Broken Lives (21 page)

“
The doctor is going to call
our bakery and tell them the sex and they are going to bake a cake.
A blue cake for a boy, a pink cake for a girl, and a blue and pink
cake for one of each
.
The icing will be white, but the bakery will use food coloring
for the cake itself.” 

Sara walks in and asks excitedly, “How about
a Valentine’s Day wedding?” 

“
Who is getting married?”
Angel asks.

“
Oh, my God, look at you,”
Sara says, walking over to Angel. “You are huge. If you get any
bigger, astronomers will discover a new planet in the solar
system.” 

“
Shut up and who’s getting
married?” Angel asks, laughing. 

Sara flashes her hand and Angel squeals. We
share our lunch with Angel as we talk through lunch about Sara and
Donovan’s wedding and about the gender reveal party Friday night at
Mason and Angel’s house. She tells me to please bring Raelynn so
she can meet her and to bring James because she misses him. She
also tells me they will also have food, and it won’t just be
cake.

During the week Alec works overtime at the
hospital and we go to taekwondo on Thursday so we can attend the
gender reveal party on Friday.

We pull up at Mason and Angel’s house. “Look
at all these cars,” I say, looking around the driveway. 

“
You did say they were going
to invite family and friends,” Alec says, parking the
car. 

We walk in the house and I realize most of
these people were at Mason and Angel’s wedding. Angel walks us
around and introduces us to everyone. We meet Angel’s aunt and
uncle, Maria and Raùl, and we meet Mason’s mom and dad, Bruce and
Lilly. Two friends of Angel’s family, Carl and Josephine, are also
there. Angel explains they were her neighbors and are very close
friends of the family. Mason’s sister, Madison, as well as Sara,
Donovan, Brea, Vincent, and Arturo are also there. 

We walk past the kitchen and see a guy taking
professional pictures. “You hired a professional photographer?” I
ask, not believing it. 

“
Mason did; he wanted to
make sure we had pictures of tonight. You should get a family
picture taken before you leave. The photographer is paid by the
hour, so you should take advantage of it.” 

“
Thank you, maybe we
will.” 

A large spread of food is on the large formal
dining room table, and a very large cake with white icing is on a
separate table near the food.

We have dinner, and James and Raelynn spend a
lot of time with Angel. 

“
Alec, I have great news for
you.” I look up and see a stunning brunette standing
there. 

“
Emma, have you met Mason’s
sister, Madison?” Alec asks. 

“
No, I haven’t. It’s very
nice to meet you,” I say, holding my hand out for
hers. 

“
Hi, Emma, I have heard
great things about you. It’s nice to finally put a face with the
name.” She ignores my hand and gives me a hug instead.

“
You said you have some news
for me?” Alec smiles.

“
I do. You can close on your
house next week.”

Alec reaches for my hand and
says, “That
is
great news.” 

“
I thought you would like
it.” She smiles at him. “Let me know if you want to look at that
other property. It won’t be on the market for
long.” 

“
Thank you, I
will.” 

“
Emma, it’s great meeting
you and I’m sure we’ll see each other again,” she says as she walks
away. 

“
Are you looking to buy a
house?” I ask, looking over at Alec. 

He smiles, “I’m just keeping my options
open.” 

I walk around the room and Angel introduces
me to her Aunt Maria and her Uncle Raùl.

“
Are your parents here
tonight?” I ask.

“
No, my parents have both
passed,” she says sadly.

“
I’m sorry, Angel, I didn’t
know.” 

“
Thank you, I’m grateful my
aunt and uncle are here to play the roles of the
grandparents.” 

“
Angel!” Mason yells from
across the room. “It’s time!” 

She excuses herself and I walk back over with
Alec.

Someone clinks a spoon against a glass and we
all look in the direction of the noise.

“
My son, Mason, and his
lovely wife, Angel, would like to thank everyone for coming and
sharing this special day with them. Could we get the cake brought
out here, please?” 

