Affirmation (7 page)

Suddenly, a series of loud ‘
poofs
’ followed and caricatures
which resembled
their children
appeared
in graphic color
. Selange
sighed,
when
the film
surprise ended
with
another poof and
the words,
T
HE BEGINNING OF FOREVER
, flashed on the screen
.
“That
’s
the best surprise ever. You
did an awesome job. I loved it and I sooooo love you.
”
She squealed and climbed on his lap and tongued her appreciation.

“Ummm…I know.” Alfonzo managed to mutter with her tongue down his throat.
A knock
at the door brought a
nother mumbling
, “Damn,
they’re early.” He glanced at the clock. He would’ve
liked
to have taken a shower but there wasn’t any time. This was the second part of his surprise. There was no way to delay it to bathe. Hell!

Alfonzo tightened his robe and yanked the spread over them and sported a lopsided smirk when Selange nonchalantly adjusted her robe.
She looked a sexy mess, and quite the innocent.
The knock
sounded
again
and
he
quick
ly
glance
d
in her direction
to ensure she had covered the scrumptious orbs before shouting,
“¡Adelante!”

The door
flung open
and
Aldonza
barreled into the room. Her long u
ntamed
hair
swooshed across
the collar of her princess pajamas and she reached the foot of the bed and used the cloth settee as a footstool
to
climb
up
.
“Hi mommy!”

“
Morning sweetie.”

Sal
pushed a
rolling
cart filled with breakfast
food
s and Alfonzo winked conspiratorially at his son.
Maria and Anita followed, cradling the twins.

Maria
bellowed
,
“Buenos Dias!”
And soon everyone was talking at once.

Alfonzo put his arms out for little
Vincent
, and caught an elbow
from Aldonza who sat her rump between her parents.
He gave
his rude angel the signature
raised brow which she mimicked and then exclaimed, “What?”

“
Sabes chica, ahora frío!”

Her small nose wrinkled
and she looked from one parent to the other
, “What’s that smell?”

“Aye Aldonza, silencio!” Maria censured as she wagged her finger at the girl.

“Mommy
…mommy…
Nana told me to be quiet.”

“
Well, Allie, I suggest you show respect by listening,
” Selange
co-signed.

The girl fell
silent and Sal laughed,
ecstatic
the little
big-mouth
troublemaker
was
finally
put in her place.
“Did you l
ike the
surprise
mom?” Sal asked.

Selange glanced at Alfonzo who bounced Vincent on his lap and her
brilliant
smile
diminished every glittery gem. T
heir eyes met
and
Alfonzo
winked
,
and mouthed, “Te amo.”

T
he action
sent
Selange’s
heart aflutter
and
when she answered Sal her voice was breathless,
“
I
loved
i
t
sweetheart. I
really did
,
I loved every minute of my surprises
!
”

CHAPTER FOUR

Giuseppe put the device to his ear and kicked the covers away. He wasn’t much of a morning person and in a house full of
Diaz
children
he found it
impossible to rest.
The miniature wildlings were everywhere, chatting and screeching at full volume.
He didn’t
understand
how
Alfonzo
endured the racket. Even with sound-proof walls, the boisterous children’s voices managed to seep into his head. Then he noticed why, the door was cracked open and a kid around three
years old
stood there, sucking a bottle and staring at him without fear.

“
Vai avanti, ti ascolto
!” He said to the voice on the far end
of the phone
with an eye on the
shirtless
toddler
wearing a gold chain
. He wondered whose
kid
this one
belonged to. There were so many of Alfonzo’s family about, he couldn’t keep
up.
He abandoned the effort
of memorizing names
and assigned titles
instead. There
was
L
ittle Diaz,
B
ig Diaz,
and Female
Diaz and so on.

“There’s a woman fitting the description in Puerto Plata, except with short hair. I
’ve
sent a man to check it out.” The voice responded in Italian.

“I am tired of these reports. Do not call again Tolo unless it is a positive ID, capisce?”

“Sì, signore, ho capito.”

“Buono!”
Giuseppe growled before he disconnected and stared at the short boy watching him with an amused stare. “And what is your name
, are you part of the Diaz clan,
bambino
?” He asked.

