30 Days of Love

For the Future

Liam's POV

Why? I question, watching as Jo's body shakes. Why are you trying to change something much larger than you?

Her beautiful face, the one I've grown to love, looks at me with mascara running down her tan skin like a river. She gives me a weak smile, looking at me for reassurance, and although I hate the thought of losing her, that her rebelling against the tradition won't only get her disowned by her family but me as well, I nod, returning the weak smile as I remember the words I said to Pat last night: I will follow her wherever she may go.

She nods back, her bun shifting as she does so before she turns back towards our family.

"For the kids who deserve a better life. To the kids who shouldn't have to go through this, let's take a stand and end what has been hurting us all these years." She raises her flower bouquet, searching for change.

Meanwhile, as I look at her, in the corner of my focus, I'm met with the sight of my parents' expressions, which seem as if they both lost a pet.

Mom's loving eyes, the ones I've searched for comfort in thousands of times, are gone, lost in a space I have no idea about. And Dad's face isn't proud. The Dad who taught me how to ride a bike, how to bowl, and how to be a man has vanished, gone in the same space as my mother's eyes.

I haven't seen their faces like that since Jace's wedding; that realization strikes like lightning in the sky, teleporting me back in time.

I stand in the spot where Jace stood; I am his replica.

This was meant to be a redo, the wedding that made all the pain, all the heartbreak, all the guilt vanish. Yet, instead of doing that, I am repeating Jace's mistake. I am disappointing the family as he did.

"Go defend the love of your life, go support her," Pat whispers, gently pushing me forward.

I do as he said, walking towards Jo where I will stand beside her and support her decision to fight against a tradition that has no meaning now.

However, on my way, I make eye contact with Haven. Her teary eyes beg for me to stop her, for me to not allow Jo to go against the family. To fight to stay in the family.

And beside her, dressed for a celebration of a marriage that will not happen, Zara merely stares at Jo with the same zombified expression as everyone else.

I love you. I tell Haven, hoping she will understand my choice to not disapprove of Joanna's actions but to rather join her.

I continue to stride towards Jo, intertwining my fingers with hers, raising her left arm towards the ceiling, cheering, "For the future!"

"No!" Haven wails, causing everyone to flinch. Haven runs up to me, wrapping her arms around my body as tight as she can. "Please don't do this!"

"Haven," I whisper. "It's okay."

"For the future," I hear a voice that sounds like Mom's say. And once I look up, towards the crowd away from Haven, she stands next to my Dad.

Then, he stands as well, repeating the same chant as my Mom: "For the future." His face no longer lingers with sadness, no longer dimmed with the reminder of his past son's fate, but with pride. Pride that his second son supported the one he was meant to spend the rest of his life with- the one he could never divorce because that meant you abandoned the faith of the tradition, resulting in the same fate as someone who never got married, to begin with.

As I put my arm down, so does Jo, her Dad hollers, "How are you going to support this nonsense?!"

"Nonsense?!" My dad questions, turning from me to him. "Our children are attempting to make a difference in the world. That's not nonsense, that's strength. That's determination, selflessness. Something many of us need to learn."

"What do you mean by that?!" he slurs. "Was that directed towards me?!"

"N-"

"I support them," Mrs. Garcia admits.

"Are you keeping me, Veronica?!" Andres scoffs. "You've always been the type to be so soft!"

"And you're too tough. You know, Jo was right, I meant what I said that night... I hate you, Andres, more than anyone in this world. You've neglected our family, something that once mattered to you. You've changed... You're not the man I first married." Her voice breaks.

"I changed because the world around me didn't! All I've ever done is care for my family, I've worked my butt off for y'all-"

"That isn't enough, but it's not about us... It's about our daughter. It's about what she and every other child in our tradition deserve."

"Deserves what?"

"To not go through the trauma each of us did," one of Jo's family members says. She gets up from her chair, pulling down her skirt as she does so. "I know the majority of people in this room have been told they're a gold digger at least once because of this tradition, right?" Almost everyone nods. "Why put Jo and Liam through that same thing? Why put our children through something we can end now?"

"You're asking the wrong question, dear." An elderly woman stands in front of us in the back row, grabbing her cane to support her. "As we know, thousands of our ancestors have followed this way of life. The question you should be asking is why did they have to get married while young and the future kids don't? Is it the tradition that's the issue or the world that is?"

"Abuela," Jo says, softly. "What if we made a deal?"

"A deal?" Her weak voice questions.

"To not let our ancestors' sacrifice go to waste, how about we still do arrange marriages, but with some... modification?" Jo smiles, showing she's already been thinking about a solution.

How long has she been thinking about doing this? I wonder.

"Rather than getting married at fourteen or fifteen, we get married at twenty and when we do so, rather than forcing women to marry whoever their parents decide for them, they should at least be given some sort of option or opinion about the situation."

"That's the only tweaks?"

"Yep unless anyone else wants to pitch in anything."

The room stays silent and as Jo's grandma ponders on the idea of changing the tradition, I glance at Haven whose arms are still wrapped around me although she's not crying anymore.

Then, I glance behind me and meet Zara who looks at me with the same expression she usually wears when a movie has a happy ending.

"I love you," I mouth to Zara.

"I love you too," she mouths back.

Yet before I can turn around, Jo's Abuela already shares her thoughts, "That can do, sweetheart."

I hold Jo's hands inside of mine, staring at the grayness in her eye, while everyone celebrates not the marriage of Joanna and me, but the new tradition set forth.

"You know I'll always love you, right?" Jo reassures.

"Mmhm." I nod. "And so will I. Te amaré para siempre."

"Ooh." She gasps. "When did you learn how to speak Spanish?"

"For these past couple of days," I chuckle. "It took me an entire day to learn how to pronounce that sentence."

"Well mi amor, I'll love you forever as well."

"So." I cough, praying that this won't be the end of us. "What happens to us now?"

"We live our lives like civilized people." She grins.

"What if I don't know how to do that?"

Jo leans towards me. "Then it'll be a learning experience for the both of us." Her soft lips kiss mine.