𝑽𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔

𝑹𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒅𝒆

"It's a boy!"

Maria, after five hours of pushing and screaming, was finally able to cry as her baby was brought up to her sweaty face,  kissing his tiny shaking hands. The lady took him to get cleaned and taken care of as the midwives dealt with her.

Her parents and Sarah were able to see him next. He was perfectly healthy. A few black curls on his soft head, pale brown skin, chocolate brown eyes, and chucky cheeks that his grandfather could spend all day pinching. Both sets of grandparents were able to make a pretty solid bond before he was born.

"He's so beautiful!" Maria's mother exclaimed in Spanish. "So perfect!"

Sarah carried him to Mulligan, who was anxiously sitting in the living room. He tried to force himself to smile, but he couldn't. He wasn't mad. Who could be angry at such a sweet face? He felt numb. He knew he shouldn't feel like this. The baby looked like her, but the more he looked like him, he saw his own face. Would he be a loser like him? Would he be a dirty cheat?

"Psst, Mully." He looked over at Aaron, who shyly walked over to him, a childish gleam in his eyes. "Is that Gabriel?"

"Yeah, this is Gabriel." The baby made cooing sounds. The song Riptide was playing from his brother's room. "Look."

He brought the baby a bit closer to his brother. Most of his other siblings stopped talking to him and went back to Vagu with his sister Angelia. His other sister still lived in Puerto Rico but already moved in with her new husband. The two young adult brothers still lived in the house but avoided him like the damn plague. It was just them, Mulligan, Aaron, and his youngest sibling, Angelica, were here. The young girl was with Maria. They both got along well. They looked at each other's makeup and listened to the same music.

"He looks so cool!" He whispered as Gabriel blinked at him, his big eyes shiny.

Mulligan smiled a bit. "He's adorable, no? I love him so much, and I love you a lot."

Aaron hugged his big neck. "I love you too! I'll be the best uncle! We'll play with my cars and all my friends will play video games with him!"

"He's too little. You have to wait a while, but I think he'll love cars!"

He felt so many emotions. He remembered how cruel Lloyd's laugh was when he embarrassed himself the last time they saw each other. If he called him up right now and asked to get together again, Mulligan would get over there in a heartbeat. He still didn't love her, and she didn't love him. They always fought, never kissed or hugged. They didn't even share the same room. Worst of all, he never wanted children, especially under those circumstances. He still loved him, but it brought pain to even look into his eyes, feeling what he felt.

"Mulligan." His mother still had the cold tone she did the day he told her. "Go be with Maria. She needs you." Everyone knew that she still liked Lloyd a lot more than she would ever like his wife. Everyone else did as well. His siblings still had his ex's number on their phones. That sunk like a bitch.

He took the baby upstairs to her room. She was laying in bed, drinking a bottle of water. He still found her stunning, even if she was half naked and looked like she got hit by a car. (been there sister 😭✋️)

"Hi, Maria." He sat next to her, passing her their son. "How you doing?"

"I'm doing pretty good." She spoke to Gabriel in a silly voice before turning to him. "You?"

"Same." They both dreaded talking to each other. The conversations, even the normal ones, were always awkward and short. They always wanted to say more, but they saw the blunder of their actions in each other's faces, it was too painful.