Curiously, Loretta said she didn’t ask America about it because she said she didn’t want to embarrass the girl. But she did say the only other female waitresses there that night were older and the rest of the servers were guys.
Still, I could’ve gotten away with just denying it, had I not panicked so quickly. In hindsight, though, I know now, just as Madeline could be sneaky when she wanted to be, she’d approached me using words she knew would rile me and get the truth out of me.
“Dude, you’re nuts,” Quino said as he walked into the back room, carrying the bouquet of M&M’s that apparently had just been delivered to the shop.
The big Mylar balloons attached to it all read things that made my stomach cringe: I love you and Happy anniversary. Even the Happy Birthday ones were all heart-shaped. But today was the day. As predicted, Peanut’s grandma wouldn’t be leaving the hospice any time soon. She’d lost both feet now, was completely blind in one eye, and they’d likely be removing her lower right leg soon if the infection she’d picked up didn’t clear up soon.
Through it all, Madeline said her grandmother was still the same firecracker she’d always been. She was still arguing with the nurses and Loretta. She hated being fussed over when clearly in her delicate state she should have been.
“Who’s that for?” My dad started to ask but then seemed to realize and shook his head.
“She’s eighteen today, Dad,” I explained.
“So what? That girl’s mama’s claws are still just as long.”
“Well.” I stood up to examine the bouquet I didn’t realize would be so big. “Maddie seems to think now that she’s eighteen she’s free to date whoever she wants. If you think Loretta’s a demanding spitfire, there’s no denying Maddie’s her mother’s daughter. Loretta’s baby girl is legal in every way now. So it’s on.”
I smirked, despite my churning insides. I’d known this day would come for a year now. Still, my heart had been pounding about this every time I’d thought about it, for weeks. Madeline’s grandmother had known about our relationship for months now, and she actually approved. Madeline had told her all about our plans to join forces and expand my dad’s business together. Apparently, her grandmother was all about soul mates and didn’t care about the Cortez brother’s bad rap.
“She said if anyone could straighten one of you bad boys out that’d be me.” Madeline had laughed when she said it, but her grandmother was spot on. Before Madeline, the only thing I’d done any planning for as far as my future was concerned was the possibility of expanding the shop to sell bikes. I’d put zero thought into starting a family someday or building my own place. With forty acres of land on my dad’s property, he’d always talked about all four of his boys building their homes there someday and staying close together. He’d love it if he knew I’d already started looking at plans for building a home for Maddie and me.
A year ago my brothers’ jaws would have hit the floor if they knew, but at this point, I didn’t think anything regarding what I’d do for Madeline would surprise them. Like everyone in town must have known by now, even Loretta for that matter, I was a changed man because of Madeline. Though my grandma would argue there wasn’t a whole lot of changing that needed to be done.
“Boys will be boys. So you all were a little wild and you like your tattoos. You were raised to be respectful, and that’s all that matters. It’s why that guerrita is so hell bent on fighting for this relationship in spite of her mother’s reservations about you.”
I told my grandmother what Madeline had said about how her mother would love me too, and my grandmother said she didn’t doubt that for a minute.
“All we mothers ever want for our kids is someone that’s going to love them with as much passion as we love them. And you, Mijito”—she’d smiled, shaking her head— “estas perdidamente enamorodo.”
Apparently, Ama said she’d been nervous about it from the moment way back when she’d caught the way I appeared to be struck by Madeline that very first day at the café.
“There’s no way her mother won’t see it. You couldn’t hide it if you tried. That alone will win her over.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Xavier said, staring at the box-shaped outline on my front shirt pocket. “What the fuck’s that?”
I nearly groaned with exasperation as his question got the attention of my other brothers and dad, and now they were all staring at me. “It’s our anniversary too,” I said with a shrug.
“So you’re gonna propose?” Xavier asked, even more wide-eyed.
“What?” Quino and my dad asked in unison, taking a few steps closer to me.
Nolan was already laughing it up, bringing his fist to his mouth. “Dude, you’re insane.”
“No, I’m not proposing, ass,” I said, trying in vain to step away, but I was surrounded now, so I stopped and dropped my head back. “It’s just a little something I got her for our anniversary.”
“Let’s see it,” Xavier said, and before I could protest, he swiped the box out of my pocket.
“Probably his balls, so she can hang them from her rearview mirror,” Nolan said, cracking himself up. “Dude, she really got you this twisted?”
I stopped short of telling him to shut the fuck up, only because my dad was there, smirking too. Clearly, they were all getting a big kick out of this, so I’d let them have their fun and not turn this into something ugly.
“This is a ring.” Xavier stated, quieting the chuckles as the smile he was just wearing went flat.
“A promise ring,” I said before they tackled me and tied me up because it felt like they just might. I shrugged, trying to play it down. “We’ve been together a year now. I’d say that’s about right.”
I explained quickly how we both still had lots of things we wanted to do—accomplish—before we started talking anything crazy like getting married. “This just sort of symbolizes a promise that it’ll happen sometime way down the line.”
Quino leaned in to get a better look at the ring. “Kind a diamond is it?”
