“We’ll need to double down on security.” Yes, you guessed it. It was Joaquín who said that.
“Con-grat-u-la-tions,” Dad manages to say with effort. He’s getting better. It’s a slow process, but my dad is a fighter.
“I’ll be the best man,” Rafe declares. “I’m the bride’s best friend.”
“I’ll be the best man,” Gael interrupts, on a video call. He’s wrapping up his new film but made sure to join the dinner remotely.
Only Martina is missing for the joy to be complete. I thought about waiting for her, but since she’s postponed coming home several times, I gave up. I hope she arrives in time for the wedding because I’m not willing to extend the engagement one more day than necessary.
I look at the woman who holds my heart. “Hey.” I hold her hand, squeezing it lightly.
Nina is in her lap, and Olívia hasn’t stopped smiling for a single minute since the proposal. Call me old-fashioned, but seeing the engagement ring on her finger does wonders for me.
When I fall silent, gazing at her doll-like face, she takes the initiative. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I just don’t want to wait. Even if you want a glamorous wedding with a thousand guests, just let me know what you need, and everything will be arranged, but I don’t want to wait too long.”
She starts laughing. “Athousandguests? Where did you get that?”
“It doesn’t matter. I just need you to know that the wedding will be the way you want it.Carte blanchefor everything, but I want to get married in no more than two months.”
“I don’t want a wedding for a thousand guests, but I insist it be in a church. Wait. Can you get married in a church?”
“I’m a widower, so by Catholic doctrine, I could, but anyway, there was no religious ceremony the first time. With you, I’ll do everything right.”
“It’s not about the party itself but the blessing, Guillermo. My faith is strong.”
“Whatever you want, little firecracker.”
Chapter 51
A month and a half later
God, I need to be quick. I spent more time than I intended at the internship with Julien today, and now I only have about fifty minutes to get ready to spend the weekend with Guillermo and Valentina.
I always come home on Fridays so I can pack the things I’ll need for the weekend, but today, especially, I’m here because I need to get the robotic puppy I bought for Nina. It tells stories and talks to the baby when she touches it. I can’t wait to see her face when she opens the gift.
I walk in distracted, trying to remember if I messaged the company that is organizing our wedding. There are so many details to handle in the final stretch that I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed.
Lord, I would give anything to have my mother with me. She would be so happy to know I’m in love and about to marry the love of my life!
But I’m sure wherever she is, she’s watching over me.
As I walk to the bedroom, I wonder why I’m still in Martina’s apartment. Guillermo insists every day that I shouldmove in with him right away, and to be honest, I haven’t really put up much resistance.
Since we got back together, I set a rule to only stay there on weekends, but it’s been increasingly hard to say goodbye to both of them. I spend every weekday with him whenever our schedules align, but I go almost the whole week without seeing Nina.
I feel more and more like she’s mine, and I know it’s mutual. Before, when we were together as a family, she would go to anyone who called her, but now she only switches from my lap to her father’s.
She also seems to have a lot of fun with my clumsiness. The first time I tripped in front of her, she laughed so much her cheeks looked like they would burst. Since then, whenever I drop something, get my finger caught in the door, or have any of the other disasters so common in my life, she stops what she’s doing and starts laughing.
Last week, I thought I was going crazy when she dropped a box of toys and said, “wow!”—which is something I usually exclaim when I have an accident.
Mrs. Isabel noticed and said the baby was starting to get used to my presence in her life and was even assimilating some of my behaviors. I took that as a kind of warning: don’t hurt my granddaughter.
What the matriarch Caldwell-Oviedo has no idea about is that I already consider her a part of me.
The strange thing is that, even though she’s my niece by blood, I can’t see her that way. She’s the daughter of the man I love. Even loving her, inside me, my bond with her comes from Guillermo and not from Layla.
