Chapter 7

WELL, to great unforeseen, great remedies, had commented Luis, paraphrasing the saying, When Benja and Cami had privately told him about the baby.

A week had passed and they were on wedding day. Cami closed his eyes and gathered all the courage he could pick up to face that momentous moment, with no family or friends present at the ceremony.

As she walked through the bedroom assigned to her by Benja's family, Cami faced the reality: She was sure that for the Rojas that was as rare as, in fact, it was. Somehow, it was obvious that it was not a normal wedding.

Eager to talk to a friend, Cami had called her classmate at the university, Mica, whom she had not located for her holiday in Spain. He had then called his best friend from the institute, Luisana, who would have approached the wedding if not because he coincided with that of his older sister.

But neither should he be quidered. It wasn't bad enough to be alone... apart from the solitude.

What was not explained was why she had hidden her feelings from Benja throughout the week. He had asked him more than once if everything was going well and she had always responded with joy. He had asked if he bothered her that her mother was unable to attend the wedding and had offered to delay her, despite the fact that it was an unviable option, due to the commitments of one another.

And he had declined Rosalina Rojas's kind offer to help her dress up, aware that she would already be fairly laidback as a hostess, to lock her up with a terrified girlfriend.

-I've seen myself every day since I was four, so I don't see why I'm not going to be able to do it today, -Cami murmured.

Then they called the door and, when he opened, he found himself in front of a beautiful eighteen-year-old woman.

-I'm Jen, one of the bonuses, -he introduced himself. Benja has told me to come in if you need to help you dress up... -he explained while a brown section was moving away from the face.

-You beat me alone!-He laughed and, a second later, he broke to cry, shocked by the mere mention of the name of his future husband.

-You're pregnant, aren't you? -Jeri asked with sympathy, attributing to this state the hyperemotivity of Cami-. Don't worry: I have come prepared," he added after the latter intimidated, while offering him a pack of tissues.

-Thank you.

-It was Benja's idea. Don't give it to me. I assure you that it is a charm, although you will know it better than anyone else.

-Yes... yes clear, -said Cami after entailing crying.

-Are you okay? -he asked him the bonus.

-Yes, although I sometimes feel like one of those drunkenness of time information -I tried to joke Cami.

-I imagine. Normal girlfriends cry, so pregnant women will cry with chants.

-So, do you all know...?

-What are you pregnant? -Jeri completed with joy-. Most likely! Luis told Guido, Guido to Jody, and Jody to me. But I also heard it from my cousin Helen, who says she learned about Coco; so...

-I get an idea, -said Cami, who had recognized the names of several of Benja's brothers.

-Do you care? Not to us, at all. It's very romantic, don't you think?

-That everyone knows?

-Being pregnant and getting married. As to what to know…

-I suppose it is better for everyone to be whispering and murmuring.

-The Rojas are not like that," Jeri said firmly. Well, will I take it? Benja ordered me to do so, under the death penalty.

-If you've told you that... -Cami replied-. So, has Benja already arrived? Is it later than I think? -he asked suddenly.

-Well, in six minutes... -Jeri looked at the clock-... and thirty-five seconds you will begin to delay you. But that is almost obligatory in a bride.

-Six minutes!

-And twenty-eight seconds, -Jeri said. It will be better to start washing your face. You have red eyes.

Sixteen minutes and twenty-five seconds later, Cami was ready. I had preferred not to put on much makeup and do not have any perfume, as the smell of cosmetics was one of the things that caused her nausea on those days.

Finally, he went down to the back garden of the Rojas, where these and some friends waited for the appearance of the bride, who appeared with a cream silk dress, up to the ankles, and a tiara of orange roses on the hair.

At first he sketched a broad, rigid, unnatural smile, but when he saw Benja in his black suit, the smile faded completely. Little by little he advanced between the rows where the guests sat, without taking Benja's eyes, and his face was reflecting fear, confidence and, finally, a serene feeling of hope.

Benja noticed that her chest swelled as Cami approached. The ten minutes he had been waiting for her on the altar had punished her nerves as if the delay had been ten hours.

Since Cami lacked a lady of honor, he had not chosen any man to accompany him until the improvised altar. In the course of those horrible minutes, he had not stopped looking at Thomas, who had spent endless weeks waiting for his daughter to be strong enough to leave the hospital, to find out, at the last moment, that her unbalanced mother had appeared and taken her away without leaving any trace of her whereabouts.

Benja warned how much the suffering had beheld his brother's expression and thought that waiting ten minutes was somewhat ridiculous in comparison. And yet... What if Cami had changed his mind and planted him in front of his whole family? What if he escaped and stole him from his baby too?

