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“Well…” I was suddenly self-conscious, second-guessing what I once thought would be a great idea. Maybe she’d rather have jewelry or clothes or whatever.
“Come on,Papi.”
I took in a deep breath and opened the drawer of my bedside table to pull out the files I was keeping inside. It wasn’t an engagement ring yet. That would come in time. “I’ve been through a lot in my life. Both good things and bad. I’m learning to process the bad things and then let them go. And the good ones, I’m enjoying and making the best of.”
For some reason, pitching my proposal was harder to do with my daughter around. It felt like a ruthless little judge was present to shut down my idea if I bored her to death. I focused on Lisa, who smiled in encouragement and nodded for me to go on.
“One of the good things about my life is my job. I love what I do, and I’m happy doing it, even though we face some hard times along the way. And the best part, the very best part of my life is right here, on this bed with me.” She beamed at me and leaned her head over Sofia’s. “There’s no doubt I’m...a little older than you,” Sofia giggled, ignoring my pretend frown. “So, I got to experience many things, and I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot in life, even if there are still things I want to do. With you two by my side.” I rubbed my forehead. “I’m rambling. I’m sorry, I’m nervous.”
Lisa caressed my face again and pulled me to her to peck my lips. Energized by her care, I went on. “What I’m trying to sowordsylysay is that I don’t want to hold you back. I had the chance to go for what I wanted, and I want you to have the same opportunity.” I peered down at the files in my hand. “That being said, I’ve been looking around town for places to buy or rent. I didn’t mean to overstep, but I wanted to help you to take the leap.” I handed her the files. “These are the best properties I found for what we’re looking for.”
She inspected the documents and photos with a smile on her lips and confusion in her eyes. “And what is that?”
“A place forMilk-Shakespeare. Or whatever other name you might choose.”
Her eyes rounded, and she stared at me, her mouth agape. “What?”
“I love what we have, and I love that you take care of Fee when I’m not around. But she’s starting school soon, and you’ll have time to go after your dreams. And I want to invest in them.”
“What do you mean?”
“I believe in your dream, and I believe in you. You don’t need to worry about working, because I make a very good living at the company. I’m not saying that to sound conceited, I’m just assuring you that you have nothing to worry about. You can go after what you want, with no rush or fear. I got your back.”
“Do you really mean it?” she asked softly.
“Every word. Like I said, these are some of the buildings I checked, and I set apart the ones I think are better. We can talk to the girls to help you come up with a business plan, and you can arrange things with April. I repeat, you don’t need to worry or hurry. Whenever feels right. Just know that I’m here for you and I want to be a part of you achieving your goals. That’s why I’m nominating myself as your first investor. You deserve the world, Lissie.”
We stayed in silence for a bit. She asked Sofia to give her space so she could get up from the bed. With my heart thumping in my chest, afraid I might’ve said something wrong, I watched her take the tray of food off the bed and place it on the drawer. Lisa came back on the bed and jumped on my lap, hugging me tightly and pulling Sofia to be a part of it.
“Thank you,” she choked out. “Thank you.”
I rested my face on her neck and breathed her in.
“Papi, you didn’t tell her about the other present.”
Lisa leaned back, smiling and drying her eyes. “That’s right, I was promised another one.”
“Move in with us,” I blurted out. I had a whole other speech prepared. But I figured I’d used too many words already. “This is your home. Our home. That’s actually a gift for me and Sofia. Move in. Please,” I wasn’t too proud to beg.
Or use my daughter to do it. I glanced down at Fee and motioned my head, giving her the okay to beg as well. “Pleeeease, Lissie. We can have so much fun.”
She bit her lip to hide her grin and looked at Sofia. “I don’t know. Can you help me bring my stuff here?”
Fee squealed and tackled Lisa, who fell back on the mattress, laughing. I watched them making plans for endless pajama parties and pancakes and movie nights. I gazed to my left, at the picture I had on my nightstand—Lisa and Sofia wearing huge smiles while having a green thing on their beautiful faces, a duplicate of the photo I’d given Lisa what felt like ages ago.
We’d come a long way. Life threw troubles left and right on us, yet we managed to dodge them all. In a myriad of good and bad days, we arose victorious.
I watched my girls again and their unstopping chatter, and I knew.
That was one of many days I could never forget.
EPILOGUE
It’s been a couple of months since Matias’s death. After that, things had taken a turn for the worse. And they hadn’t even been good at first.
Since I chose to alert Danny and his family instead of going after a potential unsub and collecting more info, I had a tremendous dressing-down from my superiors. Which pissed me off to no end. I was all for doing the right thing and following the rules, they knew that. But for me, the right thing was saving lives.
Aside from Aaron—who stood up for me and managed to keep me in my assignment—it seemed to me the stuck-up suits who ordered me around didn’t care that much about people’s lives. They wanted numbers—sometimes odd ones—and good PR pictures to show the world the amazing job we were doing.
