Valentine Vengeance

"I've come for Bianca's answer." I said as I stepped up in front of him.

He lowered his chin to his chest and glared at me for a long moment.

"Her answer to what, culero?" He finally asked.

"Whether or not she will live with me while she goes to college."

"She is my little girl, cabron." He yelled. "You ask her to live with you? What about to marry you, eh? Is she not good enough for a wife?"

I have no idea how I did it, but I caught that bat as it seemed to fall into my palm with a meaty thwack just inches from my face.

"However she will have me." I said, holding his eyes. "Husband. Boy toy. I don't care. I just want to know if she will have me or not."

"Pinche cabron." He spat after a moment trying to wrest the bat away from me for another swing.

"Listen to what I am saying." I said. "I will be her husband if that is what she wants. Do you hear? What she wants. Well, what she and Llamita want."

Mr. Perez began swearing sulfurously then and tried to kick me since he couldn't wrest the bat from me.

"I don't want to hurt you." I said.

"That puta has been nothing but trouble for Mejita." He said. "She was always getting my little girl in trouble. Always! And now look what she has done!"

"Papi." A sweet voice said from just inside the screen door. Just the one word, but it was music to my ears.

"Go back inside, Meja." Mr. Perez said. "I will deal with this perro."

"Papi." Bianca said again.

"No!" Mr. Perez shouted. "No!"

"Papi, he has a right to know." Bianca opened the screen door.

Mr. Perez stopped kicking and pulling on the bat and looked back and forth between Bianca and I several times.

"Fine." He said. "Tell him. Then I kill him."

"Tell me what?" I asked.

"Come in." Bianca still held the door. Her face didn't give anything away.

When I entered, Mrs. Perez was standing in nearby. I greeted her, trying to get on at least one parent's good side. She didn't say a word but just stared at me with her arms folded beneath her shelf of bosom.

"Papi, you come in here too." Bianca was saying. "Now! Come away from there and put that bat down! You need to be here with Mama while I tell him. Papi, if you swing that bat, I will call policidad myself!"

A life sized Jesus hung from a cross and filled one corner of the room where Mrs. Perez stood. On a small table in front of the crucifixion a statue that I guess was supposed to represent his mother, Mary, was amid a forest of candles. A big Bible, too big to carry under an arm, sat on the coffee table.

Mr. Perez finally came in answer to his daughter's summons and I eyed him as he pushed past me with the bat still in his hands. Mrs. Perez said something in rapid spanish that I didn't catch. Mr. Perez grunted and sat in what I figured must have been his chair and set the bat down beside it. Mrs. Perez perched on the edge of a smaller chair beside him.

"Sit." Bianca said, steering me towards the sofa behind the huge Bible.

"I missed you." I said, everything else I had planned to say disappearing from my mind now that I was with her.

Bianca smiled faintly and glanced at her parents.

"Brandon, I need to tell you something."

"What happened to 'Amante', Meja?" I asked, hoping to make that smile wider. Instead it faded completely.

"Don't call me that." Bianca said. "It means 'daughter' and is completely inappropriate under the circumstances."

"Sorry." I said, glancing at her parents who were scowling at me. "I didn't mean any disrespect. I just sort of thought it was a nickname."

"It's fine." Bianca shook her head. "But, now isn't the time for it."

"I can see that." I replied. "Look, Bianca, I just wanted to tell you that I meant everything I said to you. I know you wanted me to ask you again at graduation, but I can't wait that long. I love you. I miss you. Will you at least consider being in my life and letting me be in yours?"

"Brandon, I'm pregnant."

It took a moment to register what she had said. Then, I felt a big goofy smile spread across my face. But, the smile faded as I considered the date.

"Bianca, if this is an April Fool's joke, it's not funny."

"It's no joke." Bianca said. "And it's not funny."

"But, that's great." I started to smile again and stopped since she wasn't smiling. "Isn't it?"

"Brandon, we aren't married." Bianca said.

"So?" I blinked at her. "We can fix that if you want."

Bianca caught her breath and I heard sounds from her parents.

"Brandon, stop and think." Bianca said. "What is it that you are saying?"

I tried to read Bianca's face. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she didn't seem to be as happy about the news as I was. Did she not want to get married? Did she want to? Was I supposed to do some extravegant gesture, kneeling with a ring? Was I supposed to ask her father for permission first?

