Little Havana Nights

Tu Amor

Cassandra and Danielle were both nearing their due dates, and their pregnancies weren't difficult at all. Both women were on liquid diets in the days leading up to the births.

One morning in August of 1999, Cassandra was watching TV after breakfast with her mother and one of her loving aunts when she suddenly went into labor! While they waited for the ambulance to come, Soledad and her sister soothed Cassandra, holding each of her hands through the pain.

When the ambulance arrived to take Cassandra to the hospital, Ariel received the call that his wife was in labor so he didn't hesitate to rush to the hospital to be by his wife's side.

Apart from the inevitable pain, the birth went smoothly. Cassandra bore a daughter, whom she and Ariel called Olivia Juanita Hernandez, born August 15th.

A short week later, Danielle gave birth to a son, whose name was Valentino Humberto Hernandez (Humberto also being Gabriel's middle name) both August 22nd.

Linda was overjoyed for her close friends, and was only too happy to be their godmother. Which is exactly what happened at the babies' christenings.

Marty, being godfather, loved the kids so much, however, he too felt sadness about never getting the chance to hold his own child. But one thing he wanted to do was bury the hatchet with Linda, so he went to do just that.

Marty apologised to Linda for treating her the way he had. Linda was also apologetic for not being honest about her pregnancy, acknowledging his right to know as the father. He knew what happened when Linda broke down at the baby shower, and for the first time in a long time, they talked, and there were tears shed for the baby they never got a chance meet, to name, to hold. While they cried, they held each other. All those old feelings were coming back as a result and sure enough, one thing led to another and they ended up sleeping together again.

They eventually decided to have sex regularly again like they used to so that they could try to have another baby thinking it would heal them.

Meanwhile the Hernandez couples were busy with their own newborns. The babies were happy babies who didn't wake up much during the night, so a lack of sleep was never really an issue. Nevertheless Danielle and Cassandra were great mothers and their husbands took to fatherhood well too. They were lucky as well because their family members always wanted to babysit so that they could keep the spark in their marriages too.

Whenever they put their babies down for the night, Cassandra and Danielle would put soothing ABBA songs to which they'd fall asleep. And during the day, they'd be with their babies as much as they could, heeding words that they grow up so quickly, and needless to say the couples always brought the babies to each other's homes so that the baby cousins could "hang", and they'd all go out together all the time.

It wasn't at all long before Olivia started getting curls in her pretty hair. She was a beautiful little baby, and little Valentino was too!

Linda missed what she would've had with her baby, and she was continuing to sleep in Marty in hopes of getting pregnant again. But one night, while they were having sex, they decided to stop. There was no pleasure, they just lay next to each other, finally accepting that things weren't the same as before. The spark was gone.

"I mean what are we doing?" Said Marty. "It hasn't been that great lately, so why do we keep putting ourselves through this?"

"I guess I just want a baby so bad. I don't care what I have to put myself through to get it." Said Linda. She, too, hadn't been enjoying the sex like she used to, but admitted that she was willing to go through it for a baby.

"Linda, I felt that way too. But at the end of the day, a new baby isn't going to replace the one God took from us." Said Marty. "I don't think this idea of having a new baby will heal that wound."

"I guess you're right." Said Linda. "Maybe I need to talk to someone."

"I think that'd be a very good idea. I need to do that too. Heal my own stuff." Said Marty.

They did just that, and gradually they started to heal.