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I finish solving the Rubik’s Cube in less than two minutes. As I’m sliding the last piece into place, my phone rings. I pull it out, and my eyebrows rise when I see who it is.
“Baby,” I say, picking up, surprise coloring my tone.
“Hey, I’m sorry, did I wake you?” she asks. Warmth spreads through me at the sound of her voice. “It’s pretty late.”
“It’s fine. I can’t fall asleep without you anyway,” I state. “What’s wrong? Why did you call? Are you okay?’
“Yes, I’m fine. I just,” she hesitates before speaking again, “I miss you.”
I let out a soft breath of relief. “I miss you too, mi vida.”
“So, on a scale of one to ten, how much do you hate me right now?” she asks after a few seconds of silence pass.
I chuckle. “I could hate everyone else in the world, but not you, Aurora. Never you.”
“Did you end up going to the cemetery?” she asks softly.
“Yeah,” I reply. I visited the graves the day after our fight, needing something to ground myself. “Our parents are waiting for you, baby. All of them.”
“I wonder if they’re watching us right now. I wonder what they’re thinking.”
“They’d be glad that we’re here. That we grew up and that we’re opening ourselves up to the world. They’d be glad to see that they have three incredibly smart, fearless children. They’d want us to be happy. Well, except maybe Valerio. He’s probably pissed off that we got married. Or, well, fake married.”
She laughs at that. “If he was still alive, do you think we would be here?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said it yourself once, Nicolas. He would have never approved of us.”
“Maybe not, but if you wanted me to, I would have fought for us. I wouldn’t have given up.”
“Nico, you waited until he was dead before you came looking for me,” she points out.
“No, I waited until I had enough power before I came for you. I waited until I was sure that no one would be able to take you away from me again.”
She sighs softly. “What will our future even be like? You once told me that you didn’t want kids.”
“Do you want kids?” I question.
“I think so.”
“Then we’ll have kids,” I reply easily. “You’re steering this ship, Aurora. You have been since the day we met. All you need to tell is tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it.”
Her voice cracks on the next words. “Why, though? Why are you letting yourself go through all this?”
“You’re worth it, Aurora. I said it to you that day when I was eighteen, and I’ll say it again. You’re my life. I’d do anything for you.”
“That’s the problem, though. What if you end up like Valerio?”
I tense at that, waiting for her to explain.
“You said that you’d have kids if I wanted kids, but Nico, it’s supposed to be your decision. You’re supposed to want kids.”
I’ve never really thought about having children. My parents lived for me until the day they died, and when they were gone, I felt this empty void. It’s not a pain I would wish on my children.
“Valerio loved you,” I state, unwilling to analyze my feelings about kids any further.
We can work through our present issues first before thinking about the future.
