Haze | Demi Lovato

Epilogue i.

Wilmer

If I had known seeing her walk out that door would be the last time I would ever see her, I would've ran to beg on my knees for forgiveness. If I had known just how deeply I'd scarred her, I would've never told her the truth. I would've taken the secret to my grave. I would've held it so close to my soul she would've never even suspected.

"Papi! Are you out here?"

I took a slow pull from my cigar. "Sí, mija."

Tiny footsteps walked up the rock path to the screened off room I usually smoked in. The screen parted and my daughter, Mia, came in. She smiled at me and climbed up on my armchair, perching herself on my lap and curling into my chest.

"What's wrong?"

"Mommy's trying to make me go to bed." She drawled, her lower lip pouting out.

"It's late. You should be sleeping."

"I wanna be with you." She argued, snuggling further into me.

I took another drag from my cigar and sighed heavily, leaning my head back to look up at the stars as Mia played with the buttons on my shirt. A noise made both of us look up, and Mia pouted as Isabel, my other daughter crept in.

"Mami is looking for you, Mia." She said, putting her tiny hands on her hips.

"I'm cuddling with Papi." Mia shot back. "Just me."

Isabel's eyes widened. "I want to cuddle with Papi too."

I smiled and helped her up onto my other side after putting out the cigar. "There's room for both of you."

With my two children on my lap, and my wife inside, you'd think I'd be satisfied. You'd think I'd be able to be comfortable with my life, because in most men's eyes, I had it all. But all I could see was the one thing that was missing. Demi had told me how deep her feelings for me ran, how much I had influenced in her life, but I didn't realize until I lost her how much she was engrained in my every thought. Not a day goes by that I don't almost see her face in a crowd, that I don't pick out similarities between her and the girls I see on a daily basis. It's pathetic, and unfair to my wife, but it's true.

I love her, and I'll love her for the rest of my life.

"There you three are." I opened my eyes and saw Maria standing there, her arms crossed and her weight rolled onto one hip. "Hiding with Papi and thinking that'll stop me from getting ahold of you?"

Mia whined and wrapped her arms around me. "Mommy I don't want to go to bed yet!"

Maria smiled and walked over, gently taking Isabel, who was fast sleep, off of my lap. "Come on mija, you can stay up late tomorrow night, okay?"

"Fine." She grumbled, and sat up, taking her mother's hand. Maria gave me a look and then smiled.

"I'll be back out after they get to bed."

I looked back up at the sky as she walked into the house, and breathed in slowly through my nose, remembering my last conversation with Demi's assistant.

"You don't understand, Wilmer... She gave me a list of things I have to tell you, nothing more, nothing less. Okay? I can't tell her anything or tell you anything about her."

"Okay."

"The divorce papers will be on your desk on Monday morning. If you have any issues with the details, you can contact her lawyers. If you two fail to negotiate, her lawyer will be her representative in court."