“Pretend to be okay with having a boyfriend who, after just a couple of days of finding out he might be a dad, is so ready to own up to it?” She smiled big. “I didn’t think I could possibly be more attracted to you.”
Boyfriend? Instantly, Orlando was torn. While he appreciated Felicia’s willingness to step up and stand by him through this, if he thought he had too much going on before to be able to commit to anything, his life was about to get even crazier.
Orlando smiled, feeling like a coward about not addressing her boyfriend comment, but he did want to make one thing clear. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen yet, Felicia. All I know is I have even more going on now. Or will have more once I find out for sure if he’s mine. I just wanted to be honest with you about this and let you know what’s going on.”
Felicia’s smile waned a bit when she understood this was his response to her boyfriend comment. For a moment, she even looked embarrassed by it, but she shrugged. “I understand. I mean, of course, this is life-changing. But I just want you to know, if there’s anything I can do, you can count on me.”
“Thanks.” He nodded but he’d leave it at that. Last thing he needed was for Felicia to start jumping the gun with their relationship when he had something so much bigger to focus on now. She’d been cool from the beginning, and her offering to help was a nice gesture. But he didn’t want to give her the idea that, by life-changing, this meant he was ready for any other type of commitments. He’d leave things between him and Felicia as is for now. But if she ever used the B-word again to describe his relationship with her, he’d be sure to address it.
Chapter 4
Three months later
Orlando
Because of the vaccine records left with the baby, and the result of the paternity test, two things were for certain now. One, Baby O was without a doubt Orlando’s child. And two, the mother, whose name he hadn’t recognized, was deceased. The news in both instances had felt so surreal. Orlando didn’t remember the mother; although the name felt too formal. Maria Angelica Banuelos was the name on the coroner’s report but was likely not how she’d introduced herself. She’d died of an overdose just a month and a half after the baby was born.
Whose care the baby had been in for the other almost two months of his life before he was left at Orlando’s doorstep remained a mystery. Not that it mattered. The police had since ruled out any chance of a wrongful death in the mother’s case. It was a clear-cut self-inflicted overdose.
Only other question that remained was whether it’d been accidental or intentional. From the coroner’s report, Orlando knew it’d been prescription meds she’d OD’d on, not street drugs. As if that made a difference. An addict was an addict regardless of what kind of drugs they were shooting up, snorting, or popping. As strangely shocking as the news of her death had been, Orlando was now relieved. His feelings hadn’t changed about whomever abandoned the baby not deserving to be part of his life. In fact, as soon as it’d been confirmed Baby O was his, that protective instinct he’d begun to feel even that first day had multiplied tenfold. Orlando had since decided, if the mother ever came around, he’d fight tooth and nail to keep her out of his son’s life. Now that he knew she’d been an addict, it would’ve been a guns-a-blazing fight to the death to keep her far away from his son. It hurt to admit it, but he’d had the misfortune of knowing firsthand that, no matter how good a person the addict was, getting their fix always came before anything and anyone. No matter how much they may’ve loved them. With that thought, he pulled off his beanie and stared at it, bittersweetly shaking his head. “Yep,” he whispered, feeling a little choked up suddenly. “No way would I have allowed it.”
Shaking off the heavy sorrow, he thought about the one good thing he knew about the baby’s mom instead. Good for him anyway. His lawyer had told him it was a good thing that she had no family. None that they could trace back to anyway. From what they’d been able to gather, she’d lived alone. While she died as an adult—just twenty-two—they’d been able to find little more about her background than she’d been in jail a few times. As far as they knew, she was an only child who’d been in foster care most of her life, so they’d hit nothing but walls when trying to trace back any next of kin. This meant when, not if, Orlando finally got custody of his boy, he wouldn’t have to deal with anyone else wanting to be part of raising him.
“You’re moving?”
Snapped out of his thoughts, Orlando turned to the curvy young girl on the sidewalk, peering up into the U-Haul truck, hands shielding her eyes from the sun. He shook his head. “Shop’s staying. I’m just moving out of the apartment upstairs.”
“Oh,” she said with a strange smile even as she continued to shield her eyes from the sun with her hand. “Good to know. I don’t know much about choosing auto shops, and this is the only one I’ve ever brought my car into to get serviced.”
“Nah,” Orlando said, checking her out—out of habit. “No worries. Shop ain’t going anywhere. I’m just moving out of that place up there.”
The girl glanced up at the window on the second floor he’d motioned to and nodded. He watched as she walked back into the shop. She was wearing workout apparel. There was no missing how top heavy she was. She also had a nice full ass but otherwise was just another typical-looking full-figured Hispanic girl, like many in this area of Boyle Heights. It was crazy how being a dad changed his outlook on life. Before he knew he had a kid, his biggest concerns were making money, staying in shape, and getting laid. Even a girl like this one, who he knew he’d have no trouble getting hard for, despite her lack of wow, he would’ve at least flirted with. But for the past three months, his mind had been preoccupied with far bigger things. Ever since they’d confirmed he was Little O’s dad, it’d been at the forefront of Orlando’s mind from the moment he woke until the moment he passed out each night. It was the craziest thing how quickly that baby had changed his life. The morning the baby was left at Orlando’s door, he’d woken a single man with zero desire or plans to commit to so much as a relationship any time soon. Much less a family.
By the next day he was dying to know the results of the paternity test. The second he was told the paternity test was positive, he’d lived and breathed trying to get his boy back. In less than a few weeks, he’d had absolutely no qualms about digging deep into his life savings—borrowing if he had to—to make sure he got him back.
The last three months had been an absolute roller coaster: from the bliss he felt every time he got to visit him and hold him to the agony of having to say good-bye until the next time. He’d never felt anger and frustration the way he’d felt trying to get through all the red tape. He’d even rushed through the home-buying process when he was told his living quarters were not a safe environment for a child. He was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and he’d be damned if he’d let them come up with even one more reason why he couldn’t bring his son home already. With that thought, he hurried back to piling boxes in the truck so he could move into his new place ASAP. After about a half hour more of piling boxes, he was down to his wife-beater shirt and jeans. His beanie hung out of his back pocket now. He was just about ready to strip out of that shirt too but didn’t. Since he’d run out of water and was getting thirsty, he decided to take a break. When he walked into the shop, he was surprised to see the girl who questioned him outside still there waiting. She and only one other person sat in the waiting area. The man was preoccupied reading one of the magazines on the small corner table while she stared at her phone screen. She glanced up and did a double take when she saw him. The way she eyed his sweaty bare arms and shoulders wasn’t missed, but she glanced away quickly. “You still here?” he asked with a smirk as he walked behind the counter. “What’re you getting serviced? I got a little pull around here.”