Chapter 39 Omar
Omar
“Don’t let go of my hand, okay?” Lyse asked, squeezing my fingers with hers.
I lifted her hand to my mouth and kissed her knuckles, dropping an extra kiss on the new gold band on her ring finger.
“I won’t,” I promised. I wanted to tell her that this had nothing to do with us — we were just here to welcome home the new baby — but I didn’t.
Angel and I hadn’t shared more than a handful of words with each other in months.
Lili and Emma had been the ones who relayed messages back and forth.
I knew that Angel was coming around to welcoming Lyse into the family, but it was a slow process.
We found our family gathered in the dining room, waiting for Angel and Emma’s arrival home. Lili put her arms around me. “I’ve missed you.”
I snorted but returned her hug. “You could always get on a boat,” I pointed out. “Take a weekend vacation.” I motioned at Lyse. “You two could go swimming.”
Lili looked at Lyse. “You’re learning?”
She shrugged. “I figured it was time.”
Lyse never told me what, exactly, happened to shift her and Lili’s relationship, but apparently the two were texting buddies now.
The thought warmed something in my chest. It still wasn’t perfect, but it was a start toward accepting the woman I’d decided I couldn’t live without.
And with a family like mine, that was about all I could ask for.
Lili’s eyes landed on the ring on Lyse’s hand, and she grinned. “You made it official?”
I shrugged. “This was the first time we’ve been back to the mainland; I wanted to make it count.”
She looked at Lyse. “Tell me it was more romantic than that, I beg of you.”
I wrapped an arm around my wife. “It was perfectly romantic, thank you.”
Lili grabbed Lyse’s hand. “Blink once if you need help.”
“Ha ha,” I said, dropping the smile from my face. “Let her go now.”
Lili rolled her eyes. “You’re such a freak.”
Before I could come up with a response, we heard the front door open, and everyone seemed to tense in anticipation. Angel came in, arm wrapped around Emma, who was carrying a tiny bundle in her arms.
Babies had always been a way of life for our family, but I’d never really paid attention before, not until my numerous cousins reached an age where they might be put on the security detail, and I had to deal with them personally.
But seeing Emma holding my niece knowing that in a few months, Lyse and I would be in the same boat, it hit me square in the chest.
Emma looked around at our gathered family and smiled. “This is Miri,” she said, turning the baby a little so that we could all get a look at her. She was squishy and red and just a little ugly in that way that brand-new babies usually are, and she was absolutely perfect.
“You named her after Madre?” The question was out of my mouth before I could stop myself, and Angel looked at me for the first time in five months. His expression, which had been soft with adoration, cooled considerably.
“Is that a problem?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, of course not.”
“Stop being an a-s-s-h-o-l-e,” Lili sniped at him, putting her arm through mine.
I looked down at her. “You know the baby can’t spell, right? And she can’t understand what you’re saying.”
Lyse smacked me on the arm. “Just because you couldn’t spell your way out of a paper bag…”
The room went quiet and distinctly hostile. I threw my arm around Lyse’s waist and drew her close to my side. “My conejita has fangs,” I said proudly, leaning down to brush my lips against her forehead.
The tension in the room didn’t ease, but everyone’s attention shifted back to the guest of honor when Emma put the baby into Manny’s arms. The teenager stared down at little Miri with something akin to awe on his face. “She’s so tiny,” he said. “How much does she weigh?”
Angel snorted. “A whopping nine pounds. Almost ten.”
Tía Angela, who was half-corked as it was, hooted. “Fat babies mean healthy babies! I want to hold her next!”
Emma looked at Angel, and the very clear not on her fucking life that was shared between them nearly made me laugh. “Are we like that?” I asked, looking down at Lyse.
She was watching my brother and his wife too, considering. “I don’t think I’m that easy to read,” she said and almost sounded sad.
Lili hummed from beside her. “Emma didn’t grow up like we did,” she said. “She didn’t have to learn to hide what she was thinking or feeling.” She bumped into us. “Doesn’t mean that we don’t feel as deeply.”
Lili was a lot like me: she used humor and sharpness to throw off anyone who might get too close, but every once in a while, she allowed someone to see her soft underbelly. I was glad that she’d found Lyse trustworthy. It helped to know that one of my siblings saw what I did.
After Manny cooed over Miri for a few minutes, he carefully handed the baby back to Emma. “That’s about as much as I trust myself with something that small,” he said, making everyone laugh.
Emma came over to us, and while I fully expected that she would hand the baby to Lili, she held her out for Lyse. “Say hi to your Tía Lyse.”
Lyse blinked, surprised, but she took the baby into her arms with a soft, pleased sound. “Aren’t you a beauty?” she cooed. Her body began to rock-bounce to a gentle rhythm, and the baby’s eyes drifted shut.
“Where did you learn that?” Emma asked, impressed.
Lyse smiled, eyes never leaving the sleeping girl. “I am the oldest of all of the children in my family,” she said. “I’ve been soothing babies since I was old enough to hold them on my own.”
Angel reached over and gently plucked the bundle out of her arms. She kept her face neutral, but I could tell that she was disappointed.
But before I could say or do anything, Angel handed Miri over to me.
For all the hubbub about her being a big newborn, she weighed next to nothing; she was incredibly tiny in my arms. My muscles locked up, and the women around me laughed.
“Big, bad Omar afraid of a baby,” Emma teased.
“Hey,” I said, barely glancing in her direction, “I don’t want to drop your kid before she’s big enough to bounce, all right?”
Lili scooped her from me then. “That’s enough of that,” she said, practically dancing away from us. “You just come with Tía Lili,” she said, ignoring Emma’s panicked Lili!
