Must Wait (22 page)

I cut the main breaker that powers the farm. I hear
more thunder a little off in the distance. We still have
some time before the waves of storms fully gets here. I go
into the house to see that Ramón has lit the candles. He is
sitting at the kitchen table, coloring in a book that Katie
brought him. I move the lantern closer to him so he can
see the crayon colors better. I sit down and watch him.

He smiles. “I know, Daddy. We are going to live with
her.”
I am in shock. “Yes, but how did you know that?”
He focuses on the crayon. “I heard Aunt Kimma and
Uncle Paolo fighting about it.”
“Yes, we are married now. I love Katie very much just
like how I love your mommy.”
He smiles. “I love Mommy too. Katie is nice like
Señora Nora.”
I laugh. “Señora Nora is Katie’s mommy.”
He stares up at me. “Daddy, I know that.”
“You are a very smart boy, Ramón. I love you.”
I hear the rain start to pellet the house. I stand up to
look out the window to see a crack of lightning in the sky.
The door opens and a wet Katie walks in. She has mud all
over her legs. She looks over at me and I nod at her
letting her know that I told him. She glances around at
the candles.
She smiles. “I guess this is what you meant about
cutting the power. It is pouring out there. I am going to
take a shower.”
I chuckle at her. “You can’t. No power, no water.”
“Oh, okay. I will just wet a towel then from the rain to
get this mud off my legs.”
Ramón looks up at her. “I filled the tub with water.
You can dampen the towel in there.”
She smiles at him. “You are very smart.”
He nods. “Just do not use too much. We do not know
how long we will need it.”
She looks over at me confused.
“Katie, when we have storms like this we get flooding,
washed-out roads and power could be out for a while. I
cut the power to protect the farm from surges.”
She nods her and heads off to the bathroom. I follow
her standing by the open door.
“He already knew. He overheard Kimma and Paolo
arguing about us.”
She bends down and wipes the mud from her legs.
“Oh, I am sorry, Pedro, that he had found out that
way.”
I watch her as she places the towel near the hamper.
She touches my face lightly with her hand as she walks
past me. She sat down at the table with Ramón coloring. I
watch as they talks and giggles at the funny images in the
book. She tells him about his new bedroom at her house
and the playgrounds. I love her. This was the right choice
for me. She will love us and take care of us.
That night after Ramón goes off to bed, Katie and I
make love over and over again. She tried to keep quiet the
best she could. There were times I had to muffle her
mouth with my hand when she got too carried away. I
was lucky for the rain that was pounding the roof of the
house or Ramón would have woken up.

The next morning I test the breaker and we do not
have power. As I start to walk out to the field to assess
the damage I can hear Parker’s motorbike coming up the
hillside. I watch as he gets closer. He turns off the bike.

The door of my house opens and Katie walks outside
with a towel and toiletry items.
Parker stares at her. “What is she doing here, Pedro?”
She walks up to us. “Pedro, I assume we do not have
power. Can I take your truck to drive down to my
parent’s house? They have that generator and I want to
take a shower. I need to shower.”
I look at Parker. “Any roads washed out?”
He shakes his head no.
I look back at her. “Do you know how to start the
generator, Katie? Better yet, I do not want you driving my
truck. I drove with you all those hours back from your
graduation. You are a horrible driver, Katie. Give it a few
minutes, Paolo will be here. He can drive you down and
start the generator for you. Then just come back with
your mother’s Land Cruiser.”
She turns and walks away, talking over her shoulder to
me, “Screw that, I will take my father’s Range Rover.”
“Katie, I would not do that if I were you. He hates it
when you touch his vehicles.”
She turns back around. “I do not care. He is not here
and he will not find out.”
I laugh at her. “You are a spoiled rotten princess, but
you know that already.”
She giggles. “Yup, I get everything I want.”
Paolo pulls up and she jumps into his truck. I wave
them off, letting him know that it is okay.
Parker stares at me. “What just happened here? You
said graduation. You went?”
“Yes, Ryan took me.”
“You did not tell me.”
“I know. You haven’t been around much. I just got
back from Las Vegas two weeks ago. Ryan invited me to
a before-the-tour party.”
“Yea, I had to go back to New Zealand to renew my
passport. It took eight weeks to get that accomplished.
So, how was that tour party? Was it fun?”
“Yup, Katie and I got married. But Ryan and Olivia do
not know yet. She will tell them soon.”
His jaw falls open. “You married that crazy girl?”
I laugh. “She has matured a lot since all that happened.
I’ve always known that I loved her. It was the right thing
to do.”
Parker smiles. “Yes, I know you always loved her.
Ryan is going to flip out though. He and I e-mail once a
week with updates. I can’t wait to read that e-mail from
him when he finds out.”
I laugh. “Hopefully, he will find out without me being
there. I fear his wrath.”
We both laugh as we check for property damage.

