Bona Fide Baby

Chapter 16 - Three's A Crowd

Xiomara turned around at the same time Amelia did. Standing on the outside of the gazebo were Omar and Willem. Next to Omar, Willem almost looked like a dwarf. Also noteworthy were the opposite look on their faces.

Willem was smiling, his grey eyes fixed on Amelia and looking like the perfect gentleman. Omar on the other hand, had the face of thunder, thick eyebrows slashing and lips pressed tightly together surrounded by a light growth of beard.

Xiomara avoided his gaze as much as possible. Somehow it felt as if she had put that look on his face. Silly, she knew. When she managed to look up again, he was staring at her, but she couldn't make out anything about his thoughts going by his expression.

"Can we join the party?" he asked.

"You know you're always welcome," Amelia said pleasantly.

He climbed up the steps, his heavy feet thumping the wooden floor. He took a seat next to Xiomara and stretched his long legs out before him. A sliver of moonlight highlighted his nose, his full lips and strong jaw. His eyes remained in the shadows, but her sight had adjusted to the darkness and so his hard, straight forward stare wasn't hidden to her. However, there was an ocean so vast between them, that even mobile communication was not a possibility.

Beep. No signal.

Xiomara glanced away just in time and saw Willem as he took his wife's hand and kissed it. She lowered her lashes to the ground. Oh look, she had a leaf stuck in her sandals. Therefore the bending over and then plucking it out and flicking it to the side.

Crickets. More crickets chirping. Was it her, or was it getting really awkward up in here.

Omar cleared his throat. "So Amelia. How are you? How's married life?"

Unable to resist the deep timbre of his voice, Xiomara stopped looking at her feet and lifted her head to watch Omar. His voice was nothing but kind when he spoke to Amelia, yet his body posture, straight and stiff, told a different story. She didn't know why, but she reached out to him by placing her hand right above the back of his own. Save for the twitching of a muscle or two in his face, he didn't acknowledge her ... nor did he pull his hand away.

"It's ... heavenly, but believe me when I say that Willem is no angel." Amelia peeked up at Willem as if to measure his reaction, but all he did was grin. How cute.

And with that goofy grin still plastered on his face, Willem pinched Amelia's arm lightly. "But she is."

They all laughed, including Omar.

Boy, oh boy. If he kept on laughing like that ... hmm hmm hmm. His smile was like an endangered species, rare and exceptionally beautiful by nature. And those teeth? They were probably every dentists' deep dark fantasy.

Another moment of silence. The crickets, on the other hand, were having a field day this night as they chirped away to fill in the quiet.

Amelia spoke first, her kind tone floating over them like a lifesaver. Or not. "Omar, I heard that you're going to be a father." She clasped her hands together in excitement. "Congratulation!"

Holy fuck! Bad timing, woman. Baaaaaad. Fucking. Timing. This is not how Xiomara had envisioned the big bang going down. But now that everything was out in the open, she could finally-

Xiomara felt the blood drain out of her face when Omar pulled his hand out from under hers. No, no, no, she screamed on the inside. No!