Chapter 61
“What a day,” Paul groaned when he collapsed in bed that night. “But I finally finished painting the baby’s room.”
“Already?” Montana asked. “That was quick.”
“Ah yes, the joy of modern paint. It doesn’t take long to do a project these days.”
“At least you seem to be enjoying yourself with it. Were you this enthused when the girls were coming?”
“Um…I guess. I really don’t remember.”
She propped up on one elbow and looked at him. “Come on, four and seven years is not that long. For what it’s worth, it’s perfectly fine to talk about Reggie. I don’t have a problem with it if that is what you’re worried about.”
“No?”
“Of course not. For all the time we’ve been together, I don’t really know that much about her at all, except she was the girls’ birth mother and passed away unexpected when they were still pretty young.”
“Yeah, well, you know, she’s been gone awhile, and no use bringing up old history.“
“But I thought you loved her.”
“Well, yeah. I mean, she was kind of a hook up at first, but I didn’t really fall for her until she got pregnant with Mac. But contrary to popular belief, things weren’t always peachy between me and Reg.”
“Truly, are most marriages?”
“No…but just coming out and saying it makes it sound even worse. I'll offer an explanation why I don’t like talking about me and Reggie though, but you might not take it very well.”
“Try me. I have all night.”
“Things weren’t too bad at first. Yeah, she was sick a lot when she was carrying Mac, but it was all good. It was beautiful seeing that kid being born, and with Reggie, I thought I found my soul mate really, cheesy as it sounds. Anyway, we thought about trying for a boy when Mac got a little older. Reggie wanted her potty trained and all that shit first, though. I was okay with that; I was enjoying Mac when I was at home. Next thing I knew, Reggie was knocked up again.”
“With Kira.”
“Yeah. Only Reg wasn’t so happy when she found out it was another girl. Now I’m really going to sound like a dick. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it either.”
“You could have fooled anyone from the way you treat that child,” Montana nodded.
“Well, let me give you the story on that. See, once Reggie found out she was having another girl, she kind of change. Now granted, she was crabby and slept in a separate room when she was having Mac because she was ‘uncomfortable’ and sexwise, I saw more action from my hand than I did from her. But with Kira, she was a total hag, except when we were in public, which was rare. All she did was bitch at me the whole nine months, like it was my damn fault she wasn’t having a boy. It was like I couldn’t do anything right. Just criticizing all the time, from the way I did the room to how I cooked, hell, she’d get on my ass if I was too loud going up the steps. Jesus.”
Montana pondered a moment. “I guess that explains the shocked look you gave me when I gave you total control over doing our baby’s room.”
“Yeah, to say the least. Frankly, I was waiting for you to come in and bitch my ass out because something in there wasn’t done right.”
“Why would I do that? It’s absolutely beautiful so far.”
“Up to you, my track record with women wasn’t so good, Mon. Anyway, the thing with Reg I kind of tried to blow off as pregnancy hormones from hell, figuring she’d get better and totally fuss over the baby just like she did with Mac. Yeah, she fussed all right.”
“Well I know Kira was born at home and she came awful quick. Your mother told me that.”
“Yeah, but what Mami didn’t mention was that Reg threw her out of the room and screamed at me the whole time, calling me everything but a Mexican dude. There I was busting my ass delivering this beautiful little creature and all Reggie could do was yell that I wasn’t getting ‘it’ out of her fast enough.”
“It?” Montana’s eyebrows shot up.
“Yeah. Her mother–may she rest in peace– and Mami both ended up naming Kira. Mon, I fell in love with that little girl the first time I laid eyes on her, bloody mess and all, and felt guilty about being disappointed a first that she hadn‘t been a boy. Reg wouldn’t even nurse her; Kira was bottle fed. She’d barely acknowledge her. Come on, it wasn’t Kira’s fault she was born a girl. And don’t get me started on when Kira had colic.”
“Oh no,” Montana groaned. “That bad?”
“Four months of a ‘fussy, screaming creature that was supposed to be a son,’ the way Reggie put it. Who the hell rubbed Kira’s tummy and rocked her when she’d get like that? Yep, yours truly, when I was home. God knows what went on the rest of the time. About the only thing Reg did for her was change her diapers, give her baths and a bottle. Anything else? My job.”
“That poor child.”
“Yeah. At the risk of sounding like an asshole saying it out loud, maybe it was a good thing Reggie passed while Kira was still a baby. She’d probably been one fucked up kid otherwise, knowing her own mother didn’t want her because she was born the wrong gender. You know, even if she was pretty young, I think Mac picked up on it too, which may explain why she’s so protective of Kira.”
“Perhaps,” Montana agreed, nodding. “That and they didn’t have a mother figure for over three years afterwards. Mac seemed to grow up quicker than most girls her age.”
“That too. Then of course, there’s Mami giving me hell once in awhile because I tend to be a little softer on Kira about things than I am on Mac. It isn’t just about Mac being older; I have to confess, Kira’s been kind of a Papi’s girl from the minute she was born.”
“I knew it,” Montana replied, smiling. “I could tell something along those lines was up, the way she’s so affectionate toward you. I know Mac loves you too, but just the way Kira looks at you, you’re a special person in her eyes.”
“Well for a long time, Mon, I figure if that girl was ever going to know love, it was going to be from me and her sister.”
“How could anyone not love her? She’s just the sweetest little girl.”
“Yeah, even Spanky wants to kidnap her, and he’s not exactly moving too fast into having his own kids. I told him it would be over my dead body.”
“And mine,” Montana added. “She’s just so excited about the baby, did you notice?”
“How could I not? It’s about all Kira talks about. ‘Papi, when’s Mami having the baby?’ It every freaking day. I keep telling her it will be a few more months yet. That boy’s going to be in for one hell of a spoiling from those two when he gets here.”
“They wanted to help you with the room too.”
“Much as I appreciate the sentiment, not such a good idea to mix kids with paint, especially when doing a nursery. Maybe when there‘s like some little things to do, like put stuff in drawers or something else I know won’t hurt them, they can pitch in then.”
“I think that would be a good idea,” Montana smiled. “They should have a little involvement in getting ready for the baby.”
Paul then glowed. “So you really like it so far?”
“I think you did an excellent job. Just think how much we saved not paying a paint contractor or anyone else.”
“You don’t think the white trim is gay?”
“How can a room be gay? Actually, it looks very tasteful. Where did you get the cloud pattern for the ceiling?”
“Saleslady at the store helped me pick it, as she did the paint. Sky blue, of all things.”
“It’s a beautiful color.”
“Yeah, well, next time you hit the hardware store, you can thank the salesperson called Carmen. If it wasn’t for her, our son would be sleeping in a room painted robin’s egg blue or some other puke color if it had been up to Spanky.”
“Sometimes, it’s just better to ask a salesperson,” Montana chuckled.
“No argument about that.” Paul then yawned. “Okay, mami pequeña, we’ve done enough soul searching and yapping for one night. Time for us to get much-deserved rest.”
|
