Chapter 6
Panic wasn’t really the right word to describe the way Miguel felt.
Oh no.
He was way past panic at this point.
None of this was going the way he wanted. You weren’t supposed to have met Gabi yet. The fact that you had even been playing along with this was a miracle to him. Even more concrete proof that you truly were meant to be Gabi’s mother. He glanced down at you as you held Gabriella. You stroked her back gently as she laid her head on your shoulder. She seemed to have calmed down quite a bit, her cries diminished to soft sniffles now. He kept his hand where it laid on your lower back for fear that you would run away the second the elevator arrived on your shared floor.
But, you didn’t.
You simply walked out with him, whispering calming words to Gabi all the while. Once the three of you were inside of his apartment you took a quick look around at the place. This was your first time inside of Miguels apartment. It was nice, the layout was similar to yours, so it had a somewhat familiar feel. You turned to set Gabi down on the counter in the kitchen. She looked up at you curiously, her big brown eyes still glistening with unshed tears.
“Now I’m gonna go get those cute bandaids I told you about, ok?”
You turned to quickly go to your apartment when you heard her whine. She gripped your sleeve tightly and peered up at you. “You’re leaving again?”
Immediately you paused, taking in her hurt expression. You turned to Miguel who immediately sprung into action.
“Actually, we have some bandaids here that Gabbi really likes.” He gently smoothed some of her hair out of her face. “Right, Gabbi? Which one is your favorite?”
“Umm...” she looked at you shyly before looking away and mumbling, “I like the Hello Kitty one the best.”
“Really? I love Hello Kitty.” You said. Gabbi sniffled as a small smile started to creep in at the corner of her mouth.
“I’ll go get them.” Miguel said, he bent forward and gave Gabbi a quick peck on the top of her head. He walked off to the other room, leaving you and Gabbi alone.
You turned to set your purse down behind you when you noticed a picture on the fridge. It was obviously drawn by Gabbi. The drawing had Miguel, Gabbi and you all holding hands together.
No wait- not you. Her actual mom. You shook the thoughts away and focused on the drawing.
“Hey Gabbi, did your daddy buy this picture?” You pointed at it as you turned back to her.
“N-no he didn’t buy it…”
“You sure?” You gave the picture one more quick glance and then looked at her again. “I mean it’s a masterpiece, it looks so good.”
Her smile widened even more. “…I drew that…”
“You did?” You turned to look at the drawing again. “Really?”
“Papa said I could put it on the fridge so you would see it.”
“Well, it’s a good thing he did because I love it.”
Miguel smiled from around the corner, pausing to listen to the two of you as he made his way back to the kitchen. After a moment of waiting, he rounded the corner to join the two of you again.
“Here they are.” He held the pink box of bandaids up. In his other hand he held cotton balls and other items to clean the cut. He set the items beside Gabbi on the counter. “Ok mija, are you ready?” He asked her.
Gabi looked fearfully at the items laid out.
“Can mama do it?” Gabi asked, peering up at her father.
“Oh,” Miguel turned to face you. “Umm-“
“Of course I can.” You said. Miguel took a step back, pushing the supplies towards you.
“Ok, we’re gonna do this really quick, ok?” You started applying the antiseptic to one of the cotton balls. She nodded but didn’t say anything. You tried to move quickly as you applied the cotton ball to her cut. She winced at the slight sting.
“Is that ok?”
“Yes…” She simply said.
“Doesn’t hurt too bad?”
“N-no, its ok.” But her voice wavered. She scrunched her face up tightly, trying her best to be brave.
“W-why were you g-gone so long?” She asked suddenly. Gabi brought her hands up to her face and rubbed at her eyes. It seemed like she was about to start sobbing again.
“Oh honey, I was- I was just working.” You looked up at Miguel, who nodded in agreement.
“Are you s-still working?” She was trying so hard not to cry again, you could tell.
“No. I’m all done now.” You finished cleaning her injury you gave her a warm smile. “And now you’re stuck with me.”
You placed a bandaid on the cut, a bright pink one with Hello Kitty on it. She looked at the colorful bandage and managed a small grin.
“I have a Hello Kitty in my room too.” She sniffed, rubbing the tears away.
“Really?”
“Mmhm.” She nodded her grin widening. “I’ll show you!” Her injury suddenly now forgotten. She lifted her arms up toward you, and you automatically knew she wanted to be picked up. You lifted Gabi up and gently set her back down on the ground. With a big grin she ran to her room to retrieve her toy. Once she was out of earshot you and Miguel turned to face each other, neither of you saying a word at first.
