Back in Cleveland, the Vega household was humming with its usual early morning chaos as Pete and Jada worked together to get ready for work, get the boys out the door for school on time, and see that Pete’s mom was settled for the day before they left.
It was a delicate rhythm, like a salsa they all danced together. Bathroom time, wardrobe mishaps, lost homework search parties, and breakfast battles — it all had to be juggled and done with precision.
Pete rushed into the kitchen with hair still damp from the shower, and his mother handed him a loaded plate of toast and revoltillo — eggs scrambled with chorizo sausage and assorted vegetables — a Puerto Rican breakfast staple.
“Gracias Mamá.”
“De nada, mijo.”
“You know, you need to stop getting up early and making breakfast for all of us each morning. We’ll manage on our own. And you need the rest.”
“Nonsense, Pedro. I have more energy in the mornings these days, and I want to spend it making breakfast for my family. I like the bustle of the mornings. Mateo and Charlie help get my day going.” She smiled, and Pete couldn’t argue with her. “Besides, you and Jada are both so busy trying to get to work and get the boys to school on time. I want to do my part to help. And this way neither of you has to slow down to cook breakfast.”
“Well personally, I appreciate the extra help in the mornings, Julieta,” Jada said as she breezed into the kitchen wearing a pair of mint green scrubs. Her luscious brown hair was pulled back into a long ponytail, and Pete was struck once again at how gorgeous she was. He was a very lucky man, and he had no idea how he’d gotten that way.
Julieta handed Jada a plate. “You moved into our home to help me out, mija. Now, that I’ve gotten a small measure of energy back, I want to do what I can to help take care of my family.”
Jada kissed her cheek. “You’re doing great, Julieta. I’m just so happy those Chinese herbs we’ve been trying are helping to boost your energy.”
They’d found a shop in Asiatown that sold some special herbs that were favored by chemo patients for their energy boosting qualities. Julieta brewed them into a tea that she drank each morning.
“You and me both, sweetie. I only wish it would last all day.”
“Just drink a second cup of the tea when you need to,” Jada told her.
“Ay, Dios, no. They’re so expensive.” Julieta waved a hand and set two more plates of food on the table for the boys.
“Don’t worry about that, mamá,” Pete chimed in. “We’ve got it covered. If you need a second cup during the day, you drink it.”
“Mira quien es el señor bolsas de dinero.” Look who’s Mr. Moneybags. Julieta made a face and pointed to Pete, and Jada giggled.
Pete rolled his eyes, but he loved that his mother was in such great spirits this morning. Especially since he and Jada had big news to deliver to the boys.
“Boys, come on!” Jada called up the stairs. “Breakfast is getting cold, let’s go.”
Mateo and Charlie came bounding down the stairs sounding like a herd of buffalo. They dropped their backpacks near the front door and hurried to the kitchen.
They all sat down then, and Pete could barely concentrate on his food.
This morning, there was an extra layer of tension coating everything else, like pancake syrup that somehow got all over the fork, your fingers, and even your clothes. Pete sucked in a nervous breath and glanced over at Jada.
She ate her breakfast, but he could see her carefully watching the boys, and he could read that expression on her face with ease. She was feeling just as anxious as he was right now.
They had talked this over for weeks, not only between the two of them, but also with their family law attorney, Marisol Peña. They had even gotten Julieta’s seal of approval. Now they simply had to present their case to Mateo and Charlie.
Pete took a sip of juice and pushed his empty plate away. Then he glanced over at Jada once more, silently mouthing the word, ‘now?’ Jada nodded, and Pete looked at his mom. Julieta nodded too. Pete took a breath and turned to the boys.
“Okay, so… before we all rush off to school and work today, Jada and I have something we want to talk to the two of you about.”
Mateo, the older of the two, rolled his eyes. “What did we do wrong?”
Pete frowned at his smart aleck nephew. “What?”
“No. No, neither of you is in trouble,” Jada insisted.
“No, this is a good thing,” Pete added. “At least… we hope you both think it’s a good thing.”
He and Jada shared another anxious glance, and a tremor of trepidation ran through him.
“Okaay.” Mateo drew the word out, his tone, and his expression, full of suspicion.
“What’s up?” Charlie said, wiping his milk mustache off with the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
“Well, um… Jada and I have been talking and… well, we thought maybe it might be a good thing if we all had the same last name once she and I get married.”
He paused and looked to Jada for reassurance before turning back to the blank faces before him.
“You know… since after the wedding, Jada’s name will change from Lopez to Vega.”
Mateo and Charlie’s faces went from blank to slightly confused. He was not explaining himself well.
“Um, so… we were wondering what you both thought about the idea of me adopting Charlie?”
Dramatic shock registered on Charlie’s face, a startled, goofy grin slowly taking shape. He looked over at Mateo, whose eyes were now big and round.
Charlie turned back to Pete and Jada. “Adoption? Like my name would be Vega too, and you would be my dad for real?”
Charlie stared at Pete, and his voice held so much hope that Pete had to swallow down the sudden lump of emotion in his own throat.
“That’s right,” Pete nodded.
“Does that mean Mateo and me would finally be real brothers?”
“Mateo and I,” Jada and Julieta both corrected him in unison.
“Mateo and I.”
Pete grinned. Charlie had wanted to be Mateo’s brother almost from the moment they’d met.
“Well, actually it does, because you see… Jada and I would also like to adopt you too, Mat.”
He turned his attention to Mateo.
