“Her purse?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.
“Isn’t that where your balls are?” she smirked, making me laugh.
Carmella smacked the back of Lydia’s head hard then went off in a Spanish tangent. I caught a few words here and there. But even if I hadn’t, I could tell by Carmella’s body language and finger flailing in Lydia’s face that Carmella was going off on the poor girl.
“Okay, mama. Please,” Lydia said, still rubbing the back of her head.
“Then act like a lady,” Carmella warned.
“Yes, mama.”
Carmella turned toward me and I found myself bracing for impact.
“I’m not going to hit you, mijo. Relax,” Carmella laughed softly. “Now, you go back in there. Tell Giselle I said to stop acting like a bruja and to let you be there for her.”
“Um… doesn’tbrujamean witch?” I asked quietly, in fear that Giselle might hear me and think I was calling her one.
“It does but you aren’t calling her a bruja, I am,” she assured me.
“You want her to kill me, huh?” I sighed. Lydia and Carmella both laughed.
“Go in there and be with my sister before I kill you for leaving her by herself to have my nephew,” Lydia waved her finger in my face.
“Fuck, I’m about to be a dad.” The word dad echoed throughout my mind.
Everything had happened so fast. Giselle and I had met with an instant connection. We spent a month straight together. She moved in with me but wanted to wait on getting married until a year had gone by so that I would have time to change my mind. Then we found out we were expecting and now I was standing in a hospital hallway kicked out of my girlfriend’s hospital room because I called her pretty instead of beautiful like I normally do.
“You get a freebie at the pottymouth word,” Carmella frowned at me.
“Oops. Sorry, Ms. Padilla,” I apologized. She rolled her eyes and waved off my words.
“You’re my son-in-law, mijo. You can call memama, if you like.Ms. Padillais too fancy.”
“He won’t be your son-in-law for long if he doesn’t get his butt back in that room, mama,” Lydia pointed out.
“You’re right,” Carmella nodded then pointed at Giselle’s door. “Go to her.”
“Yes, Ms--” Carmella and Lydia both cut their eyes at me, stopping me in my tracks. “I’ll go to her, mama. Thank you.”
Without another word, I walked over to the door and knocked.
“What!” Giselle called out. I looked back at Carmella and Lydia. Carmella gave me an encouraging smile, while Lydia flapped her arms andbawkedat me like a chicken. She was definitely Giselle’s sister. I chuckled to myself.
“It’s me,” I replied.
“What do you want? Only ugly women are in here!”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered under my breath then opened the door.
Giselle was sitting on the bed with her arms crossed in front of her chest.
“You are the most beautiful woman in the universe, Giselle,” I said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind me. Slowly, I walked over to her. “No woman can ever compare to you. You know this. I’m sorry I called youprettyandnotbeautiful.”
“I look like a fat troll!” She burst into tears.
Without hesitation, I sat next to her on the bed and pulled her into my arms. One hand rubbed her back, while the other one brushed her hair out of her face.
“Babe, you’re beautiful. Why would you say that?” I said softly.
