With Pain Comes Pleasure

Twenty-three

Angelica

Laughter left my lips as Jayden rubbed my stomach. "Am I going to get to play with the baby?" "Of course. Once he gets bigger." He nodded his head. "Hi, sorry I'm late," Alejandro said as he walked up. "No worries." "Hola Alejandro. ¿Cómo estás? Did I say it right? Jayden beamed and Alejandro chuckled. "Perfecto!" Jayden's smile grew. "Hi, Angie, how are you? How's the baby?" "Gigi said he's moving a lot. I got to feel him kick. It's like she has an alien inside of her." Jayden poked my stomach.

He'd been calling little sweet pea, baby alien since he first saw the baby kick. He thought it was cool that I had a baby in my stomach, and I could feel him moving around. "There's Greg and Trent, can I go play?" I nodded my head. "Just stay where I can see you. If a strange—," "That's my purse! I don't know you!" I doubled over laughing as did Alejandro. "Well alright then. Go play." The words barely squeaked out as I tried to calm down.

"What was that?" Alejandro wiped his eyes still laughing. "We watch a lot of King Of The Hill, and Bobby says that in a defense class. I didn't know he remembered that." My laughter had calmed as pain radiated in my lower back. "Hey, you okay?" Alejandro asked as he looked at me. "Yeah, all the extra weight is hell on my back. You know there should really be class on all the uncommon side effects of pregnancy. I was prepared for morning sickness, back pain, and weird cravings. I can handle that but the overwhelming exhaustion, the added risk of developing other issues, my feet are the size of ham hocks." Alejandro chuckled.

"This kid better be nice to me after going through all of this," I grunted. "I'm sure he will be. Look at Jayden. You and your brothers raised him and he's very sweet. Even Maya or how you stepped up for Simon and Wesley. You are going to be an amazing mom." The twins had said something similar and although I was worried about being a parent Alejandro's words flipped something in my head.

I had been taking care of Jayden, Maya, and I guess Simon and Wesley also. All four of them called me for advice or to simply talk. The fact that I had only known Simon and Wesley for a few months and they trusted me as much as they did had to mean I was doing something right. "Angie, really are you okay?" "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. How are you?" He grabbed my hand and smiled.

"Amazing. Getting to know you and your brothers has really been the most wonderful experience. You three even allowing me in your life after everything." "There was no point not to. It's not like you walked away from us. We were taken. I am still a little sad you didn't come back after the whole faking of deaths." He nodded his head.

"I wanted to, but for all I knew you'd just lost the two people you thought were your parents. Coming to you then and telling you I was your father would've been a mistake. I did what I could from a distance." My head tilted confused.

"The scholarship you got for school, that was me. The monthly payments from your 'parents' trust', that was me. The handymen you called to keep the house running were my men. I've done my best to look out for you where I can without unraveling your life. I only decided to tell you now after I found out Melanie and Julian weren't dead." Damn.

My brothers had always taken care of my tuition through the trust and I'd paid for the rest of my expenses with my job. But this entire time Alejandro was the one funding everything even when he didn't have to. "I didn't mean to make you cry." Shaking my head before looking at him with tears blocking my vision I chuckled. "It's not sad tears. I don't really know why I'm crying but it's sweet even as adults you've been taking care of us. And you let Julian and Melanie get all the credit."

I leaned my head on his shoulder, and we sat silently.

==

Jayden held my hand as we walked into the house. "Gigi's here!" He yelled and like little ants, everyone trickled into the living room to greet me. "Angie." Maya cooed with her arms open as she hugged me. "Girl you just saw me the other day." "So. I missed you." She mumbled. "Okay, my turn." Wesley smiled hugging me. "How's Peanut?" Simon asked hugging me next. "Peanut?" "Well, I don't know if it's a boy or a girl and Peanut could work for both."