The Silver Lining (15 page)

“Does Emily get to leave?” Chad asked me.

“No, not yet,” she answered.

“Too bad, Emily,” he said, as he looked at her and then back to me. “Well, I didn’t think they would release you so quick. This is great news though. ”

A nurse popped her head inside the room. “You have visitors, Emily.”

I looked at Emily and she looked back to me. “Who?” she asked.

“Your brother. Your cousin and I think a friend.”

For a moment I was nervous about meeting her family. I had yet to meet one of them. Two gentlemen walked in, one being her brother. I could spot him right away. He looked just like her with the same big, green eyes and high cheek bones. A taller man entered in after him wearing a cowboy hat and boots. His dark eyes and black mustache stood out on his face. Both of the men looked at her and then over at me. I realized I was still on her bed, holding her hand and that they were probably putting two and two together. I watched Emily’s brother’s chest push out and his face scrunched up. Shit!

“I’m going to kill you!” he yelled and came at me. Chad jumped in the middle and blocked him. I leaned back a little to avoid long arms that were reaching over to possibly strangle me.

“Gabriel, stop!” Emily yelled. “It wasn’t his fault. A truck ran a red light and hit us.”

Gabriel backed up and adjusted his clothing. He rolled his neck around and then looked at Emily and then back to me. I respectfully stayed quiet. This was her family and they had a right to be mad. If it was my sister, I’d have the same reaction. I glanced over to the cowboy who hadn’t said a word yet.

Emily pulled on my arm. “That’s my cousin Manny. He doesn’t speak English.”

I nodded.

“Sorry, I was making a call. Emily, how are you, sweetheart?” another man said, as he entered the room. I tipped my chin up and let my eyes soak in the new face. He looked like a Mexican pimp. His black hair was slicked back. His shirt was unbuttoned showing off his bare chest. A thick gold chain hung around his neck. Gross. So this is the friend, huh? He suddenly grabbed her hand, leaned down and kissed it. He started to speak Spanish to her. I assumed he did it, so that I wouldn’t understand, and for the most part he would be right.

“Tú me haces falta, ya no puedo estar sin ti!”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What was he saying? Something like I miss you. My Spanish is shit. I was stewing in my own anger. I looked at my brother who was shaking his head at me.

“Tenemos que estar juntos,” he continued.

Did he just tell her they belong together? Maybe I am interpreting wrong. Red, hot anger swelled inside of my gut. Fuck him and that stupid ass shirt he has on. Does he not see me sitting here? Emily grabbed my arm and squeezed tightly. She didn’t respond to him at all. She pulled her hand away from him and attempted to lean more toward me.

“Nico, this is my boyfriend, James.”

She used the title boyfriend. She was claiming me. That was a good sign. Nico’s eyes drifted from her to me. His mouth tightened and he cleared his throat. The tables had turned. He was pissed. His eyes darkened for just a second.

The room became very silent and her brother mumbled, “Oh no.”

Nico stood up straighter, nodded and pushed his hand out. He seemed to regain composure.

“Nice to meet you, James,” he said, as he painted on a smile.

“Fuck off,” I barked. I saw through all that, let me be the bigger man shit that he was trying to throw out.

“James!” Emily looked at me.

“Don’t James me. This douchebag is over here telling you that he misses you, that you belong together.”

“He sure did,” my brother mumbled into his hands that now covered his mouth.

Emily and I both looked over at him. “What? I brushed up on my Spanish in college,” Chad said.

“Forgive me. I meant no disrespect. I didn’t know,” Nico replied.

“Well now you do.” I eyed him up and down. “Who is this guy anyways, Emily?”

She looked at me and shook her head as if it didn’t matter.

“I’m her ex-boyfriend, Nico Valdana.” He stuck out his hand again.

“Are you kidding me? Oh my God!” Was this the asshole who abused her? “Is this the one?”

“No, he’s not, James. Please calm down,” she huffed.

I just glared at him.

“I don’t like you coming in here with your Latin tongue all up in her ear, holding her hand and shit.”

My brother pulled me back until I fell into the wheelchair. Nico smirked at me and shrugged.

“Shouldn’t that be her decision, James?” Nico questioned. “She is capable of making decisions herself.”

“Yes. Just like I am capable of shoving my foot up your ass.”

“Jesus, James,” my brother said, from behind me.

“Why don’t we all cool down?” Emily’s brother finally spoke up.

I looked at Emily with questioning eyes. Eyes that said set his ass straight or I will. I still had one good fist. I’d break it against his face without a second thought.

“Everyone stop. I have something to say.”

All eyes turned to Emily.

“I’m pregnant.”

I targeted in on Nico as she said it. He closed his eyes for a second, clearly upset and honestly I felt better. She was mine. All the stuff we had been through already and he just walked in here like nothing, tossing charming shit in her ear. I don’t think so, buddy. I didn’t care what type of display I was making at the moment. I was staking what belonged to me, and he needed to back the hell up.

“I see,” Nico said, as he quickly turned and walked out of the room.

I stared over at Emily. Her eyes spoke a thousand words as she watched him leave. I had no clue what the words were, but I didn’t like the look at all. A million things circled around my brain. Each and every thought being negative.

“Get me out of here, now,” I demanded. My brother patted my shoulder.

“James?” Emily questioned. I couldn’t look at her right now. I was confused, torn between jealousy and anger and I was flipping out inside. From just that one little stare she gave Nico, I suddenly questioned everything.

