Chapter 115-119
Chapter 115
The next morning the house was quiet with Rosie with her grandmother and cousins while the babies slept quietly near the window. She got up early with the babies feeding them and playing hearing Bruno walk slowly in the living room still in some pain. She held out her hand smiling at him. “Come sit down, Bru.” She said sweetly to him. He smiled at her rubbing his head still half awake and heavily medicated. He laid his head on her shoulder sighing.
“Where’s Rosalia?” he asked her.
“She went to Eric’s with your mom. Her head was going to explode. She needed to do something.” Marla answered. “And I just needed some quiet.”
“And the twins were going to give you quiet?” he sat up smiling at her.
“Well, they can be quieter than you and Rosie.” She told him.
“That’s true/” he laughed. “You just got lucky that she’s a mini-me.”
“Lucky?” she inquired.
“Yeah. You love me so much that you had to have another one around.” He told her.
“Oh god. Bruno. You never quit, do you?” she said standing up walking to the kitchen tripping on toys on the way to the kitchen. Bruno ran up behind her catching her as she started to fall on the stained concrete floor.
“Eve! Be careful!” he exclaimed as she fell into his arms laughing.
“Oh god. Bruno. We need a bigger house.” She told him.
“I know, babe. We do need a bigger house. There’s no room for anyone to run around and the floor….”
“When they start walking it’s going to hurt if they fall….remember all the times Rosie fell?” she asked him sitting on the floor with him.
He picked up a toy examining it. “And the little scar she has on her face from hitting the dog’s nail….” He said moving a piece of hair out of Marla’s face pointing to where his daughter’s scar is. She laughed a little hearing the babies. “Let me get them.” He said pulling her up from the ground with him. He bent down picking up Angelo making faces at him making him laugh while Marla picked up the toys throwing them in a box then walking to the kitchen.
“Migas, Bruno?” he asked her.
“Do I ever say no to that?” he turned holding the baby.
“Well…no…” she laughed at him starting to cook watching him sit with the babies. Oh my god. How did my life end up this way? It’s just kind of perfect. She continued thinking about her life and her family jumping and screaming as some oil spit in her direction from the stove. “Shit!” she screamed.
“Mar? Are you okay?” Bruno turned looking at her concerned.
“Yeah. I’m fine. I just lost track of how hot the burner was.” She told him.
“Marla…” he put the baby down walking into the kitchen to help her stirring something for her. “Your eyes look a li…..” he looked at her as she started to fall into his arms. He struggled to pick her up laying her on the couch seeing her open her eyes with a few tears falling from her cheek.
“The food, Bruno.. turn it off…” she moaned still stiff from the small seizure she just had.
“Oh…right…” he walked slowly to the kitchen tutning off the burner. “Mar….when was the last time you took your medicine?” he looked over at the half empty bottles mentally counting them realizing she hadn’t taken them in at least a week.
“I forgot.” She said lifting her head up from the couch quickly getting up to pick up Hope who was crying. Bruno walked over to her handing her the medicine and a bottle of water.
“Take this.” He instructed her.
“Okay mom.” She laughed at him seeing her swallow the pills. “I;m sorry.”
He leaned in over Hope’s head kissing her. “Don’t say stuff like that. I just want you to be safe and with me, baby.” He told her.
“Don’t worry, Bruno. It’ll be okay.” She held onto the baby hearing Angelo cry to get out of the crib. “Let’s hang out with our babies.” She smiled watching Angelo look at them holding up his hands.
**
Dear Marla,
You had a seizure this morning. You’ve been so stressed out that you forgot to take your medicine. Please stop stressing out. Things are going to be okay. I promise you. Today, you, me and the babies hung out in our pajamas all day. We looked at houses online too. We need a bigger house. We keep running into things and tripping on toys. But you get to pick. You picked the most amazing house the first time. But, no matter what house we’re in I’ll still write you letters and tell you how much I love you every single night. I love you.
