lot of time for speeches. Once they all saw the kid, the time for build-up was over. Maybe I should’ve brought her into the house in a more concealed fashion. For the next hidden baby unveiling, I’d work on my technique.
Wrong. I was never doing this again. Ever. Not in this life or any other.
“You take that back.” I marched up to her. She was much closer to my height in those sex stilts. “I uphold my position with the utmost dedication and respect for the law. You, on the other hand, do not. Who got a speeding ticket today? On a feast day such as this.”
More gasps rang out, and I noted every one with glee as I absorbed Gina’s murderous expression.
“For thirteen miles over the speed limit. You’re no better than a common scofflaw.”
She poked my chest. “Did your lackey call you immediately?”
“Yes, as he should have. I was bringing my child to this event, only to get word that my best friend was no better than any other driving…violator,” I finished as my brother let out a loud laugh that I could’ve recognized anywhere.
I shifted toward him. “Don’t start.”
Mason held up his hands in apology. “I’m enjoying this show. Can’t wait to hear where you got a baby.”
“The usual place,” Gina retorted hotly. “Remember that police convention last winter? The one he couldn’t take me to because he said, and I quote, the city got quite cold.”
I cleared my throat. “It’s a dangerous environment.”
“Oh, right, you want to put me under glass while you go off to meet some woman who you probably don’t even know her last name and make a kid with her. Typical Brooks BS. You willingly invited that woman you didn’t even know into our lives forever.” Either it was a trick of her fancy mascara or tears sparkled on her lashes.
I hadn’t seen Gina cry in…ever.
She’d never cried in front of me. Not even close.
I swallowed hard over the lump in my throat. “Can you all give us a second, please? We won’t be long.”
“Dios mio.” Some elderly uncle of Gina’s shuffled by with a bemused smile. “I’ll go, but this was better than Jerry Springer. When’s the paternity test?”
“He won’t take one,” Gina said low enough for only me to hear.
I didn’t argue because I hadn’t taken it yet, but I would. Absolutely.
Not that it mattered. Samantha was my daughter either way. I wasn’t a man who could turn his affection on and off because of words on a page. She needed me and, well, maybe I needed her too.
I turned to see if she’d been carted out by the same relative who had been holding her and instead came face to face with Bonnie.
I cleared my throat. “You don’t have to tell me you’re disappointed.”
“Good, because I’m not. We all make mistakes.”
“Are you serious?” Gina demanded. “You’re on me if I don’t tell you every single thing I do, and you give him a free pass for this?”
“Mija, look at him. Really look.” Bonnie grabbed my face and shifted me toward Gina. It was probably the most uncomfortable moment in my life, and I’d had more than a few of them.
Gina frowned. “So? He feels bad.”
“Why do you think he feels bad? Just a second.” Thankfully, she released me before directing her attention to the stragglers. “Frankie, Gabby, out. Your sister needs you. Not this sister. And your brother should be here anytime. Go outside and wait for him.”
I cocked a brow. “Damien is coming?”
In the several years I’d been friends with Gina, I’d only met her older brother a few times. He was a carpenter and often traveled with a philanthropic group to build homes for the disadvantaged.
“He’s moving back,” Frankie informed me, tossing back her thick dark hair. As always, she was clad in designer clothes and was coolly beautiful as she assessed me with her shrewd dark eyes. “You might need a house when Gina torches yours. I’ll give you his card.”
I had no response to that. Maybe I should take it just in case.
“It’s twenty-nine degrees out, mami.” Gabby huffed in disgust. “You want us to take a pregnant woman into the cold?”
Gina gave me a hard stare. “Yeah, cold is really bad for us Ramos women.”
“Do something with her and yourselves and give these two thickheaded people some space.”
They dispersed.
The last one to go was Gina’s dad, who pointed his fingers at his eyes and then pointed them at me to indicate he was watching