I shook my head with a shrug because I didn’t even know. I was on a budget, and I’d been clueless about how much diamonds really cost. So when reality hit, all I was concerned about was price. Nolan leaned in now to get a better look too. “I’ll tell you what kind that is?” We all turned to Nolan, surprised he’d know anything about them too. “That’s a Knarly diamond right there.”
I glanced at the ring then back up at him. “How do you know?”
“Knarly see that shit!”
In the next second, they all burst into laughter, and I snapped the box out of Xavier’s hand. “Alright, I’m done.” I stalked away as they continued to laugh heartedly—even my dad.
I grabbed the bouquet and headed out the front door even as my idiot brothers and my dad yelled out a few more cracks about the tiny chip of a diamond. I should’ve known they’d bust my balls about it, and if it weren’t for my knotted-up insides about where I was headed, I might have been chuckling too.
But I wasn’t.
Madeline was finally taking me to meet her grandma at the hospice today. She couldn’t wait even a day after her eighteenth birthday to get this out in the open officially. The plan was I’d meet her grandma first before Loretta got out of work. When she did get out, she’d head straight to the hospice as she always did, and I’d be there with Maddie and their grandmother. God help me.
When I arrived at her house, I was greeted with the usual giddy hug and kisses I was used to. She was especially full of squeals this time, given the huge bouquet I arrived holding. After handing the birthday gift to her, I pulled out my anniversary gift and she went silent.
She set the bouquet down on the table just inside the door. Before she even took the other gift, her hand was already at her mouth.
“Happy anniversary,” I said, handing it to her.
She smiled even as her eyes welled up and she reached for it. I hoped the fact that I wasn’t down on a knee was heads-up enough before she got too ahe
ad of herself about what it might be. She opened the box and her hand was back over her mouth. “I know it’s not much, Peanut,” I said with a wince. “But it’s just a promise ring. A promise that someday I’ll have so much more to offer you.”
With her face already crumbling and her sweet brows pinching tight, she took it out of the box, but I reached for it so I could slip it onto her finger. “It’s more than I could ever ask for,” she said, wrapping her arms around me the moment the ring was on her finger.
After a long satisfying extra-tight hug, she pulled away to look at it again. “It’s beautiful, Nico. I love it.”
“Yeah?” I asked with a slight wince but kept my brothers’ comments about it to myself.
Nodding, she kissed me again then wiped the tears away from the corners of her eyes. “I can’t think of a more perfect anniversary gift. Thank you, baby. I love you.”
I kissed her again, and we held each other for a few moments. Feeling her sigh so deeply had me smiling big and forgetting about the angst I’d felt the whole way there. But it was fleeting; in the next few minutes, we were getting ready for a trip to the hospice.
“I’m not gonna lie, babe,” I said as she hopped in my dad’s delivery truck. “I’m nervous as fuck.”
“Don’t be,” she said, looking back with a big smile at the embarrassingly big bouquet she insisted on taking to the hospice for her grandma to see. “I’m not worried about it at all. Even Maggie’s noticed how Mama’s toned her comments about you way back lately. Mama knows me too well. As passionate as I am about everything, she knows we’ll be butting heads—ugly—if she keeps trying to argue that you’re not the absolute best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
After a long deep kiss and another one of her reassuring smiles, I felt a little better, but my heart sped right up again and my insides roiled as we walked into the hospice.
I walked behind Madeline, turning heads as nurses and others we passed glanced up at the giant bouquet and all the balloons. We walked into the room where her grandma, who was wearing an eye patch and looked surprisingly frailer than I expected, glanced up at me with her good eye and smiled.
“I’m diabetic, boy.” She turned to the M&M bouquet. “I can’t have candy.”
Madeline laughed. “They’re for me, silly. I wanted you to see what my sweetheart got me for my birthday.” She smiled coyly, looking up at me, then added, “And our anniversary. I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Nicolas Cortez.” Madeline reached out and slipped her hand into mine, squeezing it in the process with a big giddy smile. “Nico, this is Grandma Betty.”
With one hand full of the bouquet and Madeline’s hand in the other, I nodded with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, ma’am. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Her grandmother had that same animated brow Madeline shared with her mother and twin. She cocked it but smiled. “Nice to meet you too, young man. I’ve heard oodles about you.”
I cleared my throat and laughed nervously. “All good, I hope.”
“Not all,” she admitted with a shrug. “But then if I sat here and named a single person I’ve known in life who was all good, then I’d be a liar. Maddie hasn’t exactly been all good either now, has she?”
Madeline turned to me with that naughty smile I loved so much; only now it made me uncomfortable as shit. How much had she told her grandma about us?
Feeling a little sweaty suddenly, I put the bouquet down where her grandmother motioned for me to do so.
“I gotta tell you,” Betty said as we both took seats next to her bed now. “You always know who’s gonna turn out good kids and who’s not. Your daddy and grandma done good with you boys, despite what all the talk in town’s always been. Your mama dying at such an early age of your lives couldn’t have been easy. And I don’t care what my uptight daughter thinks. I think all those tattoos suit you boys just fine. Just don’t get any on your face. It’s too pretty to muck up.”
