Chapter 248 - Accept it, you love her - mtres
Anibal
He was furious. I saw Gustavo looking at his phone. We stood in front of him. We were all stubborn, Shirly didn't have to put up with me as much. But the other girls, some more than others.
"If you drink that glass of liquor, I'll break your face."
I told him. He hadn't drunk since we took him into the house. His detox was tough, he was only twelve. He looked at us.
"Arnold, whatever it is, it's not worth falling back into alcohol."
"Is it because of this?"
Cherry and I looked at the phone in Gustavo's hands. There were pictures of Guadalupe with a group of friends next to a guy I'd seen at the ranch.
"You brought this on yourself, you idiot!" Daniel said to him. "You left her."
"She ended it!" Gustavo grabbed the bottle, capped it, then took the glass and drank it.
"What did she end, if you never proposed anything to her? Tell me, how does that new mode work?"
"No..."
"Arnold," Daniel spoke. "One of the few universal rules about women is knowing what they are. They need to feel like they hold a position: girlfriend, lover, friend, wife. If you don't label the relationship, you'll never have it."
"Lupe is a great woman," I said. "Why is it so hard for you to give her the place she's held all this time?" Our younger brother looked at us.
"You stopped seeing other women because what you had with your Tadpole was enough. That, my friend, is love," Daniel commented.
"You respected her even after ending what you didn't have. That, my dear friend, is love," Gustavo said, approaching him.
"I'd bet my black balls you haven't been with another woman because only her scent, her lips, her skin are what you want. That, my dear friend, is called love," I said. Arnold crossed his arms.
"When she finds out what I've been, what I've done, she won't want me near."
"You have to tell her, wait for her decision, that's important. Besides, she has an idea of who you are." Gustavo patted him on the back.
"What you have is fear," Daniel said. "We've all gone through that at some point."
"If my father finds out I have a weakness, he'll use it against me."
"And you think we would allow that?" I said. His eyes welled up. "Do you think we would leave you? Do you trust Roland, Simon, and Miguel so little, our mentors? I'd bet my balls they would declare war before letting anything happen to you or who you love. Don't you trust your brothers? Don't you trust me?"
"Idiot, don't waste time and get your woman back."
"I don't want to hurt her."
"You can't decree that, no one here can, but I'm tired of your damn bad mood and you need to apologize to Lina," Gustavo ordered.
"Yes, I treated her very badly."
"It's time to go," Daniel commented. "I want to see my Cabbage."
"And I want to see my Sweetheart," I said, seeing Arnold smile.
"Without a doubt, I want to be in my Queen's arms."
"Yes, I need to clear things up with my Cinnamon-skinned Mermaid."
"Is that why you named your lands Cinnamon Skin?"
A few days ago, we all decided to buy land. My ranch will be called The Enchantment, and he named his Cinnamon Skin. The idiot didn't say anything, just smiled and left the office.
"This fool is really messed up," Gustavo exclaimed. "Well, my lands will be called The Queen."
"You were the last one. They will be my wedding gift."
"Roland already has his designs," Daniel said.
"Let's go, my sister and nephews are waiting for me at the airport."
"Are you staying at the ranch?" The four of us left and reached the parking lot.
"No, this time I'm staying at the apartment in Blanco. I'm going with my sister and four nephews. I won't abuse the boss."
"Me too, it's time for Gladis to decorate our house in the United States."
"Can we leave now?"
"Now you got an itch in your balls?" I said. "Well, hold on, we're leaving at ten tonight."
......
Guadalupe
The weight of someone on my bed made me alert. When I realized who it was, I saw Arnold with his angry face that was scary, but I didn't show it.
"What are you doing here?"
"Did you kiss him?"
"Kiss who?"
We hadn't seen each other in three weeks and that was the only thing he could think to ask me? Men!
"Don't mess with me, Guadalupe. Did you kiss anyone?"
"No, and I don't have to..." My blondie's mouth took over mine.
"Why did you do it?"
I looked at him, confused for a moment. My father must be in the barn milking with my brother, my mother in the kitchen of the bosses. It must be past five in the morning.