I see Donovan and Vincent
wheeling the cake over to the center of the room. They stop right
in front of the guests of honor.
The cake
is a large sheet cake covered with white icing and pink and blue
baby booties and rattles.

“
Thank you, as you all know
today we find out the gender of my grandchildren.” His wife clears
her throat. Bruce looks over his shoulder and laughs. “Excuse me, I
mean our grandchildren.” Standing behind him are his wife and
Angel’s aunt and uncle. “As long as the babies are healthy, that’s
all that matters, but to know their gender is an added bonus.” He
looks around the room and smiles. “We are told the cake will reveal
the gender of the twins, a blue cake for twin boys, a pink cake for
twin girls, and blue cake on one side and a pink cake on the other
side for a twin boy and a twin girl. Are you ready to see the
babies’ gender?” 

“
Cut the cake already,” Brea
shouts and everyone laughs. 

Mason and Angel stand there, laughing, each
holding a cake knife.

“
Are you ready, Beauty?”
Mason asks. 

“
I can’t look,” she says,
closing her eyes tightly.

“
Beauty, cut here,” he says,
placing her knife above the cake. Her eyes are still closed and she
is smiling. “I’ll cut the other end of the cake.” He bends down and
kisses her before he places his knife on the other corner of the
cake.

“
Are you ready?” Bruce
yells.
“Angel wants to know the gender, but
she doesn’t want to look. This should be interesting,” he says,
laughing
.

Everyone yells, “Yes,” and
Mason and Angel cut the cake. Mason cuts his piece and also helps
Angel cut her piece of cake.
With Angel’s
eyes still closed, they each lift their piece of cake and the room
stays quiet. “Well, Beauty, we got what we wanted.” Mason
beams. 

Everyone smiles, but no one says
anything.

“
A son? Are we are having
boys?” she asks, with her eyes still closed.

“
If you want you know, you
have to look.” Mason bends down and kisses her.

She opens her eyes and begins to cry. “Oh,
Mason, we are having a boy,” she says, as she looks at her blue
piece of cake.

“
And a girl,” he adds,
lifting his piece of pink cake for her to see.

The room erupts with cheers. We take turns
walking up to congratulate them as they serve the pink and blue
cake. They are laughing, smiling, and hugging each other and
everyone else.

The photographer has been snapping pictures
non-stop. I used to notice him, but now he has just kind of faded
in with all the other guests.

“
Momma, is Angel having a
boy?” James asks.

I kneel down next to him so
I can see him. “She is having a boy
and
a girl.” 

“
She is having two
babies?” 

“
Yes, they are twins. That’s
when the momma has two babies born together.” 

I stand up, and James and Raelynn walk up to
Angel. I watch the interaction she has with both kids and I
smile.

“
You look pretty happy,”
Alec says to me. 

I rest the back of my head on Alec’s chest.
“I am.”

“
Does this have to do with
Mason and Angel?” 

I look back at him. “That, and we are in a
really good place in our relationship, the kids are happy, and they
get along very well.” 

“
I couldn’t agree more.
Vincent and Brea are finishing up their family pictures; do you
want to try to get a portrait taken of our
family?” 

“
I would love
to.” 

After the photo shoot with
the kids, Alec walks over to Donovan, Vincent, and Mason, who are
all standing at the bar. I go with Angel, who is showing the girls
the babies’ nursery.
The room is spacious
and bare. She tells us that she’ll be having a painting and
decorating party in a few weeks so make sure we are available. She
also adds they’ll keep the babies in the same room for
awhile.

When we get back into the family room, I see
James holding his belly. 

“
What’s wrong, James?” I
ask, as I run my fingers through his soft hair. 

“
I don’t feel good,” he
moans. “My belly hurts.” 

“
You don’t have a fever.
Raelynn, would you please ask your daddy if he is about ready to
go. James isn’t feeling well.” 

“
Ok, Emma.” She looks at
James and says, “Don’t throw up, Bubby, I’m getting daddy, and
he’ll make you all better.” 

