Mr & Mrs Carmelo

TWENTY-SEVEN

He fills up another glass, "Here." I set my lips in a thin line and he swatted his hand, "I am a grow-up, and I'm permitting you to drink. So drink! Let yourself loose, otherwise, you're gonna die early and he will be thrown somewhere you don't want him to be." He nudges his chin at Kevin sleeping on the bed, curled up to his little panda toy. I sighed and took the glass but I hesitated. But I took the sip too and almost coughed my lungs out. He chuckles, "Never drink much in your old life, did you? I thought teenagers were supposed to slip booze everywhere." I shake my head and wipe my lips with the back of my sleeve, "My mom was very strict when it came to that. She was strict with drinking, lying, and partying. She knew when I lied and she knew when I was trying to sneak out." Bobby laughed, "Oh, darn. My mother never knew when I was lying when I sneaked out of my room often to have sex with Jenny in the barn behind my house. God bless my mother's soul, she was a little slow with a lot of love to give."

"And your dad?"

"Oh, my father- we used to call him sir, all of us six boys- he was strict. He wanted all of us in the army and all my three little sisters to be married by the age of eighteen. He was a wonderful husband but a terrible father. He hated Jenny because he thought she was too much of a darn coward and too happy for her good." He chuckles again. "I remember when I turned eighteen and fought him because I wanted to marry Jenny. He refused. I ran away with the love of my life."

"And you ever went back?"

"We did. With our baby girl in Jenny's womb. She was seven months pregnant. We turned twenty-one. And I found out that my father died of a heart attack right after I left. My brothers got into a fight and spread out to the corners of the world in anger. My sisters ran away too, and my mother died with heartbreak. I left behind a house full of love and came back to nothing. I never found out where everyone was. I still haven't."

"And your daughter?"

"Oh," sadness spread itself in his eyes, "My baby girl, Jade, died when she was three. She had a little hole in her heart. She died in my arms because she couldn't breathe." Tears well in his eyes but they do not fall. He sniffs and I sympathize, "I'm sorry." He smiles, "Don't be. My little angel is in heaven waiting for me." He takes out his wallet and shows me a picture of a two-year-old. She smiled while snuggling in Jenny's arms, chocolate all over her face and hands. Her eyes were green.
"I'm sorry that I came to you with a whole different meaning. I can't help myself. I saw your face, your eyes especially, and I just thought it was my baby. She would've been your age by now if she were alive, god bless her little soul."

He takes a deep breath, "Well, enough about me. Let's talk about you." I shrug, "Like what?" He quirks a brow, "Like that scar on your thigh. I know Zane did not do that. Was it your daddy?" I shake my head, "God no! My dad died when my mom was pregnant with Kevin. I was eleven."

"Oh, you poor thing, must've been hard."

"Yeah. It was okay, though. My mom was so strong."
I looked down at my lap, in a dilemma of not knowing if I should share more and lay myself bare. But he shared so much with me. Even a picture of his daughter. "She got remarried when I was fifteen."

"Was he a good guy?"

"At first, we loved him. But slowly, as I grew up, I felt like I was being groomed by him instead of being loved. My mother found out so she kept us away from him."

"Divorce?"

"No, just made us keep our distance from him. She couldn't go through the heartbreak of losing her second love. But she had a bad habit of drinking. She got drunk one night and she didn't wake up the next day. A heart attack. She died seven months ago. Kevin called the ambulance. I was at school and he was at work." Tears start dripping down in my hands as I look up at Bobby. He points his thumb at a sleeping Kevin and I almost laugh at how his eyes were popped at the sound of a toddler calling the ambulance. "Yeah. Him. He's special. Learned all his spelling by the age of five."