Page 58 of No Merciful Corruption

She’s looking at Diego.

He holds her hostage with the intensity of his gaze and Karina eventually remembers she’s hovering on the staircase because she scurries down the rest of the flight. She slips past us both and beelines straight for the kitchen where I hear Lyss and Doña Ana laughing.

“Go ahead,” I tell my brother. “I’ll meet you there.”

“Why are we here?” he asks.

“I came to see Dahlia.”

“Why am I here?”

“I thought you might want to say hi to Kay. It’s been so long.” I give his shoulder a firm, brotherly shake. He’s stiff as a board. “Why don’t you go join the girls in the kitchen? Catch up. I’ll be down in a minute.”

I take the stairs three at a time and head straight to Dahlia’s room. The door is slightly ajar but I still knock twice before entering. “Dee?”

The sound of rushing water leads me to the bathroom where I expect to find her in the shower or washing her hands. Her scent lingers in the air, strong enough for me to know she was in here, but it’s already begun to fade. The faucet is on which means she left in a hurry and forgot to turn the faucet off all the way. Steam covers the bottom half of the mirror over the sink and I push the handle all the way back to stop the flow of water.

“Dahlia?”

On my way out I accidentally kick over the small garbage can underneath he sink and a flurry of tissues, cotton balls, makeup wipes, and small cosmetic boxes fall on the floor. Empty eye cream, protective lip-gloss wrapper, and gold eyepatches. I bend down to gather it all up and toss back into the bin when a makeup wipe reveals a crushed box and the pink stick protruding from its top.

My heart stops completely.

I can’t keep my hands steady long enough to grab the box and tear it open. The pink stick slips out with ease and lands in the palm of my hand. I turn the pregnancy test over and read the results.

It’s positive.

* * *

Dahlia

When I woke up this morning, I really thought I was going to have a good day.

I got up, took an everything shower, went through the agony of washing, combing, and styling my hair, and finally tried out the new sea algae body oil I spent a disgusting amount of money on last month. Unfortunately, it’s amazing. Disrespectfully so. My skin is soft and hydrated and glowy and smells phenomenal. I could sniff myself all day and it’s almost worth the seventy-eight dollars I spent.

I smell delicious, my hair looks fabulous, I’m in comfy cashmere loungewear, and I thought to myself you know what would make this Saturday morning even better? Pancakes. Banana pancakes to be precise. So I waltzed myself on down to the kitchen, started whipping up pancake batter, and fell into easy conversation with Lyss and Doña Ana. A normal morning like any other.

Until Karina showed up, which wouldn’t have been so bad except a few seconds later, Diego arrived. Completely unannounced and unexpected.

“Um,” Karina awkwardly clears her throat and gestures vaguely. “Diego’s here.”

“I can see that.” I say.

Doña Ana lets out a little gasp and rushes to meet him. “Diego, ¡mi niño!”

He manages to smile at least for her. They embrace tightly and he kisses the top of her head.

While the two of them get reacquainted, Lyss and I make eyes at each other from across the kitchen island.

“Awkward!” she mouths.

“I’m, um,” Karina doesn’t know what to do with herself. “I have to use the bathroom.”

“You don’t need to ask permission.” I say.

Lyss whacks my bicep with a kitchen towel.

Karina scurries under the archway leading to the guest bathroom just off from the kitchen. Doña Ana and Diego sit in the breakfast nook and exchange words before the alarm on the counter sounds. She jumps up from her seat. “Ay, olvidé la ropa.”