I watch as she skips through the very large
open room until she gets to Alec. He looks over at us and Mason
downs his drink. Great, he probably thinks that James is going to
throw up all over his house. Alec shakes hands with his friends and
walks over to us. 

He kneels downs and ruffles James’ hair.
“What the matter, buddy?” 

“
It’s my belly, it
hurts.” 

“
How many pieces of cake did
you eat?” 

“
Three,” he
moans. 

“
James, you ate three pieces
of cake?” I ask — I can’t believe I heard him
correctly. 

“
Yes, momma, it was
good.” 

Alec picks him up and says, “Come on, buddy,
you’ll feel better in the morning.” 

Mason and Angel see us and walks with us to
the door. 

“
Thank you both, and
congratulations on your son and your daughter.” I watch as Mason
runs his hands through his hair and Angel looks over at
him.

“
Thank you both for coming
and, Alec, we are still on for the shooting range for Wednesday,
right?” 

I am surprised to hear this.

“
Sounds like a plan, I’ll
meet you guys there at 6:00, Wednesday night. We need to go; James
ate a little too much cake tonight.” 

Angel leans in and kisses James, and then she
hugs Alec and me before she kneels down to hug Raelynn
goodbye. 

“
If you ever need a sitter,”
Angel says, smiling and looking over at Mason, “we would love to. I
think we could use the practice.” 

“
I’ll remember that; thank
you and have a good night,” I say as I walk out the door with my
family.

Alec

Once we get home and James throws up, he
begins to feel better. We get the kids in bed, and Emma and I have
a drink on the lanai.

“
Do you own a gun?”
Emma looks up at me over her wine
glass.

“
I actually own three
guns.” 

“
Really? Are they here?” she
asks, with concern in her voice. 

“
No, Emma. They are in a
lock box at my parents’ house. My dad, brothers, and I are gun
enthusiasts, as are Mason, Donovan, and Vincent.” 

“
Going to the gun range, was
that your idea?”

“
No, it was Mason’s idea. I
think the news of him having a daughter, or even kids for that
matter, is finally sinking in. He is already thinking about
teaching his children to shoot when they are old enough. He says
that the police are only minutes away when seconds count and he
says that a restraining order is nothing but a piece of paper. Of
course, we know to practice gun safety and especially to keep the
guns away from kids.” 

“
I used to keep the guns at
the house, until Molly … well, I just couldn’t trust her not to
sell them, pawn them, or even trade them,” I sadly
admit.

“
If you want to keep them
here, you can. I still have Max’s military weapons that he
purchased; they are
stored safely in a
locked gun cabinet in a closet on the top shelf, out of reach of
the kids.” She takes another sip of her drink. 

“
Thank you, maybe I’ll do
that.” 

Emma and I are into a good routine with the
kids, thanks to Brooke for helping out with childcare on the days
that we both work dayshift. Swing shift at the hospital isn’t all
bad. It gives me the flexibility I need at times.

We go to taekwondo on Tuesday and Friday, and
everyone is advancing as they should. Emma takes it more seriously
than Brooke does. Brice and I hang out on occasion, and I invited
him to go to the shooting range with me on Wednesday. It’s
summertime and extremely hot in Florida. With Brice in the
air-conditioning business, he tells me he doubts he’ll be off in
time to go with us. 

I walk into the house and Emma already has
the kids bathed and they are at the table having cookies and milk
before bed. I ruffle James’ hair, kiss Raelynn, and then I kiss
Emma. “Is there a certain place you want me to keep this?” I ask,
holding up my backpack that is holding my weapons. 

“
Oh, yeah, I’ll show
you.” 

I follow her down the hallway and into the
bedroom. She opens up the closet, and I am surprised by all the
boxes that have “Max” written on them. I still keep my things in
the guest bedroom. I have never looked inside this closet before.
She points to the large locked gun cabinet and says, “You can keep
them in there.”