Bruno
Bruno,
Thank you for being amazing. Today was wonderful. I’m sorry I forgot to take my medicine. Things have just been so busy that I’ve hardly had time to catch my breath since you were in the hospital. I know you are still hurting though. You need to slow down, please. I love you.
Mar
Chapter 116
“It’s Saturday, what are you doing in the studio, Bruno?” Marla asked him half-awake the next weekend. A fully functioning and repaired Bruno was standing by the closet getting dressed.
“It’s for the movie. I need to do the voice overs. I told Rosie I would take her with me, too. So it’s you and the babies again.” He smiled kissing the top of her head.
“When will I ever get to see my oldest daughter? You steal her away from me all the time, Bru.” Marla laughed sitting up in the bed.
“I tell her she can stay here with you, but I think her head spins when she’s not doing something. I was like that too.” Bruno explained. Even at the age of 2 he would take Rosie to the studio with him and let her play on the couch and watch him. She loved the lights and the sounds and the excitement. By now the studio had turned into an extra playroom for every kid that came in there. It was a big change from what it was 2010 when they would stay up until 5 in the morning drinking and laughing. Even though they did do that on occasion, studio sessions usually ended in a big pizza and contraband Mountain Dew for the kids. Now that Bruno had agreed to voice an animated frog in the next Summer’s Pixar movie about a rapping frog prince Rosie wanted to be involved in everything. She held onto him as he left the house and pleaded to have her voice in the movie. He knew he spoiled her by having her sing songs whenever she wanted, but now he would have to put his foot down and say no because it wasn’t his studio. It was a big studio in the thirty-mile zone and he was going to use that pricy SAG card he got the past year when he had a five second cameo in a Judd Apatow movie while he was on tour.
“I know. She’s going to be a mess when she starts first grade in a few weeks. The teachers are going to hate her because she’s going to be dancing and singing and not doing her homework. Miss Vela called me earlier this week telling me that she has a nonverbal warning system with Rosalia. It works but I just worry that she’s going to get herself in trouble one day.” Marla told him.
“I’ll talk to her today.” Bruno told Marla as he walked into the babies’ room picking them up walking past Rosie who was sitting in her bedroom with Barbies. “Rosie? Do you want some breakfast, mi amor?”
She turned around seeing Bruno with her babies frowning. “No.”
“Come on. You know it will be just the two of us later today.” He told her matching her sad face.
“Okay….” She sighed getting up.
**
“Hold my hand, Rosalia…” Bruno said as they wlaked through the big studio lot past outdoor stages that left his 5 year old daughter in awe. “Rosie?”
“Daddy, I’m fine. Jessie said that only babies hold their dad’s hands. I’m not a baby anymore.” Rosie told him walking next to him.
“Oh. Okay.” Bruno said looking at her. Woah. She really isn’t a baby anymore. He thought to himself looking at her with wide eyes as they continued to walk. They walked through a fancy building ending up at the large studio.
“Dad….there are a lot more buttons here. How do they know how to use them all?” she asked him.
“Lots of practice, baby.” Bruno told her. “Sit right there for a second, okay?” he said pointing to a chair. He walked into another room to speak to the director.
“Oh. You did bring Rosie! That’s so nice. She’s precious.” The female director told him with a slight sarcastic tone.
“She’s going to just sit and watch. It fascinates her. “ Bruno told the director.
“Okay.” The director answered with a bit of skepticism in her voice.
Bruno walked back to Rosie handing her a tablet computer. “I’ll be back. Make sure you laugh at my jokes, okay?” he said kissing her curly hair.
“Okay, daddy,” she said watching him walk into the recording booth.
“I’m gonna do that when I get big.” Rosie told everyone in the room.
“You are?” the director asked.
“Yeah. Uh-huh. I’m going to be like Selena.” She told them.
“I know you are,” the sound engineer smiled at her directing Bruno to start.
By the end of the day Rosie had fallen asleep in the chair not even paying attention to what Bruno was doing. He picked her up still slightly cringing in pain walking down the hallway when a young woman who he knew to be in charge of several current projects in the studio stopped him.
