After Hector and the twins stepped inside the house, they gently closed the door, so they wouldn't wake up anyone.
"Is Imelda still awake or has she gone to bed?"
"At this rate, she's probably rocking the baby to sleep," Oscar shrugged.
"Or singing to the baby," Felipe suggested.
Hector chuckled. "Well, either way, she must be in the nursery, then." The musician bade them goodnight before he descended upstairs.
When he reached the nursery, he found his wife gently, rocking their daughter. She was singing his lullaby to her. The lovely sight brought a smile to his face.
"… Until I'm in your arms, again,"
"Remember me…," Imelda sang as she held her daughter. When the baby fell asleep, Imelda stood up from the rocking chair. She noticed her husband in the doorway. The woman looked nervous because she wondered if he was still mad at her. Judging by the small smile on his face, it didn't look like it. She put the baby inside the baby's cradle and kissed her on the forehead. Then, her husband quietly approached her.
"Hola," her husband whispered.
"Hola," she responded, quietly.
"Can we talk in our bedroom?" The musician whispered.
When the couple went into their bedroom, they both sat down on their bed.
Héctor had told her everything that he heard from the twins.
"They told you!?" Imelda whispered, horrified. Her shock turned into frustration. "Oh, just wait until I get my hands on them!" She was surprised when her lover wrapped his hands around hers. It softened her anger a bit.
"Imelda, Imelda, I'm glad they said something," Héctor spoke gently.
"You are?"
"Yes," he nodded. "Otherwise, I never would have found out. Why didn't you tell me this before?"
Imelda didn't want to talk but the musician wasn't giving her a choice to be silent. She breathed out a sigh.
"Because…because I was scared," she finally admitted. "I hate to say it but it was true. That man was your best friend. Because he was so disrespectful, egotistical, and self-absorbed, I figured that anybody who's his friend has those same qualities, too."
"Imelda!" Héctor quietly protested. He was about to say something when she held her hand up.
"I didn't know you, at that time," she continued. "I had to keep my guard up. If I entertained myself with the idea of us being in a relationship and getting married, it would come to ruin. You would find fault with me and think 'Oh no wonder Ernesto can't stand you!' Then you would stop loving me, fight with me, and find someone else better than me."
Héctor took Imelda's hands gently into his hands. The warmth of his strong and calloused fingers was enough to make their hearts flutter.
"Imelda, I would never stop loving you," the songwriter spoke gently and lowly. "Yes, Ernesto was my friend but don't think that I approve of his womanizing ways." He sighed. "Believe me, I was not happy when I learned that he was abusing you and that he was seeing other women behind your back. When I learned that he felt no remorse for his sin or that he didn't care that I was kicked out of the band, that was when I realized that I no longer wanted to be friends with him." Just thinking about his last moments with his so-called best friend made him a bit angry."
"Lo siento," Imelda whispered, sympathetically. She put his hand on his back.
"It's all right," Hector said, trying to smile. "I got over it." Then he went back to one on the other topic. "As for us and our relationship, I do not know what to expect in the future. All I hope is that we can spend the rest of our lives raising our daughter and giving her a real family life by getting married. I know that we will have arguments, but I would never find fault with you. And I certainly will never stop loving you!"
"Nunca?"
"Nunca!"
Imelda looked into her lover's eyes. Seeing how much he meant those words, brought comfort to her that Héctor would not become a mean man like his ex-best friend.
The couple shared a hug, feeling relieved that the burden they had felt for the past several days was off their backs.
"Your uncle and I went to the state court today," she began after she pulled away from him a bit. "I told the judge about our situation. The whole story."
"What did he say?"
"He said the best thing we could do is common law marriage," the woman answered. "If we stayed together for at least five years, we may be considered for marriage without having a formal registration as a civil or religious marriage. "
"Is that all?" Héctor asked.
"It's the only option that the court has for us," Imelda answered.
"So we wouldn't be playing house anymore?"
"In a way, yes. I know you wanted to be married in a church but, this is the best-"
"That's fine. It's better than nothing."
They shared another hug and Hector kissed her on the cheek.