Wait, what about Amber?

"Does Amber know?" I asked, frowning at her.

"No." Bianca shook her head. "I haven't been able to talk to her."

"It is none of that puta's business." Mr. Perez spat.

Bianca winced and then looked sad. We were adults, damn it! But, I sensed that this wasn't the time to push it.

"Bianca," I said, reaching for her hand. "I think this is great news. And I am really happy about it. I want to be a part of your life, and our baby's, however we all decide works best."

I tried to tell her without spelling it out that I would take care of telling Amber. She must have caught something, because she squeezed my fingers before pushing my hand away.

"Mr. and Mrs. Perez." I stood. "Thank you for allowing me to talk to Bianca."

"Where is it you go?" Mrs. Perez asked suspiciously.

"I need to let Bianca think about whether she wants to marry me." I said. "And I have to tell... my parents."

Mrs. Perez frowned even deeper and glanced at Bianca and then her husband who was still glaring at me as if he could make me spontaneously combust with the power of his mind.

"So be it." She said finally. "Tell who you must and we will speak of this again later."

Mr. Perez turned his glower on his wife for a moment and then grunted. I held out my hand to Bianca and, when she took it, pulled her to her feet. I didn't let go as I walked to the door.

"Meja, you stay." Mr. Perez said then.

"Yes, Papi." Bianca said.

While I would rather have taken her with me, I could work with not. I just wanted a chance to say something without an audience.

"I'm going to Amber now." I murmured as I turned to face her. "She should know. Anything you want me to tell her?"

Bianca glanced at her parents who were staring at us.

"Tell her I love her." Bianca whispered. "And I miss her."

"What about me?" I grinned. "Don't you love me and miss me? Just a little bit?"

Bianca dropped my hand and opened the door.

"We will talk about that later, too." Bianca said loudly enough for her parents to hear. Her mouth didn't so much as twitch, but her eyes were dancing.

I smiled through the short drive to Amber's house, just a few blocks away. I was going to have a kid. Bianca was going to have my kid.

My smile faded as I pulled up in front of the Brighton house. It wasn't a mansion, not really, but it was as close as we had in that little town. How was Amber going to take the news? Would she understand that I wasn't ever going to try to take Bianca from her?

"You have some nerve." Mr. Brighton greeted me at the door.

"Hello, sir." I said. "I would like to speak to Amber."

"No." He said and started pushing the door closed.

"Excuse me, sir." I said, holding out my hand to stop him. "I know something that Amber needs to be aware of about Bianca."

I was face down on the porch with a knee on my neck and my arm twisted behind me before I could blink. Mr. Brighton had it all over Mr. Perez in fighting. In spades.

"Listen to me, you little shit." He hissed next to my ear. "You and that little latina cunt stay the fuck away from my daughter."

"Daddy! Get the fuck off him! Now!"

The beautiful princess had ridden to the knight's rescue and was pelting the dragon with furious punches and kicks. It was embarrassing. But, damn she looked good doing it.

"Get back inside." Mr. Brighton said, unmoved. "Our guest was just leaving."

"Bianca is pregnant." I blurted.

"So what?" Mr. Brighton twisted my arm higher and I felt the bones creek. "So is my daughter."

"Damn it, Daddy!" Bianca yelled. "You could at least have told him like a civilized human being!"

"He doesn't deserve to be treated like a human being, do you, worm?" Mr. Brighton said.

"Break my arm if you want." I said. "It won't change a thing."

"It will make me feel better." He said and for a moment I thought he was going to do it.

"After all the shit you have given me for months for accidentally breaking his leg?" Amber laughed. "Go ahead, you fucking hypocrit. I'll call the police myself."

"You did it because you weren't thinking." Mr. Brighton said. "I, on the other hand, know exactly what I'm doing."

"Really." Amber said. "The police will love to hear that."

"I was just protecting my home and my daughter from this asshole who was obviously just here for more revenge." He said.

"Wouldn't that work better if I was inside?" I panted around the pain in my shoulder.

The tension on my shoulder eased for a long moment, but the knee didn't let up on my neck. Then, he stood away from me, letting me go as suddenly as he had grabbed me.

"You make a good point." He said. "I'll kill you inside."

