“Where’s Jensen? He’s never late,” Dalton asked, looking around as he shielded his eyes from the sun.

“I sent him to the store,” Adriana piped in. “He forgot the baby’s extra bottles.”

Jensen and Adriana were now married and the parents of seven month, Connor. It had taken me a long time before I’d accepted the relationship. Jensen had essentially turned his back on me and left me out to dry, and I’d taken that shit to heart. I’d hated him, hated what he had become, but deep down I’d still loved him.

I saw what he was able to do for my sister. I hadn’t seen her so happy in quite some time, and it was that happiness, and the love and acceptance that he had for Abel that had helped me get over my bruised ego. Cassie helped as well, withholding sex until I’d agreed to hear him out. I’d hated that shit, but because I am a man, and my dick overruled my mind, I’d given in and finally gotten what I’d wanted.

Nat came poking her head through the front doorway of the house. “Hey, I’m almost ready. Where is Jensen? I want to get this party started.”

“He’s on his way back from the store. He should be here any minute,” Adriana yelled back. “Alex, here is a pan for the meat.”

I took the pan and threw the carne and chicken on it. Abel and AJ came running over, stealing a piece of the carne before anyone could see what they were up to. Abel was AJ’s role model, and it didn’t matter what he did, AJ was sure to follow.

When I walked in, Cassie was helping Nat get all of the sides situated: rice, beans, homemade tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, and freshly made salsa. The girls had really taught Cassie how to cook, and thankfully for me, it was paying off. I could sit around and wrestle with my boys after a long day of work, and find her just finishing dinner. Cassie got out of the Marine Corps after her first contract. The births of AJ and Antonio, coupled with a stint in Afghanistan was enough to make us realize that both of us couldn’t stay in. We didn’t want our boys growing up with both parents always on the go, so as soon as her contract ended, she EAS’d and left me to be the sucker to deal with all of the Corps bullshit. I wouldn’t have had it any other way, though. There was no way I wanted the boys to be without their mom, and I gladly took the helm of our family, and sacrificed my time so she could give all of hers to them.

“You excited, babe?” Cassie asked, clasping her hands together and looking giddy.

“I’m really fucking hungry. I just want to eat.”

“Watch your mouth, Alex. Connor is over there in his swing.”

“Connor is seven fucking months old. He can’t understand what I’m saying.”

“Well, I don’t want my son’s first word to be any variation of the work, fuck, so knock it off.”

I waved both of the girls off. It was ridiculous to think that a baby could understand what I was saying, and even more so that he would, months later, mimic it.

The door swung open and in ran Abel and AJ, laughing hysterically, and bringing trails of sand in with them.

“Why are you boys so loud?” Cassie asked, stopping them in their tracks. “Antonio is sleeping in the room.”

“Sorry, Mama, but Tio Brandon is trying to eat me. He says that’s what pirates do.”

Behind the boys came Jensen and my grandma carrying bags from the baby store. I have no clue how he could manage himself in a place like that. It was like a never ending factory of baby goods that, no matter what you picked out, would never be the right thing.

He held up the bag with a hopeful smile on his face, and I knew what that meant—don’t kill if this isn’t the right shit. Adriana marched over to him, taking the bag and peering inside before looking up to him and smiling. He leaned down and kissed her, a sigh of relief leaving his body as he did so. My sister was a Jensen now, but she was still every bit a Cruz, and it was a force to be reckoned with.

“Tio Brandon, tell me about your pirate patch again,” AJ asked, overly excited as he tugged on Jensen’s leg.

“I will, little guy, but let’s eat first. Then I’ll tell you all about it.”

Jensen had volunteered twice for combat deployments—once to Afghanistan and the other to Iraq. During his last deployment to Iraq, his vehicle had been hit by a roadside bomb, tossing it up into the air and coming down in a ball of fire. Only Jensen and another guy managed to survive the carnage, but they’d both had a long, tiresome recovery. After undergoing numerous surgeries and skin grafts, the only sign of his injury was his ‘pirate patch’ that he wore daily. He’d lost his right eye in the melee, and his career in the Corps was finished. It had broken his spirits for a while, but we’d all helped him through that ugly time in his life, and now he and my sister couldn’t be happier.

“Donde es Antonio?” my grandmother asked. She was older, slower, and definitely sicker, but she was still around and kicking, and played a very active role in my boys’ lives. Without my mom, she was the next best thing that the boys had to a grandmother.

“He’s sleeping,” Cassie chimed in, taking AJ over to the sink to rinse off his hands. Her Spanish was nearly fluent now, making it easier to communicate with my grandmother. We were teaching the boys as well.

“All right, since everyone is finally here, it’s time for the big surprise,” Nat announced, grinning from ear to ear. “Since Cassie and Alex have no clue what they are having, I asked Cassie if I could find out and throw them a gender reveal party. Thankfully, Baby Cruz finally decided to participate so we can reveal it!”

“I vote for another wiener,” Riley croaked out in between sips of his beer.

“You and me both, Riley,” Cassie agreed. I scrunched my eyebrows at her, making her shrug her shoulders. “What can I say? Boys are pretty easy.”

I pulled her back into my arms, her plump ass resting on my cock. This was a bad idea with so many people in the room.

“And I need my princess.”

“You have me.”

“You’re my Queen, Blondie. My Queen.”

“Yeah, enough with that shit. Can we get to it before these two cause early labor and make another baby right here in front of us,” Adriana sarcastically threw in.

Nat took the knife next to the cake that she had been slaving over all day long. It was a long rectangular shaped cake, decked out in yellow frosting with little baby carriages on top.

