Fate

  “I’m gonna come, babe, and I’m not wearing a condom.”

  “I don’t care! Do it!”

  In the next second, he grabbed her waist and lifted himself up, pushing himself into her and froze that way. “Auughh!”

  She came, just feeling the heat of him explode inside her. There was nothing more satisfying. She sat on him for a few minutes longer, enjoying the euphoria, trying to catch her breath. A little surprised he hadn’t asked again, she smiled, looking down at him. “You own this forever.”

  He smiled without opening his eyes but squeezed her behind. “I know.”

  “You do?”

  “Yep, I figured it out in Iraq. This ass was made for me. That’s why I had to come back and claim it.”

  Rose giggled tilting her head. “Really now?”

  Vincent opened his playful eyes, smiled even bigger, and squeezed her behind with both hands now. “And let me tell you. It was worth every broken bone.”

  She leaned in to kiss him, laughing softly but laughed outright when she felt him squeeze her ass with both hands like he was kneading dough.

  One of his hands finally left her behind but only to cover her mouth. “Shh! You’re gonna wake Sal, and he’s gonna come out here and break my other arm.”

  Stifling her laughter, she got off him and hurried to the bathroom to clean up and brush her teeth then made a pit stop at her room to grab a certain teddy bear she’d become so accustomed to sleeping with. By the time she made it back to the family room, Vincent was dozing off. He woke when she climbed in under the blanket next to him.

  “You’re gonna sleep with me?” he asked already adjusting himself and pulling her body even closer to him, so he could spoon her.

  “Yes,” she said, making herself comfortable on his big arm with a grin. “I mean really, Vincent. What can they possible think we’d do on this crowded sofa?”

  Slipping his hand between her legs, he kissed the side of her face. “I can’t imagine.”

  As if they weren’t close enough, Rose snuggled into him even more, and he pulled his arm around her even tighter. “You know I really do own all this,” he said kissing her ear and neck.

  “I know.”

  “No, you think I’m kidding, but I plan on making it official.” Rose turned to look at him, not exactly sure what he was saying but feeling excited already. “Oh yeah,” he said tracing her lips with his fingers. “I’m getting the papers and everything. You and I have whole lot to talk about.”

  Rose lay back down, and they assumed the snuggling position again. All that time she’d spent theorizing about his reasons for leaving, one of the them being that she’d scared him off with her moving-in talk, she dared not bring up that or any talk of marriage unless he specifically used those words himself. Even now those were not the words he was using, but she would say one thing. “You’ve owned me completely from that very first summer, Vincent, and I think you knew it even back then.”

  “Not really, but I do now.” He kissed her neck again. “I still want it in writing.”

  Rose laughed. “God, it’s good to have you back. I love you so much, Vincent.”

  Squeezing her even tighter, he buried his face in her neck. “I love you too, Rosie.”

  ~*~

  Rose held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut as she waited to feel the needle on her lower back. “All done.”

  She turned around thinking Vincent might be kidding, but he held an empty syringe and wore a big proud smile. “See I told you I could do this.”

  “That was awesome! I didn’t feel a thing.” Vincent finished wiping the area with a cotton ball still smiling proudly. “Even with Ben I’d at least feel a tiny pinch.”

  The instant frown on Vincent’s face had her immediately regretting bringing up Ben, but then she remembered. “He’ll be there today. You’ll be nice, right?”

  Vincent’s frown morphed into an evil little grin. “You know me.”

  She turned all the way around, and his arm came around her waist pulling her to him as if by habit now. Rose loved the way she felt in his big strong arms. It was exactly where she belonged. “Yes, I know you, Vincent. So promise me you’ll behave. He’s my friend, and he knows and respects that you are my boyfriend. But this is the final, and he wants to be there.”

  Vincent didn’t respond to that; instead he just kissed her. Rose knew he’d never make any promises about this kind of stuff. But she trusted him now—completely—trusted that he’d never again do anything to jeopardize their relationship or their time together.

  With the kiss getting a little too heavy and very much aware that they were still in her bedroom with her mother only a few doors down, she pulled away breathlessly.

  Vincent leaned his forehead against hers. “I gotta go. But I’ll be right there front and center. You got this, babe.”

  Rose kissed him one last time and walked him out, not mentioning that he completely ignored her request to behave around Ben. She went back inside and finished gathering her things then headed out of her bedroom.

  With all the excitement of Vincent being back and her team making it all the way to the state final, Rose hadn’t put much thought into how often her mother wasn’t around lately.

  She’d been so caught up with Vincent, but the finals and the extra practices for them were also taking up a lot of her time. She stopped at her mother’s bedroom door. Her mother was sitting on a chair staring out the window.

  “You okay?” Rose asked.

  Her mother turned to her with a smile and nodded. “You have a minute?”

  Rose looked down at the phone in her hand. She had a few, so she walked in the room, and her mother motioned to the bed. Rose sat on it feeling a little nervous. Talks with her mom were so rare. “I’ve been a fool, Rose. I owe you not only an apology but an explanation. I wasted my entire life waiting to die, and here I am an old woman, alive and kicking. I should’ve enjoyed my life—my daughters. Instead I never allowed myself to get too close to anyone, to you,” she stopped looking down at her hands as she intertwined them nervously, “especially you, and it was so unfair.”

