Sixty Days (30 page)

“Could you please say something?
” Luke says in barely a whisper. His pain noticeable.

“How could you do this to me, Lucas?
How can this been possible? You’ve always liked girls. This is not how I raised you,” Mama hisses. I catch a glimpse of remorse in her eyes but I can’t really tell.

“Do what to you, Mom? This isn’t about you,
” Luke says, pain ruling his voice.

“How could you say this isn’t about me? I raised you and this is how you pay me back?”

“Mama! That’s enough,” I hiss at her. “I will not have you acting like this at my house. This is no one’s fault.”

“The hell it isn’t, Laylah. You knew about this and you didn’t tell me?” she asks
, looking at me with pain in her eyes.

“It wasn’t my place to tell you. And quite frankly
, after seeing your reaction, I’m beginning to think that maybe I shouldn’t have pushed him as much as I did.”

“There has to be a way to fix th
is,” the mad woman says.

“There is nothing to fix, M
om!” Luke yells. “There is nothing to fix,” he says more calmly, tears rolling down his cheeks. “I am not broken,” he whispers with such a force that it may have well been a scream.

“Why, Lucas, why?” she asks now, tears streaming
down her cheeks. The moment between them is so touching that I can see everyone else in a trance between surprise and pain, tears in their eyes.

“I fell
in love. Love is love, whether it is with a man or a woman. Love is blind. You’ve always told me that. Why can’t you accept me for who I am? I need you to be happy for me, Mom. I need you to tell me that you’re not ashamed of me, that you can accept me for who I am and accept the man that I love,” he says between sobs.

And
, there she is, breaking her walls. There is the grandmother that I’ve always loved and looked after. I can see her reemerging. She has always taught us to love unconditionally, to always follow what the heart says and to love the people around us, flaws included. Because at the end of the day, we are all human, and we all make mistakes. No one is perfect.

Luke raises from his seat and walks to w
here she is crying. He kneels in front of her and takes both of her arms in his. “This is who I am. I am still the same man you raised. Please, please don’t judge or condemn me for loving someone who makes me happy, who makes me whole.”

“Oh, Lucas, my sweet, sweet boy,” s
he says caressing his cheek. “Can you ever forgive an old coot like me? I got so wrapped up in what’s supposed to be right that I lost myself for a minute. I forgot that what really matters is your happiness, my boy. I could never judge you for loving someone. In matters of the heart there are no wrongs. We don’t choose who we love. You could fall in love with a rock and I’ll still love you and be proud of you, my boy.”

“I love you too, M
om,” he says pulling her in for a hug, his voice muffled by his crying.

“I’m so sorry, my sweet boy,
” she says kissing his cheek.

After that very emotional moment
, Mama went over to Trey and welcomed him to the family.
She also asked him to forgive her for her behavior.
She then announced that if anyone disagreed with it then they could get the hell out of her house. But, like I said, my family is pretty accepting and forgiving.

We
have all moved to the backyard and my nerves are still highly active since John hasn’t arrived with Maddie yet. Everyone was happy and enjoying the conversations they were each having. I have no idea who was talking to whom, but they seemed to know and that’s all that matters. Mickey was once again trying to calm me down. The doorbell finally rings and I feel the bile produced by my nerves rising into my throat.

“It’s time
,” Mickey whispers at my ear, kissing my temple.

Please, God
, let this go smoothly…

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” I ask so I can warn them to be on their best behavior
, but they are too involved in their conversations to listen. I huff in frustration and Mickey whistles for them to shut up.

“Thank you, D
imps,” I tell him once everyone is silent.

“You’re more than welcome, now hur
ry it up so we can get the door,” he says moving his arm around my waist and pulling me toward him.

“Okay…now that we
’ve got your attention,” I turn toward our family who is rudely staring at us. “I want you all to be on your best behavior when we come back.”

“And we just want to say how sorry we are for not telling you about this before. But
, to be honest, it was our decision to make and we couldn’t be happier about it,” Mickey adds looking down at me with loving eyes.

“So
, if you’ll excuse us, we are going to get the door now,” I finish our speech.

We practically run inside the house to get the door. All that
’s going through my mind is that if the person who was ringing our door bell is not John with our baby girl, I’m going to go ballistic. I really don’t think we, I, can wait any longer.

Sensing my uneasiness
, Mickey opens the door. As soon as he does, tears are in my eyes. My little Maddie is finally home and she looks as cute as ever with her golden locks pulled up in a tight ponytail and her pretty flowery sundress. As soon as she see us, she sprints straight to us, hugging us both on the legs, making my heart melt.

“Mommy, D
addy!” she screeches, making the tears flow out of my eyes faster.

“Oh
, pretty girl, I can’t believe you’re finally here with us,” I say picking her up and kissing her cheek before giving her a tight hug. I reach for Mickey and he quickly joins our hug, giving our daughter a kiss on the top of her head.

“W
hy you crywing, mommy?” she asks me, reaching for my tears, which made my sob fest worse.

I give a soft laugh and tell her
, “I’m just so happy you’re finally here with us Maddie. These are tears of joy.” I pull her tighter to me and kiss her temple.

“She’s all yours now. C
ongratulations on your new daughter, mom and dad.” John says, clearing his throat, a glint of happiness in his eyes.

“Thank you,
” Mickey and I say at the same time.

“I’
m just glad she’s in good hands,” he says with a nod. “I look forward to seeing ya’ll soon at the orphanage. Have a good rest of the day. I promise to bring the papers once they are finalized.” With that, he leaves our home.

