Max was on cloud 9. He was officially engaged to the most amazing woman he had ever met. He could not wipe the smile off of his face. He kept replaying the moment in his head over and over again. He was so nervous, but it went better than he could have ever imagined. There was no hesitation on Mirabel's part. She wanted to marry him and he was overjoyed.
It was a few weeks after the proposal and Max went to the store to get a couple of things Julieta needed for dinner. It was pretty crowded at that time of day, so he had to squeeze in and out of people. Another guy bumped into him and said, "Oh, sorry, man."
"No problem," said Max as he looked up at the man who said that. It immediately stopped him in his tracks. He had never met or seen this guy before, but something about him looked oddly familiar. He couldn't quite place it. He shrugged it off and continued about his business.
He had checked out and was outside about to head back to Casita. He noticed that same man with a woman come out of the store about the same time he did. He didn't want to stare at him, but it was now bothering him with how familiar he looked. Then the woman spoke. "This is going to be a delicious dinner. Thank you, Javi."
Max gasped. It hit him like a ton of bricks. This was the man who broke the heart of the woman he loved. This was the man who decided to not be a part of his own daughter's life. That little girl had stolen Max's heart. Max always thought Rosa looked so much like Mirabel, but seeing Javi that day made him realize she also looked a lot like her father.
Max was not a violent person. He rarely so much as yelled at somebody. But seeing this man made his blood boil. He could not contain his rage. He walked right up to Javi and said, loudly, "You must be so proud of yourself, huh?"
Javi and this woman looked at him in shock. The woman backed up a little bit. Javi said nervously, "Uh, you must have the wrong guy. I have no idea who you are."
"I'm the man who is engaged to his daughter's mother!" Max did yell that.
Javi was speechless. His face turned red and he looked around in shock. This woman looked at Javi in shock. She let go of his hand. "Javi, what is he talking about? You have a daughter? How could you not tell me about that?"
"Uh…uh, well, I, um…uh."
He couldn't get his words out, so Max decided to help him out. "Let me give you a run down, ma'am. This man dated the woman I'm currently engaged to for 4 months. He broke up with her after not showing up to her birthday party, which he said he'd go to. She found out she was pregnant and when she told him about it, he said he wanted nothing to do with her or the baby. She gave him many chances to be involved, but he still chose to be a deadbeat father. His daughter is 16 months old and he has not once met her, but let me tell you, he's missing out."
Javi was still speechless. The woman looked to him and asked him to give her some kind of explanation, but he didn't have one. She threw him the bags in her hands and walked off. She refused to waste even one more second with him. He looked at Max after she walked off. "That was very unnecessary. I have my reasons for not wanting to be a father."
"No, it was very necessary. She needed to know the truth. Do you really think Mirabel was thrilled to be a single mom? You think Mirabel had a choice? No, she didn't. She was the one that stepped up and guess what? She is a dang good mother. She puts that baby girl first every single day which is more than you can say. She has been through hell and back, because of you."
"Well, you know what? Maybe I would have stepped up to be a father if she wasn't the mother!"
Max thought he was angry before. Oh, he was fuming now. He could not believe the words that just came out of Javi's mouth. His face turned red, he clenched his jaw, and he started shaking. Without giving it a second thought, he made a fist and punched Javi as hard as he could in the face.
The force of the punch was enough to knock Javi on the ground and to drop the groceries. He covered his eye with both of his hands. "What the hell, man!" he yelled out, still on the ground.
"If you ever speak about her like that again, trust me, you're going to wish you only get a punch in the face." With that, Max turned around and left a still shocked Javi on the ground.
Max could not believe he had done that. He had never punched someone before in his life. He looked at his hand and shook it out. It was hurting quite a bit and very red. He needed to get some of Julieta's food before it caused a bruise. He got to Casita and walked quickly to the kitchen. He put the bag of food down. He was examining his hand when a voice spoke behind him. "How's your hand?"
Max turned quickly to see Bruno standing there. He laughed a little nervously and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. My hand is fine."
