Easter's Lilly Page 38

Max and Hector spent the night with us in the safe house. Diego was rushed to the hospital under heavy guard and Max had a few things to say to Johnny. But before any of that there was one very important thing Max wanted to do.

  “Please, Lilly let me see our son.” Our son. It felt wonderful to hear him say that.

  I went into the bedroom and brought him out. Everyone had come back into the house and sat somewhere comfortably in the living room except for Max. He waited impatiently outside the door. He held out his arms and I delicately dropped him into his waiting arms. “Well look at you,” he said. He walked over to Hector and Hector grinned.

  “Sad, but man he looks just like you.” He reached over and touched his tiny cheek.

  “I know, it’s amazing,” Max said. I had never seen such a satisfied smile on his face. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “I am so sorry I wasn’t here.”

  “I know,” I told him.

  “I stepped in,” John said. But Max did not like that.

  “What’s his name?” he asked. “I hope you didn’t name him after me.”

  “Christian Maxwell,” I answered.

  “Lilly, I wanted him to have his own name.” He was still smiling and cooing at the baby.

  “He does. He has Christian. We can call him Chris. But there was no way you weren’t going to be in there somewhere.” John smiled at me. Max handed me the baby. He’s sucking on my finger,” he said. “I think he’s hungry.”

  “Johnny and I will go… take a walk,” Hector said. “You two spend some time together.”

  “I’ve seen her nurse,” John said. “I’m fine with it.”

  Max’s face seemed to catch fire when he said that. “We’ll talk later. Now, go and leave us.” The two went outside and I unbuttoned my blouse to feed the baby. “I think I’m a little jealous,” Max said with a smile. “Okay, I am definitely jealous. When is it going to be my turn?”

  “Hang on,” I said. “Let me feed him first. Then it will be your turn.” Truth be told, I could hardly wait. It had been almost a year that we hadn’t been in each other’s arms. I missed him so much. It was like part of me was missing. When I finished feeding him, I laid him in his basinet. Max scooped me up and carried me to my bedroom where he laid me down in the bed. Dieguito came running inside. Max rolled over on his back and started laughing. He jumped on top of Max calling, “Uncle Max, Uncle Max, we really missed you!”

  “I really missed you too,” he said, rolling back over and tickling Dieguito. “Now, why don’t you go play so that mommy can tell Uncle Max how much she missed him.”

  “Eww!” He got up and ran out. We both laughed.

  I got up and locked the door. “Let me show you how much your baby girl missed you.” I crawled back into the bed on all fours and jumped on him. He started pulling my clothes off like it had been ten years since he had seen me.

  “I couldn’t stand it, thinking about you playing house with that guy,” he said. “Give me everything, baby girl.” I got on top of him and he pulled whatever clothing was left off of my body. He pushed himself inside of me and I let out a cry. He quickly rolled me over and covered my mouth with his. “Don’t forget about the boys,” he whispered.

  “Oh daddy,” I cried. He began to kiss every inch of me. My ears, my neck, my leaking breasts and worked his way down to my toes. I don’t know how he expects me to be so quiet when he is driving me crazy like that. I whispered his name into his ear and he moaned slightly each time. I was alive. Every inch of me was on fire. We made love until we heard Hector and John come back in. He cried out my name one last time and collapsed beside me. I curled up on his even more muscular chest than I had remembered. He cradled me in his arms. “I so want to do more of that later,” he whispered. I kissed his chest a few times. “Stop that,” he said. “I have zero will power right now.”

  Hector knocked on the door. “Hey you guys, are you coming back out?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Max answered. “Give us a minute.” We got dressed and we kissed a little before we walked back into the living room. I set the monitor and he went for the door. Then he took my face and kissed me again. I think we’re going to have to talk about the last 8 months.” We headed out the door and I dreaded what I knew was going to be the new topic of conversation.

  Hector and John were in the kitchen making some dinner. John looked at Max and said, “I meant what I said.”

  “I heard you the first time,” he told him. “You were alone for a long time.”

  “She kissed me back,” he said, smirking at me. I was remembering what he said about a death wish. It didn’t take him long to change his mind about that.

  “What happened to, ‘I owe you?’” Max asked. “Did you think she would leave me for you?”

  “I didn’t plan it. Here we were, husband and wife having a baby together. I missed the whole first time,” he said. He looked down at the potatoes he was cutting and abruptly stopped. “She loved me too once,” he continued.

  “What happened?” Max asked me. “You don’t…” He stopped. He couldn’t say it out loud.

