Arranged Love: Cristina’s Story
Chapter 6 - Tristán
As Cris snuggled closer I heard her sigh in contentment. It was rare that I ever got to hold her other then when she is asleep next to me so I was enjoying this moment of contentment with her while our twins played happily on the floor nearby.
“Necesitamos un lugar más grande amor. (We need a bigger place love.)” I told her in Spanish after a few minutes of silence and a serious look around our rather tiny place.
There were still boxes here and there that happen to be still packed up because we’ve no room to place for the stuff stored inside the boxes other than keeping it all in the boxes and stacking them somewhere in the house. Jaime’s and Rosalia’s toys and things where scattered about plus they were getting older which meant more double items and no room for any of it. At the very top of that list was Selene and Helios—Cris’s two almost full grown Tamaskan Dogs.
“Hmm, I agree.” She all but mumbled which meant she was starting to fall asleep. She hasn’t been sleeping well the last few nights so it wasn’t surprising that she was falling asleep now. The twins still got up once at night for a feeding and we’ve been flooded down at the garage so it makes for short nights and little to no sleep.
Soon she was out like a light next to me. I sat there holding her for a time while she slept. After a while I got up gently laying her down on the couch as I did. The kids were starting to get loud and I knew they’d wake her after a bit so I packed them up into the double jogging strolling and we went out for a run. The sun was shining, the air warmed by a gentle breeze and the birds where singing—the perfect spring day for a run. An hour later the kids and I walked through the door to be greeted by the delicious smell of hamburgers cooking out on the grill. Following the smell of food I found the back door open and Cris standing on the small deck in front of the grill flipping burgers.
“I didn’t know you worked at Jack’s burgers in town Cris. All this time I thought you worked on cars not working flipping burgers at some old burger joint in town.” I said leaning against the open door’s frame watching her cook at the grill.
“For your information oh smart one I did work for old Jack one summer freshmen year. Couldn’t hack flipping burgers though.” She replied with a dead seriousness that was rather serious like. Cris could be dead serious when teasing but for those who knew her extremely well they could see the spark that always flared in her eyes when she was teasing or joking around however in this case there was spark.
“Hmm, you not being able to hack flipping burgers doesn’t seem possible to me since here you are doing a fantastic job of it now.” I shot back.
“Just for that one I am burning yours and so you know I couldn’t hack it then but a little practice goes along way.” She said with all the serious in the world and her eyes sparkling.
“Not sure it was practice Hun seems more like you’re a natural at it.” I told her giving her a wink before heading back into the house with the sounds of her muttering something in some language behind me.
Soon she brought in the burgers and we had dinner. I was glad to see that she either had forgotten her threat or didn’t follow through on it this time so she could act upon it at a later date which is something she would do just to catch anyone by surprise. At least for tonight I was safe from eating burnt food.
~~~~~~~~~
The spring months have passed by and we’ve been busier than anything. At the start of May which was a month ago now we moved into a bigger place that was on the outskirts of town something that both of us enjoyed and even better it fit everything without be excessively huge for just the four of us. The twins are 9 months old and already Cris has a big party planned for them and how she managed to plan one with how busy we’ve been lately is a wonder.
The garage becomes extremely busy during the early summer months thanks to the weather and since in August through September all the car shows around here regularly happen so everyone brings in their cars for some TLC and new paint before all the shows. The 6 of us who worked at the garage also have cars that we show in the shows so it wasn’t really surprising when Cris came in a few weeks ago with a 1964 1/2 Convertible Ford Mustang—the first Mustang created. It needed some serious work and where she got it is a mystery but she was like a kid on Christmas who had gotten the ultimate present.
We were working on the engine of her newest project when someone came into the garage. Alastar who was working closer to the front greeted the customer. From the looks Alastar occasionally threw towards his sister the job was for paint work. Cris was a talented painter not only in custom work but in restoration and it was due to her restoration abilities that we were swamped this time every year. Soon Alastar was motioning Cris over.
“Cris your brother wants you.” I told her with a nod in Alastar’s direction. She was busy working on the engine that she hadn’t seen him motioning for her.
“For goodness sake can’t a girl get any work done around here?” She sighed while wiping grease off her hands. She has been going back and forth all day with customers who were coming in for paint work.
“Not for you hun.” I said with a smirk in her direction.
