Chapter 20 #2
“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Naranja . I can carry you perfectly well.”
She looks toward the sky and sighs. “I have to carry you.”
“Who is carrying someone?” Abuela asks loudly.
“Rosario? Is that you?” I hear shouted from the Santo family .
“Annamaria! We finally got them together!” A loud cackle sounds from both women as my grandmother shoves me aside to shuffle over to her octogenarian friend. They link arms and slowly walk into the house, obviously done with whatever embarrassment is going on here.
“Let’s get this over with,” Isabella mutters.
“What exactly is going on here?” My mom asks. Isabella turns to her and quickly explains.
“My brother Alex came up with this stupid tradition where we have to carry our partner across the threshold of our childhood home. It was funny, until everyone failed the task, even Alex with his first wife. Then suddenly, everyone started passing it, and the silly tradition became lore. If we’ve found the person we’re supposed to be with, we’ll be able to carry them across the threshold. ”
“And you’ve done this before?” I ask. I know the answer, but want to hear it from her perspective.
Isabella nods, and I hear my own teeth grinding. She explains, “I tried with my high school boyfriend, but I fell. Then the first time I brought my college boyfriend over, we attempted to explain it, and he freaked out. Bolted before I could even try. Since then, I haven’t bothered.”
“So you didn’t try with Rick the Dick?” I blurt out, making Isabella laugh.
“No, I didn’t try with him. There’s been no one worthy of the task. That is, until …” she trails off, looking up at me hopefully.
I take her head in my hands, cradling it gently, as I bend to give her a sweet kiss. Resting my forehead against hers, I breathe her in.
Isabella sighs softly. “Until you.”
I hear a couple women whisper how cute we are, then one of her brothers grumble about ‘getting this show on the road.’ Probably Dominic. He’s basically the most likely of the bunch to be an asshole.
“Alright,” I say, clapping my hands together and looking at Isabella. “You ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be. Camila, don’t you need to go potty?” Isabella asks, and Camila gives her a smile.
“I don’t anymore. Are there kids here? Do they have pets? When can I call you Mommy? I’m hungry. Can you do the fweshold thing so we can eat?” Camila chatters on, completely unaware of how she just rocked Isabella.
“Oh, yeah,” Dominic says casually. “Sebastian has a daughter.”
I see Isabella’s mom kneel down, beckoning Camila to come to her. She whispers quietly to Camila, then takes her hand and walks her inside. Meanwhile, Isabella is silently crying.
“Baby, talk to me,” I whisper. “Good or bad tears?”
“Happy tears, I promise,” she stammers. “Is it okay that I think I fell for your daughter before I let myself fall for you?”
My heart bursts wide open as I pull her into my embrace. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Alright, let’s go. The food is getting cold.” That was definitely Nick Santo, the patriarch of the family. He has whatever the male version of resting bitch face is, and his current frown is rivaling that constant expression from the Jeff Dunham character, Walter.
“You ready?” I ask my girl, and she nods. “How do we do this?”
“So far, the girls have carried best in a piggyback stance.”
God. I outweigh Isabella by at least fifty pounds, and I’ve got six or seven inches in height. “Are we allowed to be right next to the door so you really only have to take one step?”
“Yes, but if you fall back out of the doorway, it doesn’t count. I’d prefer to get a few steps in before I drop you,” she teases.
“Can you try to not drop me?” I murmur.
“I’ll do my best. ”
Standing behind Isabella, I watch as she moves her hair over one shoulder, and I notice what appears to be the corner of a piece of Saniderm, the bandage that is used to cover new tattoos.
I’ve studied every inch of this body, and there isn’t one speck of ink anywhere.
Touching the corner, I whisper, “You got something for me, didn’t you? ”
I see her gulp as she nods. “You and Camila.”
I groan. “Goddamn, baby. I can’t get hard right now.”
“You didn’t have to ask me about it!” she hisses, as I wrap my arms around her shoulders, linking them at the base of her throat.
“Give me a knee. You have a tattoo for me, so I figured it was only fair that I do one for you. Other knee. Honestly, I kind of loved it, and now I want to get a lot more. Is that normal?”
“Yup, totally normal,” I answer. “How do you think I got all of these? But when did this happen? Today, when you said you were at Arianna’s?”
We’re slowly moving into the house, but Isabella doesn’t stop. “Yes. I’m sorry for lying, but I wanted to surprise you. And all of your tattoos have meaning. They’re poetic. I want mine to be too.”
The closer we get to the living room, the more I’m wondering what the tattoo is. Pulling at her shirt, I’m able to maneuver it to uncover the shoulder tattoo. It’s an outlined circle, with half in script so small I can’t read it. “Is that an orange?”
“Yes.”
Holy fucking shit.
Forcing my legs out of her hands, I drop to the ground. Hands on her shoulders, I whirl her around. “Did you get an orange for me? Because I call you Naranja ?”
She nods. “But the shape of the orange has dates along the edges.”
“What dates?”
Isabella’s eyes soften as she smiles up at me. “Your birthday. Camila’s birthday. The day I met Camila. The day you kissed me. And the day I realized that I’m in love with you.”
Pulling her shirt down, I squint at the small writing, and time stops.
3.25 12.12 6.18 7.02 9.13
The world ceases to exist. The entire football team of Santos and Garcias roaming around Isabella’s childhood home fade into the background as she slides her arms around my waist. “You love me?”
Her eyes appear glassy as she nods. “I really do. I’m sorry I didn’t realize it earlier, and that I didn’t give you a chance.”
“We happened at the exact time we were supposed to happen, and you’ll never be able to convince me otherwise. I wouldn’t change a thing about how we got together,” I tell her quietly. “Well, maybe the whole Rick the Dick thing. I could really have done without him being in our story.”
She laughs lightly. “Honestly? Me too. But I’m glad he forced me to finally see the amazing man I’ve had standing in front of me for years. I had blinders on, thinking we could never work. But you see me for me, and you accept me anyway, bad traits and all.”
I apply a quick kiss to her forehead. “ Mi vida estaría vacía sin ti .”
“What did you say?” she whispers, her gaze riveted to me.
“My life would be empty without you.”
“It sounds so much better in Spanish,” she jokes.
“Well, you know I call you Naranja , which means orange, but it also means ‘my other half’ or even my better half. Eres mi media Naranja . You’re my better half, Isabella, and I swear on my soul that I’ll spend the rest of my days showing you how beautifully loved you are. ”
“I love you too, Sebastian,” she says solemnly, before pushing onto her tiptoes to give me a soft kiss.
A throat clears, and we break apart to find Leo standing next to us. “It’s great that you love each other. Really. But go get some food, because I have to leave in an hour. Unless you want to explain why we’re all here right now, on an empty stomach.”
I’m not sure which is the better option: nausea because of an empty stomach, or puking because of nerves with a full stomach. At least I can mostly place the blame on my daughter for either option.
Leo looks back again, a tiny smile on his face. “I guess I’m the lone holdout now.”
“For?” I ask.
He points toward the door. “The threshold. True love. All that bullshit.”
Isabella gasps. “Oh! I didn’t even realize we’d done it!”
I slide an arm around her waist, pulling her into my side. “If I’d have convinced you to try this ten years ago, do you think you’d have believed we were destined to be together?”
She shakes her head. “I’m glad it didn’t happen that way.”
“Why?”
Her gaze drifts to where Camila animatedly talks to Abuela and Nonna . “Because we wouldn’t have her.”