poor little dude.”
Sofia walked over to where Valerie and the other women sat at the picnic table They were making tortas. Sarah helped Savannah with hers while Valerie tried to calm Sienna who was whining about something.
“What’s wrong with her, babe?” Alex asked.
“Nothing she’s just getting fussy. This is their usual naptime.”
Angel came up from behind Sienna where she stood on the bench next to Valerie and kissed her head. “Naptime, Sienna?”
She put her arms out and he picked her up.
“Oh sure,” Valerie said. “She’s all smiles for uncle Angel.”
Angel walked away with her toward the other guys putting up the tent.
Sofia sat downofia sat in the space Sienna had occupied. Rose was lying on the beach with a towel over her face since before she and Eric had gone out into the water. At nearly eighteen, she was just as womanly looking as any of the other women here today. “Grace,” Sofia motioned to Rose. “Is she okay?”
Grace glanced back at Rose and nodded “She’s just tanning.”
Sofia lowered her voice. “Is she finally over… you know?”
Grace shrugged. “She says she is but sometimes she still seems a little down.”
“Maybe once he gets out of the Army they can—”
“No,” Grace said firmly. “She wants nothing to do with him again—ever.”
Sofia wouldn’t say it but she remembered Grace saying the very same thing about Sal once upon a time. She glanced back at Rose again. Never say never.
Romero
Seeing Isabel emerge from the ladies’ room for once not looking like a ghost made Romero smile. Ever since she’d dropped the news about being pregnant he’d been a wreck. Him a dad? Sure Manny and Max were already on board with helping out. Even though they could afford to buy a play set which the baby wouldn’t be using for years anyway, those two nuts were already building one from scratch.
Manny had tapped his chest several times already saying it was being built straight from the heart. Even when that hand had a bandaged thumb from where he’d hammered it. Romero chuckled. That probably wouldn’t be the last bandage the building of that play set would be producing.
“What are you smiling about?” Isabel said slipping her hand in his as she reached him.
“I was just thinking about the play set Manny and Max are building.”
Isabel turned to him. “I thought you told them not to bother. That’s a huge job they’re taking on.”
“Yeah, you try telling those two. Aida said it’s just another excuse for Manny to go out and buy more power tools.”
Isabel laughed. “Oh well, as long as they’re enjoying it.”
“You sure you don’t wanna find out what we’re having?” Romero’s eye teased. “Because Manny said if it’s a boy they could make it into a real cool looking fire station theme. And if it’s a girl he has this whole castle theme he could do instead.”
Isabel’s eyes teased right back. “Yeah, well what if it’s one of each?”
Romero stopped and looked at her, barely able to take another breath. Then she laughed. “I’m kidding!” Romero clutched his chest. “But it’s a possibility. Not only that, I wanna have more than one. What if we do have one of each eventually? They should keep it neutral.”
They’d started walking
again alking aand Romero’s heart was still trying to get over her unfunny joke. Then he thought of what she’d just said. More than one. Here he was barely getting used to the idea of having one kid and Izzy was already thinking more?
As they got closer to their campsite and Romero took in everything he had to smile. Damn what a turn his life had taken ever since he met the perfect girl. All those nights of partying and meaningless sex he would’ve never imagined his life turning into this. He watched as Sal applied sun block on his son and tried unsuccessfully to get him to wear a sun hat. Then he turned to Eric and Sofia who lay on the blanket under the tarp. Eric’s hand stroked her belly gently, making Romero raise an eyebrow. Could they be? Nah, they would’ve said something already. Though he wouldn’t put it past those two. They could barely keep their hands off each other.
Alex was showing one of his girls how to reel in the line on the fishing poles while the other one gave Valerie a hard time about putting on her water shoes. Romero still couldn’t tell them apart but if he had to guess based on their actions, Sienna was the one fighting the water shoes.
Angel and Sarah were far out in the water doing God knows what. Why did everyone think they were so sneaky when they did stuff like that? There was only one reason you’d go out so far.