Author's Note
Sorry for almost an entire's days wait but I didn't manage to finished the chapter on time on account of homework and school. Anyway, here's the next chapter Hoolies. Let me know what you think! Please read, vote and leave comments; you guys are the best! Alright sorry for holing you up, enjoy the chapter!
~Jaz
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Chapter 13
I'll take them down, take them down...
After a full stomach and a quick nap, I wander into the living room to join Rosi and the rest of my family. My younger nephews, Nyjah, Zyah, Liam and Jaimo have congregated on the floor around their new toys. The four of them make all kinds of sound affects 'driving' their little Lego cars around. Marley sits on the floor with his back against the couch preoccupied with his new iPad mini. Tiara sits on a chair along side the love-seat where Presley and her boyfriend sit other talking about something on his phone.Tahiti, Jamie and her husband have turned the dining room chairs toward the living room. They sip from glasses with a thick cream colored liquid that must be spiked egg-nog, no doubt, chatting it up about something really interesting on account of all their big hand gestures. Eric and Cindia sit on the couch side by side watching Laylani as she holds Mila. Dad reclines in the arm chair looking over his family with a soft proud smile on his lips. I tap him on the shoulder from behind.
"Dad, I'll be back later tonight, I'm going to visit the Rosario's with Laylani." Just then Jamie sets her glass down and walks into the kitchen.
"Alright," he says with a sort of sigh. He sits up and turns to me. "Make sure it's alright with your sisters, they have something panned for later tonight."
"I will," I say before walking from the living room to the kitchen. Jamie is taking some sugar cookies out of the oven. She sets the tray down on the counter rack, takes off the oven mitts and begins stirring red food coloring into a tub of white frosting. I stand beside her and start stirring green food coloring into another tub.
"So the two of you are going to her family's house right now?"
"Yeah."
"Tiara told what happened under the mistletoe last night." She exchanges tubs.
"I shouldn't have but I..."
"You don't have to explain; she wasn't ready. When you get to the Rosario's greet everyone as you would then let some time pass with small-talk pass before you ask to speak to Mrs. Rosario. If Laylani doesn't initiate it you will have to."
"Thanks J," I say setting a tub of frosting down. I spread a thin layer over two cookies and slyly swipe them from the tray. Jamie gives me an irritated look that quickly breaks into a smile. "Let me know how it goes." I nod and she sets the frosting down. "Boys! The cookies are ready!" Just then four of my five nephews come bounding in to the kitchen. Marley wanders in last typing away on his phone. I slip out as the boys run to the counter.
In the living room I find Rosi with my niece Mila in her arms. I walk in further and rest my arms on the back of the love-seat she it sitting in. She holds Mila's bottle over her head; the infant's cheeks move quickly and efficiently as she quickly makes a significant dent in the contents of the bottle and the formula begins to disappear.
"She's only three months old?" Rosi asks my sister-in-law.
"Yep, only three months." She smiles at Rosi and the baby."
"She's big."
"Yeah," Eric chimes. "One thing Pandita doesn't play with is her food; if you take the bottle away from her before she's done, she throws a mean fit," he chuckles a watching his daughter.
"With the way she's drinking that formula, I believe it." I add with a smirk. Rosi looks up at me then back down at the infant. I make eye contact with Eric and he understands me immediately. He gets up from where he is sitting beside his wife on the couch opposite Rosi.
"Now that she has had her meal, this little princess should be going down for her nap." he carefully takes Mila from Rosi. She seems to reluctantly let Mila go; she looked so natural with a baby in her arms, so comfortable, I can only imagine how she would look with her own child. Eric cradles his daughter in his arms rocking her slowly; with in seconds she's fast asleep. I look down at Rosi.
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah," she replies in a detached tone. She rises slowly from her chair and turns to look at me.
"Here," I say presenting the cookie.
"Thanks." She slowly takes the cookie. I let every body know we'll be back later and the two of us walk toward the front door. I dig my keys out of my pocket and we both head out to my old truck. ______
The car ride is agonizingly long without any talking and I don't even dare to put the radio on. When we pull up to the Rosario home it is all decked out with lights woven around the palm trees as well as the tropical bushes giving them a festive look. On the front door is a wreath made of interlaced Plumerias of different colors. I walk up to the step and Rosi joins me there.
Without warning memories about the MJ performance I did on a school-night when Rosi and I couldn't have been more than sixteen. When I dropped her off at this exact spot and something int he back of my mind told me to kiss her...I didn't know it then but I must have already been in love with her.
I take a deep breath and ring the door bell. Without giving the bell enough time to echo it swings open. Standing in the doorway is Laylani's mother, Evana Rosario Her dark hair falls just past her shoulders in its natural waves, its darkness is drastically different from her fair skin. With her bright jade eyes, I've always known where Laylani got her looks from. Mrs. E wears a classic nordic-pattered Christmas sweater with a pair of black pants and white slippers. Her eyes brighten as she looks over the two of us.
