Chapter 21

Christmas had come and gone. Monday, I had to get back to work. There I was sitting in my office remembering all the moments I had shared with Mario. I sighed and took a deep breath,

That part of our relationship was done. It was on to finding ways to co-parent. He was raised catholic. I didn’t particularly have a religion. I was more of a spiritual person. I knew he’d want the baby raised in that faith. It didn’t bother me. I was raised Baptist from my father’s side. I figured the baby would eventually grow up and find his or her way.

I was about to make a phone call when my door creaked open. I saw Mario standing at the entrance wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts, “Hey, I hope you don’t mind me stopping by.”

“Oh, it’s fine, come in.”

His eyes covered me as they used to and then he smiled, “Um, you look nice. You make pregnancy look good.”

“Well thanks, I try.” I saw that he left the door open, “You can close the door.”

“I brought some of my people to meet you. I told my mom about our situation and she insisted on meeting you.”

“Oh, okay. That’s good. I hope.”

“Yeah. She’s excited. She loves being an abuela.” He stepped outside and returned with his family. An older woman that was still very pretty and shapely, two younger women that looked a lot like her, and a man.

“This is my mother, Fabiola.”

I stood up to greet her with a handshake, but she hugged me, “Nice to meet you.”

“Yes, nice to meet you. I’m Lelani.”

“Mario says you’re Hawaiian.”

“Yes. I was born there. My mom is Hawaiian dad is African American.”

“She’s so pretty Mario.”

Mario blushed. He knew I was fucking pretty. That’s what caught his attention that day on the interstate. Or was it my stroking my cunt while I was stuck in traffic? Anyway, he introduced his brother, “This is Alonso my older brother.”

He shook my hand.

“These are my sisters Paula and Margo.”

They each hugged me. Then we all sort of stood awkwardly before his mother asked him in Spanish, “How many months is she?”

I replied, “almost four months.”

“You speak Spanish.”

“Yes. I do.”

“You’ll teach the baby to speak Spanish.”

“Yes. The baby will speak multiple languages. My mother will most likely teach it to speak Ōlelo Hawaii.”

“Do you speak it?”

“I do. I do.”

“We just wanted you to know we are here for you and the baby no matter what.”

“Mahalo. That’s thank you in Hawaiian.”

“You’re welcome. We have to go, but we hope to see you again before the new year. Maybe you can come by for dinner.”

“Oh, sure,” I said. But I didn’t know how Richard would feel and I didn’t know if he told them that I was already seeing someone. Plus ... his other baby mama might not want me anywhere near him.

They left and he lingered. “So, your other baby mama?” I asked.

He laughed, “I miss your sense of humor.”

I smiled.

“I told her about you. She’s not happy of course, but it is what it is.”

I nodded, “yes. It most certainly is.”

He looked at my hand, “Wow, I didn’t realize—”

“Oh yeah,” I said touching my ring, “Richard proposed to me last week in Mexico.”

I could see the disappointment in his eyes. “When’s the wedding?”

“End of January.”

He sighed, “Wow, wow,” he blew out a few times.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I better let you get back to work. I’ll be in touch.”

I watched him leave. I didn’t expect him to react that way. I suppose I thought he was happy with his current situation.

Wednesday, I was left to consider going to Mario’s place to have dinner alone on Thursday evening. Richard had gone to Boston ahead of me to take care of business. I’d see him in a few days to meet with his family.

I didn’t want to go alone and just as I was calling him to cancel, he called me, “Hey, I was just checking to see if you and your, you know the guy—were coming to dinner tomorrow?”

“Richard can’t make it. I was thinking—”

“You should still come. My mom is excited. My great-grandmother and my father would love to meet you. They couldn’t come the other day.”

I looked around my room as I lay in bed touching my belly and feeling the life growing inside of me, “I don’t know. Is it too soon?”

“Yasmin is due at the end of February. We all need to talk. I know it’s—”

“Awkward as fuck?”

He chuckled, “Yeah, but—”

“It is what it is.”

“It is. Come.”

“I guess I’ll come for a little while. I’ll bring my friend Bethany.”

“Sure. How’ve you been?”

“Good. Good.”

“I saw pictures of your fiancé on IG since you finally unblocked me.”

I laughed, “Yeah, well, I told you my cut-off game was strong.”

“No doubt. I didn’t realize—”

“What? That he’s older or he’s white?”

“Both.”

“He’s good to me and for me. He was ready to assume fatherhood of my child before I told you.”

“He sounds like he could be halfway decent.”

We laughed.

“I miss talking to you. We can still talk?”

“Sure, but just respect my husband.”

“Fiancé.”

“Yeah, my man.”

“I will.”

We spoke for almost thirty minutes about music, movies, and football. Then he asked me what names I had in mind. I hadn’t thought of any. I didn’t want to know the sex of the baby. I wanted it to be a surprise. But he wanted to know.

I did remember the woman that told me I was having a boy. I told him the story and he was happy about that. Yasmin was having a little girl that they were going to name Eliana.

He asked if I would consider naming our son after him. I said, Perhaps, jokingly. That night it seemed as if he didn’t want to get off the phone, but Richard had called to say good night. So, I attended to my future husband.