“Bruno?” she asked him.
“Yes ma’am?” he turned around looking at her.
“Everyone is saying that your daughter has something special. We might have some opportunities for her. Just give me a call on Monday if you think that’s something she would want to do.” She told him.
“Like what?” he asked her.
“We’re working on a new Disney show. It’s about a family in New York City. The father owns a pizzeria and the mother is a fairytale princess. They have three kids and he would be the young one that gets in trouble all the time.” She told him the plot that sounded exactly like her.
“I will talk to my wife.” He told her still holding Rosie in his arms.
“Wait…come with me.” She said to him leading her toward her office. “I have the casting call script here. Have a look over this and give me a call. I think she would be a shoe in.” she smiled handing him a card with her name, Genesis White in big letters.
“I will talk to Marla, Miss White.” Bruno said turning back down the hallway.
Chapter 117
dum dum dum. DIRTY CHAPTER (but it’s not as good as Dre’s).
Bruno struggled to open the door holding a sleeping Rosie in his arms as he walked through the front door. He heard loud playful baby screams feeling Rosie move from all the noise.
“Shhhhhh.” She moaned throwing her heard back on Bruno’s shoulder. “I’m sleeping.” She told him.
“I know, Rosalia. Go back to sleep, baby girl.” He said waving to Marla as he walked with her to her bedroom tripping on toys as he got to her door. He laid her down in the bed in her clothes not wanting to struggle to put on her pajamas. He pulled off her shoes and covered her up kissing her on the head. “Oh….” He caught himself not giving her her medicine before she went to bed. As he turned the corner to the kitchen he saw Marla holding the pills in her hand.
She smiled at him handing him the pills and a glass of water. “I knew you’d forget.” She smiled taking his hand walking into the bedroom with him. She watched him wake her up carefully without getting hit in the face like she would have if she had tried to wake her up. He held out the pills carefully. I don’t know what Rosie would do without him. Marla thought to herself as he turned around smiling at Marla wrapping his arms around her walking her backwards out the bedroom to the hallway.
“The babies are asleep…” he whispered in her ear. “And it’s been 8 weeks….”
“Brunoooo….I don’t want to hurt you.” She pulled away.
“What? Me? Never.” He said pushing her against the wall catching her off guard.
“I don’t think you’re going to take no for an answer.” She laughed pulling him closer to her.
“We’ve only been together for 7 years for you to figure that out.” He told her.
“It’s closer to eight now, B.” she smirked.
“It’s closer to April? It’s November….oh…” he counted to himself as she started to giggle in his shirt.
“But, let’s do it like the first time.” He told her lifting her up carrying her to the bedroom pushing off the clean clothes kissing her passionately as she started to pull of his pants.
“For some reason I feel like it’s going to be easier to clean those up than the books you knocked over the first time.” She whispered to him feeling his hands against her back lifting her shirt up over her head. She fumbled to pull his shirt off moving her hands down to his waist. She felt him push them up moving them above her head.
“Keep them there.” He said against her lips moving his hand to unhook her bra touching her chest lightly turning her on. She wrapped her legs around him feeling his body move between her hios. “Mar…you smell so good.” He breathed into her kissing her moving his tongue all over her body.
“Oh.” She gasped. “My.” She gasped again. “Bruno.” She moved her hand to her mouth. “Ohhhhh. Fucccckkkk.” She moaned again gripping the sheets sliding her body further down the bed against the silk sheets. “Brunnnnooo….” He felt her tense up knowing that she was close to climax. Before she could let go he was on top of her kissing her head, nose, eyes and finally her lips as he moved so far inside her that she cringed in pain.
“Oh. Owww….slow down, Bru.” She pleaded as he pushed harder inside her.
“Just wait….please…” he responded kissing the tips of her fingers. He pulled out a little slowing down his pace knowing it might be too much for her.