Throughout the week, he had noticed something bothering her. She had given him the opportunity to confess him on several occasions, but she had refused. What would you be hiding?, would you be going back over the wedding or baby? Cami used to be frank; he just looked her in the face to warn of her mood. But in the last week he had been desperately watertight.

And at the time of the wedding, it was being delayed...

Then, just as he was going to explode, the guest murmur was silenced and Cami appeared there, along with his cousin Jeri, who was covering up a mischievous smile with his hands.

The ceremony passed in a nebula. Father Daniel Collins, an old friend of the family, officiated the service without making great mistakes or forgetting about relevance. Cami assumed that he had taken the votes properly, but after the moment he barely remembered a word.

And the ceremony was just the beginning. There was the reception party, with music, dancing and a multitude of crossed and shouting conversations.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying the cuteness.

Cami looked like it too. And that would have been true, had they not felt so overwhelmed: It was wonderful that they welcomed her with so much affection in that family... but they had introduced her to so many people, who barely remembered the name of some; the food was delicious... but nothing knew well at all, due to pregnancy; and everyone wanted to talk to the girlfriend… but she kept fearing that some innocent and well-meaning relative would ask her some question about her and Benja that she could not answer.

And in the meantime, Benja had not stopped taking her hand, offering him more food and telling him the name of the relative to whom they had already presented her twice. He hadn't stopped looking at her when she had moved away from him, as if her well-being was at all times her only concern. And he hadn't stopped smiling and joking with his brothers. She was the perfect husband. Her husband.

Cami could not help but wonder how she would feel knowing that she would always be beside her the rest of her life and somehow intuited that she would feel in glory.

«But he doesn't want that» he remembered. «This is only for the good of the baby. And if I think another thing is that I am idiot».

He had to leave. He murmured an incomprehensible excuse and moved away from the bustle of the guests to take refuge inside the house.

The afternoon was still warm. Everyone was outside or busy in the kitchen so the other rooms were quiet. Cami advanced through the living room. He felt vulnerable. He was afraid that someone would approach her; that Benja would approach her.

«I can't see it. Not until he is quieter; but why am I so nervous?» he asked. Then he thought that if he had had a friend nearby, she would have responded that it was normal to be nervous on the day of the wedding.

He climbed the stairs to all the way. Although it had five large bedrooms, it was not an elegant house. He had seen too many children grow up full of vitality, not to have suffered some deterioration; but until the last of the corners he had the warmth of the home that she had never had in her California home, with her mother.

Yes, she felt very comfortable at the home of the Rojas.

Cami entered the bedroom she had used the previous days. He was indecisive. A part of her did not want Benja to discover her there alone. He was afraid to ask him what happened to him and to end up confessing that he was falling in love with him…

He imagined falling by a horrible, dark precipice. No, that could ruin everything. Benja wanted a good mother for her son; a woman for whom he could feel respect, and not a crazy man unbalanced by passion.

On the other hand, he wanted Benja to discover it; to break into the bedroom immediately and ask him to explain why he had left. He wanted Benja to close the door and narrow it between his arms while covering it with his mouth in a hungry kiss.

Then he heard a baby cry from the room next to him. He didn't miss her, because he knew that some of the bonuses had taken her little ones. If someone went up to calm the baby…

Cami knew she had her cheeks burning and, looking in the mirror, she saw her eyes shimmering with concern. He feared Benja would surprise her in that state, but if any of her bonuses went through there and found the bride trembling, nervously twisting the silk of her dress, it would be much worse.

He decided to go to the room from which the cry came, where he found two cunitas. In both there were two babies, several months each, who slept comfortably. The bed, on the other hand, was a much smaller baby, very few weeks old: It was settled between two pillows, but one was covering part of his face, which was why he had broken to cry.

Cami raised her ernished and accommodated her in her lap. It was obvious that she was a girl: The pijamita and the pink blanket left no room for doubt. He thought that being pregnant could have impregnated her with an indefinable maternal aroma, as the little one fell asleep within a few seconds.

-Very well, beautiful.

She put her back on the bed, carefully, and then looked for something better than the pillows to accommodate her. He was afraid that he would hang between the two and the girl would suffocate. On the other hand, the room did not offer many options, unless you made a gap in either of the two cribs. But those babies were too big for that baby and, if they moved, they could be more dangerous than the pillows.

After raying around various places and not being satisfied with any, Cami decided to leave the girl where she had found her and left the puntillas room, excited about the idea that she could soon embrace her own baby.

-Cami, finally I find you! -Benja surprised her-. Where did you get in? -he whispered fondly to the ear, surrounding her by the waist with an arm.

-I... heard a baby cry,- Cami replied, for not answering that he had moved away from him because he wanted more and more.

-Which? -Benja frowned-. I will notify her mother.

-I don't know who it is from. But she's already asleep, she replied. Then, however, the girl broke to cry again.

