Te Quiero in Mexico
Chapter 36: All For Love
"Dad!" Alexis and Daniel both rushed to Bradford to help him up, while Betty quickly pressed the emergency alarm for the room.
Daniel winced at the pain he felt in both his midsection and leg, but helped his dad up. "Dad, please hold on…"
Hilda, Justin and Ignacio were in the waiting room still hoping to see Santos soon. Hilda was fighting with everything in her not to cry or show any weakness. She was worried about Justin. He was very quiet since the news and stared at the bag in his hands.
"Hilda…." The nurse called and Hilda quickly got up and hurried over. "He is still not awake, but he's more stable if you like to go see him now."
Hilda nodded, her eyes glossy "mhm… can my son and father come in, too, please?"
She was hesitant, but seeing how sad she was nodded "Alright, but try to be gentle."
"Thank you" Hilda quickly went back and got Justin and her father, then followed the nurse to Santos' room. Her heart was pounding as they got to his room.
She took a breath seeing him hooked up to a bunch of beeping machines, a bandage at the side of his head, a few scratches here and there and his chest wrapped up from the gunshot wound. Her heart clenched as she walked over to the bed and leaned down to place a kiss to his forehead.
For the first time in her life she was speechless. She wasn't sure what to say, and was thankful her father grabbed her hand and gave it a supportive squeeze.
Justin stood by feeling unsure what to do. She glanced at him and pulled him close.
A minute later, Betty was rushing in. Hilda looked to her "Betty, what happened? Is Daniel ok?"
Betty nodded "Yah, Daniel woke up, but his dad just had a heart attack!"
'What?" both Hilda and Ignacio said in shock. Ignacio sighed, "Dios mio. What a night!"
Betty nodded "um...how is Santos?" She looked over to where he was, her eyes becoming glossy. Hilda walked over to Betty and hugged her. Betty hugged her tighter; a tear slid down her cheek. "He'll be fine. We just have to be strong. I'm here for you." She whispered, feeling her heart constrict for her sister.
A raspy cough filled the room; Justin went over to the bed "dad?" He asked softly.
Betty and Hilda had tears in their eyes, but when Santos slowly opened his eyes and in a rough voice said "ay...Justin?" They gasped in surprise. Santos placed his hand on his son's shoulder seeing that his eyes were glossy, his own became blurry.
"Santos?" Hilda walked over; when he gave her a flirty smile, she smacked his chest. "Owww, mama…" he groaned rubbing the spot, close to where he was wrapped up.
He looked at her and she gave him a small smile "don't you ever do that again! Or I'll kill you myself!"
He laughed, and she leaned down to give him a kiss. He placed his hand to her cheek, looking in her eyes. "I love you"
Tears slid down her face "I love you, crazy!"
Betty smiled when her father stood beside her and wrapped his arm around her, both of them so happy that he woke up.
"What I wanna know is how was your play little man?" Santos looked to his son, his heart constricting, knowing that he must have let him down by not being there.
Justin shrugged nonchalantly, but his mom hugged his shoulders "he was amazing. You would have been so proud of him."
Justin gave a small smile. Santos looked at him "uhh… I'm sorry I didn't make it. I just wanted to get you a card or somethin."
Justin surprised him with a hug. Santos smiled and hugged him tighter. "Check out the gift I got for you. Daniel helped me pick it out. Shit! How- how's he doin'?"
Betty came over "he's fine, but his dad got a heart attack,and his mom also escaped with her cell mate while she was being transported from prison, so he and Alexis are dealing with all that."
"Damn!"
After a heavy moment of silence, Hilda placed her hand to Justin's shoulder. "Justin, sweetie, why don't you open your gift now?" She suggested, and Santos rubbed his hair anxiously, a nervous smile on his face. "uh yah, I hope you like it. I'm no good at this kinda stuff"
Justin had already started to take out the black and gold box, his eyes growing in delight seeing that it was a special edition Phantom of the Opera playbill "o.m.g! No way! This is so awesome! Wowww, look at this mask…Thank you" he said in wonder as he admired the intricate mask, then handed the gift to his mom and hugged his dad.