“Ohhh…..” she moved her body over a little guiding him to exactly where she needed to be touched. “That’s perfect….don’t stoppppppp…..” she told him feeling him speed up again. “Don’tttttt……” she moaned even more as he pressed her in the most amazing place she had felt in a long time. And then he started teasing her by going even more slowly than before. “Bruno fucking Mars…stop doing that.” She smiled at him pulling him closer to her. “Just….ohhhh myyyy……” she screamed. “Brunooooooo.” She let out feeling his heavy adrenaline filled body fall on her.
“Don’t wake up the babies.” He said getting up from the bed kissing her cheek.
“I better wake up next to you, Bruno.” She smiled watching him walk to the bathroom.
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Hernandez. I’ll be right next to you when you wake up.” He smiled at her closing the door behind him.
**
Dear Marla,
You amaze me. You spent the whole day with the twins and were still able to put up with my shit tonight. You didn’t have to. But you always are there for me when I need you, in whatever way it is. Whether it’s to hold my hand, to tell me that things are going to be okay, or even to turn me on like the most amazing wife in the world can. You did that tonight. Holy shit, Marla. Don’t even lose those moves. Please don’t. I don’t know what I would do without those. I love you more today than yesterday and will love you more than ever tomorrow.
Bru
Chapter 118
Marla pushed Bruno awake in the middle of the night making him jump. “Bruno….Angelo is crying…go get him.” She said in a half awake voice. He trudged out of the bed without even saying anything. I’m so tireeddd. Bruno thought to himself picking up the baby who was throwing his arms around crying his eyes out.
“Come on, baby. Shhhh.” He said still half awake walking him through the house stepping over toys. Oh god. We have to move. He said to himself bending down holding the baby tightly as he picked up a bright toy that Hope had chewed on. He walked to the outside of the house looking out past the pool to the bright lights that lit up the Los Angeles skyline. He sat down in the chair hearing his son start to breath heavily finally falling asleep. Damn. Where is a piece of paper when you need it? He thought to himself seeing a pad of paper by the grill soaked in grease from Ryan cooking on it the night before. I can’t get that without waking him up. “Well, I guess it’s just you and me, buddy.” He said laying his head back on the chair closing his eyes
**
“Bruno…..” Marla leaned down whispering in his ear a few hours later. He squinted his eyes seeing the sun peeking through the clouds.
“What time is it?” he asked her.
“It’s 7…” she said taking Angelo from his hands. Carrying him, wide awake now, into the house, she held the door for Bruno scratching his head not sure how he fell asleep outside.
They gave Angelo a bottle putting him on the floor to play with his toys hearing Hope. Marla walked into the bedroom picking her up feeding her quickly putting her down with Angelo. They sat down on the couch waiting for Rosie to get up.
“Bruno…do you think Rosie needs to be on all that medicine? She gets so tired so easy.” Marla asked him.
“I don’t know, Marley. Do you think that’s the best for her? She hasn’t had a seizure since they switched her.” Bruno questioned.
“Don’t jinx it.” She pushed him a little.
“Okay, okay. But I’m serious. Why mess with it when things are going well?” he asked her.
“But it’s not. She’s tired and even her teacher said that she struggles during the last part of the day. And she comes home and could just fall asleep on the couch.” Marla told him.
“I guess I just haven’t seen her right after school.” Bruno told her.
“And when you did you wouldn’t have remembered it.” She told him watching the twins playing with each other.
“Let’s just wait for the doctor. He’ll know.” He said grabbing the ipad sitting on the table. “Let’s look at houses.”
“Bruno…can’t we just stay here? I love this house. Everything has happened here.” She sighed.
“Baby….look at everything. It’s all put away and perfect and we’re still tripping on ourselves. We have to do it. And think of all the fun stuff we can buy once we find a house.”
“But Brunnooo….” She whined getting up hearing Rosie bouncing through the house.
“Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, moommmmm!” Lucy exclaimed coming through the hallway with her hair messy and her clothes half on and half off. “Did dad tell you what happened yesterday?” she didn’t even pause for Marla to answer. “Some lady said I was going to be on TV! And famous!”
“What?” Marla asked leading Rosie to the kitchen.
“Lourdes Galvan…you know her…she’s the one that manages all the little kids. She came up to us yesterday.” Bruno said.
“But you know how they are. They just want to make money. The more parents they can find the richer they get.” Bruno told her shrugging his shoulders.
“Tell me about it, mama.” Marla said supportively.
“I can’t read it though. Dad has it. I’d get to be Cinderella!” she said running to the front of the house picking up the script. Marla flipped through it trying to decide what she thought.
“Bruno….this is real. I don’t think it’s a scam. One of the parents at school was talking about this. One of the fame whore ones.”
“Do you really…..” Bruno cut himself off not wanting to talk about it all with Rosie in front of them.
“Stay right there, Rosalia. We’ll be right back.” Marla said to her daughter walking to the bedroom. “Yell if the babies need us, okay?” Rosie nodded her head finishing her breakfast.
Marla held onto his hand dragging him into the bedroom. “Do you want her to get involved in that? What if she doesn’t do well?” Bruno asked Marla.
“If she doesn’t do well then it’s something we don’t have to deal with anymore. If she gets it then we’ll work through it. What if your uncle didn’t let you get on stage when you were 3? Bruno. We have to let her find herself. If that’s what she wants to try let her. I’ll be there for her.”
“I just don’t want…” Bruno started.
“You just don’t want her to be a little Disney girl. That’s every single little girls dream. Bruno….did I ever tell you that I danced around the house singing to every single song that the Mickey Mouse Club sang? I wanted to be on that show sooo bad. But I was too young. And a horrible dancer. And an even worse singer. And I couldn’t read a script to save my life. But my mom drug me down to the audition and I didn’t get past the second question.” Marla told him.
“What was that?” he asked.
“How old are you?” she told him. “You had to be 12. I was 10.”
He burst out laughing at her story. “Oh Marla. You make me laugh.” He told her.
“Well thanks. Now will you let her try?” Marla pleaded. “Just once. Let her live in her 5 year old fantasy world.” Marla said holding his hand.
“Okay. You win.” He answered kissing her forehead getting up from the bed hearing the twins cry.
Chapter 119
Later that night, after the kids had fallen asleep Marla flopped down on the couch next to Bruno who had his laptop next to him. She leaned over seeing what he was looking at. “Serious?” she asked him as he scrolled through pictures of houses.
“We need to, Mar. Like look at the mess. It’s like the Himalayas in here. We have to climb mountains to get things.” She smiled at him knowing he was right. “See! I was right! You want to move too!”
“I know. We need to. But we have to stay in this area. I don’t want Rosie changing schools. With all things she has been through changing schools is one thing we can control.”
“Okay…” he said clicking a few buttons narrowing down the search to keep his oldest daughter in the same school. They looked through pages and pages of houses even finding one right down the street. It needs paint, it’s on a narrow street, it’s not our style, the kitchen is too small, the pool is gross, it’s too far from the studio…were all excuses the two came up with. They sat next to each other going through the houses for hours finally landing on one that made Marla gasp the same way she did when she laid her eyes on the first photo of their current home.
“I just don’t see anything I like. We should just stay here.” Marla sighed standing up to stretch.
“Wait…” Bruno said pulling her back down showing her another traditional home.
“Oh…I like that…” she said moving his hand to click the pictures. “I really like it…”
“It would be hard to leave here, Mar. It’s like a first love. I know you love this house. It has so many memories in it. But we’ll create new ones….” He said squeezing her tightly.
“God, you are so cheesy.” Marla said laying her head on his shoulder.
“You do that to me.” He laughed sending an e-mail to their realtor. “We’ll go look at it tomorrow. Umpphh..come on mama. Let’s go to bed.” He said lifting her up pretending to struggle.
