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Marnie had come by yesterday to drop off Abuela’s birthday gift, not wanting to be subjected to the crowd at the party. We sat for a little while on the porch, and she told me the truth—it was her who’d found the documents and gave them to one of her best friends who worked at the paper. When I asked her why, she said I’d convinced her to question him. And when she did, she didn’t like what she discovered. Even at that, she didn’t think she’d find anything on him, but when she did, she figured she had a chance to help save the town. She didn’t want to see it fail any more than we did.
She also told me she’d taken a job in Austin, one she’d left this morning for.
When I wished her well, I meant it.
The crowd fell quiet, and out of the back door crept my mother holding a blazing sheet cake with what was most definitely ninety candles on it. We stood as everyone converged in a circle around Mom and Abuela as the distance between them closed. And on Abuela’s face was the look of pure unadulterated joy, hot pink paper hat on her head and Priscilla in her lap as a hundred people sang “Happy Birthday”.
I could feel Presley watching Priscilla, sending silent Mom-waves to our child in the hopes she wouldn’t do something crazy like the look in her eyes indicated she was considering.
When the singing died down, Abuela said to Priscilla, “What should we wish for, mija?”
“A baby sister!”
Everyone chuckled. Presley and I waved when everyone looked, unable to conceal the fiery flush on our faces.
“Okay, close your eyes,” Abuela said. Priscilla did. “Think hard. You thinking hard?” Priscilla’s face was all squished up when she nodded. “Now help me blow them out. Ready?”
Priscilla didn’t wait for the count, just started blowing, which involved more saliva than it should have and made me real glad we had two other cakes in the kitchen. Abuela waved everyone in, and those of us close to her helped blow out the inferno.
“We were supposed to wish too?” Presley asked.
“I didn’t.” I turned her a little so I could look down into her face. “Already have everything I ever wished for.”
Her eyes were hot as her cheeks, but she teased me anyway. “Cheeseball.”
“What’d you wish for?”
She shrugged, her smile tilting. “Nothing. Already have everything I ever wished for.”
There was nothing left to do but kiss her, and with that brush of our lips, the world shrank to just the two of us. Everything I wanted. Everything I needed.
Whoots and whistles popped the bubble, and we looked up, stunned and embarrassed.
“Sounds like a little sister might be in the works after all,” someone shouted from the back, eliciting laughter from the crowd.
Again we waved and slid back to our place.
“I’m sorry,” she said, and I glanced down at her, confused.
“What are you sorry for?”
“I’m afraid we’re going to get a lot of that. The kid thing. We haven’t even decided what to do about Cilla and the gene, never mind all that.”
“I already decided. About the gene, at least.”
Her face swiveled so she could look me dead in the eye. “You did?”
I nodded. “You told me once that it should be her choice. Do you still feel that way?”
“I do.”
“You said she should be a kid. That knowing would change things. And it would. I’d tell myself I wanted to know in case she was safe, so we could relax. But there’s a fifty-fifty shot she’s not. I don’t want to live afraid and I don’t want her to either. Finding out without her understanding or consenting wouldn’t be right.”
“Doesn’t that scare you?”
“It scares the shit out of me, Presley. But now that I’m here, I … I love her Presley. I love her so much, and that’s stronger than anything I’m afraid of. Someday when she’s old enough, we’ll tell her and let her decide. Until then, we’ll operate under the assumption that she’s safe instead of the other way around.”
She looked up at me for a moment. “I love you. Do you know that?”
“I mean, I was hoping.”
A laugh. “After all this time, we’re finally here.”
“And it’s the only place I want to be.”
And I laid a kiss on her to make sure she knew just how much I meant it.