I groaned and pushed my face up from the porch. My should still seemed to work all right, if a little stiff and sore. Mr. Brighton's eyes glittered as he looked at me from just inside the door. Then I got my first good look at Amber.

She was wearing a loose white shirt and a pair of baggy shorts and her hair was twisted up in some kind of pony tail on top of her head. And she had never been more beautiful.

No, scratch that. She had never looked more beautiful with clothes on.

"Hi." I said. "I missed you."

"Meja is pregnant too?" Amber asked, studying my face. "What are you going to do?"

"Whatever you both want." I said. "This affects all three of us."

"No, it doesn't." Mr. Brighton interrupted. "My daughter is not keeping your spawn."

The pain hit me harder than whatever he had done to my shoulder.

"I'm not having an abortion, Daddy." Amber flared. "I've told you that."

"Fine." He snapped. "Then you will give it up for adoption. I'm not supporting this pissant rapist's child."

"Hang on!" I yelled. "I didn't rape anybody! Tell him, Amber!"

"I have." Amber said. "I've told him again and again. Daddy, we are over eighteen. We all gave consent. There was no rape, not even statutory."

"It was forced." Mr. Brighton said. "He took you outside of town in a blizzard. He gave you no choice. Date rape is still rape."

"God." Amber said. "You are so dense. No, Daddy. He didn't make me do anything. He didn't even ask me to do anything. In fact, I raped him, if you want to get right down to it. Twice. So, Brandon, are you here to press charges?"

Mr. Brighton and I both struggled to keep up with the change Amber threw out and stood staring at her as she glared at him. I recovered first.

"I'm here because I miss you." I said. "And because we wanted you to know that Bianca is pregnant. Or pregnant too, I guess I should say."

I couldn't help but grin. Both of my lovely ladies were having my children. I had wanted this, if I hadn't anticipated it happening quite so soon.

"Listen to me, now." Mr. Brighton said. "Both of you. I don't know how you and that little bitch have warped my daughter to this, but I am not having it. My daughter will give the child up for adoption and she will go have a happy, normal life. And she will not have damn all to do with either of you little social climbers ever again."

"She's over eighteen, sir." I said. "She is her own woman and can make up her own mind who she sees and what makes her happy."

"Not while I'm paying the bills and keeping a roof over her head, she won't." He said firmly. "And if she does, then I won't pay one red cent. Not one penny. You won't use her like a cash cow."

Suddenly, I understood. Mr. Brighton thought that Bianca and I were just using Amber to get to his money and he was trying to protect her.

"I'm sorry for you, sir." I shook my head. "You raised a wonderful, beautiful daughter. It is sad that you can't see any reason beyond money that we would want to be with her."

"Now, listen here you little shit."

"No, sir." I said. "I'm done listening to you. This doesn't concern you in the slightest other than what Amber chooses to let it. Amber, what would make you happy?"

Amber chewed her lip while her father blustered and said a bunch of things we both ignored.

"I forgot." I said. "She said to tell you she loves you."

Mr. Brighton said a lot more things, this time about Bianca. I was more intent on Amber, who's face had lit up at the message.

"You should marry her." Amber said. "Marriage and family and all that is important to her."

"And you?" I asked.

"I get to be Best Maid of Honor." Amber grinned. "Best Man and Maid of Honor."

"Sure." I smiled. "But, what about us and our baby?"

"There is no 'us', fucker!" Mr. Brighton yelled. "And there will be no baby!"

"Traditional marriage isn't my thing." Amber said and her eyes gleamed. "And you heard him. I'll have to give the baby up to be adopted by some couple."

"Finally!" Her father said. "Now you're talking sense."

The idea of some strangers raising my child turned my stomach. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks what Amber was suggesting.

"I see." I said, and I did. "Anything else you want me to tell Bitch?"

Amber chuckled at my mention of the nickname and nodded.

"Tell her I look forward to being godmother of her babies. All of them."

If only it had been that simple.

My parents hit the roof when I told them I had gotten not just one but two girls pregnant. And they weren't wild about me marrying one of them and then the two of us adopting the child of the other either.

Bianca's family was torn between wanting us to do the right thing and being upset that I was not only white, but wasn't catholic. Which, I guess was understandable since my parents didn't like the fact that Bianca wasn't white and was catholic.

