After the Before (29 page)

Epilogue

Jasmine & Alex

Alex visited my house after he left me at the hospital that night. He informed my
dad of everything that had happened. He only told him of the night’s events, but left out the fact that I had come close to being raped. That was a conversation that should be between my dad and me, not my dad and Alex.

Alex told me that
Dad’s face turned red as he tried to mutter, what Alex believed, were cuss words. However, when I returned, he calmed, seeing that I was all right with his own eyes.

We sat down, well
I sat down, and had a very serious conversation with him, daughter to father. I recapped the details about Margret, who by the way was spending her rehab in a jail-sponsored center, due to the abuse. I guess Grandma decided that not making her pay for her actions was not acceptable, so I had to go with Alex to the police station to give a report on her abuse. Child endangerment and assault is what I believe they charged her with. I also gave another report about Mario while I was there. They hadn’t located him for questioning yet, so I did my part by reporting it. Whether they ever found Mario or not, my part was done, and I was ready to put it behind me.

Then
, I told him about what happened with Mario at the beach, and in the shed… everything. I no longer harbored any secrets from my dad.

I went on to
explain my situation with Alex; this topic being sensitive. I told him that we loved each other, and in as little detail as possible, gave him enough information for him to understand that our relationship had gone beyond simple boyfriend/girlfriend.

After everything was out,
I asked him to hear me out with the request I had. I explained to him how Alex and his mother had been living since the accident. I had already explained to him why Alex had joined a gang in the first place, and that Mrs. Navarro was working her tale off just trying to make ends meet and take care of Alex and herself. This had been just as hard, if not harder, for them, too. I suggested that since we have the room, we should think about and consider letting them move in with us. It certainly would not be any hardship for us, and Maria could find a better job that didn’t work her to the bone.

I was looking for him to disagree, to just tell me no, but he completely caught me off guard by blinking his yes, enthusiastically, as a matter of fact. Since I felt like I was on a roll, I also brought up Carlos’s situation. My dad actually cried when I explained about Carlos’s dad and how he beat him too, and dad seemed to agree that no one should have to be in such a situation, so he would stay with us also.

I felt like maybe dad thought he owed me in some way for what had been going on with Margret, but
I wasn’t having any of that. What happened, happened. I chose to not say anything, and no one was to blame but Margret. I also stayed on him about taking more time to think on having Alex and his family move into our home. I was happy that he wanted it for me, but I didn’t want it to be just for me. It was a big decision, and one that I didn’t want him to say yes to only to make me happy. I wanted it for the both of us.

Even Grandma gave her opinion and thought this house needed a family again, so I had the support of both the people I loved and was ready to begin our new lives together.

Carlos came to his new home, with us, shortly after my dad gave us the go ahead. Lucky for Carlos, the knife wound he suffered missed all his vital organs; but he did come close to bleeding out. By the time we had gotten him to the hospital, the wound had nearly stopped bleeding, but now he’s back to himself, as Alex put it. After getting to know him better and seeing what a wonderful person he truly was, we became the best of friends… Family.

The house was big enough for everyone to have their own rooms. Now, I’m not going to say that Alex and I
obeyed the rule about sleeping in our own rooms each night. Our parents believed that we were old enough at this point, and if we could go through everything that we went through together and made it work, then we deserved a little trust.

It’s been
almost 9 months, and graduation is coming up next week. My grandma has asked Alex, Carlos, and I, what we would like for our graduation presents. We all told her to surprise us, and now we are impatiently waiting for whatever gifts she comes up with. Right now, my life couldn’t get any more perfect, I couldn’t ask for anything else.

*****

The night before graduation, Jasmine decides to sneak into my bed in the middle of the night. All right, it’s more like nine, but she’s a welcome warmth next to me. She slips under the comforter and slides her body tightly against mine.

“Mmm.” I purr in her ear.

“Alex.” She says swatting my arm playfully, making me smile against her neck as I kiss her teasingly. “You know we need to get some sleep. Graduation is at 9:00 am tomorrow.”

“Muneca, if you wanted
to sleep, you should have stayed in your own room.” I slip my hand under her shirt and run my fingers along her rib cage.

She giggles in response, knowing I already have her trapped and wrapped around my little finger. “What did you have in mind?” She asks, crawling halfway onto my chest, her upper thigh rubbing me in the
perfect place.

Having her crawl
onto me has me ready for her. As soon as her bare skin touches mine, I’m at full salute. The thigh rubbing is getting me in trouble, and fast. I take a deep breath and try to calm down, but she knows me too well now; hiding anything from her is impossible.

“What did
you
have in mind?” After close to a year, I still lack any self-control while she’s around, especially when our proximity is this close.

“Cada día te quiero más que ayer. No puedo esperar hasta podemos hacer dulce amor nuevamente.” Her eyes lower seductively.

I should never have taught her Spanish. Hearing those words come from her sweet lips, in my native tongue, makes me want to take her right now. I know
mi Madre and Carlos are probably still awake, only separated from us by a couple of rooms. We would have to wait a few more hours before the coast was clear.

“Mi amor. We have to wait until
mi Madre is asleep, and what about Carlos? We have our own rules, remember?” Hearing her words of,
‘Each day I love you more than yesterday. I can’t wait until we can make sweet love again.’
Float through my mind. At this point, how much longer am I expected hold out? I might break my own rules.