"Bruno, Chanti! Come in, come in!" We walk in slowly, headed for the living room where we find Trev, Kea and Destiny their daughter. "Look who's here!" She exclaims as Rosi and I take off our shoes by the door. The three of them direct their attention to us.
"Auntie!" the little girl screams running right to Rosi; she wraps her arms and her legs.
"Hi sweetie!" Rosi says as her eyes light up. She scoops up the little girl and gives her a big kiss on the cheek.The little girl returns it with her own kiss on the cheek the Rosi puts her down. Destiny walks right up to me and smiles.
"Hi! What's your name?"
I pull up my pant legs and squat down to her level. "My name is Bruno," I say with a smile.
"Bruno," She starts as she looks up in thought. "I like your hat!" she points at my fedora.
"Thank you." I stand and she takes my hand.
"Come meet my mommy and daddy," She says tugging at my arm. Just as I reach Trevor and Kea Laylani is just about finished greeting them, she begins talking to her mother. Thank God, she started already.
"Mommy, daddy, this is Bruno." Destiny says in a confident tone.
"Hey B! Its been so long," Trev says giving me daps.
"It really has Trev," I reply.
"Daddy, you already know Bruno?"
"Yes honey," he says running his thumb across her cheek. "I've known Bruno since I was a little kid."
"Oh," she says before crawling up into the couch between her parents. I greet Kea and she goes to the kitchen to get a couple of glasses of water. Just as I am about to go and see how the conversation between Rosi and her mother Trev stops me.
"She really missed you, you know," he says.
"Yeah?"
"Every show that you had that was available on TV, she watched very single one of them. She has all of your CDs including the EPs and your Unorthodox Jukebox record." He chuckles. "She figured if she couldn't support you from up close, she'd support you from afar."
"Really? I didn't know. I mean I know that she tried to keep in contact but when I changed phones I lost her number."
"She," He pauses as though the next thing that comes out of his mouth may be more difficult to say. "She's always had a thing for you. Laylani...she loves you."
"That's what people keep telling me and I want to believe it but...she...she's angry at me for something I did to her and she won't talk to me. How can I believe that she loves me when she seems to hate me."
"If there's one thing I know about Laylani, she can be as mad as hell at you but if you explain yourself and give her time to think she will accept your apology. She may be as tough as nails when she's angry but she can't stay that way; when she loves, she loves hard."
"Thanks Trev," I reply. I walk over to Laylani and sit beside her, she notices me but refuses to acknowledge me. I ignore her lack or gesture and ask her the question that has been burning in the back of my mind since I saw she and her mother talking.
"Did you start explaining it to her?"
"No."
I Let out a heavy sigh. I'm not surprised but I understand why she hasn't said anything. I let it pass and wait until it grows later. Later after making small talk with Trev, Kea and Mrs. E and playing with Destiny, I call Mrs. E aside.
"Mrs. Rosario, can Laylani and I talk to you?"
"Sure, of course you can." she says slowly looking deeply into my eyes; the green in them is so vibrant that paired with the unreadable gaze; as usual I don't know what to think; as a kid I could have sworn she could read minds. She guides the two of us into the sitting room. Once Rosi and I are seated, Mrs. E goes to the kitchen and within minutes she returns with three mugs of tea on a tray with various sweeteners; one is set in front of each of us and after sweeteners are added the room falls silent. The uneasiness present is nearly unbearable.
"What is it that the two of you wanted to talk to me about," she says lifting her mug to her lips for a single sip. "It's a pity Romano wasn't able to join us this year, where is he?"
"Back in Spain," Rosi says suddenly.
"Did he decide to spend the holiday with his family?"
"No," Rosi says, her voice beginning to shake. "He moved back to Spain."
"What why? You're here, the two of you were getting on so well; going on three and a half years together, what happened?"
"We are no longer together ma, he broke up with me because I..."
Mrs. E's voice hardens suddenly. "Because you what Laylani? What did you do?"
"I cheated on him." Ms. E's jaw sets and her eyes seem to grow dry, her gaze hard. Her facade remains calm but her eyes have started to burn with an anger that I've seen very few times both from her and Rosi; they look so alike when they're angry. She turns her eyes to me and suddenly my throat becomes dry like sandpaper.
"Do you know anything about this Bruno?"
I don't want to tell her the truth, but I don't want to lie either, especially to her. I've never been able to get away with anything when she was around; there's no way I'm gonna try now. "Yes, I do."
"Well, one of you better start talking because I am not going to sit here and play twenty questions."