Over four months later, Katie and I are still sneaking
around flying back and forth to see each other. She
comes up with excuse after excuse of why she can’t tell
her parents yet that we are married. Henry comes up to
my farm repeatedly warning me that I must encourage her
to tell them. Every time I see Olivia, she just shakes her
head at me, telling me that I am stupid for running
around chasing after Katie. I avoid Olivia and Ryan as
much as possible because there were a few times I almost
slipped up.

I have to talk to Katie today when I pick her up from
the airport. She is flying in early to spend some time with
me before her father’s party. Ryan knows that she is
coming, but I have to hide her from Olivia up at my
house. Katie will be helping her father finalize the details
of the vow renewal surprise that he has been planning for
years. I will force Katie tell them afterwards.

I dropped Ramón off at school and I come home to
make love to Katie. It took me some time to get her
completely tired out. I knew if I didn’t, she would be
bothering me out in the fields distracting me with her
hands all over herself luring me to take her again. We
have been on edge lately with her father constantly
showing up unannounced. He doesn’t even knock. He
just barrels through the door letting himself in. He has
come close to catching us a few times. Today he was
minutes late from catching us. I just got out of the
shower, dressed and ready to work. I stand in the kitchen
drinking juice when his trucks come to an abrupt stop.

I holler over to Katie who is still whimpering in bliss,
“Katie, your father just pulled up.” She jumps out of bed,
grabbing clothes.

She pulls the bedroom door closed behinds her as she
runs to the bathroom.
“I am getting in the shower. He will smell your scent
on me.”
I nod my head, knowing that we cannot keep this up
anymore. All this hiding is making me nervous.
Ryan comes through the door looking around. “Hey,
Pedro. Where is Katie?”
I nod towards the bathroom. “In the shower. She is a
late sleeper.”
Ryan nods, looking around. “Yes, me too. So, Pedro,
where do you sleep at night when Katie is here and your
son is too?”
I am feeling pretty bold right now. “I have gotten over
that Ryan. I sleep in the same bed as Katie whether it is
here or at her house in New Jersey.”
“You are progressing. Maybe you will start touching
her when your son is around, prude boy.”
“Come on, Ryan. You know that Katie and I mess
around. We have been messing around for years and it is
getting quite frustrating.”
“My, you are cranky today. You better stay frustrated.
You are my friend, remember that, Pedro, when you are
touching Katie. Stay out of her.”
“I know. Katie has to wait until she is married. I know
already.”
Ryan shakes his head. “What has gotten in to you?”
I shrug. “I told you. I am very frustrated. I am going
out to the fields now before my brothers think I have
abandoned them.”
I leave before I say the wrong thing. This has to end,
but I am going to tell them if Katie doesn’t the day after
the party.

Today is Ryan and Olivia’s party. I drop off Ramón at
school and meet Katie at the Cantina to help them get
ready for the party, which is after school. I run into
Parker, whose new girlfriend, Megan, is here in town.
Megan and Katie really hit it off even though Megan is
dumb as shit. I have no clue how she got a teaching job in
the next district. Henry doesn’t even like the girl. When
he substitute teaches over there, he complains about her
goofiness. Parker is talking rapidly since he has to get into
the school. He asked me to go get Megan from his house
later and bring her down to the party. He will bring
Ramón with him from school. It sounds like a good plan
for me, then I will not have to deal with Olivia’s
sweltering stares.

We are at the Cantina setting up, when Ryan comes.
Rosalie looks at him. “How did it go?”
He smiles. “She has no damn clue at all. I graded