  Rose didn’t understand. “What do you mean waiting to die?”

  “My mother died when I was very young, and it tore me apart. Then my oldest sister, who like you and Grace I’d become so close to after my mother’s death, died also of the same thing—cervical cancer. I wanted to die, Rose. And I almost got my wish too. I was also diagnosed with cervical cancer at age twenty.”

  Rose was stunned. She had no idea, but she was speechless, so she stared at her mother and continued to listen silently.

  “I was certain that like my mother and my sister I’d share their same fate and die young, but then it went into remission. I was still very bitter because I just knew it would come back. Why would it take my mother and my sister but not me? Then I met your father, and I got pregnant.” Her tired eyes looked away from Rose and she continued to stare out the window. “I didn’t want to have you, Rose. Not because I didn’t want you, but because I was afraid I’d pass on my curse. I begged your father. I told him he already had Grace. I’d help him raise her, and that would be good enough, but he insisted I have you.” Her mother turned back to Rose. “I was angry for a very long time. I let him and your grandmother and Grace do all the nurturing because I was certain that I was going to die and leave you devastated the way I’d been, or worse you’d get the curse and I would have to endure losing someone I loved and was so close to again.” She sat up at the edge of her chair and reached for Rose’s hand. “I couldn’t do it. Then just when I began to believe that maybe, just maybe, we’d be okay, your father was murdered. I can’t even begin to explain to you what that did to me. So like a coward I retreated back into my world of not letting anyone in—not even you, or I should say especially you.”

  Her mother took a deep breath before going on. “I helped raise Grace from the time she was a little girl, but I knew deep inside you were all I really had. I pushed you
away. I refused to let you get close. I wanted you to have all the love you needed, but not from someone that was going to leave you suddenly. It was a terrible thing to do, but it was the only way I could think of to protect you from having to go through the hell I had.” Patting Rose’s hand, she said the next sentence like it was no big deal. “The cancer came back earlier this year.”

  “What?” Obviously her mother’s plan to keep her at bay so that she wouldn’t care was bust, because Rose did care. This terrified her. “It’s back?”

  Her mother smiled. “Just like the first time, it came and it went, Rose. It’s taunting me. After months of chemo and treatments, it went into remission again. I still have to go in often to be tested, but so far it hasn’t come back.”

  Rose’s heart was still beating against her chest, but the relief was enormous.

  “That’s when I decided to move back here and be with you, but I keep thinking maybe it’s too late.”

  “It’s not,” Rose said quickly.

  “You have your life. Grace has hers.”

  “And you’re part of it. You should’ve always been, and now we’re gonna make sure everything is different.” Rose frowned. “But you’re right. It was a terrible thing to do, and it was completely unfair to me. For the longest time, I thought you hated me.”

  Her mother held her arms open, and Rose hugged her, feeling warmth from her mother for the first time. “Corazon, it feels so good to finally be able to hold you like this. I may’ve never told you this, Rosie, and I’m so sorry now that I didn’t,” she said smoothing her hair, “but I love you, baby girl, and I’ve never been more proud of anything in my life than you. I’ll make sure you know this every day of your life from here on.”

  Hearing her mother say she loved her was more overwhelming than she could’ve ever imagined. She cried into her mother’s shoulder, but much like the tears she shed when Vincent held her for the first time since he’d left, they were tears of pure and utter bliss. Suddenly she felt seven-years-old again. “I love you too, Mommy.”

  Epilogue

  Pulling out of the firing range parking lot, Vince turned to look at Rose. She was shaking her head like she was trying to shake water of her ear. “You okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said without looking at him.

  “What’s wrong with your ears?”

  “They’re still buzzing from all the shooting in there.”

  “You must have sensitive ears. We’ll get you stronger ear muffs next time.”

  His stomach churned as they made their way back to the marina restaurant. He told Rose they were meeting with Romero for dinner, so they could finalize his contract with him. Now that Vince was finally completely certified as a trainer and had done all the legwork on getting his business together, he’d be training all of Romero’s employees in firearm tactics. Vince had only started to get the word out about the business at the firing range, hoping he’d pick up a few clients. Now he had a slew of them with Romero’s security firm. He’d be booked solid for months now.

  The contract had actually already been finalized and signed, but he needed a good reason to get Rose to the marina without making it sound romantic. The fact that it was the closest restaurant to the firing range helped.

  As promised, Romero was already there, but Vince frowned when he saw his uncles with him and his uncle’s wife Aida. Rose might get suspicious. Then he saw Sofia peek her head out from the back room as Rose took her seat at the table. Alex’s twin girls ran behind the bar squealing, and Alex ran after them ducking behind the bar before Rose could see him. Luckily she was too busy saying hi to Romero and his uncles to notice.