  “No, no, don’t be ridiculous! I love you, daddy, only you.” He picked me up and put me on his lap on the couch. Then he kissed me right there in front of God and all His people.

  “She kissed me back,” he said again. “I may have started it, but she liked it.”

  “Shut up!” Hector said. “It’s over now, he’s back.”

  “You can shut me up if you want to, but she still has feelings for me.”

  “I don’t care,” Max replied. “Maybe you just caught her off guard, I don’t know. But she doesn’t love you. She’s been over you for quite some time now. She’s mine.” He kissed me again.

  “Tell him, Lilly. Tell him there’s a part of you that still wants me.”

  “Lilly,” Max started, “unless you’re planning on leaving me for him, tell me you didn’t kiss him back.” He grabbed my chin with his hand and made my eyes meet his. “If you are still in love with me, just tell me you did not kiss him back.” He looked over at John. “If you want to leave me, tell me you did. But I don’t want to hear that you were… I can’t hear that, Lilly.”

  “I didn’t kiss him back,” I said. “He grabbed my face, kissed me and I smacked him across the face.” Max laughed.

  “Oh yeah, that’s love,” Hector blurted. “Let me give it a try.”

  “Okay, boys that’s enough,” Max scolded. “No one kisses my girl, but me.” John, frustrated, left the room.

  “That’s all I wanted to know,” he resolved. But the elephant in the room was ever present and ever growing. “Whatever happened,” he continued, “I know you love me.”

  I felt so guilty for even having John’s lips against mine, even if I didn’t want them there. But the man of my dreams was home, safe and that really seemed to be all that mattered.

  We were all exhausted and went to bed almost immediately after dinner. We hadn’t made any plans yet for tomorrow, but Max and I had a lot of catching up to do. We made love all night; I’m sure to the dismay of Johnny and Hector who had to listen to it. When we woke, the house was full of the smells of breakfast. Only to my surprise it was Hector cooking. “Johnny’s pissed,” Hector said. “So, I cooked. I hope it’s to your liking.” He put a plate in front of me and one in front of Max.

  “You’re the best,” I told him.

  “You’re okay,” Max said laughing. “Thanks, man.”

  “I figured you’d be too tired to cook this morning.” Hector winked at me. “So, now that you’re nursing, I had better make sure you get some food into your system.” I think I saw Max blush. It doesn’t happen often, but he was red in the face, a little. “Nursing the baby,” Hector laughed. “I think I hit a nerve.”

  “All right, all right,” Max sputtered. “I need to talk to Steve about a lawyer. It’s time for Lilly to get a 180 pound Mexican removed from her life.”

  “A divorce?” I asked.

  “First,” he
continued. “You need to get Johnny to agree to a DNA test with little Diego. I want to be sure we have proof he is not the real father. We don’t want his family somehow getting custody.”

  “I never thought of that. Where’s Johnny?” I asked Hector.

  “He’s outside somewhere. He’s still in love with you, Lilly.” He sat down and started eating some of his own creation. “You must cast quite a spell.”

  “I’ll go find him,” Max said. “He’s probably at the park.” He grabbed his jacket and blew me a kiss. “Make sure Dieguito eats, Lilly,” he reminded me. “Those video games can be addicting.” He left and Hector sat there eying me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Did you kiss him back?” He sat there waiting for an answer. “Max may not want to know, but I do. He seemed pretty convinced that you wanted him.”

  I said nothing for a few minutes. Hector continued to wait. “I didn’t kiss him. He grabbed me. I didn’t like it.” He sat there staring at me as though he was sure I was lying. “It’s over between us.”

  “Okay,” he said. “I believe you.” He continued to stare at me.

  “What?” I asked again.

  “Why is he so mad?”

  “He told me he still loved me,” I answered. “I rejected him.”

  “Okay,” he replied.

  “Stop that!”

  “Stop what?”

  “Stop acting like you don’t believe me.”

  He continued to stare at me. “Max loves you, Lilly. You’d better be sure.”

  “I am sure!” I insisted. “I wouldn’t want to breathe if Max wasn’t in my life.”

  As I said that Max and John walked back into the house. “Now, that’s what I like to hear.” Max smiled and hung up his coat. “I found him. He’ll do it.”

  “Of course I will.” John looked over at me. “I still love you and our child. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you both safe.” Max glared at him when he said that. But I got up from the table and hugged him. He grabbed my chin and looked into my eyes. I wondered if he doubted me.