The Kick Back

Ghost

I felt my heart sink into the pit of my stomach when Mike told me that Stephanie was there. All I could think about was how long she had been there and what she would say when she saw me. I was afraid. Afraid that Mike had run his mouth about my situation with Andrea and afraid that Stephanie had nothing but negative things to say about me. I wouldn't have blamed her. I had walked away like a coward, all because I was mad at her. What happened next seemed to be inevitable.

Before I could ask Mike another question, the front door opened. Stephanie stepped out on the porch looking as beautiful as ever. She had that glow that people talk about, the one that pregnant women get that make them look absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't understand or even begin to explain what I felt at that moment, but I know it was a lot deeper than simple love or admiration. She stared into me like she had just seen a ghost. Unfortunately, I was giving her the same look. It was obvious that neither one of us knew what to say to start the conversation. The tension was so thick that even the sharpest of knives probably wouldn't have been able to cut it.

Mike stood up and said, "I guess I'll give you guys some privacy. I'll be in the living room." He started walking into the house and then turned to Stephanie for a moment. "Llamame si me necesitas." She nodded as if she understood and then Mike entered the house. Our faces both held blank expressions. I was so damn happy to see her and the fact that she looked so beautiful while carrying my babies only enhanced my happiness. But, I didn't quite know what she was thinking or how she was feeling. I prepared myself for the worst. She slowly approached me and I backed up a little bit. "I can't even count how many times I tried to call you, Antonio. I wrote you, I did everything and what did you do? You act like a punk and run away from this shit! I left you a ticket...what happened?" Stephanie was angry and she had every right to be. I hadn't handled the situation the right way and I definitely owed her one hell of an apology. That's if she was even ready to accept it. Her face went from blank and expressionless to where I could just about see red fire in her eyes. I was a little afraid for my life at that point, but then I shook myself back into reality. She hadn't went about things the right away either, and she wasn't about to solely blame me for the way things had been between us.

"Wait a minute...weren't you the one who just left town without tellin me that you were pregnant by me?! You were the one that left and only had enough respect for me to tell me in a fuckin letter? What if I hadn't found it? What if I hadn't went there that night? I just wouldn't know, right?!" I yelled, changing her expression from angry to blank once again. "We ain't gonna get anywhere blaming each other. We need to go somewhere where we can be alone and talk." She nodded and then said, "I agree." The first place I thought of going was one of our favorite places. There was a taco house called "Curros" on LaBreya and Western that we used to go every now and then. Stephanie loved their food and I knew that she would definitely be down for it. Besides, we needed to be in neutral territory, somewhere we both used to enjoy and enjoy each other's company while we were there. That would give us the positive energy needed to have this discussion. "How about Curros?" I asked. Stephanie's face lit up, which made me smile. I hadn't seen her smile in a long time and deep down it made me feel really good.

We walked down to Curros, having a fat conversation about what we were going to order when we got there. The strange thing was that it was like nothing had happened before we took off walking. We were chatting like old friends and the energy between us was positive. I didn't wanna ruin the walk there so I decided to wait until we got there to ask about what was going on with the babies. I didn't want any bad news but I needed to man up and be there for her throughout whatever we were about to go through.

We sat down and ordered up a smorgasbord of Mexican food. Stephanie seemed to be ordering up the whole left side, and me the right side of the menu. I waited until the waitress walked away and then i finally gained enough strength to ask Stephanie about the babies. "Twins, huh?" She smiled to herself and then nodded. "Yeah...a boy and girl." she said in sort of a sad tone. I could hear something in her voice. That something told me that everything wasn't going to be okay. Something was wrong and I wasn't prepared for what I was about to hear.

"What's wrong with the babies?" I asked, fearful of her answer. She sighed and looked up at me with tears in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and then replied, "Our daughter is fine...but they said our son has what they call Ectopia Cordis." I gave her a confused look. I had no idea what that was and I was afraid to find out. "What's that?" I asked reluctantly. "It's when a baby's heart is outside of their chest. They say I'll have to deliver at 27 weeks and they'll do the surgery then." she told me. I immediately panicked. That was three weeks away and I was in no way prepared for the twins to be born early. I definitely wasn't prepared for my son to go under the knife so young and for such a risky procedure. I wanted to explode, I wanted to tear the whole restaurant up. All I kept thinking was why do bad things happen to good people. I was silent for about five minutes before I looked up at Stephanie. She was heartbroken and it was physically obvious. She couldn't contain herself, all she could do was cry. That's what broke me...the tears began to fall uncontrollably. I kept it together for the most part for her though. I moved from my side of the booth to hers and pulled her into my arms, placing a soft kiss on her forehead as she continued to cry.

"Everything will be okay, Steph. I'm here for you and the babies. Just tell me what I need to do." I pleaded with her. She sniffled a couple of times and then began to dry her eyes with her napkin. "Just be there for them...be their father. That's all I'm asking of you, Antonio." she replied. She continued to rest her head on my chest. I was a wreck and I still had to be strong for her. And the hardest part hadn't even come yet...

I had to break the news to my family...