“I’m sorry.” You said immediately. Now that Gabi was gone your anxiety was setting in. “Oh my gosh Miguel, I can’t believe I did that. I’m so sorry.”
“No, no-“ he tried to calm you, but it was all hitting you at once. You had just pretended to be this young girl's dead mother.
“It’s not-“ He peered around the corner making sure Gabi wasn’t coming back just yet. “It’s not what you think.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I’ll explain- I swear I’ll tell you everything but-“
“Papa, I can't find her!” Gabi yelled to him.
“Ok, hold on mija!” He called back. Miguel turned back to face you, the worried expression on his face was making you panic even more. “You haven’t done anything wrong. I’ll explain later, I promise.”
You took a deep breath to compose yourself before nodding. “Ok… ok.” You said and it seemed to comfort him, if only just a little.
Miguel walked off to Gabis room, calling out to her. “I told you not to leave your toys everywhere Gabi.”
You braced your hands on the counter as you took another deep breath. What the hell were you doing? It was one thing when you were flirting and going on dates with Miguel but this? This was wrong.
But Miguel said you hadn’t done anything wron- who cares what he said! What if he’s a psychopath who is only interested in you so he can replace his dead wife? But he said they were never marrie- You barely know the guy, are you just going to believe everything he says?
“Mama! Mama look!” Gabi came running around the corner, her Hello Kitty plush held above her head so you could see. You were thankful for the interruption from your own thoughts, a smile spread across your face automatically.
“Oh wow, she’s so pretty!” You gingerly took it from her, holding it up before bringing it in for an over exaggerated hug. She giggled, watching you happily before you handed the toy back off to her. Miguel bent down to her level and patted her on the head.
“Alright Gabi, its just about time for your lunch. Do you want to watch your show?” He asked.
“Yes!” She turned to face you, a big grin spread across her face. “Can you watch it with me, mama?”
“I sure can.” You squatted until you were at the same level with her as grasped her hands gently. “You go get your coziest clothes and all three of us will watch together.”
She smiled so wide and then quickly dove into your arms for a hug. You held her just as tightly, before she pulled away.
“I’ll be right back!” She said before trotting off to her room again.
You stood up to your full height and turned to face Miguel.
“If that’s ok?”
“I was gonna ask you to stay anyway.”
You took a deep breath, looking anywhere but at him. “Are we going to talk about this? Because we really need to talk about this.”
“We will, I swear.” He looked back towards Gabi’s room, making sure she was still out of earshot. “I told you, I’ll explain it all. Just please- just trust me.”
The way he was looking at was certainly making it hard not to. You gave him another solid nod and grabbed your discarded purse from the counter.
“Well, if I’m gonna be hanging out here for a while I’m going to go get changed into something a bit more comfortable too.”
Miguel smiled at that. “I’ll order us some lunch.”
You started to walk towards the door before turning back to face him. “You may wanna get changed too. If we’re all gonna be snuggled up for a while.” You said jokingly. Quickly you ran into your own apartment. You tossed your purse aside and ran into your room. You didn’t want Gabi to finish changing and think you were gone. You opened a drawer and put on your favorite pajamas, throwing your other clothes on the floor. After you had made yourself more comfortable you headed back across the hall where the door was still unlocked. Miguel looked up from his phone as you walked in, a smile spreading across his face as you shut the door behind you.
“Pizza’s on its way.”
“Perfect.” You smiled nervously back at him, fidgeting nervously as Miguel scanned your figure. He chuckled quietly as he turned away from you to set his phone down.
“What are you laughing at?” You crossed your arms.
“Nothing.” He looked back at you with a smile. “I like the pajamas, is all.”
You flicked him in the arm as you approached him. “I’ll have you know these are the comfiest pajamas I own.”
“Oh, I bet they are. It’s just that they’re the same-“
The sound of pounding feet interrupted him as Gabi came running from her room. She smiled big once she saw what you were wearing.
“Mama, mama! You’re wearing your polkadots like me!” She pulled on her top, showing it off to you.
“Look at that we are matching.” You picked her up and faced toward Miguel. “And your daddy is so jealous cause he doesn’t match with us.”
“Yeah!” She giggled.
“Oh yeah, I’m real jealous.” He reached forward and jokingly pinched Gabis cheek and she wriggled away laughing. “Gabi you show mama your cartoon. Lunch will be here soon, ok?”
“Ok!”
You sat Gabi back down and she tugged on your hand, leading you towards the living room. While you had a smile plastered on for Gabi your heart started to flutter at the sound of Miguel calling you her mother. Whatever conversation the two of you were going to have was going to be a long one.