The Billionaire's Triplets(28)

Lissa had learned already that there was no point in arguing with the boy's mamacita, and as the noon day sun was beginning to give her heat stroke, she happily consented and the caravan of women and babies let themselves inside the small shop.         

     



 

A short, but handsome older man came up to Senora Torres, and smiled broadly and began speaking in rapid Spanish.

Then he looked at me.

"You are the mama?" he asked. His English wasn't half bad.

"Si," I answered, practicing my Spanish language skills.

He called loudly into the back room, and a scrunched up older woman about five feet tall came hobbling out. She had measuring tapes draped around her neck.

"We measure the boys. Okie dokie?" asked the owner of the shop, looking to me for permission

"What's all this?" I asked, Senora Torres. She had a devilish grin on her face. Clearly, this had all been previously arranged.

"My treat. I thought the babies could use some new clothes. You understand, my dear, that in Spain, how a man dresses is very important."

"But, these are babies, not men," Lissa pointed out.

"No matter."

Lissa gave her consent, having been raised to believe that it was ungracious and selfish to decline a heart-felt gift. So, they set about it. One by one, they lifted one of her boys into the air, while the tiny tailor stretched her measure tape expertly at all the important locations, while she yelled out numbers and the owner took notes.

After a sharp exchange of angry words, the owner's face looked delighted, then he walked up to the wizened old woman and pinched her loving on the behind. She blushed, the most beautiful thing Lissa had ever seen. And then she looked at him, her tired old eyes sparkling with love.

He smiled back at her, the same look of complete happiness glowing on his face. Then he bent down and kissed her on the lips, and she went back to work.

Her heart tightened. Here were two people who were obviously a couple, obviously still in love. Lissa wondered if she would ever know that kind of love with another man. It made her think of Julio. More and more she believed that Julio might be the man for her. She could see herself falling in love with him, wanting to be with him for the rest of her life. But, did he have any of the same feelings towards her? And if he expressed such sentiment would it be sincere, or something he was doing to please his mother.

Lissa had certainly gotten the impression that Julio's mother might have ideas about pressuring her son to marry her, but as wonderful as she imagined life might be with Julio around for the long haul, the last thing she wanted was to be in a loveless marriage. She also couldn't stand the idea of Julio growing to resent her, for making him sacrifice his true path in life, so he could quote unquote do the right thing by her and the boys.

After the tailors, they had lunch in an outdoor café, which was shaded by the tall ancient buildings on either side. Her three identical baby boys were the talk of everyone in the restaurant.

Everyone seemed to know Senora Torres, and even though Lissa didn't understand much of what was said, it was clear that many of them asked after the father, Julio.

Thinking about Julio made her sad. He'd been away now, and hadn't called for almost two days. She understood that he was probably throwing himself at the task, or prepping the office and the staff required to work on the deadline for the consortium project, but his total absence in her life after so much closeness, left her feeling like one of her body parts was missing.

She also felt left out, set aside, not kept in the loop. It was as if he wanted her to stop thinking about work, to stop believing that she had say at all about what went on in his life.

As she sipped her coffee, Lissa wondered if Julio hadn't called in at night, because he was lying in bed with some other woman.

The images of he and Willa having sex, or perhaps with another black woman, like the one from the photograph, made her gut clench.

"Are you alright, girl? You look a little green."

"Oh, nothing's wrong, I'm just a little tired," Lissa lied.

"Then we'll go home," Senora Torres declared, and so they did.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN


Back at the Torres house, all Lissa wanted to do was put the boys down for a nap and take one herself. She got the boys settled, and looked reluctantly at the little cot. She needed a shower and a long nap, but it was impossible to rest comfortably in the living room. The Torres house was a constant beehive of activity. She didn't feel comfortable putting on a night shirt even with the privacy curtain, and she didn't want to lie down in her day clothes.

"You want me to watch them?" asked one of the aunts in her stilted English.

"Yes, please, just while I take a shower," Lissa said.