“Hey! I’m not that fat!” she exclaimed as she stood up with him.
He smiled at her leaning into kiss her. “Marley…I don’t know what I would do without you.” She smiled against his lips returning the kiss. “I like it when you do that.” He said pulling her closer to him. She held onto the embrace laying her head on her shoulder yawning.
“I’m tired.” She told him pulling away taking his hand leading him to the bedroom.
“God, Mar. You are the biggest cock blocker ever.” He said laying down next to her dramatically.
“Blame your kids.” She said as she turned to turn off the light. As she turned around she felt his hands wander down her waist making her squirm. “Buutttt…..” she whined moving on top of him to kiss him. She looked into his eyes lighting up more than Angelo when he saw his favorite toy moving toward him. “I think I can suck it up just this once.” She said laying her head into his kissing him feeling him roll on top of her.
“Just let me do it.” He told her moving his head to her neck kissing her feeling her close her eyes.
“Ohhh….Bruno…” she let out as he touched her all over her body.
“Mar?” he moved up to her face seeing her eyes still closed and her arms tense.
“What?” she asked looking down at him.
“Ohhh…ohhh….Owwww….” she let out watching everything turn blue in her head. He jumped off of her quickly lifting her up placing her on the floor. He held onto her hand watching her whole body shake beneath the clothes he had put on her before he moved her. He counted endlessly waiting for her to wake up. He watched her breathing slow down as she let out a slight scream that reminded him of Rosie’s post-ictal state. He held onto her tightly the same way that she held onto Rosie when she seized. As he felt her body release its tension he felt her pull away frantically.
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Who are you? What the hell?” she jumped up seeing she was only wearing one of his shirts. “What? What is this? Oh my god…” she started almost running toward the door after grabbing his shorts that were laying on the ground. She slipped on some flip-flops laying on the bed. He watched her run toward the door. What do I do? He thought to himself. He grabbed the last letter had written to her clutching it in his hand as she neared the door with the wrong set of keys.
“Marla!” he gasped handing her the letter.
“Who are you? Why were you near me? Oh my god.. I…ewww… oh my god…” she let out holding the letter in her hand. She looked down at it not sure what to think. “And you’re Bruno?” she asked studying his face trying to connect the dots. “And we’re….” she walked to the wall of pictures that they had come to love. “Married? And three kids?” she touched the pictures again trying to connect the dots. “I don’t get it…” she said looking over the pictures again. “This says 2015..it’s only January 2010….” She said to herself turning to look at Bruno’s shocked face.
“Stay right there.” He said pointing to the couch. As she sat down he kissed the top of her head. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
She nodded her head looking around the house. “I don’t get any of this…” She watched Bruno come back into the room holding two and a half years’ worth of letters he had written to her. He handed her the very bottom letter watching her read over it. “I’m so, so, so, sorry. I don’t remember.” She told him.
“It’s okay.” He told her watching her read over the letters one by one. Nearly an hour later they heard one of the twins start to cry making her jump.
“Keep reading. I’ll get them.” He told her. She watched him walk to get to the babies. A few minutes later she heard him start to sing to Hope. She laid her head back closing her eyes with the letters in her hands. After getting Hope to fall asleep he walked back into the living room to see his wife asleep still clutching the letters. He picked her up careful not to wake her up or to drop the stack in her hand laying her on their bed. He covered her up kissing her gently turning off the light walking to the small couch at the other end of their room. He pulled out a piece of paper starting to write.
Dear Marla,
I don’t think you remember me anymore. I’m your husband. We met in February of 2010. We fell in love and had a baby in February of 2012. We didn’t get married right away though. We waited a little while to have the perfect wedding. Our baby is almost 6 years old now. But that’s not the only baby we have. We have 9 month old twins too. All three of them are amazing. After all this time, almost 8 years, I still love you as much, if not more than I did the day I met you. I need you to come back to me Marla. Before all this happened I told you I didn’t know what I would do without you. I still don’t know the answer. Marla, I love you.
Bruno