Beautiful Scars

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

We go shopping and Millie doesn't let the phone leave her hand. We are in one of the little shops and looking at dresses for her and all of a sudden her phone chimes. She looks at it and then me and I say "Answer it." when it rings again. "Hello?" she asks as she answers. "Hola Princesa." Nestor says. "Papa!" she says excitedly. "Are you having fun with Mama?" he asks. "Yeah Papa. We been looking at some pretty dresses. Do you like blue or yellow?" she asks. "I like yellow." he tells her. "Then I'll get the yellow so I'll look pretty for you." she tells him. "You'll look pretty no matter what but mija, I gotta go but I wanted to check in." he tells her. "Okay. Love you Papa." she says and I smile wide and so do Emily and Dita. "Love you too Princesa. See you shortly." he tells her. "Be careful Papa." she says before they end the call. She looks at me and says "Papa will like the yellow one Mama." I nod and say "Then that's the one we will get mija."

After getting everything we need, we head back to Miguel's house. Emily does my hair and makeup while Dita does Millie's hair and by the time the guys get there, we are ready. "You ready for me to give you away?" Miguel asks and Millie looks at me sad. "What is it mija?" Miguel asks. "Why are you giving my mama away Uncle Mikey?" she asks. He kneels down to her level and says "I'm not giving mama away, really. It just means that I'm telling your Papa that it's okay to marry her." She looks at him and says "So she's still going to be my mama?" He nods and I kneel next to him and say "There's nothing going to stop me from being your mama." She hugs me and when we go to walk down the aisle, Miguel leans down and whispers something to Millie and she nods.

They lead me to the makeshift altar, our by the pool, and the sun is starting to set. The Justice asks "Who gives this woman away to be married?" Millie speaks up and says "Me and Uncle Mikey do." I look at her and she's smiling from ear to ear. The Justice goes on speaking and we exchange vows, exchange rings and when the Justice pronounces us man and wife, Nestor kisses me softly and whispers "I love you." I smile and whisper "I love you too." before we turn to Millie and she hugs us both. The Justice moves over to the table to sign our marriage license and then signs adoption papers and says "I'll have my assistant push these through in the morning to get them processed. You will still have to wait the 30 days for the adoption to be final but she's your child." he tells us. We shake his hand and he leaves. We start celebrating with just our family.

After a little while, we see Millie dozing off on the couch and Nestor walks over and asks "Are you ready to go mija?" She shakes her head and asks "Can I stay with Uncle Mikey tonight?" We look at her shocked and she says "Just tonight? I heard Aunt Emily say I can stay if I want so you and papa can have some time. Is that okay?" she asks. "That's fine mija but if you need us, you call and we'll be here. We don't care what time it is." Nestor tells her. "Are you sure you want to stay?" I ask. "Si mama. Uncle Mikey won't let anything happen to me and Mr Hector is here too." she says and I look at Hector and he says "I'll be right here. I put my number in her phone so if she needs anything tonight she can call me if she needs anything too." I walk over and pull him into a hug and whisper "Thank you." He nods and says "She's the Princesa. I protect her just like I do Cristobal." Nestor walks over and shakes his hand and says "Gracias mana." and Hector nods.

After we put her to bed and we head out the door, we go home. He carries me across the threshold and straight to our bedroom. Putting me on the bed, he kisses me before we slowly start shedding clothes and he makes love to me nice and slow. After I reach my release several times, he finds his right behind me and after we catch our breath, I am lost in my thoughts thinking about Millie. He looks down at me and I guess he knows what I'm thinking because he reaches over and pulls up his phone and says "Look." I look up at him and he shows me his phone. "They have her in Cristobal's room where we can watch her while she's there." he tells me and I look at him and then back at the phone. "I knew you would worry about her." he tells me. I look back up at him and kiss him softly and say "I love you Nes." He smiles and says "I love you too reina."

The next morning, we are up early and heading over to Miguel's to get our daughter. We walk in the door and she's in the floor with Cristobal and as soon as she sees us she runs to us. "Mama! Papa!" she hugs us. "Hey mija." I say and he picks her up and she wraps her arms around his neck. "How was she?" I ask as Emily walks up and hugs me. "She was great. Slept through the night." she tells me. "Good." I say. She looks at me and says "You were worried." I nod and she says "That's why we put her in with the baby so you can watch her." she tells me. "Thanks Em." I tell her and I look back at our daughter.

After we take her home, we are sitting in the living room and I ask "What all did you do?" She gets excited and says "I colored in one of my coloring books that Uncle Mikey got me. He's messy when he colors." she tells us and we laugh. "I made cookies with Abuela and Aunt Emily and Abuela read me a story and told me the story of how she met Abuelo and how he's an angel and watches over me now to help Papa keep us safe." she tells me and I feel a tear fall. "Mama. What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?" she asks. "No baby. You're perfect. These are happy tears. Mama's cry when they are happy." I tell her. "Why?" she asks confused. Nestor looks at her and says "Mama's can only hold so much happiness in their hearts so when it gets full of happiness, it comes out as tears to make room for more. And you make mama happy." he tells her and I look at Nestor with more love than I ever thought I could.