The toddler kept sucking on that damn bottle. Giuseppe stood to his full height and sauntered toward the child and removed the
plastic from his mouth
and it made a ‘
plop
’ sound
.
“You are too big for this.”

“No, mine!”
The child
exclaimed while trying to
snatch it
from
Giuseppe’s outstretched hand.

A wicked
smirk
reshaped the sensual mouth.
“Want it, come,
and take
it
bambino grande
?”

“Estupido!”

“
Stronzo.
”

“Estupido!” The boy repeated.

“Cazzo.”

“Mine!”

“No, mine!”
Giuseppe
answered and
then
hunched
down on one knee to
flick
a
finger at the boy’s chest, “
Besides, I am thirsty and you brought nothing for me to drink
and for the sign of disrespect I will take
yours.
” He unscrewed the
top
and guzzled the warm milk
. “Um.” Shockingly, it was very good. He wondered if it was breast milk. He drank more and
the
boy’s face
went
through a series of exaggerat
ed expressions. Finally
,
the
toddlers
’
frustration escalated and
instead of crying as expected, Baby Diaz
thrust out
his bare
chest
and gave Giuseppe
a
mean face.

The
tightly
pursed
lips
, squinty eyes and
the
bold challenge received a howl from G
iuseppe
. The boy could teach
people
a thing or two about courage.
“Ah merda, un po Diaz!”

It is then the child shrieked. Giuseppe’s bass of a laugh is what set him off. The decibel level brought Giuseppe to his feet
bringing the child with him.
The racket increased and grated on his nerves.
“Now you cry?”

Merda
!
H
e stormed into the corridor and bellowed,
“Ciao Diaz’,
have
you misplaced a bambino?”

A
skinny female, undoubtedly the
young
fugitive’s mother a
ppeared at the far end of the corridor. Seeing her child brought a sigh of relief
, followed by a shocked expression at
his distress and the large man
holding
he
r son
. In haste, she scurried to
the boy
,
failing in
an
attempt not
to gawk
. She
apolog
ized
profusely
,
“
Lo siento, senor.
He likes to explore and this is a big home
and there’s more trouble for him to find.
Ven aquí nino.
”

She blushed in embarrassment
when she neared
Giuseppe
.
The
tan cheeks colored a deep red
. A
smoldering sexuality radiated from the extremely buffed
specimen of human flesh.
She quickly took her son from Giuseppe
’s arms
and his
empty
bottle, unable to look
Alfonzo’s brother
in the face.

Giuseppe
dismissed
the woman’s
coyness and
gestured to the child.
“Supervise the bambino
,
”
he responded
curtly
,
“and give him a
proper
cup
. He is not a baby anymore,
signora
!
”

Her eyes darted everywhere
to avoid contact under his intimidating glare.
“Sí.”

Unamused, by the morning interruption and the skittish woman he grumbled a
s he turned
.
Certainly, she
’d seen a
naked
man before, unless she went the way of artificial insemination
.
These American women were prudish irritants. They were appalled by nudity
and
possessed
a warped sense of beauty.
There’s nothing appealing about
an
emaciated wom
a
n
. The child’s
fragile
mother could use a hearty Sicilian meal.
Ah, t
his morning
he detested everything
. The
foul mood came courtesy of an elusive
pregnant
lady
who simply disappeared in thin air. His temper flared thinking about Shanda. The daughter of
the
polizei
managed to
cover her trail like a professional. The anger surfaced as he marched into the bedroom and slammed the door. When he found the
insufferable femmina,
she’d
pay
dearly
once
he
confirmed
she
carried
his bambino.

Cecelia
jumped nervously and
hurried to the stairs after receiving an
unobstructed view of
Giuseppe’s
backside
. Her
husband’s cousin
’s brother
was
a scrumptious
specimen
. He was the
epitome of masculinity and very well endowed.
“¡Dios mío!” She exclaimed
at the pulsing of blood in her chest.
The
shameless nudist
appeared
very angry. Heaven help the person responsible.

CHAPTER FIVE