Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
I grin. “You gonna let us in or what?”
She straightens with a jolt. “Yes, of course.” Smiling at Alejandra, she moves to the side waving us in. As she leads the way down the hall, she picks up shoes, a school bag, and random items of clothing, before stating, “Please excuse my daughter’s belongings. Teenage girls are messy, but they don’t mean to be.” Her nose bunches in sincere affection. “They’re just too busy to remember where things are meant to go. I swear if that girl didn’t have her head screwed on…” She chuckles to herself. “Well, you get what I mean.”
Alejandra smiles at my sister and admits, “I do. When I was living at home, my sisters, Veronica, Carmen, and Patricia, were all teenagers, and I was constantly picking up after them. My youngest sister, Rosa, is thirteen now”—her eyes widen comically—“and the attitude on that one is something to be reckoned with.”
Tonya laughs softly. “Oh my, yes. Thirteen is an awful age. All those hormones cut loose, and one second they’re yelling, the next they’re crying, and whether they’ll admit it or not, sometimes they just need a hug and to be told everything will be all right.”
The sheer admiration in Alejandra’s eyes is something known to me. I feel it every time I watch my sister be a mother to her daughter.
“Speaking of teenagers,” I begin. “Where’s my girl?”
Tonya rolls her eyes. “In the cave she calls a room. I’ll go get her. She’ll be so happy to see her Uncle Jay and meet his…” Unsure what to call her, she looks to Alejandra and flushes slightly. “I’ll just go get Keera.”
We sit down at the dining table in the kitchen, and I look down at my wife. “You okay?”
I’m not prepared for her smiling response. She places her small hand on my knee and squeezes. “I’m with you, aren’t I?”
Fuck.
How is it this little woman’s high opinion of me makes me feel like a better person? And what sort of idiot am I to have given her that power?
Without blinking, I mutter a rough, “Yeah, baby.”
I may as well have just told her I’m hers.
Her smile widens beautifully, her full lips stretched happily. “Then, yes, I’m okay.”
Goddamn.
Fuck it.
I am hers. She just made it so.
When I hear the running footsteps coming down the hall, I move to stand, placing my hand on Alejandra’s shoulder in reassurance. The young woman’s beaming face appears around the open doorway, and a light shriek escapes her. Faster than a speeding bullet, Keera is in my arms, and I hold her as tightly as she grips me, rocking her side to side.
She grabs my shirtfront and shakes me, her expression one of mock anger. “You never visit anymore.”
“Work, baby girl,” I explain.
She shakes me some more, her big brown eyes wide, her long wavy hair swaying as she does. “You care more about work than you do your family, Uncle Jay?”
Tonya lets out a throaty chuckle from behind us, and she peers around Keera to look over at Alejandra. “Never underestimate the guilt a sixteen-year-old can place on her uncle.”
Alejandra smiles openly at the young woman. I gently extract Keera’s fingers from my shirt and pull her into my side, hugging her to me. “You know I love you, but a man’s got to make money.”
Keera pouts. “You have plenty of money already. You don’t need any more damn money.”
“Language,” I warn her with a raised brow. I melt when she flushes.
I can’t deny it. She’s a good girl.
“Keke, I want you to meet someone,” I tell her as I pull her closer to Alejandra, who moves to stand.
Keera eyes Alejandra carefully, then speculates out loud, “Mom told me you brought a woman here. Said she was pretty. I wondered if she was your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend. This is Alejandra,” I explain, before adding cautiously, with a watchful glance at my sister, “my wife.”
Both women still, Keera stuck in a moment of stunned disbelief, whereas my sister reaches up to clutch at her heart, an expression of desolate confusion crossing her.
Tonya’s voice can’t hide her pain. “You got married…” Her brown eyes shine brightly. “…and you didn’t invite us?”
“Tonya, sweetheart,” I begin, not sure of what I can do or say to make the feeling of betrayal any better.
Keera steps back, blinking up at me, her eyes cold. “You didn’t want us there, Uncle Jay?” The words are spoken in deceptive calm.
“No, that’s not how it went,” I tell them both, my mild annoyance unconcealed.
My sister shakes her head, her face pained, unsure what to say to me.
But Alejandra clears her throat and speaks, and when she does, she lies charmingly, “Actually, it was my idea to do a courthouse wedding.” She says easily, “You see, I’ve been married once before, and that marriage was…” She takes her time, looking for the right word. “Horrible. I did the big wedding the first time around and it was awful, stressful.” She comes forward, placing her hand in mine in a silent show of support then smiles ruefully up at me. “I didn’t want to put Julius through that. It didn’t seem like that would appeal to him, so I made a suggestion.” She looks over at Tonya, and then at Keera. “We’d do a courthouse marriage then come straight here and celebrate.” She smiles, then adds, “You’re the first people we’ve told. I knew Julius would want to share this with you, his family.”