-Let's go, -Benja said, throwing her out of a hand into the room-, you say she's a girl?

-Yes. Come on, it had a pink pijamita...

-But Linda is with Kayla -Benja was thinking- And Brad and Michael have children, -he added.

-Benja, I do what I can, but your family is huge, -Cami apologized. I will learn all of your names.

-No, no, I didn't say that for that reason. I just wondered... -Benja stopped and looked at her in the eyes-. That's why you're gone? You won't think you're doing it wrong, right?

- Remember everyone's names and relate them to faces? Yes!

-I speak in general: Of the ceremony and of being my wife.

-Me…

-Because you've been perfect, Cami. Everyone is delighted with you. Everyone says you're very beautiful, -Benja said, while taking a step toward her. My uncle Roy told me ten minutes ago that I am the most fortunate man in the world, and you know what?

-What? -Cami asked with a hilt of voice.

I start thinking you're right.

She welcomed her between her arms and tilted her head to leave her mouths a few centimeters away. I was going to kiss her. And it was not going to be the conventional kiss of the end of the ceremony or the one that had given him in public at the airport, but a real kiss, in private, as it was due.

He separated his lips to taste him, ready to fan the flame that was on his inside every time Benja rozaba her. He closed his eyes, felt the whisper of his breath... and the girl's cry returned them to reality.

-The girl, -Cami said.

-Doesn't look very happy, right?

Suddenly, the baby's crying seemed to drown.

-Run, she's sure to have colded between the pillows,- said Cami as she climbed the stairs in a hurry.

Benja ran after her, forcing herself to repress her frustration. God had to be punishing him for some reason to give him the opportunity to kiss that beautiful woman and leave him with honey on his lips when he was already lit by passion.

Whom was the baby heck of? Who were the parents, who walked away from their daughter without making sure they could hear her?

-Do you see it? "Cami was putting her in her arms when Benja reached the room she was doing as a nursery." Do you see how you got to collize between the pillows, my life? Benja, don't you think it's too small to be in a bed? Who is it from?

-No... I don't know -Benja approached, surprised. He then saw a pack of diapers at the foot of the bed and a bottle of papilla with a handwritten note. God! -he exclaimed after starting the note and reading it at full speed.

-What's the matter? -Cami asked him, alarmed.

Benja was left white at first, but had already regained color. He gave the note to Cami, who read it without letting go to the girl: Keep it, Thomas. I can't take care of her anymore, Cherie.

-It's Tomás's girl -Benja went down the stairs from four to four. Thomas, where is Thomas! -he shouted.

-What's the matter? -Cami asked him, alarmed.

Benja was left white at first, but had already regained color. He gave the note to Cami, who read it without letting go to the girl: Keep it, Thomas. I can't take care of her anymore, Cherie.

-It's Tomás's girl -Benja went down the stairs from four to four. Thomas, where is Thomas! -he shouted.

-If there's one thing about your wedding going to the background for a lost and recovered baby,- Benja said, -It's that you get rid of the guests before. Because you already wanted to leave, right?

-Yes -Cami acknowledged, although he had not planned to go to the most luxurious suite in one of the most expensive hotels in Philadelphia. Three of Benja's brothers had been so horrified to learn that they were not going to have a honeymoon that they had paid the newlyweds for two nights there, by surprise. Thus, while some were celebrating Amy's return, Cami had packed her bags to settle into the hotel, rather than to go to Benja's apartment as planned.

Felipe, Thomas and Coco had assumed that a couple of newlyweds would need nothing more than a bed and room service to entertain themselves. But, having not agreed on any sexual commitment between the two, it was not so easy to be distracted – above all, distracted from Benja’s proximity.

Perhaps, after all, it would have been better to continue with the family, which was celebrating all the above that Amy was again among them.

-Let's start with this,- Benja said, who should also be thinking of his brother. We have even more reason to give, now that Thomas has recovered Amy.

The bottle was uncorked and the bubbling liquid ascended through the two glass glasses.

-Everything has been so fast,- said Cami. I was waiting for some of your bonuses to come in, apologizing for leaving the girl alone, and it suddenly turns out to be one of the best news for the whole family for months.

-Maybe the best - Benja said as he handed Cami a drink - because we were all having a bad time with Thomas. But it's not the only good news: Our wedding and our baby are at the top of the list, don't you think?

Benja was still behaving like the perfect husband and ideal father and she didn't know how to handle him. There was an obvious possibility: To surrender, to allow oneself to fall in love. That would be simple... but I knew it was useless to be excited about.

-We have to offer -He reminded him.

-Yes, of course... Why?

-For us? -Benja proposed, staring her in the eyes.

-For us,- Cami repeated. It sounded great. A private, special, warm toast... He took his lips toward the cup and, suddenly, reality shattered that moment of dream. Benja, we are now alone.