We spend another couple of minutes alone with our daughter. I was really glad, yet surprised, that she had quickly taken to call
ing us mom and dad. Then again, when I think about it, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise after all. The three of us had always have a close relationship. It would only make sense for us to quickly get on the family wagon. For the little time we’ve known each other, we have always seen her as a daughter and she has always seen us as parental figures.

“Okay, baby girl, r
eady to meet the rest of the family?” I ask her after we explained to her that she would get to meet the entire family today. She was really excited when she found out she had two uncles and grandparents, and bunch of great uncles and second cousins to meet. But, I could also see that she was nervous about it, so I reassured her that she was safe with all of them and that they will love her as much as Mickey and I love her.

Without further ado
, we each grab one of her hands and walk outside together, united as a family. It comes to no surprise to me when we get outside and they’re in full chatter and don’t really notice us, or the newest addition to our family. The newest baby, our daughter.

Mickey clears his throat and everyone turns their attention to us in questioning, they still don’t seem to acknowledge the tiny person between us. “Everyone we w
ould like you to meet a very special someone,” he says kneeling next to Maddie, catching their attention.

“This is Maddie, our daughter,
” I say following Mickey steps and kneeling too. “Maddie, this is our family, your family,” I say smiling at her.

“Hi,
” she shyly whispers with her thumb in her mouth.

“You two adopted?” both of my parents said
.

“Yeah
, we did,” we both answer back with proud smiles.

If I thought they were complete
ly silent before, I’m pretty sure they are all dead now. I can’t even hear their breathing. But, I do catch Luke and Ari grinning at us and looking at Maddie in wonder. Our baby girl really is precious, just like an angel. Our angel. The silence is broken up by the sound of Mama sobbing.

I sprint to where she is and softly ask
, “What’s wrong, vieja?”

“You two are the kindest people I know. I’m just so happy you took a second chance at parenthood and decided to give that wonderful kind of love you both have t
o such a wonderful little angel,” she says with her one of a kind smile.

I see a tiny shadow reaching us and notice that it’s Maddie. She reaches her hand
up to Mama’s cheek and wipes some of her tears off, just like she did with me. “You crywing ‘couse you happy like mommy?” she asks her.

“Oh, come here you little angel,
” Mama gives a soft laugh and picks her up onto her lap, giving her a hug and kiss on the cheek. “I’ve got a feeling that you and I are going to be the bests of friends, Madison.” Then, she gives her the greatest gift of all, her one of a kind angelic smile, the only one capable of curing souls.

Everyone loved Maddie
, just like I knew they would.
My parents were pretty happy for us. Mom instantly begged my dad to figure out a way for them to move back and spend more time with their granddaughter. Surprisingly, my dad told her he was already working on it. We told them how it was that we found such a precious child in our lives and they were amazed by our story. Over all, I truly believe that they are all really happy for us.

Aside from
Mama and Lola who she had already met before, Maddie took an instant liking to my parents, my dad in particular. She also went in to full playful mode with Mario, who is just a big kid at heart and is really great with kids.

The family left
a couple of hours later, allowing us some alone time as a family. Luke and Trey decided to go out on a dinner date and I’m pretty sure they will be staying at a hotel nearby. Earlier in the day, Trey had come to me and told me that he wanted to pop the question to my uncle. I gave him my big thumbs up and my blessing. They deserve this sort of happiness. They deserve to feel the kind of joy that I feel.

With everyone gone we took on the job
of getting Maddie settled in. She looked really happy about spending time with everyone, but I could also see that she was getting really tired. So, we took her upstairs so she could finally see her room. She loved it. Her face was almost comical when she saw it, her eyes looking like they were about to pop out of her head while her jaw dropped to the floor. She was speechless, which was just what I had expected.

“Puppy!” she screeched when she noticed Buddy.

“That’s Buddy, Maddie. You wanna pet him?” Mickey asks her. She nods. Her honey eyes shiny with innocence and joy, the kind that only a child can carry. One that I hope will never leave her eyes.

“Can Bubby sleep with me tonight
?” she asks once we have her ready for bed.

“Of course he can
, sweetie,” I say and she happily smiles, trying to pick up Buddy in her hands. Our little fat-ball is too heavy for her, so Mickey helps her out and lays Buddy in the bed with her.

“There you go, baby girl,
” Mickey says giving her a kiss on the forehead.

“Sing me a song?” she asks me
, all sleepily.

I nod trying to figure out a lullaby to sing to her. I remember one that my mom always used to sing to me. It’s in Spanish
, so I could barely tell what it is about, but I do know that every time she sang it to me I felt some sort of peace and tranquility inside me. So, I go for it and start singing to “A La Nanita Nana”. As soon as I hit the middle she starts drifting off.

“Pretty,
” she whispers before finally falling asleep. That’s when I see, the same kind of peace I used to feel whenever my mom sang this very same song to me take over her. I’m so glad I get to do the very same thing with my daughter.

As soon as
I finish singing we silently kiss her good night. “Sleep well, my sweet angel,” I whisper to her before walking toward the door were Mickey is waiting for me. I turn off the light and close her door behind.

“I think that for our first day
, we did a pretty good damn job, hot mamma,” Mickey exclaims pulling me in to his arms and starting to kiss my neck.

“I think we did, hot pa
pa,” I breathlessly tell him.

“Why don’t you say we get these pesky clothes off of you?
I’ve always wanted to be with a MILF,” he says reaching for the hem of my top and leaving a trail of kisses to my earlobe.