jane visits roisa pt. 4
When Luisa finally entered the room, Rose and Jane were glaring at each other, unspeaking. It was Mateo who noticed her, finally, and gave her a bright grin, as though here was the person who was going to make everything suddenly better. Mateo obviously did not know her very well. Or he didn’t listen to his mother’s stories. Or he thought she was exaggerating. Probably that last one. What kid really believes their aunt/grandmother/etc. kidnapped them when they were a baby? Luisa…would have, if she was honest with herself, and Raf might have, so maybe it wasn’t too out of bounds for Mateo to believe, too. But, then, Luisa got the feeling that in this case Mateo might take after his mom more than his dad – and Jane definitely didn’t seem like the kind of person who would believe that. Then again, she was a telenovela writer. And a romance writer. And she was Rogelio’s daughter. So maybe—
“Auntie Luisa who made me be born!” Mateo proclaimed, grinning at her, and Jane’s head whipped around. It was a few seconds before she relaxed, and Luisa knew that was approximately how long it took her to realize she was wearing a shirt this time.
The trust in this family!
Luisa met Rose’s eyes and gave her a little smile. “You,” she said, “should be sleeping.”
“I’m not going to sleep while we have company,” Rose said, and she yawned again, covering her mouth with one hand. Then she swung her legs over the side of the couch and forced herself into a sitting position, patting the spot next to her. Luisa crossed to sit next to her, and Rose reached over, brushing Mia’s dark hair out of her eyes. “She looks happy.”
“She looks tired,” Luisa said, meeting Rose’s eyes briefly. “How long did you keep her up?”
“She kept me up!” Rose frowned.
Luisa laughed and then looked up and met Jane’s eyes. “We have a system. I get to sleep while it’s dark and Rose watches over Mia. I sleep like a log, and Rose wakes up at the tiniest misplaced sound. Then, when Rose is too exhausted to stay awake anymore, I take care of Mia.” She grinned. “She doesn’t cry as much with me. I think she’s exhausted, too.”
Jane nodded. “So whose is she?” she asked all at once, as Mateo moved a little closer to the couch. Jane followed him, her eyes shifting to Rose every now and again, suspicious, even though Rose had stopped paying her much of any attention at all. One of her hands was outreached to stop Mateo and pull him back if need be.
“Ours,” Luisa said, her eyes returning to the child cradled in her arms. “She’s ours.”
Jane sighed. “I know she’s yours, but—”
“She’s ours, which means she’s Mateo’s cousin.”
“—aunt,” Rose said at the same time Luisa said cousin.
Luisa groaned and stared at Rose. “I told you to quit calling her that.”
Rose just grinned. “I’m your stepmother,” she said, “which means that Mia is your sister, which means she’s Mateo’s aunt. It’s just simple logic.”
“She’s my daughter,” Luisa said, as though this were a conversation they’d had multiple times, “which means she’s Mateo’s cousin.” She turned to Mateo. “You can call her whichever you want. The twins call her Auntia Mia,” she continued, looking up at Jane, “which is nice, because it means they’re at least trying to keep up with their Spanish.”
“And it’s fun to say.” Rose’s voice took on the tone of the twins as she grinned and leaned back against the back of the couch.
Jane nodded once, stiffly, and pressed her lips together. “So she’s…she’s yours, then,” she said, looking at Luisa.
“You’d better tell her,” Rose said, giving Luisa a little shove. “I don’t think she’s going to let it go.”
“I already told her she was both of ours!”
Mia gave a little unhappy cry at Luisa’s louder voice, and Luisa bent down just enough to press a kiss to her forehead. “Don’t cry, baby; it’s okay. Mommy didn’t mean to be loud. It’s okay.”
“She can’t be both of yours,” Jane said, her brow furrowing. “That’s not the way it works.”
Luisa took a breath and looked up, meeting Jane’s eyes. “Rose’s egg. I bore her. She’s both of ours.”
“Which you would know,” Rose continued, “if you’d been here for any of it.” She shrugged. “But you weren’t, and frankly, it really isn’t any of your business to begin with.”
Jane pressed her lips together, then opened her mouth as though she was going to say something, except that Mateo said something first.
“Is she going to have that letters thing like I do?” Mateo asked, staring up at Luisa.
Luisa stared at Mateo and blinked. “Letters thing?” She glanced up to Jane briefly. “What letters thing?”
Mateo frowned and then took on a very focused look. “HD like a tv,” he said, finally, with a firm little nod. “It’s an HD like a tv.”
“ADHD,” Jane corrected, glancing away. “He’s asking if she has ADHD.”
“Oh.” Luisa slipped off of the sofa and sat down on the floor in front of Mateo. “We won’t know that for a very long time, little man,” she said. Then she smiled. “Would you like to see her?”
Mateo nodded a few times and moved close enough so that he could look at Mia. “She’s tiny,” he said.
“Most babies are,” Luisa replied.
“I remember when you were that tiny,” Rose said, and she smiled. “Your hair was a lot darker, and you hated when Nadine would hold you. You cried and cried.”
“That’s—!” Jane started to say.
“But when I would hold you,” Rose continued, sliding down off of the couch so that she was just next to Luisa, and then she reached over and ruffled Mateo’s hair, “you would get really quiet and really serious. I think you liked me.”
“You kidnapped him. He didn’t like you,” Jane said through gritted teeth.
Rose shrugged. “Elena used to have me look after my little brother all the time. I took care of him more than she did. I’m actually good with kids.”
Jane’s eyes narrowed. “You killed him.”
“I said I killed him.”
Luisa gasped. “You lied to me?”
Rose shook her head. “No, I did not lie to you.” She sighed. “It’s been a long time, and you never met Derek, so you don’t know what he was like. You want to think he was like Rafael and really he was just a pervert.”
Jane laughed once, a harsh bark. “You raised him.”
“He was Elena’s son.” Rose pressed her lips together. “Some people don’t deserve to live.”
“You mean like you?” Jane asked.
“Alright, that’s it. Get out.” Luisa glared up at Jane, feeling her heart darken in her chest. “You came over here, to visit us, right after I had our kid, and the entire time you’ve been telling Rose off and telling me off for the way I live in my house, and we might deserve it, but this is our house, and Petra says we should be allowed the sanctity of our house, and when you’re here, you don’t take pot shots, we have discussions like reasonable people, and if you can’t do that, then I don’t want you here, and if you don’t leave, Rose will make you leave.” She glanced back down to Mateo and reached out, brushing the back of her hand against his cheek, and the look on her face was painful. “I love seeing you, little man, and I’d love to see more of you. This isn’t about you.”
“Except that it is,” Jane said, her voice tight. “This was a mistake.”
“It was your mistake to make,” Rose said, slowly standing and going toward the door. “Now, if you don’t listen to Lu—”
“Don’t worry. We’re going.” Jane placed her hand on Mateo’s shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. He looked up at her, and for a moment, it looked as though he would complain and disagree. But one look back at his aunts suggested that any tantrum he wanted to throw about wanting to spend more time with them would be better had without them there. So he just followed his mom out the door, flinching as it shut behind them.
“That went about as well as I thought it would go,” Rose said, collapsing on the couch again.
Luisa moved to sit next to her again. “I hoped it would go better.” She brushed a hand across Rose’s forehead. “I think it’s time for you to get some sleep.”
“Yes, dear,” Rose said, yawning again. “But give me a kiss first.”
“Of course.” Luisa leaned over and pecked her lips. “Now sleep. I’ll take care of things from here.”