An Evening
"Papi," the little voice murmured from the bundle of blankets on the bed in the darkened room. He turned in the doorway, standing in the rectangle of light that washed into the bedroom.
The walls were painted dark blue with stripes of red, the carpet on the floor was a series of little roads and race tracks instead of a pretty pattern. There was a toy box in one corner that he knew was overflowing with hot-wheels and action figures. A bookshelf crammed with picture books and DVDs of Disney movies. Dragging his gaze from the sweep of the room, Dom let them settle on the small shape of his daughter as she rolled over in her bed.
Dark eyes peeked out from beneath Toy Story sheets, liquid in the light that slipped from the hallway behind him.
"What is it?" he asked patiently.
"Can you tell me a stowy?" Her tiny voice was plaintive and he sighed, rubbing a hand over his head and trying not to remember a time when this would not be what he was doing at 8 pm on a Saturday night.
"You already had a story."
"I had a book. Want a stowy. About you and Mami…" She peered up at him again with those damn big eyes of hers. "Pwease?"
"Okay," he relented, crossing the room to sit on the edge of her bed as he tried to wrack his brain for a story about him and Letty that would be proper for a four-year-old's ears. "How about the first time Mami and Papi met?"
She looked thoughtful. "Onwy if der's no kissin'."
He laughed and shook his head. Now if only she'd keep that opinion about kissing in about twelve years or so… "No kissing, I promise."
"Okay," she agreed happily, settling down with her head on her pillow.
"Well you know Papi and Aunt Mia grew up in LA right? We lived in this little neighborhood, not too far away from the store where your grandma, Papi's mother, worked and the garage that your grandpa, Papi's Dad, ran. There were lots of other houses like ours on the block and some other families. But no one who had any kids Aunt Mia's age. Papi had his own friends to play with, but your Aunt Mia didn't like the same things so she wanted a girl friend to play with."
He glanced down at his daughter, who had her eyes still wide open, paying rapt attention. Clearing his throat, Dom remembered back as he spoke.
"So one day there was a moving truck on the street, and Aunt Mia was really curious so she made Papi go down the street with her and see who was moving in. When we got down the street there was a man and a woman taking things inside, but there was also a little girl, just a few years older than you, sitting on the hood of a car."
"Mami?" she asked cautiously.
"That's right. And Aunt Mia was really excited cause now there was another girl in the neighborhood and she looked about the same age. She really wanted someone to play with, so she asked the girl what her name was."
"Well Mami wasn't shy but she wasn't really talkative like you or your Aunt Mia, so she just kind of stared at Aunt Mia with those dark eyes for a long time. And she looked at me too and you know… Papi was pretty annoyed cause he didn't want another girl around and he was too big to play with little girls so he didn't say anything either."
"Dat wasn't nice, Papi. Wat wrong wif girls?"
He smiled, tweaking her little nose. "Nothing. But see, Papi didn't understand back then. He thought girls were silly and only liked things like dolls."
"Not Mami! Not me!"
"That's right. Turned out your Mami didn't like girl stuff at all. Mia kept pestering her and drew her out of her shell little by little. Found out her name was Letty. Saw her riding her bicycle and took her's out to ride with her… did lots of little things like Aunt Mia does to try and be her friend." He smiled, his eyes crinkling with the memory. His sister hadn't really changed all that much. "And it worked. And one day Mami started coming over to play. But she wouldn't touch Aunt Mia's dolls or play dress up. And she never wore girly clothes or looked like she brushed her hair. But she really liked to listen to Papi's Dad talk about cars. She liked looking at the magazines with cars in them and she liked to learn about engines. She liked to come to the garage. Soon she was there all the time, just like she always had been. Like she'd always been a part of our family. A part of our lives."
"And den you gots mawwied?" the little girl asked around a noisy yawn.
"Well… not quite then but eventually yeah. And then we had you." He leaned to press a kiss to the head haloed with dark curls. The child's eyes had fallen shut, her lashes little dark crescents on a face still round with baby fat. He stroked a hand over the gentle curve of her cheek and smiled, and wondered why he'd ever wanted to do anything else at 8 pm on a Saturday night.