"Did you see the pictures and that's why you're here? I'm not your property."
"Wrong, Tadpole." He got on top of me. "You are. You are only mine."
......
Veronica
Today was December twenty-third. We would celebrate with the employees today, and tomorrow, the twenty-fourth, would be our more intimate gathering. I had never seen so many gifts in my life, not just those from the workers, but ours too. The Christmas tree was overflowing. Everyone who arrived had left their gifts there.
This filled me with tremendous happiness. We had today's event all planned out; it would be a dinner with lots of food, and we would hand out the gifts from the ranches. We needed to be at the place where we celebrated my father's weddings by six. The nativity scene I had made was immense; that's where we left the gifts for the best workers from the four ranches and for the children who diligently completed all the novenas I organized daily. It was beautiful.
After dinner, at eight, we would hand out the gifts so the staff could return home. Additionally, distributing all the gifts was tedious, and we would handle that. We would give each worker four gifts. Among us, we decided to give very nice household gifts focused on the master bedroom.
Next year, the gifts would be for the living room, then the dining room, and each year we would choose a different part of the house. The good thing was that next year, El Comienzo would join us, and from what I heard, they were buying more land. The number of gifts would increase. Roland believed that the happier you kept the workers, the more loyal they would be. And these gifts fostered camaraderie.
In bed, I watched my children. They weren't dressed alike, that was reserved for the twenty-fourth. But I had dressed them beautifully. Roland was showering, and I had gotten ready before changing my little tornadoes. Liam was asleep. Two days ago, we got him glasses. I had noticed that he fell a lot while crawling and didn't progress like his siblings. When we took him to the ophthalmologist, they confirmed he had a vision deficiency, which was normal given his condition. We had his glasses made right away, and now my chubby boy looked even more adorable. I showered them with kisses.
"And what about a kiss for the creator of those beautiful children?" Roland asked.
"Jealous, you know yours are special," I replied.
"Beautiful," he said with that voice that makes me melt. His clothes were on the bed: jeans, a blue plaid shirt, his boots, and hat. He wouldn't part with that hat for anything. He kissed me, the rascal touched my butt, then put on his jeans and sat on the edge of the bed.
As soon as he did, Dante crawled over to his side. Enrique wanted in too, and they ended up lying on their dad and piling on top of him. The two played with him, the poor guy flattened. The game my husband played with our three boys, because he didn't do it with his princess, involved squashing them a bit. It made my babies laugh, and the three would climb on their dad to squish him.
Liam was still fast asleep. I picked him up and put him in the stroller, covering him with his blanket. Then I picked up Victoria, sat her down, and put on her thick red headband. The bow looked precious with her white dress.
"You're making her very coquettish," Roland commented, still playing with the boys.
"We're going to be late."
"I've got two moles on top of me."
We laughed at the sound of our children's laughter. I kissed my princess and put her in her crib next to her brother. I went to get Dante, who was the ringleader of all the mischief.
"He got your leadership skills," I said, putting him in the stroller. Roland handed me Enrique after giving him a kiss. I did the same, and the five of us waited for Dad to finish getting ready.
"You look handsome," I said.
"You devour me with your eyes, Beautiful."
"If I had time, I'd be licking that delicious piece of meat."
Seeing him look at me lustfully was delightful. He adjusted that part of his body, and I burst out laughing.
"Let's go, we can't be late. You're such a tease."
"You had to make a comment," he said as we took the elevator down, laughing.
People arrived gradually, with appetizers brought by the hired waiters and drinks. There were two long tables for each ranch. The bosses of each ranch sat with their staff; my brother sat with my father at Las Alondras.
Every day, my father seemed more rejuvenated. I didn't even respond to Santi's comment. I couldn't imagine my dad like that. My children were in the arms of their godparents, grandparents, uncles, and everyone who wanted to hold them. Arnold came over and handed me Enrique to change.
"This little guy knows when I'm holding him. He spends hours in everyone's arms and as soon as I hold him, he poops," he said. I gave him a playful slap, and he smiled. He hadn't left Lupe's side since they arrived.
"Now, is it serious?"