  Now Eric, Sofia’s husband, was also peeking and giving him the thumbs up from the back room. Vince gave them both a look, and they disappeared. The squealing was quickly muffled, but Vince could still hear the girls’ giggling. Vince could just picture his giant cousin Alex hunched behind the bar holding his hands to his daughters’ mouths. Just as he finished pushing Rose’s chair in, he noticed Valerie, Izzy and Grace hiding behind their menus in a corner booth. Geez. This family was about as discreet as neon sign.

  “So did you guys decide, because Angel’s already on his way over again,” Romero said nudging his Uncle Manny.

  “I don’t know. All these house specialty foo-foo drinks sound good, and Angel said they can make any of them non-alcoholic for me.”

  “Why don’t you just order a Diet Coke? It’s cheaper.”

  “Because we’re celebrating,” Manny said but quickly straightened out wincing and looked at Romero who gave him a murderous look.

  Rose looked up from her menu. “Really? What are you celebrating?” They all stared at her including Vince who was at a loss for words. She turned to Vince, eyes wide–open then looked down. “Is that your stomach making that noise?”

  Vince put his hand over his cramping belly. “Yeah, I’m starving.” Immediately he regretting saying that because as nervous as he was, he doubted he could keep anything down.

  Angel was at their table just in time. “So did you guys decide?”

  They all put in their orders then Manny had to go and make a big production about what damn non-alcoholic foo-foo drink he should order, reminding Rose about their celebration. “So what was it you’re celebrating tonight?” she asked with a big smile.

  Angel looked at Vince, and then spun around like a coward rushing off, being no help at all.

  “The contract,” Romero finally said. “It’s a pretty big deal. Good for both of us.” He winked at Vince. “Once all my guys are certified, it’ll open doors in all kinds of new directions that I’ve been wanting the firm to go in. Once that happens, and word gets out that it was Vince’s new company that certified them all, that’ll get him enough exposure to be booked clear into next year. And that’s how it starts.”

  Rose leaned into Vince and kissed his cheek. “I am so proud of you. So much so I think I’ll have a foo-foo drink, too. That is reason to celebrate.”

  They’d just dodged that bullet when Rose’s attention was averted to the front door of the restaurant. “Is that my mom?”

  They all turned to see Rose’s mom walking in wearing dark sunglasses and a big sunhat. The second she spotted them, she hurried into one of the corners behind one of the large planters where half her body was still sticking out.

  “What is she doing?” Rose asked getting up.

  Well shit. Vince knew it. He should’ve just done this the way he had originally planned—somewhere where it was just the two of them. But no, not this family, they weren’t having it. After Lorenzo opened his big mouth about it, they just all had to get involved. “You gotta go all out,” they said. “Make it extra special,” they said. “We all have to be there,” they insisted.

  Now because of them, his stomach was a mess, and they’d probably all ruin it before he could even get to it.

  “Man,” Max laughed as soon as Rose was far enough, “talk about being pretty fucking obvious. Her mom’s gonna blow it.”

  Vince looked at him just as Aida snorted. “She’s gonna blow it?”

  “Yeah,” Max laughed, “who wears sunglasses and a sunhat at night?”

  Aida snorted even louder just as someone tapped Vince on the shoulder. One of the waiters let him know they were ready for him. Vince got up, hoping he wouldn’t be sick and followed him out back.

  Lorenzo was waiting for him outside. “How we doing?” he asked with a big smile.

  “I’m probably gonna hurl in the middle of it.” Lorenzo walked quickly alongside him. “You just had to tell them, didn’t you? This could’ve been so much simpler. She probably already knows something’s up. Her mom’s in there hiding behind a fucking plant. It’s just a matter of time before she notices the girls behind their menus or Alex’s girls running around.”

  Lorenzo laughed. “Oh man, I saw her mom going in. Did you get a load of that ridiculous hat? I couldn’t stop laughing.”

  Vince looked at him. “You saw he
r and didn’t stop her? She could’ve at least come in through the back.” Vince shook his head stepping onto the pier. “Let’s just get this done already. Is everything ready?”

  “All set.”

  “Is the guy here?”

  “Yep, don’t worry, Bro. It’s all under control.”

  Vince rolled his eyes, thinking of just how under control things were inside the restaurant. “I hope so because I don’t know how much more of this my stomach can take.”

  ~*~

  Rose saw her mom move further behind the plant as she got closer. “Mom?” At first her mother didn’t move or say a word. “What are you doing back there? What are you doing here?”

  Her mother finally moved and came out from behind the plant, pulling her glasses off and adjusting her hat. “I uh…I’m meeting someone here,” she lifted her chin, “a man.”

  That surprised Rose. “Really?” She casually looked her mom up and down. She’d seen her mother dress up for men in the past. She hardly looked the part now. “So…why were you hiding back there?”

  Her mom turned to the plant. “I didn’t want you to see me. I haven’t told you girls about him yet, so I was hoping to keep it a secret a little longer. I had no idea you’d be here. I wanted to, you know, see him discreetly for a while before I brought him around.”

  “So you decided to meet him at Moreno’s?” Her mother seemed embarrassed or uncomfortable enough, so when she didn’t respond, Rose let her off the hook. She turned and looked around the restaurant. “Is he here yet?”

  “No, he said he was running late.”

  Rose took her mother’s hand. “Well, come sit with us then.”