“Oh, I remember. It’s not like Carlos hasn’t heard us before.” She giggles and slides her hand under the waistband of my boxers, caressing the skin directly below my navel. “Doesn’t mean I can’t drive you loco until then.”

Her smile is enough for me to cave, but I keep my cool and wait until mi Madre is in her room asleep. She gave up checking on us long ago, attempting to make sure we were in our own rooms. We never were. We were both eighteen now, nothing they could do about it, but we did do our best to be respectful to what they wanted. We only had the lecture about “being safe.” We already practice that, so no words from her were necessary. Carlos on the other hand, is on his own. He will have to turn some music on or something.

*****

Graduation came and went, nothing special. I could have walked a few months earlier, but I opted to wait for Alex, who actually finished about a month before everyone else by studying hard with me. Carlos is the only other person I cared about walking the isle with, so we made it a family affair. We all decided to walk together, Carlos, Alex and I.

I thought about putting in college applications and Alex hounded me about it for months, but after everything that has happened in the last three years, I needed a break. My father may not have much more time
, and Grandma wasn’t going to live forever. Flirting with the chance that I would be away at some college while one of them passed was not going to happen. I could never get this time back, so until then, I am going to spend time with my family, attend a community college for now, and enjoy every second with my now large, extended family.

*****

Our only celebration after graduation is a barbeque. Even though Jasmine’s father can’t eat with us, he did have a fireplace in his room that we took full advantage of, roasting hotdogs, marshmallows, and whatever else we could think to bring with us. Her father seems happier than I have seen him in a long time. I know he still holds a lot of hurt inside of him, but we all work to help him by hanging out with him, probably more than he likes, but we all make sure that we spend time together, as a family. I even find Carlos with him more than anyone, and you can always see how much they both enjoy each other’s company.

I walk toward him after Jasmine takes the potato salad back to the kitchen, about to tell him goodnight, when he speaks my name.

“Allllexxxx.”

I stop
and stare at him, stunned. I’m sure I look like a complete moron with tears filling my eyes, because not only is he able to say my name, but he’s a reminder of my own father. “Yes, sir.” I say, around my constricted throat.

“No.” He
says, closing his eyes and gathering his strength. “Imm daddd.I llovvvve yooou.” The words are hard to understand, but when I decipher them, they hit my heart with such an impact.

My knees tremble,
and tears slide from my eyes as I take his hand. “When did you learn to speak so much?” I ask him with a small smile.

He only returns the smile and a hard blink.

“I love you, too. Thank you for doing everything you have for my family. Even after…” I swallow around the lump in my throat. “Even after everything we’ve taken from you.”

“No.” He said, again.

I understand him with only one word. None of this is my fault. Even though some days, I can’t stand the guilt.

That’s how Jasmine finds us when she comes back to the room.
I hunched over her father, his hand in mine, and tears running down both of our faces.

She runs over, thinking something is wrong with her
dad. “What’s happened?” Her voice panicked.

“Nothing
Jas, we were just talking.” I reassure her.

She looks at me skeptically until her
dad speaks again.

“L
llovvve yoou, Jazzzz.” He smiles at her.

Her eyebrows
scrunch together. “Daddy?”

He must have read the question in her word, because he beams and says, “Prrractisss.”

A bubble of laughter explodes from her lips, making everyone around the little bed smile wide. “Did he really talk to you?”

“Yes.” I answer.

Her father interrupts, “Bllleesss.” He swallows, trying to form a word.

“Dad are you alright?”

He blinks once and then opens his mouth again. “Blessssing.” As he finishes the word, triumph overcomes his face.

“Blessing?” Jasmine asks him. “What do you mean?”

I’m pretty sure I understand what he means. He doesn’t know if he will be around for us later in life. “I think he wants us to know we have his blessing.” I say to Jasmine.

As the words leave my mouth,
he sighs deeply and blinks one long blink.

“We have your blessing for what
Dad?” It takes her a minute before she understands. The instant she figures it out, her cheeks and neck turn a brilliant pinkish red, the color she always turns when she is super embarrassed.

“Daddy.” She whispers in a chiding tone. If her father could laugh outright he definitely would have
. His smile is huge, held with satisfaction, because not only did she understand him, but he also accomplished embarrassing her. “You want Alex and me to get married.”

“Whoa!” I say, holding my hand up. “I don’t think he means this minute. I think he means whenever we decide
… way in the future… that we have his blessing.”

Her father blinks once.

“You must be tuckered out Dad, ya know, with all this speech practice and blessing people and all.” She smiles. “You want me to let the nurse know we are done in here?”

He blinks once smiling at her sarcastic retort.

“Alright, I love you.” Jasmine leans in and kisses her father on the forehead, as she does every night.

We walk up to our rooms hand in hand. When we reach her
s, she stands before the door, stalling. I can sense that after tonight, she would rather not be alone.

“You want to come to my room?”

“Yes, please.”

I walk her to my door and open it for her, “After you,
the future Mrs. Navarro.”

She gives me about a second after the words leave my mouth before she is pulling me into the room and closing the door swiftly behind us.

It’s funny how things can seem so hopeless, life can run so rampant, then out of nowhere, you turn around, and the people you love and care about are surrounding you. My heart is full and I couldn’t be more content with everyone in my life. The perfect place for me at this moment is right here, with my future wife in my arms.