“Thanks sweetheart. Why don’t you continue where I left off on the engine?” She asked with a smile.
“Wow! You actually trust me with your precious baby?” I asked with a surprised look.
“Nope, which is why the twins are with my madre however I trust you enough to finish the work on the engine while I go book yet another job.” She gave me a wink before heading over to where her brother was standing with the new client.
I shook my head and started back to work on the engine. Despite all her teasing I was one of only two who she trusted to work on any of her projects when she was with a client the other was Alastar and we were the only two who she even allowed to work on one of her projects without her around. About an hour later Cristina returned with a Twizzler hanging from her mouth and a few more in her hand.
“How’s it going?” She asked around the Twizzler.
“I just finished up the engine. Did you get the job?” I asked while nodding towards her hand full of Twizzler in a silent request for one.
“Of course I got the job. It’s a simple repaint won’t take long to finish unlike with this thing.” She said lightly tapping the edge of the car.
As she handed me a Twizzler I could see the list of everything that needed to be done on this car run through her head. With that we continued the work on her mustang since there was maybe an hour left before close and neither one of us had any cars on the docket for today. Soon we were leaving the garage and headed off towards her parents house to pick up the twins before heading home for a nice quiet and relaxing evening.
The following morning I woke up to an empty bed. Normally I was up before Cris and the twins however this morning that didn’t seem to be the case. I reach over and found Cris’s side of the bed cold suggesting that she has been up for a while now which was odd since Cris was anything but a morning person. Getting up I went to check in on the twins and found Jaime’s crib empty while Rosalia slept peacefully in hers. With a frown I headed quietly out of the room and made my way towards the living room. Rounding the corner I found a very tired looking Cristina who held a sleeping Jaime who had his head snuggled into his madre’s neck. A blanket covered them both as Cris rocked slowly back and forth in the old glider rocking chair her mom gave us after we brought the twins home. According to Cris it was the same one that her dad had given to her mom when they moved in and was the one she had rocked all her children on. Now it was rocking another generation to sleep.
“Buenos días. ¿Cuánto tiempo llevas arriba? (Good morning. How long have you been up?)” I asked quietly while kneeling in front of her. She gave me a tired smile.
“Morning, I’ve been up since 3 am with Jaime who has a fever.” She answered in a raspy whisper filled with sleep.
I frowned with this news. Normally I heard if the kids woke up at night or heard her get up but last night I heard neither. Did I really sleep that soundly while she was up for five and half hours dealing with our son who was running a fever? Cris’s eyes where rimmed with deep dark circles, her voice raspy with sleep and eyes burly. She desperately needed some sleep however food was going to have to come first as just then her stomach rumbled in hunger.
“I’ll make us some breakfast and then I’ll watch over Jaime while you get some sleep.” I whispered before kissing her head and heading off to the kitchen to make us some food.
After making sure Cris had a hot meal for breakfast I got Rosalia fed and then took her over to her abuela’s so that Juliana could watch her while I took care of Jaime and Cris slept. Once I got home again I traded places with Cris and sat in the rocker with Jaime while Cris curled up on the couch with a blanket and slept. By the time Cris woke up Jaime’s fever had lowered and he was sleeping more peacefully. Cris went and picked up Rosalia from her mom’s only to come back with a feverous child.
“Looks like another night of no sleep.” Cris said coming into the house with Rosalia.
“How are we going to keep them from passing this cold back and forth?”
“He shouldn’t catch it again since they are both still running fevers besides that there are two of them and two of us I think we can manage till bed time in a few hours.” She told me with way more confidence then I felt with her little plan.
After the end of five days we’d somehow managed it and we thought neither of us had managed to catch whatever they had. Or at least that is what we thought at first. We’d soon be proven wrong in just a few weeks but up until then life was back to normal for us. The garage was swamped with cars making for long days and rather short nights for us. It was just a week and half before the Fourth of July and it seemed everyone wanted some kind of work done on their cars before the holiday weekend. The week had started off crazy and it was finally our day off. Cris had been up late last night attending to something not sure what since she wouldn’t say what she was up too.
