“Zach, did you hear that?” Delia shouted. “They’re going to have babies!”
My mother burst through the open adjoining door. “Who’s having babies?”
“Vero is!” Delia said, jumping up and down. “She got married, and Daddy said that’s when babies happen!” Delia grabbed Javi’s hand and dragged him toward my mother, pointing at the swollen new tattoo on Javi’s chest. “And look! That’s Vero’s name!”
My mother’s bloodshot eyes ping-ponged between their plastic rings and the veil tangled in Vero’s hair. I wasn’t sure if the tinge of green in her complexion was the result of a hangover or of deep dismay.
She walked to the closet and put on her coat.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“There’s a Catholic church a few blocks away.”
“Mass was yesterday.”
“And confession is today.”
“A tequila hangover isn’t penance enough?” I asked. She ignored that, patting her pockets for her rosary. I found it on her nightstand and handed it over. “You shouldn’t leave the hotel by yourself, Mom.”
“I’m not. You’re coming with me.”
“I have nothing to confess.”
She looked disappointed. “You didn’t spend the night with Nicholas?”
I lowered my voice, turning away from Steven and the kids. “I’m not asking anyone’s forgiveness for that.”
My mother’s huff was heavy with judgment. “Fine, I’ll ask Georgia to take me. And you,” she said, pointing around me at Javi. He looked up at her, a deer caught in her headlights. “You’re coming to my house for dinner next Thursday with your wife. Be prepared. I’ll have questions for both of you.” She clicked her fanny pack around her waist and walked out.
I watched through the peephole as my mother crossed the hall to my sister’s room. Sam was probably still busy making phone calls for Nick. If Vero and I could slip out on the heels of my sister and mother, we might make it out of the hotel without being noticed.
Steven pulled me back from the door and dragged me into the bathroom. He dangled a plastic snack bag in front of me. A tiny thumb drive was stuck to the bottom of it.
“What the hell is this?” he asked me in a low voice.
I snatched the bag and stuffed it in my pocket. “You didn’t have to go digging around for it. I told you I would deal with it.”
“Youtoldme it was important.”
“No, I told you it was… Wait.” I tipped my head, recalling the hurried conversation we’d had last night. “You asked me if the dog had swallowed a piece of jewelry.”
“What did you expect me to think?” he whispered. “You were being all weird and secretive about it, and you said you didn’t want Delia to know!”
“So you thought you had a right to go digging around, because you thought Nick had given me a present?”
“I was doing it for you, Finn! You hardly even know him!”
“Because heaven forbid another man buys me anything nice!”
His cheeks flushed, and he turned away from me.
A humorless laugh boiled out as I put the pieces together. “You were afraid he’d proposed?” I asked in a low voice. Steven didn’t bother toanswer. He didn’t have to. I was certain I was right. It had been fine for him to get engaged to Theresa right after he’d left me—to move in with her and have our children sleeping in her house—but it wasn’t okay for me to have a relationship with anybody else?
Javi knocked softly on the doorframe. “Ramón’s on his way,” he said. “I’m gonna go get dressed.”
“Great idea,” Steven grumbled.
Javi gave him a cold once-over before turning to Vero. “Come find me when you and Finlay are ready to go.”