Me, I didn't really figure it made much difference which church claimed us since my family only went on Easter and Christmas. But, Bianca wanted to get married in the catholic church, and her Bishop wouldn't grant a dispensation for a mixed marriage. So, in addition to finishing out the last of school, I had to attend classes on the weekends at her church.

Dad called me a "papist" and kicked me out of the house. I just shrugged and drove out to the farm.

It was the first anyone had been there since the storm and it was strange picking up the toys. I couldn't help but smile as I remembered just what each had been used for and miss the girls that I felt should have been there with me. I had just put the bag away out of sight and was holding that damn peacock feather and trying to think how to hang it on the wall when I heard the familiar pipes of my father's Dually.

I stepped outside and wondered if he was going to kick me off the farm as well. But, it was Mom.

"Your father is being an ass." She said. "I have one question. Is this really what you want?"

"It is." I nodded.

"Then, I'll deal with him." Mom nodded. "Come on home when you're ready."

"Mom, I am home." I said, standing in the doorway of the place where my life had found it's direction. "This is where we are going to live. So, I might as well move in now and get it ready for them."

"You are every bit as stubborn as your father." She sighed. "Well, I'm not bringing your dinner out here. So, when you are ready to eat, you'll just have to come back home."

That was Mom, through and through. She didn't bluster or threaten or anything, she just said what was going to happen and then went on and you found yourself doing what she said.

I did go to my parents house to eat. Dad glared at Mom and didn't say a word to me one way or another through the meal. But, I drove back out to the farm and spent the night. That bed wasn't as comfortable as the floor, I found.

It took a couple of weeks of eating at my parents house and coming home to the farm before my mother reconciled to the fact that I meant it, that I now lived out there. That Saturday in early May when she came out to help clean meant a lot to me. Not least because she brought a new bed, complete with box spring and matress, to take the place of the old one.

However, when Mom pulled out the bag while my back was turned and dumped it on the table, it did have an edge of embarrasment. For me at least. Mom, for her part, looked from the pile to me and I could see her putting two and two together. Then, she started taking out the batteries and putting them in a pail of soapy water and informed me that they needed to be kept clean when I asked what she was doing!

Some things about my parents, I really just don't want to know!

By unspoken agreement, we hadn't made an issue about the pregnancies. At least I didn't tell anyone, and I'm guessing neither the girls or anyone in our families did either. No one said anything anyway. And no one could tell when they walked across the stage and moved their tassal to the other side that they were three months pregnant.

I could tell when Amber walked down the aisle in a beautiful green gown that looked suspiciously familiar. And I could tell when Bianca walked in on her father's arm in a magnificent white dress. But, that may have just been because I was looking.

Or it may have been because busy with school, becoming a catholic, and working the farm harder than before, I was hardly allowed to see either of them before the wedding and never for very long or alone. Which I thought was a tad ridiculous. They were already pregnant! What did our families think we could do that hadn't already been done?

Cory and Jack stood up as my groomsmen. Cory was First Groomsman, as Amber informed him, she of course being Best Maid as well as Maid of Honor. He tried to argue with her about it and got slapped down for his trouble. Me? I kept my mouth shut. It was just as much her ceremony as ours after all even if she did refuse our urgings to wear white as well.

Once we had walked back up the aisle, official and everything, Amber rode with Jack and Cory to follow us to the farm where she went inside and came out with that damn feather.

"Okay, you two. Hold this with me." Amber said. "You two blockheads just stand over there and be witnesses."

I had no idea what was going on, but my delicate bride reached out her hand and laced her fingers over Amber's and then they both looked at me, green eyes and brown staring into mine without say a word. I reached out and wrapped my big hand around both of theirs, my palm spanning the back of Amber's and my fingers spanning Bianca's.

"Goddess and archer attend," Amber said. "Our trinity, a unity, until all love does end."

"Until all love ends." Bianca murmered.

"Let there always be love." I heard myself say.

It must have been some trick of the wind, but I would swear the eye on the end of that fucking feather winked at me!

"My turn to wear the strap-on, Bitch!" Amber disentangled her hand and bolted for the door.

"The hell you say, Puta!" Bianca hiked up her white dress and chased after her, laughing.

I stood there with the two men that had been my best friends and smiled as their mouths hung open.

"Thank you, guys." I said, shaking their hands in turn. "Thank you for everything."

"Dude," I heard Cory say as I turned to follow my brides. "What the fuck just happened?"