“Pretty.” I smiled a little easier now and turned to Madeline. “Now that’s another one I’ve never been called before.”
We sat and talked with Betty for a while longer, interrupted by nurses who, to Betty’s obvious annoyance, came in and checked on her often. About forty minutes later, when I was finally feeling a little relaxed, my heart nearly stopped when Loretta walked in the room and froze on the spot when she saw me.
“Mama.” Unbelievably, Madeline was smiling big as she stood up to greet her. “Look what Nicolas got me for my birthday.”
I wasn’t sure whether to continue sitting or if I should stand as Loretta turned to the bouquet and I watched her read the balloons. All I knew was I was having trouble breathing—swallowing.
That Hellman cocked brow appeared, and her mother turned to me then Madeline. “Madeline Avery Hellman. Anniversary? So the rumors are true?”
“Oh, Mama.” Madeline giggled, and now I was on my feet. “You know if I’d owned up to them, you would’ve never allowed it. But we’re in love. Isn’t that the sweetest bouquet ever?”
Loretta turned to me, brow still arched sharply. “I suppose that giant M&M pillow she sleeps with every night is from you too?”
Before I could even respond, Madeline was giggling again. “And the necklace, the sweatshirt, the boot slippers. All of it, Mama. He really is a good guy.” She turned to me with that same enamored smile I’d seen so often and took a deep breath. “Treats me like a princess. You can ask Maggie. It’s why he’s here today. Look what else he got me today.” She held out her hand, and Loretta’s reaction was similar to my brothers’ reaction, so Madeline went on quickly. “It’s a promise ring. We wanna do this right and with your blessing because we have plans.”
Now Madeline turned to me, giving me the floor. Was she fucking kidding me? But I was just as annoyed with myself. Why hadn’t I thought to go over what we were going to say to her mom.
I cleared my throat because they were all looking at me as if waiting. “First of all,” I said and cleared my throat again even as Maddie squeezed my hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally officially meet you, Ms. Hellman.” She nodded but didn’t say more, so I went on, trying not to speak too fast, but I was nervous as shit, so I started to blurt it all out. “My dad’s gonna expand the shop. Maddie and I have been working on designing a new logo and more custom-made designs for the biker apparel. Maddie’s already looked into taking some business courses so she can be fully hands-on once . . .” I turned to Madeline, not sure if I should tell her mom everything we’d been talking about, but Madeline nodded, giving me the go-ahead. So I turned back to Loretta. “. . . once my dad retires and we get married and take over with my brothers.”
As expected, her mother’s eyes widened again like they had when she had seen the ring, and she turned to Madeline. “Get married? Madeline—”
“We’re talking a few years from now, Mama. His daddy won’t be retiring until at least that long, and I wanna get my business degree before then. But we’re only telling you now because we want you to know this isn’t a silly little fling we’ve been having.” Madeline turned back to me, slipping her hand in mine. “We’re in love and this is very serious.”
“Well, I think it’s great, sugar,” Betty said, smiling big then frowning when the nurse walked in. “Come over here so I can see that ring? Madeline happily walked over and let her grandma examine it. She looked up at me with a wink as if I did good then turned to Loretta. “I think once you get over the initial shock of it, you’ll think so too, Lori.”
For a few minutes, any talk about Madeline and me took a back seat to Loretta’s inquiries for the nurse about her mother’s latest test results. Even after she was done with that, Loretta didn’t say too much about everything we’d just laid on her. I got the distinct feeling she was waiting to talk to Madeline alone and I was right.
One thing we had discussed prior to arriving was that I’d only have to be in that uncomfortable setting for a little while. I could excuse myself once we’d told Lore
tta everything, and Madeline would call me and let me know when I could come over and pick her up. I did just that, and mercifully, I walked out of there not too long after Loretta arrived.
Chapter 12: Overheated
Tense was probably the best way to describe the entire build-up to the actual moment we told Loretta. But it was done and now we could move on. When I heard from Madeline again a few hours after I’d left the hospice that day, she explained what I’d expected. Loretta had had a whole lot to say once I was out of there. Mostly, she had questions, some more alarming than others. How long had this gone on? Was she certain there was no basis to my bastard kid stories? Had she slept with me yet? At first, to my utter relief, Madeline lied and said we hadn’t.
“I spared her having to hear about how I was the one who insisted we could go there,” Madeline had explained. “But only because I could tell she was looking for something negative to say about all this. If she’d made a single comment about how it’s likely all you were in this for was sex or that you pressured me into anything, I would’ve told her exactly how it happened. I didn’t want things to get ugly.”
Turned out Madeline had a few surprises for me too that day. The first was a painting she’d painted for our anniversary. It was of the two of us. “I painted that picture Maggie took of us by the bridge last year on my birthday when you met me at Pike’s Crest.”
I remembered the very moment the photo was taken. I’d just wrapped my arm around her neck and kissed her sweetly on the temple. I relished that feeling of knowing she was all mine finally. As usual, the attention to detail was exquisite. I hung it in our great room first thing when I got home, and everyone in my family agreed it was amazing.