"Rosi...tell her." I manage to get out with out daring to look away from the increasing anger in her mother's eyes.
"I'm pregnant."
"If the child's not Romano's, then who's baby is it?
"Mine." I run my hand through my hair.
"Yours? Aren't you in a relationship yourself? I spoke to your father and he said that you were seeing a woman named Jessica."
"We are no longer together."
"So the two of you slept together, ruined two relationships and conceived a child in one fell swoop?" Neither Rosi nor I move a muscle. "I raised you better than this Laylani, I know that you know better than this. Your father would be very, very disappointed in you. Bruno, I know your mother would be extremely angry with you as well and somehow I know that your father knows nothing of this but that will be discussed at a later date.
"I had to know for sure what my feelings for Laylani were," I attempt to argue. "When we were kids I didn't pick up on it but after seeing her at our high school reunion, I couldn't just ignore what I was feeling whether I knew what it was or not. After things happened initially, Laylani wouldn't talk to me. It is only by chance that I found out about the the baby. I honestly didn't know she was pregnant until a few weeks ago."
"I knew it from the time you two were kids. Though I never said anything I always, always wanted the two of you to be together, but not like this."
"I apologize for my actions...but I can't apologize for what I feel."
"Right now, neither of your feelings matter. What matters is the baby. When this baby is born, both of you will be the parents. I don't care how you do it but you will keep and raise this child together. Your foolish mistakes are not to affect this baby, do you understand?"
"Yes," we say in unison. My throat throbs uncomfortably making it hard to speak clearly.
"Laylani, you need to make sure you take care of yourself and you keep taking those pre-natals, you hear me?" Rosi doesn't move, she simply wraps her arms around herself and tears start to fall in lines down her cheeks.
"Bruno, you need to looking after my daughter and make sure she does as she's told."
"None of this was every supposed to happen...we were just going to check out that new bar and talk, that's all...I didn't mean for things to go that far...I thought I could control it. Mom, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...I didn't think..." She looks at her mother with whites of her jade green eyes beginning to redden.
"Mrs. E it was my fault, I entertained Laylani's antics despite the fact that she was drunk when I should have gone home, this is all my doing," I say trying to butt in but I am quickly cut off.
"It is both of your faults no matter who started it, it clearly escalated into something much more that a few casual drinks with a close friend. Neither of you used your brains and that's what brought you here. Face it, this did happen whether it was supposed to or not and the two of you have to feel the wrath of the consequences. The circumstances do not matter, all that matters is the insured future of this child. I don't care how you do it but the two of you need to figure out how you're going to take care of this baby."
Laylani stands and walks briskly out of the room, sobs ensue. Mrs. E looks both angry and saddened, the mix of two emotions, so toxic, I can't take a chance with either.
"I'm sorry," I say quick before I remove myself form the room and go after Rosi; I reach the living room and I hear the closing of the front door. When I get outside Rosi is nowhere to be found, I scan the block and walk around the perimeter of the house but she doesn't turn up. Though I know it is unlikely that she will answer me I try calling her; nothing. After a few more minutes of looking I get in my car and drive back to my house. When I get there Presley opens the door.
"You missed the annual game of 'Charades: The Artist Addition', the boys missed you. If you're looking for Laylani, she already left."
"Do you know where she went?"
"She had all her bags with her, she said bye to all of us and said that she was leaving." Without so much as a thanks and in the interest of time I run back out to my car and speed through the empty Hawaiian streets to the airport. I search all the terminals until I find Lalylani, siting alone; her eyes are bright red and puffy.
"Rosi," I call out, she finds me in the distance immediately. I sprint over to her.
"Get the hell away from me Bruno." she says her voice furious.
"NO."
She stands and walks right up to me. "None of this would have ever happened if you didn't convince me to go to that new bar with you. NONE of it! I would have never done anything else if you didn't want it."
"You and I BOTH know that isn't true. I can't apologize for something I wanted to know, or something I wanted to do. ISN'T THAT EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE ARGUING?"
"NOTHING WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU LEFT INSTEAD OF KISSING ME BACK," she yells in my face.
"HOW COULD I HAVE LEFT IF YOU WANTED ME TO STAY?! YOU CAN'T BLAME ALL OF THIS ON ME IF IT WASN'T ONLY MY FAULT. YOU HAD A PART IN THIS TOO AND DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT YOU DIDN'T."
"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"
"IT WASN'T MINE EITHER. I love you Rosi, I LOVE YOU AND TURN AROUND AND BLAME ALL OF THIS ON ME?" My throat throbs as it begins to swell and water gathers behind my eyes. She walks back to where she was sitting and begins to bawl harder. I walk off and leave her there, fuming. As I walk out into the cool Hawaiian night among the crashing of the waves against the shore, I can still hear the echos of her tears.