“Go with them,” Angel said, looking at Lyse.
She leaned into me. “Uhm.”
I patted her hip. “Go,” I said. “Soak up all the baby cuddles.” I looked at Angel. “I need to talk to my brother.”
Once Lyse had trailed after Emma and Lili — and she was welcomed into their group with an arm casually slung across her shoulder — I was able to let go of the breath I was holding.
“You married her.”
I nodded, not bothering to deny it. “We’ve been talking about it for a few months,” I said. “I didn’t want to lose the opportunity.”
I hated the tension between us. Even when we had fought growing up, Angel had always been the person I could go to when everything became too loud or too overwhelming.
He was the first person who knew how to talk me out of those red moods that could end in so much carnage.
Now, he felt like a stranger: I wasn’t entirely comfortable standing next to him.
“I’m not going to send you away again,” he said, clearing his throat. “Emma wants you home now that the baby is here. She would feel safer with you here with us.”
Affection for my sister-in-law welled in my chest. “Lyse would be welcome too?”
He grimaced, but he nodded. “She’s not a Rojas anymore,” he said. I expected him to walk away after that. “But we have a bigger problem.”
I winced. “Did Lorenzo Vitali call in the favor I owe him?
Angel looked at me, his expression hard. “No. And we will be discussing that later.” Angel swore and muttered something about blanket agreements and his idiot brother.
“So, is the Corazón Syndicate —”
“Ademir was perfectly happy with the replacements Vitali sent.” Angel opened a box and pulled out a baby blanket. “I’m talking about this.”
He handed it over, and I held it up. It was soft, good quality. “A baby gift is a problem?”
“It is when it comes from Cillian O’Connelly.”
Shit. “We’re going to have to deal with them, aren’t we?”
“No. Lorenzo Vitali and I will figure out a plan to deal with the O’Connelly’s. You stay out of it.”
I knew what he wanted to hear from me. “Sí, jefe.” Then he turned his back on me, and I didn’t seek him out further.
I stood on the periphery, watching everyone talking and laughing, the voices blending together into white noise.
I didn’t see Lili, but knowing her, she was making sure all the food was perfect.
Lara pushed through the door carrying a tray with steam coming off the top, and I thought I saw my sister standing in the kitchen talking to Zara.
Normally, she stayed far away from us, but even my cousin couldn’t resist a new baby in the family.
When Lyse joined me, I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her close. “Enjoying yourself?”
Her smile was tentative, but genuine. “Everyone here is so loud, but lovely. Much different from the parties my mother would have.”
I tipped her chin up and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Angel wants us back in the compound,” I told her. “For good.”
Her chin wobbled slightly. “Me too?”
“Of course, conejita.” I brought her left hand up so that the gold band glinted in the light. “We’re a package deal now, and he knows it.”
She shook her head. “I never thought I’d see the day when a Rojas would be invited into the Castillo compound.”
I pulled her against me, wishing that we were alone. “You’re not a Rojas anymore,” I reminded her.
“No, I suppose I’m not.”
“Lyse Castillo,” I said. “Say it.”
“I’m Lyse Castillo now,” she indulged me.
The dip in her voice, low and sultry, shivered down my spine.
I wanted to sweep her into my arms and carry her off to my bedroom.
It would be perfectly ready for us, I was sure of it…
but I held back. It would be rude to rush out of Miri’s welcome-home party, and I didn’t want to piss Angel off any more than I already had.
“After the party, I’ll show you around,” I promised. “Our suite is on the other side of the house.”
She smirked. “Is it, now? How convenient for a newly married couple. What could a previously single man need with all that space?”
I chuckled and cupped her face. “You’re not jealous, are you, conejita?”
Lyse shook off my touch. “Absolutely not.” She took my hand and laid it across her still-flat belly. “No one else will be able to give you what I am going to.”
“No one has ever given me the peace that you give me,” I said.
“No one has given me the love that you give me…and no one has ever made me want to make that love into something even better.” I splayed my hand across her belly, possessive.
My heart pounded at the thought that if anything happened to me, Lyse would have to raise our child on her own.
I wondered if Angel would kick her out. Send her back to her father, where he would— I couldn’t finish that thought and needed to distract myself.
“Should we tell them?” I looked around the room at all the happy faces. There was a new life in this house and everyone was celebrating.
Lyse immediately shook her head. “I wouldn’t steal Miri’s spotlight for the world.” She put her hand atop mine. “Besides, it’s bad luck to mention anything before the end of the first trimester. You never—” She took a steadying breath. “You never know what will happen so early like that.”
“We’ll make you an appointment,” I assured her. “We’ll get a doctor to tell us just how perfect our son is.”
She slapped my arm. “It’s not anything right now. You have no reason to believe that it will be a boy.”
I shook my head. “We’re having a son,” I said. “I know it.”
“Will you be disappointed if you’re wrong?”
“Never,” I vowed. “But I’m not wrong. You’ll see.” I leaned down and kissed her again. “I love you.”
Her lips brushed the corner of my mouth. “Te amo,” she said. “Te amo a thousand times.”
Lara began handing out cake to everyone, and I smiled when I saw Manny already trying to sneak a second slice.
Angel and Emma were seated in the center of it all, Miri tucked against Emma’s chest, and I couldn’t wait until it was Lyse and I doing the same.
Mine and Angel’s eyes met, briefly, and although he looked away first, I knew that things between us would settle eventually.
Maybe it would never be the same…but he and I both had bigger priorities now.
Different, but similar. We would come to an understanding.
“Idiota, get over here” Lili called, holding up a plate. “Bring your wife!”
I smiled down at Lyse. Wife. I really liked the sound of that.