papers with her last night and I put the grades in the
book. She doesn’t even remember what the date is.”
Rosalie smiles. “What about the dress?”
He laughs. “She is wearing it now and she is not going
to be leaving her classroom. Livi is so sore from last night
and she thinks she is getting something she craves
tonight. She is all hot and bothered.”
“Eww, Daddy, gross,” Katie shouts, while shaking her
head.
I feel that I am blushing too.
Henry has his hand up. “Son, how many times do I tell
you I do not want to hear about your romps?”
Ryan walks over to me and pats my shoulder. “I can’t
believe you want to wait until marriage. With this family,
you have no clue what you are missing out on.”
Henry snaps his fingers. “Ryan, enough already and
leave Pedro and Katie alone.”
I flash a smile at Katie and Katie grins hungrily back at
me.
He steps back. “Holy shit, you guys had done it
already?”
Katie jumps up and looks at him.
Henry chuckles. “The cat is out of the bag. Go on,
girl, come clean. Your father will understand, won’t you,
Ryan?”
His eyes open really wide. “You can’t be pregnant; you
have that thingy in your arm. So, you finally have done it
against Pedro’s rules? That is fine with me.”
She shakes her head and I am getting all nervous. I am
waiting for her to tell him the truth.
“What is it, Katie? Your birth control failed? Like what
happened to Mommy and me?”
She shakes her head no again.
Henry taps his finger on the counter. “Katie, he does
not have all day.”
Katie begins to cry. “I do not want to ruin this day for
you and Mommy. I was going to tell you eventually.
Pedro and I eloped before this year’s summer tour.”
He was angry at first, but now he grins. “That is
wonderful, Katie, and do not tell your mother. I will tell
her. But why did you elope?”
She steps closer to him. “You are not mad? I thought
that you and Mommy did not want Pedro and me to be
together. He is moving to New Jersey to live with me
soon.”
He leans against the counter. “I knew it would happen
many years ago when I saw the love-struck
Pedro
drooling over my laptop screen. Mom thought you would
screw with his head and dump the kid. See it all worked
out and you made my day so much better.”
She runs over and hugs her father. He kisses her head.
He looks over at me not sure if he is happy with our
lying. “Pedro, you will like New Jersey, but don’t you ever
touch my car in the garage. I had to pull strings to get Livi
to let me purchase that car after what happened to the
first one.”
I laugh. I go over to shake his hand. He pulls me into a
hug.
He releases me. “So, Pedro, I guess you do know the
family secrets and you have not been missing out on
anything.”
Henry throws a dish cloth at him. “Stop with the
teasing.”
Ryan glances over his shoulder. “I am going to head
back home and get cleaned up. I still have to put all of
Livi’s clothes back in the closet too.”
Rosalie laughs. “Just be back by noon. Teresa and her
husband will be arriving, as well as everyone else.”
Henry calls out to him, “Please shave that face of
yours too.” He gives him the thumbs up as he leaves.
I exhale loudly as Katie runs over to me. She jumps up
into my arms. We kiss deeply while embracing so tightly.
Henry taps me on the shoulder. “See, Pedro? You
lived. He didn’t harm you at all.”
Rosalie comes over, throwing her arms around Katie
and me. “See? We are all family now. You two don’t have
to hide anymore.”
Katie laughs. “We still have to tell Mommy.”
Rosalie nods. “Ryan will tell her. He is not very good
at keeping his mouth shut about anything. You know
that.”
We laugh in agreement with her.

We go back home to get ready for the party. I have a
hard time pulling myself away from Katie who is lying in
bed still panting from our love making. I just want to
keep taking her over and over again. I feel different and
she can sense that too. The weight that was bearing down
on me is gone, lifted away when Ryan learned of our
marriage. He is happy for us and it made me so proud
when he said that he knew all along that Katie and I
would end up together. He accepted that I would care for
his daughter. I was the one he trusted.

Katie reaches up touching my face. “What are you
thinking about, Pedro?”
I wickedly grin at her. “That I have your father’s
consent to do whatever I want to you. Knowing that he is
not ever going to kill me for touching his princess. No
more hiding for us. The stress is gone, Katie.”
She laughs. “Yes, we were worried for so long about
how he would react. Just amazing, to see him genuinely
happy for us.” She gets up from the bed and I look over
at her confused about why she is leaving the bed.
I watch her dig through her suitcase. “What are you
doing, Katie? Come back to bed. I am not done with you
yet.”
She pulls out a small bag then comes back and sits on
the bed. “I have purchased us wedding rings. You can
remove that one from Cyntia. Once my mom knows, you
can wear mine.”
I stare down at my hand at the tiny scratched up gold
ring. “Hum, all these years and I am still wearing it. I
never noticed it.”
She smiles. “You are lucky I knew that you weren’t
married or I would have never come on to you that day at
the Cantina. Parker told me, you know. I just assumed
you wore your ring for Ramón. I hate to tell you this
though. I think you might have to get that ring cut off. I
don’t think you are going to be able to get it off.” She
opens the ring boxes, putting them down for me to
inspect. “I got us platinum. I hope you do not mind.
Gold is not my thing. I am too pasty white.”
I laugh as I look down. “That reminds me of Henry’s
wedding ring.”
She laughs. “Yes, same designer. I picked out the rings
with my father for Rosalie and Grandpa’s wedding.
Daddy will like yours too. Daddy and I have the same
taste when it comes to platinum jewelry.”
She leaves me to go to the shower. I sit up on the bed
trying to take off my old ring. She is right, the old ring
won’t get past my knuckle. I slip on some shorts and run
out to the barn for metal snips. I cut through the ring
then use pliers to pry it open it and get it off. I run back
to the house and put my new ring on then I join my wife
in the shower.