Sal and Grace smiled at each other. Then Sal patted her belly. “Third one is on the way, and the other two are with her sister and my cousin Vince. They’re married but holding off on the baby making for now, so they often take our two rug rats for the day or even the whole weekend. But, yeah, we have two: boy and a girl. They should be here in a few.”
“Where did Sofie and Eric go?” Bell asked, looking around. “I saw her earlier, didn’t I?”
With the exception of Romero, Max, and Pat, who were still caught up looking through the photos on Max’s phone, there was an obvious shift in the mood of the group. Alex’s jaw actually tightened as he, too, looked around.
Sarah cleared her throat. “Last night she told me the baby had been real colicky this whole week. She and Eric might be inside with him.”
The subject was changed, and then Bell announced the food was ready. Time seemed to move in slow motion as they all served themselves and sat down to eat. Fortunately, they all had their hands full, trying to serve and feed restless kids and dealing with babies. The novelty of Brandon, their old neighborhood acquaintance, being Regina’s boyfriend wore off for the moment. Regina and Brandon sat with her mom and a couple of aunts instead of at the table with the Moreno clan.
“Why didn’t daddy come?” Regina asked her mom.
“He’s been real tired this week,” her mother explained. “The doctor switched his medication, and it makes him sluggish. We got up early and attended the Mass, but when we got back home, he said he wasn’t feeling up to coming. I told Bell I’d stay and eat, but then Pat’s taking me home.”
“But he’s okay, right?” Regina asked, feeling a bit worried.
“Yeah, yeah.” Her mother patted her hand. “It’s just gonna take some time for him to adjust to the new medication. He wasn’t feeling ill or anything, honey.” She smiled. “He was tired and not in the mood for crowds. I left him on his recliner, watching TV. He even reminded me twice to be sure to bring him back cake.”
Regina smiled, feeling a bit relieved, but she didn’t like to hear that her once-active dad didn’t even have the energy to attend a family function. It wasn’t like him.
Trying not to over think things, Regina ignored the fact that when Sofia and Eric had finally made it out into the yard again they sat at the furthest table from her and Brandon. It was understandable that they might feel a little uncomfortable. Then the one time she thought her and Sofia’s eyes had met Sofia quickly looked away without addressing her. After finishing up eating, Regina excused herself to use the bathroom inside. Once out of the bathroom, she made an unexpected detour towards the baby’s room when she heard him whimpering.
“Oh, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?” she whispered as she turned the corner into his room.
He was already standing, holding the rail, and his little whimpering face brightened the moment he saw her. Like she’d seen him do so often before, he screeched, jumping up and down. He stood there with the biggest but near toothless smile as he held out his little arms to her.
“Just like your daddy,” she said, picking him up out of the crib and kissing his bald head. “Always smiling and laughing.”
Knowing Romeo’s diaper likely needed to be changed, Regina walked over to the changing table and laid him down. He kicked wildly, making the loudest noises as she began undoing the onesie he wore.
“Shhh!” She giggled. “Seriously, must all you Romeros be so loud?”
Still smiling, she leaned in and kissed him again on the forehead. She loved that she’d been able to convince her sister to go with her first choice and name him Romeo. Bell had been worried he’d be teased mercilessly in school. Both Regina and Pat had laughed and had reminded her who this kid’s father was.
“If he’s anything like his dad,” Pat had sneered, “no one is gonna be teasing this boy.”
She turned when she heard someone at the door. “Hey.” Sofia smiled a bit awkwardly. “I heard him screech and thought mine had woken.”
Regina’s sudden cheery mood deflated at the sight of her. Sofia looked as perfect as ever. It was disgusting.
Stop it.
“No,” she said, trying to sound as normal as possible and turned back to face Romeo. “This little guy is ready to go join the party. I’m just changing him first.”
“So how’ve you been?” Sofia asked, coming to stand next to her by the changing table.
“Good, good.” Regina nodded as she finished wiping Romeo clean. “I moved back to California, so I’m happy about that.”
“I heard,” Sofia said while tickling the bottom of one of Romeo’s feet. “That’s good you get to be near your family. I can’t even imagine being so far away from mine.” She cleared her throat and went on. “And you’re with Brandon now.” It was a statement, not a question, and it took Regina by surprise. She froze for a moment then turned to face her. Sofia smiled a little less awkwardly now and more genuinely. “He’s a good guy.”
“I know he is.” Regina turned back to finish changing Romeo and did her best not to sound bitchy, but her response was already too quick.
If Sofia even tried to bring up her past with him, she’d snap for sure. Regina did not need to hear about how Sofia rejected the man she was now in love with, especially now that she knew Sofia’s presence alone still had such an effect on him.
To her surprise, instead of saying more, Sofia reached out for Romeo, who Regina had finished changing. “Can I hold the little chunkers?” she asked with a big smile.
Regina let her pick him up, and to her relief, they moved on to small talk about Romeo, Sofia’s baby, and his colic as they made their way back outside. Brandon was engaged in a conversation with another Moreno, Sofia’s younger cousin Vince, the one who’d been watching Sal’s kids today. From what Regina knew Vince was a career military guy too. This was probably why Brandon seemed so at ease talking to him. She also doubted Vince knew anything about Brandon’s past with Sofia, since she also knew he hadn’t grown up in the same area as the other Morenos. They were likely talking about their lives in the military, exchanging stories like the ones she’d often heard her own father exchange growing up.
The ease in which he’d been talking was gone the moment he looked up and saw Regina with Sofia.
“He woke up?” Bell walked up to Sofia, forcing her to look away from Brandon’s piercing stare.
“Yeah,” Regina said. “I changed him already.”
“Thank you, sissy,” she said with a smile as Romeo practically jumped out of Sofia’s arms at the sight of his mommy. Bell held her arms out to him with a big animated smile. “I’ll take my baby boy now,” she said to Sofia. “I need to get him fed before he gets cranky.”
As soon as Regina was back at Brandon’s side, he leaned into her ear after slipping his hand in hers. “How much longer we gonna hang around?”
Relieved that she didn’t have to be the one to suggest ducking out early, she shrugged. Normally she would’ve hung out much later, but her shoulders had been so tight and tense from the moment she realized who Sofia was to Brandon, she could hardly wait to get out of there and have a glass of wine or two. “Well, you’ve met everyone except my brother and dad, but neither are gonna make it, so you can meet them another time. If you want, we can leave now.”
They made their slow, steady exit, saying good-bye to everyone. Sofia, once again, conveniently disappeared, and Regina couldn’t be more relieved. They’d almost made a smooth exit, except for Bell’s ill-timed request that Romero snap a few photos of the three sisters before Regina left. She then asked Valerie, Sarah and Grace to get in the photo too.
“Wait,” she said after Romero had already taken a few. “Where’s Sofie? She needs to get in here too.”