“This girl talk too much, Alejandro. No respect.” Guadalupe stood again and walked over in my direction, but stopped as Alex stepped in her way. “You come in my house. You don’t run your mouth.”
“You’re saying a bunch of shit about me that isn’t true!” I yelled, unable to contain the fire that ignited inside of me. She had successfully pushed me over the edge, and I wasn’t about to hold back any longer. “You claim you want Alex to be happy, but yet you’re doing nothing but making things harder for him. We love each other, why can’t you see that?”
“Alex make bad choices for women! He already divorced once, and it break my heart. I see the same thing when he marry you. You already bring him trouble, and you two are not married yet!” She was yelling, prompting Adriana to take Abel to the back room.
Imelda sat on the couch with tears in her eyes.
“Abuelita, that’s enough,” Alex quipped. He could see the anger from both sides, and his tightened expression and rigid body displayed the discomfort that he was feeling at the moment. “I am marrying Cassie. No questions about it.”
“What about your court case, Alejandro?” Imelda asked through sniffles. My heart hurt for her. She was watching her boy, her knight in shining fucking armor fall from grace, and as ridiculous as I thought it was that they held him in such high regard, I understood it.
“We’ll have the trial, and whatever they find they find, but I’m marrying Cassie this weekend. We are going to be a united front when we face that asshole, O’Hara.”
“You marry this girl and take me away from your life, Alejandro!” Guadalupe shouted, her voice hoarse. “I raise you. I help you become a good man, and now you turn your back on your family.”
“I’m not turning my back on anyone, Abuelita!” Alex shouted back. His normally caramel skin was now a light shade of red as his hazel eyes grew dark in utter frustration. “I’m trying to bring us all onto one side. I love you all, but I also love Cassie, and I’m ready to make her my wife. I wanted you all there to share it with us—”
“I never go to that!” his grandmother shouted, pulling away from him. Her bony finger now made its way into Alex’s face. “She tear you down. You choose her over me. Over tu mama. Over tu hermana. Esta es tu familia. You go to her, and I never know you again, Alejandro.”
I couldn’t breathe. My lungs ached and head hurt. Tears were pricking my eyes, and not because Guadalupe had laid out her disdain for me, but because she was essentially making Alex choose. Any choice he would make was going to rip him in half, and I knew that he was struggling with the decision. I couldn’t blame him. It was either go with his grandmother who had raised him, or the new girl in his life that he was about to throw everything down the drain for. Selfishly, I hoped that he would choose me, but I knew there was a good chance if pressured enough that he would go with his family. That bond ran deep, and what Alex and I had in comparison only scratched the surface.
“Abuelita, that’s not fair,” Adriana said, making her way back to the living room. “Alex loves Cassie. Can’t you see that?”
“I will not see it. He loved Evelyn too and look at that one. I know bad girls when I see them. Alex is losing his career for this one. That’s not good.”
“I’m losing mine too!” I shouted, almost at a piercing level. All eyes quickly swung to me, shock shrouding everyone’s faces. My chest heaved up and down erratically, sending exhales through my nose like a raging bull. I couldn’t believe I had lost it like that, but I had to admit that it felt good.
“I’m just getting started in the Corps, and my career could already be over. You think I’m making out on top while Alex takes all the heat? No! I had an opportunity to get myself away from all of this even after the fact, and I turned down all deals that came to me. I fell in love with your grandson, Guadalupe, and I’m sorry it was under the wrong circumstances, but I’m not sorry for falling. I’d do it over again if I had the chance.”
Adriana came and stood next to me, placing her hand on my shoulder and smiling up at me. I was still breathing heavily, but it felt good to get my feelings out in the open, regardless of how it made anyone else feel.
“Abuelita, you’re upset, but you’ll see Cassie is a really good girl. And no matter what anyone else says, I am going to make her my wife.”
Guadalupe looked up to Alex and smirked, sending a sinister vibe to him that glided over to me. “You go to jail for this girl, Alejandro. And you lose you career all because you are a man and you can’t keep it in you pants. I will not watch this. You marry this girl, and I do not know you. I raise you to be smart and right now you are stupid. I want no more of this.”
The hacking cough she’d had earlier came roaring back. Imelda ran to her mother’s side, holding her as tears fell down her face and onto the floor below. I could see her internal struggle. She was caught between her mother and her son. I wouldn’t have wished this on anyone because as much as it was hurting me, I could see it was destroying her.
“Let’s get you to bed, Mama,” Imelda softly spoke, trying to move her mother. Guadalupe was still coughing, wheezing a bit as well. The sight of her stunned Alex, making him go to her, holding her in his arms as his mom tried to move her out of the living room and to the back.
“You make a choice, Alejandro. But you remember, I do not accept this. I do not accept you if you go to her.”
“Come, Mama,” Imelda prodded, moving her mother along.
Alex, Adriana, and I stood there, flabbergasted by what had just happened. I knew things would be rough, but I had never imagined it would get to this level. I wished we had never come here, and Alex had just given them the scoop over the phone.
“She’ll come around,” Adriana said, trying to soften the mood.
“How can you say that?” I asked. I was done with everyone trying to make it seem as if Guadalupe would magically have a change of heart, giving Alex and me her blessing to be married. The woman hated my guts, and today had cemented that fact.
“She’s just upset, Cassie. When she sleeps on it and see what she’s done to Alex, she’ll backtrack.”
I looked over to Alex who stood there, still red faced but with a single, solitary tear falling down his face. Naïve or not, when it came to the women in his life, he was hurt, and I hated seeing him in pain.
“Alex?”
“What?” he barked, startling me.
“Are you okay?”
“No, Cassie. My grandmother hates me. My mom questions me. All because I fell in love with you. No, I’m not motherfucking okay.”
“You watch your voice, Alejandro Esteban Cruz, and you keep your voice down. Your grandmother is sick and hurting back there.” Imelda said, walking back towards us, her face stern and motherly.
“And that’s my fault?”
“This isn’t about fault. It’s about a very hurt old woman back there who loves you and is scared for you.”
“What can I do to help that? I tried to smooth things over and look at what happened. She blames Cassie for this, and won’t even let me show her that I had a part in it too.”
“I won’t lie. I’m scared for you. You’ve worked so hard for everything you have, and now it’s going to be gone just like that. I like Cassie, but if it comes down to everything you’ve earned or her, I’m afraid that I want you to have your career. You two have only known each other for a short time—”
“Let’s go,” Alex gruffly said, forcefully pulling me out of the living room by my hand.