"Hmm," He walked up to Max and grabbed his hand, examining it. It was very red and starting to swell up a little bit. "Doesn't look fine. Of course, when you punch someone in the face, it might cause your hand to hurt."
"Uh…yeah, well…just a little."
"I had a vision right before you left for the store. Antonio wanted me to have a vision for him, but instead, I saw you punch Javi. I'm just glad Antonio wasn't with me. I went to find you before you left to stop you, but you had already left. I would have run after you, but honestly…I'm kind of jealous you got to him first." He said that last part with a shrug.
Max let out a sigh of relief. "I saw him and was shocked. I didn't realize how much Rosa resembles him. It's wild."
Bruno nodded. "I know." He walked over to the counter, grabbed some food, and handed it to Max. "Here. It'll heal you right up. No one has to know."
"Except me,"
They both turned to see Dolores standing there. She was standing there with a smirk on her face. Both men started to talk, but Dolores held up a hand. "Don't make excuses. Besides, Bruno is right. We've all wanted to give him a good punch in the face for a long time now. I heard what he said before you punched him. Good job, Max." Dolores had been with her girls, plus Pepa and Camilo when she heard the fight. She heard everything that was said between Max and Javi. She told Pepa and Camilo about it after and they were also happy that Javi got what he deserved.
Max and Bruno looked at each other smiling. Max took a bite of food and was happy when his hand immediately went back to normal. He flexed it out a bit and said, "Oh, much better."
"What is?"
Max, Bruno, and Dolores turned to see Julieta walk in the kitchen. Max groaned at the thought of more people being involved. He didn't want anyone involved to begin with. "Oh, nothing. I just…uh…hurt my hand and I needed some food to heal me up."
Julieta nodded. "Okay. Makes sense. That's why it's there." She eyed him. "But just out of curiosity…what happened to your hand?"
All 3 of them eyed each other and looked at the ground, not knowing how to answer the question. "Well, clearly it's something big, because you all are acting very weird now. You better tell me now, because I will get it out of one of you one way or another."
Before Max could say anything, Bruno spoke up. "Max ran into Javi at the store and he punched him in the face." Max looked at him and made a face at him. Bruno just shrugged. He didn't care. He didn't think it was that big of a deal.
Julieta gasped and looked at Max. "Oh, Max. Is that true?" Max nodded, a little embarrassed. "How did you even know it was him? What if you just punched some random guy?"
"Oh, trust me, it was him." said Max. "The woman he was with called him by name and I could see Rosa all of over him. When I started talking about her to him, he couldn't deny it."
"Yeah, I forget how much she looks like him, unfortunately."
No one said anything for a while. Everyone just stared at each, not quite knowing what to say. Finally, Max spoke up. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have punched him. I just…I got so mad when I saw him. I couldn't control my anger. He told me he had his reasons for not wanting to be a father. Then he said he might want to be involved if Mirabel wasn't the mother. I snapped."
"He said that?" asked Bruno in shock. Max nodded. "Oh, he's lucky I wasn't with you. He deserved way worse just for that one comment."
"Hmm," said Julieta and she crossed her arms. She looked down and walked up to Max. She looked up at him and slightly smiled. "I don't ever condone violence. But…Bruno is right. He deserves way worse than a punch in the face." She rolled her eyes. "I guess if he comes to my station to be healed, I'll have to heal him. But maybe I'll make something especially for him that tastes awful." She shrugged. "Who said it had to taste good?"
Everyone laughed. They all just stood there for over a minute just dying of laughter. Julieta was still laughing, but managed to get out, "Don't punch someone ever again, but good job!" Julieta gave him a high five.
"Who punched someone?" Everyone turned around to see Mirabel walk in the kitchen. She had been putting Rosa down for a nap. As she closed the door to her room, she could hear Max, Dolores, Bruno, and Julieta laughing. She walked down the stairs and heard Julieta say to someone to not punch someone ever again, but good luck. She was shocked. Her mom was never one to condone violence.
"Uh…" Everyone looked at each other, not having a clue as to what to say.
