Pennsylvania weather has been coming and going, but it happens to be one of the warmer days and Ricardo looks wistfully out of the window while his mind wanders from the work he's trying to put into handling 3LW business. "You know what," he mumbles, standing up. "Let's see."
He peeks into the twins' bedroom and smiles softly, finding Clara fast asleep, her lips parted and fingers twitching against her chest. "Hm, alright," he says, tiptoeing away from her. But when he checks on Mariana, she's sitting up, blinking at him curiously. "Hey, little girl," he says, reaching out for her. "Wanna come outside with Papa?"
She wiggles and squirms as he lifts her up, adjusting her clothes where they'd bunched up while she napped. He chuckles and kisses her before walking out to the front door. The two of them stand in the sun and he breathes in deeply, enjoying the slow hints of spring approaching. "We're going to have so much fun this year," he says to her quietly, nuzzling into her. "I promise you."
There's a lot going on, many stresses. A lot of heartache and tension. But he vows to do his best to keep it away from the kids, away from Alicia, away from Sofia. Life will be good, and successful, and happy, no matter what he has to do to accomplish it.
They're still standing there when Alicia and Andre come home from running errands, Andre running up to his father, chattering happily about how much help he was in picking groceries out and everything they'd seen while out. The four of them stand and watch as the sun slowly sets, its brilliance fading into soft night. Ricardo looks over to find Alicia already staring at him, and they exchange soft smiles. A quiet promise to have more moments like these, no matter how busy they both may be.