“Do you want to cut the cake, Cassie?”

Cassie looked back to me and smiled, but turned back to Nat and shook her head. “No, I think I’ll let Alex cut it.”

I kissed Cassie’s cheek, then moved around her, taking the knife from Nat’s hands. “Are you all ready?”

“Nooo, Daddy! I want the cake.”

“You’ll get some, little guy. I promise.”

“I want to cut it.”

Cassie moved aside and let AJ through. Riley pushed a chair over to the counter and I helped my boy up, placing his hand on the knife before situating my hand on top of his.

“I just want everyone to know that no matter what, I’m happy, but Alex might need a shrink if he doesn’t get what he wants.”

The room broke out in laughter, and AJ shoved the knife down into the cake before I even had a chance to guide him. Our hands smashed into it, pulling out the cake matter as I pulled back.

“Ewww! I don’t like pink!” AJ shouted, then jumped down from the chair.

Everyone clapped loudly as the cheers rang out. I was so full of happiness that I couldn’t contain it. “Fuck yeah! Hell fucking yeah! I’ve got a little girl growing in there.” I reached out for Cassie and smeared some of the pink cake on her face, kissing and licking it off of her.

“Alex! The kids…”

“I’m too fucking excited to care. Let them see. AJ, you’re getting a little sister.”

“I’m so excited for you guys. Congratulations!” Adriana hugged us both, followed by Nat and then my grandmother.

The guys each gave their congratulations in a much more subdued manner, but still thrilled that I finally got what I had been looking for.

“I’ll just let everyone know, if baby number three had been another boy, we’d be doing this again in the near future.”

Cassie’s smiling face instantly faded and she switched to chiding me. “You are cut off, Cruz. You’re off to get snipped. I’m just letting you know that.”

My joy fell. “Cassie, fuck that. I’m not getting anything snipped. Don’t even joke about that shit.”

“Anyway, you two, it’s been hell on me keeping that a secret for the past week. And now that we know what you’re having, what are you going to name her? I hate calling her, the baby,” Nat interrupted.

“Imelda Christine Cruz. We want her to take her grandmother’s name.”

Adriana’s eyes welled with tears as my grandmother allowed hers to flow. I took her in my arms, whispering how much I loved her and that everything would be okay.

“I’m so proud of you, Alejandro. So proud.”

With my grandmother getting older, she was sadly coming to grips with the fact that her health was fading and that she might not have too much longer with us. She missed my mom terribly, and often spoke about me or Adriana having a little girl, a girl to remember my mom by. After the birth of AJ and Antonio, we’d all hoped that Adriana would have a little girl, but when we’d found out she was having another boy, we’d all kind of lost hope.

“I know you are, Abuelita. I know you are.”

“Well, let’s eat because I am starving,” Riley called out, leading everyone out to the back patio.

We ate, talked about the baby and just how much my mom would have loved the growing family we had, shared stories about her, and even shed a couple of tears. I often wondered if I would ever be okay with it all, but the answer was simple—I wouldn’t be. My mom lived on in my heart every single day, and while my boys looked so much like Cassie, I was thankful that every now and then I would catch glimpses of my mom’s face. It was a constant reminder that she was there, smiling down on us and proud of the man that I had become.

On the other hand, I couldn’t have been more thankful that I didn’t have to look into the faces of my boys and see the traces of the one women that I’d never learned to love… hell, I had never even learned to tolerate… Emmalyn. After her brush with death during Cassie’s pregnancy with AJ, she’d promised that she would get clean because she wanted to be a part of her daughter’s and grandkid’s lives. At first, she kept to her promise, even checking herself into rehab and completing her treatment. She’d done well for the first year, but soon after relapsed and found herself back in rehab. It was after that stint that Cassie made it abundantly clear that if she fucked up one more time she would be cut off for good, and there would be no looking back.

Emmalyn’s well to do promises were all good until she was visiting while I was in Afghanistan, and messed up for the last time. I’d called home to speak to Cassie, and found her beside herself. She said she’d run to the mini mart on base to get milk for AJ, and when she got back, Emmalyn was passed out in her room with pills lying on the floor, and vodka shots half drank. Cassie flipped her shit, and woke her mom up as she screamed. If AJ had been in the house with her at any point, he could have swallowed one of the pills or sipped on one of her vodka shots.

Cassie stuffed all of her mom’s belongings into her bags, then tossed them out of the front porch. Emmalyn cried and pleaded her case, claiming she had messed up, but that she had gone so long without falling off the wagon that she deserved another chance. I hadn’t offered any input or advice. I only listened to my wife, and when she told me that at that moment, looking at her mom, she saw nothing, I knew she had finally had enough of her shit.

The MPs were called to escort her off base, and that was that. Emmalyn had tried calling a few times, but when Cassie ignored every call, she’d finally given up. I’d offered to change her number, but Cassie made it clear that she would not take that drastic step and that the woman who happened to birth her would eventually get the clue.

Emmalyn missed the birth of Antonio, and would certainly miss Imelda’s birth, but that was the way we wanted it—only good hearted and well-rounded people in our children’s lives. I’d celebrated when Cassie told me she’d thrown her mom out for good, and I hadn’t felt an ounce of fucking guilt for it. If I’d had my way, that day in the hospital after Christmas would have been the last time we’d ever had to contend with that poor excuse for a woman, but Cassie, being the warm hearted person that she was, found a way to give her mom a chance. I couldn’t say I was glad that she’d had to learn the hard way, but I knew the day would eventually come, and it felt good as hell to know that the woman would forever be a distant memory for me.