She went upstairs, hoping to find Joan. After moving the whole gang to the Torres household, Joan's need to be the constant nanny was diminished, and she'd started taking time off to go on outings throughout the city. There wasn't a moment in the house where there weren't at least two or three willing female Torres's, aunts, or great aunts or cousins, eager to take over the baby watching duties.         

     



 

Lissa and Joan had a guest room upstairs with a bath and a queen sized bed. They took shifts, one of them taking the cot downstairs while the other got a decent night sleep, and used the room to dress and bathe.

The previous night, it was Lissa's turn to sleep on the cot next to the baby's downstairs, and in the morning when she went up for her ablutions, she expected to find Joan, and her usually unmade bed. But, the bed looked as neat as when Lissa had made it the day before, and it was obvious Joan hadn't slept there.

She remembered that Joan had said something about going out for drinks with one of Julio's friends.

Worried, she found her cell phone and called her sister.

Joan answered on the first ring.

"Joan, are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm downstairs in the kitchen having breakfast, where are you?"

Relieved, Lissa didn't give it another thought. "I'm going to shower and take a nap, will you watch the boys?"

"Sure thing, sis."

After showering for a long time and washing her hair, Lissa, walked around her room, her hair and body wrapped in soft towels.

She thought of Julio, of the last time they'd made love, and she missed him.

He'd been gone for three days now, and when he called, it was all about the babies, and how she was getting along. He made little effort to bring her into the work conversation, nor did he mention their relationship, or when he'd be back. It was as if he was getting her used to how it would be, she had her world, and he had his. Separate.

As her hair was dry enough for her to crawl under the covers, Lissa's thoughts went back to the last time they'd made love. Just thinking about him being inside her, made her wet with need for him. Her fingers slipped between her folds and after she'd made herself come gently, she fell into a deep sleep.

"Lissa, wake up."

Lissa came out of her dream and saw her sister standing over her, shaking her arm.

"What?"

"It's almost time for dinner. I need a shower -- its your turn to watch the boys. I'm going out again with Fernando."

"What? What time is it? Who's Fernando? Who's watching the boys."

"Julio's watching them, don't worry. Get dressed and get down there. He's been asking for you."

"Julio's back?"

Lissa's heart skipped a beat. Part of her had wondered if she'd be sent back to the states without another chance to see him. She pulled herself out of bed, and Joan's eye brow went up at the sight of her nakedness.

Lissa felt herself blush.

"What? I was tired, alright?"

"Sure," Joan said.

"Whatever."

Joan was in the shower when Lissa let herself out, locking the door behind her to make sure her sister had privacy from whoever this Fernando person was. She wasn't too happy to learn that Joan was being wined and dined by another sexy Spaniard who thought that a woman was only there to serve at his command, his pleasure.

Her happiness at hearing he was back had quickly grown into resentment.

He had a lot of nerve, just taking off like that, shutting her out of the work that her efforts had made possible, acting as if there was nothing between them.



Her anger vanished when she saw him playing with her boys.

"Do you love your papa? Do you love your papa?" he asked, poking a finger into each of the boys stomach as they cooed and baby laughed at his attention. "Because, your papa, loves you, yes he does, papa loves his baby boys."

Lissa sighed deeply, wistfully. He could say the love word so easily, with his children but he'd never said it to her. But, the bond between child and father would be like that. The bond between lover-you-happened-to-knock up-with-triplets offered no such mandatory bond.

"Hi, Julio," Lissa said as she walked in, trying to sound casual.

All four of the most important men in her life looked up at the sound of her voice.

Ryland and Hunter both raised their hands towards her, while Marco took the opportunity to climb onto his father's lap, keeping him pinned to the floor.

"Lissa," Julio said, "I'd get up to hug you … "

He indicated the baby on his lap, and smiled as Lissa sat down next to him as the two other boys crawled into her waiting arms.

They held their babies and looked at each other, waiting to see who would speak first.