"Let's give them some privacy." said Julieta. She put her hands on Bruno and Dolores' backs and lead them out of the room.
"Hi, babe. How was it putting Rosa down?"
"Same as always. I nursed her, rocked her, and then put her down. Let's stay on the subject at hand. Was it you that punched someone?" Max nodded. Mirabel groaned. "But, Max, why? And why is my mom telling you good job? She is the last person in the world I would ever think would be okay with that."
Max chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Um…so…please don't be mad at me."
"What did you do? Who did you punch? And why?"
"I was at the store and I saw this man there. He looked very oddly familiar, but I couldn't place it."
Mirabel was confused at first, but then realization hit her. Her eyes widened. There is only one person in the world who her mom would be okay with him punching. It's the only person almost every person in her family had said they wanted to punch. Mirabel said, "Let me guess…he looked familiar, because…he looked like Rosa?"
Max's face turned red in embarrassment. "How did you know?"
"There is literally only one person in this entire world my mom would be okay with you punching. That's why you were all laughing when I came in? They were all happy that you punched…Javi?" She closed her eyes for a second.
"Yes."
Mirabel didn't really know what to think. Max was the kindest, most gentle man she had ever met. She couldn't imagine him hurting a fly, so to imagine him punching an actual human being was a lot to take in. She couldn't believe he would stoop to that level. She breathed shakily for a moment before finally speaking. "Wow. I mean…everyone has always said they wanted to punch Javi, but…I didn't think someone would actually do it." She looked up at Max and crossed her arms. "I didn't think it would actually be you."
"I'm sorry, Mirabel. He told me he had his reasons for not wanting to become a father. He said he…might want to be involved if…you weren't the mother. I lost it." Mirabel closed her eyes for a moment, trying hard to hold back the tears. She was so happy to have Max here as a father figure to Rosa, but the fact that her own father still wanted nothing to do with her was very painful. And to find out she was the reason why? It was too much. "I'm not a violent person, Mira. I really hope you know that. Hearing him say those words and knowing what he did to you made me so angry."
"I know that." she said shakily and wiped the tears that had rolled down her cheeks. She was angry at him over it, but didn't have the energy to fight. Plus, she understood why he did it. She hated fighting with him. They didn't fight that much, but when they did, it was usually only something very minor. Their biggest fight was that first one they had. "I just…I don't want you to think you need to go around fighting my battles."
"That's not what I was doing." He walked up to her and grabbed her cheeks. She was looking down, but he grabbed her chin and pulled it up so she could look him in the eye. "You are the strongest, most capable woman I know. You absolutely can fight your own battles."
More tears formed in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around Max and said into his chest, "I'm the reason he didn't want to be a dad. Would it really be that horrible to have a child with me?"
He wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Mirabel, don't you even think that for a second. Javi has no idea what he's talking about. He is the loser that likes to pretend his child doesn't exist. You are the most amazing mother to that beautiful little girl. Don't you ever forget that. I would be honored to be the father to your child." They pulled apart. "That man is an idiot, so, please, don't even give his words a second thought."
Mirabel nodded. She couldn't promise that, but she would try her hardest. "Did you say anything to him or did you just hit him?"
Max gave her the rundown of what he told Javi. She slowly had a smile spread across her face. To know that Max told him she didn't have a choice but to be a mother and that she was a great mother who actually put her child first was so satisfying. When he finished talking, Mirabel said, "I will say…I'm still not super happy with you for punching someone, but…" She shrugged. "I do appreciate what you said to him. I also appreciate you for standing up for me. Thank you." She wrapped her arms around him again and he did the same. When they pulled apart, she said, "But never do that again!"
Max knew for a fact that would be the last time he'd ever punch someone. If ever did see Javi in town again, he'd turn and walk away. He said all he needed to say to him. He felt bad for upsetting Mirabel, but did he regret giving that man just a fraction of what he deserved? Nope. Absolutely not.
Side note: I do NOT condone violence, especially physical violence. But I think we can all agree this was well deserving. Haha. Thank you to Jane Catt for the inspiration to this chapter :)
