Seeds of Tomorrow

22

Victor pulled the Navigator onto Krist's paved driveway determined to make the rest of the day better than the morning had been. Raquel had been well aware of their Fourth of July plans weeks in advance and spending the Fourth with his family was what they always did. Typically over at his pops and abuela's house but that year was at Krist's.

Things had been tense since she started going out all the time but that particular morning it felt like she was intentionally picking a fight. It began when he asked her when she planned to start getting ready for the day.

"I don't know why we have to go," she snapped, slamming the kitchen cupboard as she put away Sergio's cereal.

"We always go to my family's for the Fourth, you know that," he told her feeling completely off his guard.

"Yeah, we go to your family's, as in your dad and fucking grandmother," she spit, "Krist isn't even related to you."

Taking a deep breath, he chose his words carefully, "No but I've known him since I was younger than Sergio, he's family regardless."

Raquel arched an eyebrow, "Well you can take Sergio and go have fun with your family, I don't want to go."

Victor was hurt but felt like arguing was what she wanted and he wasn't going to give her that. He dressed Sergio in the red, white, and blue Nike outfit he'd gotten, pulling his thick hair into a ponytail and telling him to go find his sandals.

"Mommas not coming?" His son asked, big brown eyes filled with concern.

"No, mijo, momma's not feeling good today," he told the little boy to avoid worrying him, "You wanna go play with Serafin?"

Sergio nodded, "Grandpa is going?"

"Yup, Grandpa and Gramma Madi, Serafin, all your tias and Tio Nando."

The little boy's face lit up with a smile, "Okay, Daddy."

"Go give your momma a hug and kiss, ok?"

"Okay!"

Sergio scurried over to Raquel who was sprawled on the sofa, forearm draped over her head, and gave her a hug and kiss as Victor grabbed his keys. He put a Dodgers cap on his shaved head, called for his boy, and left without saying anything else to Raquel.

Though he did his best to keep a smile on his face for his son, it was hard to feel happy. His mind wandered to Raquel and the sudden change in her behavior. How did she go from wanting more time with him to wanting nothing to do with her? It felt like she'd had a good time when they went out not even six weeks before and now she suddenly hated him?

Was there another man? He'd never distrusted her in their relationship but infidelity seemed like a very real fear and all the forums he read with similar situations, all the outcomes pointed to that. And if she was so unhappy with him and wanted someone else, why didn't she just say so and leave?

That brought him to another realization, she stayed because he supported her. It was his duty as a man, to provide for his family. Victor didn't want to think he was being used but if there was another man but she continued to stay, wasn't that using him?

Another thought crossed his mind- if they split up where would she go? She was Sergio's primary caretaker as Victor worked. Where would they go? He couldn't imagine putting them out of the only home Sergio knew but it killed him inside to think that Raquel could move another man into the home he had worked so hard for, to take his place as the man of the house, sleep in his bed.

Victor tried to remind himself that these were all just hypothetical questions, that he had no proof Raquel was unfaithful or even wanted out of the relationship. Perhaps she was depressed, maybe she craved her independence. Maybe she just needed to be her own person and not just a wife and mother.

What they needed was a serious heart-to-heart conversation.

****

Pops was parked under the large wooden gazebo near the pool, blunt in one hand, Modelo in the other.

"Grandpa!" Sergio yelled, darting full speed across the neatly manicured lawn towards Fernando, a mile-wide grin on his face.

Fernando passed the blunt to Jeordie, outstretching his free arm to hug his youngest grandchild, "What's
Up, my boy?" He asked, pulling Sergio onto his lap.

"Will you go swimming with me?" He asked hopefully.

"Swimming," Fernando chuckled with a shake of his head. Now it wasn't that he couldn't swim after his spinal cord injury, it was that he struggled with a lot of self-consciousness when it came to doing "normal people things" in front of many people. Swimming was one of them. The getting in and out of the pool and needing help doing so made him feel weak.

"Gramma Madi can take you," he told Sergio, "Or maybe one of your cousins. You got a life jacket?"

Sergio nodded, "My papa brought it," he said enthusiastically.

"Smart poppa," Fernando told him with a laugh, "Serafin is in the house with Gramma Madi if you wanna go find them."

Sergio nodded, slipping to his feet and running towards the house.

Fernando glanced over to Jeordie, eyes low, "Aye, it never stop getting funny to me to call my lady Gramma," he cackled, "She be like, 'Stahppp it makes me sound old', told her if she ain't like being called Gramma, it's gonna be Nana."

Jeordie snort-laughed, "Nana Madi, I fuggin' love it."

"Might still call her that," Fernando chuckled, "Ain't nothing old about it. Sheeeit, I been fuckin' Grandpa and Granddad since I was what...like thirty-three? Imma be great-grandpa by the time I'm fifty-five, and that's if these grandkids of mine hold out longer than I did to have kids."

He stroked his horseshoe mustache thoughtfully, "I was...seventeen when Xavier was born...he was sixteen when they had Zeke...yeah...fifty-five sound good."

Victor shook his head, "You're crazy for that. I ain't even wanting no grandkids before then and you over here talking about great-grandkids."

Fernando smirked, "You really think your boy gonna wait to have kids til he's pushing forty? Hell naw. That don't happen in our family."

"Nina was almost thirty when she had Selena," Victor argued.

"That wasn't a lack of trying on her part," his father laughed, "And she had that baby boy that passed when she wasn't eighteen."

He didn't need to see the look on Jeordie's face urging Fernando to shut the fuck up to put two and two together. His aunt had dated Krist back then. Krist told Rocco he had a baby with some "random girl" that died.

"You got a big ass mouth," Victor told him, knowing that was supposed to be one of those hush-hush topics that only the older generation knew about but kept from the younger one.

"Don't be telling your cousins about that," Fernando smirked.

"And to think, people trusted you to be doing dirt with them back in the day," Victor told him, tsk-tsking.

"Trust me, that shit different and you ain't never gonna pry that out of me. Be-Lee that."

"Chismoso just like your mother," he teased him.

"So where's your lady?" Fernando asked.

Victor sighed, "She ain't feeling good," he muttered.

Fernando stroked his mustache and gave a slow nod, "I see."