The morning of our day off Cris didn’t wake up at her usual time which wasn’t all that odd since whenever she stays up late she always sleeps in an extra hour so when she didn’t come down an hour later I settled the twins in with some toys in their room before heading across the hall to check on their madre. As I entered through the doorway Cris was stretching out her muscles with a yawn escaping across her lips. I stood in the door way waiting for her to open her eyes. With another yawn she opened her eyes only to groan and throw her arm over her eyes. Never a good first thing in the morning with her. She like her madre and Johann suffered from the occasional migraines and for her to wake up with one was never good. I headed into the bathroom and grabbed her a glass of water and her migraines pills. I nudged her arm with the bottom of the glass and watched as she grabbed the glass and held out her other hand for the pills without ever opening her eyes.
“Are you feeling alright hun?” I asked. She normally never wakes up with a migraine so bad she wouldn’t open her eyes cause of the light.
“I don’t think so.” She mumbled from underneath her arm.
“How do you feel?” I asked her while sitting down next to her on the bed. She curled over on her side facing towards me while placing a pillow over her head.
“Cold, tired and my head is killing me.” Came the muffled reply from somewhere underneath the pillow.
I frowned at the cold part. Gently prying the pillow off her head so I could see if she was warm got me some serious growls and a death look from the girl who was underneath the pillow. Rolling my eyes at her I reach out to brush some of her wild hair out of the way and found that she was burning up. Looks like it was time to pack up the kids and take them over to see Juliana for the afternoon while I took care of her. Plus I was going to need some tips on handling her while she was sick since she was crabby and a total pain in the butt when sick.
“I’m taking the kids over to your madre’s. Get some sleep while I am gone.” I said heading for the door.
“Oh you’re funny this morning.” She grumbled at me.
“I know. See you soon.” I said chuckling as I walked across the hall to gather up the kids.
“Jerk!” Cris yelled at my retreating back.
I packed up some things for the kids in a bag and got them all set to go see their abuela. Before we left I headed across the hall one more time to drop off something for Cris. She was curled deeper under the couple of blankets on the bed. I placed another blanket over her and then placed a large teddy bear next to her which she promptly grabbed and curled further under the blankets with. Suppressing a laugh I turned and heading towards the door.
“The bear is so not going to help but thank you.” A familiar muffled voice said from deep under all the blankets.
I shook my head and gathered up the kids. Within a few minutes we’d arrived and where heading towards the house. Once inside it wasn’t hard to guess where Juliana was—the smell coming from the kitchen gave her location away. I took the kids into the kitchen where she stood in front of the stove making what smelled like butter toffee. She was trying to get on Koran’s good side for something considering Koran loves homemade butter toffee and Juliana uses it as a bribe whenever she wants something.
“Good morning Tristán. What are you doing here? I thought the two of you had off today.” She said looking up briefly from the candy thermometer as we entered into the kitchen. Whenever we both worked Juliana took care of the kids for us.
“Good morning. Cris woke up this morning with a bad fever which has made her rather mean. Can I leave the kids with you until this afternoon?” I asked in a really pathetic pleading way.
“No need to plead. I’d be happy to watch them. I’ll send Kor by later with some homemade soup that’ll calm the monster.” She said with a slight chuckle and a small smirk.
“Thank you I really appreciate it. I am guessing whatever the twins had a few weeks ago finally caught up with Cris.” I said getting ready to leave before the twins started to enjoy their play toys of pot and pans which their abuela had so kindly pulled out of the cabinets for them before she grabbed a cooled cookie sheet for the butter of toffee.
“The soup will help and just making sure she sleeps will also help along with lots of caffeinated tea.” She said raising her voice to be heard over the twins’ “music”.
“Thanks Juliana. I’ll be back to pick them up later in the afternoon. That is if their madre doesn’t kill me first.” I replied heading towards the door.
“Well, good luck and try to stay alive.” She said with a smile before turning to the twins now that she had the toffee taken care of and chilling in the refrig.
I head back home not in a real hurry since I was bound for an ear full from Cris for many reason but manly for the comment I made before I left. How we’ve managed all these months together has been somewhat of a miracle and I wasn’t sure where she stood on her feelings. She was a mystery that was hard to unravel. From what I remember from the stories Cris told me her father had the same issue with her madre. When he comes by today with the soup I think I’d better ask him about it. I need some answers and wasn’t getting them from elsewhere. Once home I sat out in the car for awhile just thinking about things while mentally preparing myself for what this day was going to bring my way. With a sigh I got out of the car and headed into the house. It was time to take care of Cris and if I thought the twins had been difficult I was going to be proven wrong with someone who could talk and complain.