She left my side to place the flowers down on top of the grave. "Hello, sir."
"He'd have told you to call him Charlie," I interrupted her.
Mia started again. "Hello, Charlie. It's nice to finally meet you. I..." She glanced up at me and I kept my expression blank. I'd asked Mia to come and see Dad on a day he should have been with us. "I want to thank you for raising such a wonderful man. He's everything he is because of you."
My eyes stung but I refused to lose it today. "Hey Dad. It’s been a while," I greeted him and then cleared my throat. "Sorry about that but this one keeps me on my toes. You'd love her. She's everything you would have wanted for me and you're a grandad now. Who would have thought it? I wish you were here. I wish you were here so we could have a drink and you could tell me how this should be done because I don't want to mess this up." Mia leaned against me and squeezed my middle. "I'm doing my best to make you proud, Dad. There isn't a day I don't wish you were still with us. I love you."
I kissed my fingertips before stepping forward and pressing them on the stone. Leaning down, I plucked a few flowers from the bouquet and straightened up again. "Come with me," I told Mia.
We walked through the cemetery together until we stopped in front of another grave and this time, I placed the flowers on top. When I looked back at Mia, her eyes were glassy.
"Dad," she whispered. "You kept him close."
Since coming back home, Mia hadn’t visited Hector. She hadn't found the closure she needed from those traumatic events, burying herself in work and motherhood. Finding Xavier and getting revenge for all the wrongs he had dealt us was only one way of moving forward but Mia needed to put things right with Hector.
"For you," I told her, pulling her in and kissing her head. In all my anger and confusion at Mia leaving, I couldn’t bring myself to abandon Hector. I’d thought it was the last thing I’d do for her — I didn’t realise how wrong I was.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, turning towards her dad. "I know." Her voice wobbled and she started again, "I know you might not have wanted this for me but I'm so happy now. I'm sorry I never got to make up with you, Dad, but I swear I never stopped loving you. I am so sorry." Mia choked on a sob and my grip on her tightened.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," I muttered against her hair, wondering if I’d done the wrong thing by springing this on her.
"Don't apologise," she said, looking up at me. "It was about time I saw him. I was just scared."
“He loved you,” I told her softly. “No matter what happened, he loved you.”
“I know he did. I love him too. I just wish I could have told him that.”
The time was spent in quiet whispers with family no longer with us. Mia composed herself just before we walked into the church. Streaks of mascara vanished from her cheeks and she was pink from the cold but as the service started, you would never have known that she'd been crying. I loved her for so many reasons but the strength she showed always had me in awe of her.
There were moments in my life that I had thought about. Typical whims and wishes of man but I highly doubted God would ever grant me them. I did too much of the devil's work to be afforded the simple pleasures in life. That and I didn't trust myself to have them. They were too fragile to be placed in my hands. Too sacred to be resigned to this world. So, it felt surreal to be standing in church beside Mia, my patient and diplomatic better half, holding Lincoln, my son and double.
Link had been surprisingly well-behaved, carefully passed from parents to Godparents to priest as he was committed to the faith. Anything to do with Link made me glow with pride. This tiny thing had an unsteady start before he'd even entered the world. I'd missed a lot out of pure stubbornness, and I was certain I'd never forgive myself for it, but I'd be there for him through the rest of his life. Looking at him now, it was difficult to believe our baby would one day grow up to have a life of his own. He'd make mistakes and get knocked down, but I'd teach him how to handle the lows and keep his chin up the way Charlie had shown me.
Dante practically bounced on the balls of his feet throughout the entire service. Every hair stayed in place and he didn’t loosen his tie in his effort to show everyone how seriously he took his new role. I knew that he'd love any children we had but I'd grossly underestimated how much.
You'd have thought Dante fathered Link the way he beamed with pride and fawned over him, but I wasn't about to burst that bubble. My son deserved to be doted on and my brother deserved a family that loved him. We were by no means traditional, could be classified as barely functional, but the love ran deep and on days like today, it was hard to imagine that anything else was needed.
"Dante, give him to me," Carmen demanded, attempting to take Link from him for the photographs after Father Duffy concluded the ceremony.
Dante turned away quickly, holding Link up a little higher. "You have two of your own," he told her.
"I want to spend time with my godson. You live here with him. Hand him over."
"Make me,” he told her. “Fight me."
"Emilio!" Carmen called, never one to get her hands dirty when her husband was around. From the centre of a row, Emilio's head shot up as he looked over to his wife.
"Shhhh!" Dante hissed. "You play dirty, Diaz." He narrowed his eyes and passed Link over to a smug-looking Carmen.
"It was your mistake taking me on," she told him, cooing over Link. Dante huffed in response and hovered over Carmen's shoulder.
"If we could get a few shots with all of you?" the photographer said to me, lowering the camera. "Is your wife around?"
"I'm right here," Mia told him, coming up the aisle, not bothering to correct him. She had Javier cradled in one arm and Santiago held her other hand. Emilio followed behind her, helping Mom along the way.
The last of the photographs were taken and the congregation started to disperse, making their way to the house for the joint celebrations. It had felt like the safest decision to host everyone at home rather than out in the open where we would be constantly worried. I didn't want Mia to focus on anything else today.
As we left the church, Mia walked ahead of me, hips swaying and hugged by the blush pink dress she’d chosen for the occasion. Her figure hadn't quite returned to its pre-pregnancy form but there were no complaints from me. She still drove me to distraction, and I could never get my fill of this woman. I had half a mind to cancel the reception at the house so I could show her my appreciation for all the work she’d put in today.