"You really like it? You won't hurt my feelins or nothin if you think it's whack"
Justin laughed "I love it. Thanks...dad"
Santos patted his shoulder "cool. I love you, too, you know."
Justin nodded "m..me too…"
Hilda placed a kiss to his cheek. Ignacio came over and gave Santos a quick hug, and Betty said, "I'm so glad to see you. I'm going to go back and check on Daniel, and I'm sure you and Hilda want to catch up" she said flirtingly, shooting her sister a playful wink.
But Hilda quickly retaliated by smacking her butt. "Owww… Hilda! Why do you have to slap my butt all the time?" Betty rubbed the spot. Hilda laughed "because I know how much it bugs you."
Betty rolled her eyes, while Ignacio and Santos laughed.
Justin hugged his father again before he left with Ignacio, and just as Betty was getting ready to leave Daniel came in on a wheelchair "Daniel! What are you doing here? Are you ok? How is your dad?"
He sighed "they're checking him out. I wanted to come by since I'm not sure if I'll get another chance soon. My doctor told me I have to keep pressure off my ankle, so that's why I'm in...you know" he gestured to himself in the wheelchair.
Betty hugged him, and when Daniel rolled over to Santos' side he smiled, and Santos held his hand out. Daniel shook it. "It's good to see you" he said quietly.
Santos nodded "Yah ...same man."
Hilda looked to Betty, her eyes were glossy. Betty picked up her hand in hers.
Daniel's phone beeped. When he took it out he saw it was a text from Alexis. "Shit, Alexis said they have cops on high alert looking for mom." He sighed deeply "sorry Santos, I gotta go…"
"no problem, man. You got a bigger shitstorm to deal with."
Daniel nodded "no kidding. Hate to say it, but stuff like this is actually normal to me and my family!" He sighed and Betty placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked to her with a smile.
After another few minutes, Daniel and Betty left, leaving Hilda and Santos alone. She stared at him, feeling nervous. He watched her with a warm smile, "I'm so happy to see you, mamita."
Tears slid down her face. "I thought I lost you" she whispered. He picked up her hand. "You and Justin were all I could think about. It made me realize I don't wanna miss any more time with you."
She smiled "good, because we are still getting married. Don't you leave me again, mister"
He smiled and patted the space on the bed next to him. She smiled and gently got up and sat next to him. She watched him in confusion as he patted his hips, as if he was looking for something. "hah, yeah….uh" he looked to her as he picked out a folded sheet of paper from his pants pocket.
"What's that?"
He smirked, "believe it or not, my vows"
Her eyes became misty "you wrote vows?" She asked in surprise.
He shrugged "yeah, what? Did you think I was just gonna go up there in front of everybody and say somethin dumb."
She gave him a teasing look, and he pushed her making her laugh, but say "Ok, ok, now, come on, let's hear it"
He cleared his throat dramatically and she smacked his shoulder playfully.
'Owww…." He rubbed his shoulder, a smirk on his face clearly trying to mess with her.
"Cut it out, before I hurt you for real"
He laughed, then started reading his vows. Her eyes were filled to the brim as she listened to him.
Once he finished, he looked to her with a tentative smile "what you think?"
"You really wrote this?"
'Yeah, I wrote! It took me two days to write it."
She smiled "it's beautiful."
He smiled "good. I just wanted you to know how I felt about you in case I-" before he could finish she silenced him with a kiss.
Nearly an hour later Justin and Ignacio finally made it home, both letting out a deep sigh from the events of the evening. They heard some shuffling sounds and a deep woman's voice say "it's 'bout time they showed up!"
"Oh will you shut up!" Another woman's voice rang through.
Justin screamed and Ignacio picked up an umbrella by the door cutting on the light for them to see "Mrs Meade?"