“I’ll stop by tomorrow, Em,” I said, without making eye contact. I could feel Emily’s brother and cousin staring at me as Chad wheeled me out of the room. He pushed me up to the patient check out and I couldn’t even focus on whatever the nurse was saying. She was reading instructions to me and my mind was swirling out of control. I just nodded to her as if I understood. We signed discharge papers and we were out of there.

I’m pretty sure I lost my head and dropped my heart inside that room of hers. I couldn’t believe one little stare would make me rethink everything we had up until now. It was the way her eyes looked, the way her mouth dropped and the longing in her face as he stepped away from her.

My brother helped me into the car and closed the door. I just sat there thinking about it all.

“I have never seen you like this, ever,” Chad said, as he slid into the driver’s side. “At least not over a woman.”

“Chad, Am I crazy?” I turned and asked. “Because I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“No. You’re not crazy. You’re in love.”

“Is there really a difference? She makes me happy, but she drives me insane.”

“That’s love. You never felt like this with Nikki?”

I shook my head. “It was just about sex when I was with her. We had fun sometimes, but I never felt anything like this. Nikki use to tell me she loved me, but I never believed her. I always felt like she was on Mom’s side, and that they had some weird plan for us or something.”

“Yeah. Mom had her claws pretty deep in Nikki. They probably were arranging a wedding without you knowing.” He smirked.

“Did you know Nikki had an abortion?”

“I heard about it through cousin, Clara, who heard it from Mom.”

“Nikki went and made a decision without me, like I had nothing to do with it.”

“I know, but it’s the girl’s decision in the end, James. It’s her body.”

“I just wish I knew about it before hand. She could have told me at least.” I looked out the window. “It feels like I get a second chance here with Emily having my baby. It’s a little me growing inside of her.”

“How do you feel about it, about being a father?” he asked.

“It makes my heart beat fast.”

“In a good way I hope. Does that mean you’re happy?”

“Ecstatic. Have you ever thought about kids?” I rolled down the window for fresh air as he spoke.

“Yeah. We had talked about adopting in a few years or maybe getting a surrogate mother.”

“Surrogate? So you would…like…or would he do her?”

“I am going to pretend you didn’t just ask that. It would be done at the medical facility, as in one of us would perform into a cup and they would plant it into her eggs.”

“I prefer the old school way.”

“I bet you do. Looks like it worked too.”

“Very funny.” I raised an eyebrow.

Silence filled the car.

“Soooo, you really don’t like women, huh? How is that even possible?”

“Um. I just don’t. They do nothing for me.”

“So, a pretty woman walking by in a tight dress, doesn’t make you hard at all.”

“I’m not talking about my erections with you.” He paused. “The answer is no, not at all.”

“That’s crazy.” I shook my head. “Big breast. Nice ass. Long legs. Nothing?”

“Nope. I like broad shoulders, nice biceps and big hands. That’s what works for me. Yum.”

“I don’t want to listen to this anymore. Two dudes having a sword fight is not appealing at all to me.”

“Excuse me. If you didn’t want to know, you shouldn’t have asked.”

My brother started up the car and drove off in the direction toward my place. The conversation had died and now I had plenty of time to think during the long, quiet ride home. I thought about Emily. I thought about the baby and what the future had in store for us. I wasn’t sure what to expect after that shit at the hospital. I cracked my knuckles in frustration. This was and always had been my flaw. I was a long term thinker for most areas in my life. All areas except relationships, because relationships were fairy tales to me. Finding your one true love used to sound like a crock of crap. Sex and convenience dating were easy to handle, but this love business had my mind crippled. Love from a woman was a new concept to me. I had never felt this way, never wanted to feel this way about a woman I dated. I finally found somebody that made me happy and I think I made her happy too.

It was at this moment I realized I was making her and I a long term goal in my head. I knew it was odd to entertain the idea. From what I could see, Emily lived day by day. She focused on short term goals. I had a hard time accepting the way she operated. Her brain processed everything on a fear scale. To her, I may be here one day and gone the next. She was a bit damaged, but I loved her. There was no escaping these damn feelings. To lose the one woman who made me feel this way would be fucking stupid. Why did I leave the hospital like an upset toddler?

“Can you take me back to the hospital tomorrow to see her?” I said, staring forward.

“Yes, of course. You do know I’m staying with you for a while, right?”

“What? How long?”

“A while. Think about it. Who is going to take care of you? You’re a mess. It’s me or Mom.”

“Mom will never be an option.” I shook my head.

“Yes. I win,” he said, and danced in his seat. “Get ready for the best damn meals of your life.”

It was true my brother could cook his ass off. I’d just have to learn how to let him take care of me for a few days. This would be difficult and a learning experience for both of us, I suppose.

“Do you still make those little crab appetizers?”

He glanced at me and smiled. “Are you asking me to make some? Is this your first of many lame attempts at requesting amazing meals from Chad?”

“I won’t request much more if you keep referring to yourself in the third person.”

Silence filled the car again.

“What happened with Mom at the hospital anyways? She wouldn’t tell me over the phone,” he asked.

“She did what she always does, tries to jump in and manhandle every situation.”

“What happened?”

“I kicked her out.”

“That’s not very nice. She’s pushy, but she tries to help. You know better than I do, that she handles things different than most people.” He paused. “You’re aware that she’s going to prison, right?”

“I figured she would serve some time.”

“Five years, James.”

I looked at him.

“She was charged with multiple counts of tax evasion. The numbers are ridiculous. The fines are just stacked on stacked at the moment. There is no way around this one. It’s been advised that she just serve the time.”

“I don’t feel sorry for her. Did she tell you she tried to pay me to take the fall?”

“No way. No she didn’t. Even that is crazy for her.” Chad’s eyes enlarged.