His nephew suddenly looked stricken. His startled gaze bounced from Pete to Jada and back again.
“For real?” Mateo’s voice cracked, and Pete wasn’t sure if it was his age or his emotions getting the best of him. “You…” Mateo paused and glanced Jada’s way again. “You both want—”
“I don’t want to be just your uncle or your guardian anymore, Mateo,” Pete’s voice was suddenly raspy, and he fought to speak past the emotion clogging up his airway. “I want to be your father. And I want to make sure that if anything ever happens to me, that you would still have a real, legal family with Jada and Charlie. And no one could ever take you away from them.”
“And I would be so honored to be your mom, Mateo.” Jada sounded like she was fighting some emotion of her own. “If you’ll have me, I mean.”
Mateo burst into tears.
He covered his face with his arm, but the sobs couldn’t be hidden.
Julieta’s hands flew to her mouth. Her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.
Jada reached across the table and took the boy’s free hand. “Mateo. I know that I can’t take the place of your real mom, but—”
“You already have.”
The words came out on another sob, and Mateo lowered his head to the table.
Pete put a hand on Mateo’s shoulder.
“Hey, Mat.” He squeezed his nephew’s shoulder with one hand and wiped the dampness from his own cheeks with the other. “Would that be okay with you Mateo? Can we make us a family for real? Can we adopt you?”
Mateo looked at him and nodded, wiping his face with his hands. But he still couldn’t speak.
Pete got up from the table and pulled the kid up into a bear hug. Jada and Charlie followed suit, forming one big group hug huddle.
Julieta remained seated, happy tears streaming down her face.
At Hope House that morning, Sidney went straight to the kitchen where she set her things down on the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee. She was adding creamer when Zoe came in.
“You don’t usually make a beeline for the coffee when you first come in. Bad morning?”
Sidney picked up her purse, her keys, her coffee, and her nervous energy, turned for the door and shot Zoe a look on her way to the office.
“This is actually my third cup of the day.”
“Uh oh.” Zoe sounded grave as she followed after her. “I’m guessing you have some news about the things that Detective said the other day. What was his name? Wayne something?”
“Detective Dominic Wayne, and his partner, Ed Penski.”
“Yeah, that’s them. So? You have news?”
Sidney set the cup on her desk and then flopped down into the chair. “I have news, but it’s not good.”
Zoe pulled her desk chair over and sat down, giving Sidney her undivided attention.“What’s happened?”
“Isaac spoke to Detective Wayne and his partner yesterday and apparently that bomb Wayne dropped here the other day was meant as a warning.”
“A warning?”
“Yes.”
“About what?”
“That there’s going to be a big bust of all the area document forgers coming soon, and I guess they were actually trying to look out for Isaac. They didn’t want his wife to get mixed up in the unpleasantness.”
“Well, I suppose that’s a good thing. Isn’t it?”
Sidney’s only response to that was an exaggerated shrug of her shoulders.
“Although, it doesn’t answer the question of how they knew you were connected to a document forger in the first place.”
Sidney sipped her coffee. “Oh, I can tell you how. It seems the domestic violence guys talk us up a lot down at the police station. They like the work we do here at Hope House. So when the fraud detectives started surveillance of Ronan O’Dwyer and discovered me exchanging money for documents, it didn’t take them long to connect the dots.”
“Oh, my God! They have surveillance of you purchasing forged documents?”
“Photos, I’m told.”
“Oh, Sidney.”
“I know.” The very thought of it still made her stomach queasy.
“Oh, no.” Zoe sounded as forlorn as Sidney felt. “What are you going to do? What happens now? Are we in trouble?”
“Well, this Detective Wayne person assured Ike that I wouldn’t be in any trouble as long as I agree to stop purchasing forged documents for a while.”
“How long of a while?”
“That, I don’t know.” Sidney looked up and met her boss’ gaze. “But it’s not just me on the hook here, Zoe. It’s also Isaac. I mean, if this bust goes down, and my name comes up, and the fact that Ike knew what I was up to the whole time comes out… I don’t even want to think about it.”
“You don’t have to draw me a picture. I get it. He could lose his job over something like that.”
“I can’t let that happen, Zoe. I will not allow my stubbornness to damage Ike’s career in any way. I’ve already promised him that there won’t be anymore illegal activity involved in helping anyone get away from their abusers. Not right now. Probably not for a very long time.”
Zoe nodded and she was silent for a long moment. But Sidney could see the woman’s mind working.
“So how do we proceed? Because I can guarantee you the requests won’t stop coming in. Not now when we’re becoming known for this.”
Sidney sighed, coffee cup in hand. Zoe was right. In the last year they’d helped over a dozen women escape their abusers and start new lives for themselves and their children elsewhere.
“I know they won’t. But unfortunately, I don’t have an answer for that question right now. We’re just going to have to put our heads together and get creative. But before we do that, I’ve got something important I need to do.”
She turned to her desk and Zoe stood. “All right. Let me know when you’re ready to brainstorm.”
Sidney pulled out her cellphone and fired off a text.
Sidney:
delete once read
big bust coming
stop services for awhile
The forger’s response was immediate, but Sidney could read the caution in the five little words.
Ronan:
how do you know this?
Honesty. It was the only thing she could give him now.
Sidney:
my husband is a detective
I owed you the warning
Ronan:
aye, that you did
many thanks
She set the phone aside and wondered if she’d done the right thing. Then she picked the phone up again and deleted the entire text conversation. Then she deleted Ronan O’Dwyer from her contacts.