Through You (The Hidalgo Brothers Book 2)

Artemis and I had our first fight as a couple in the third month of my pregnancy.

“Claudia.”

“No.”

“You haven’t paid attention to what I’m trying to say,” he remarks in agitation while waving his hands in the air. The morning sun is streaming through the blinds in his bedroom. I’m almost finished getting ready to go to work.

“I have heard you and the answer is still no.”

Artemis wants me to leave the internship with the company and stay at home all day. The fact that I’m pregnant doesn’t make me less capable at my job. Also, my contract is for six months, and I only have two months left. I’m pretty sure I can handle two more months. I’m not even showing yet. The Hidalgos have already hired a girl to do the housekeeping. Artemis would not consider letting me continue to look after the housework, for obvious reasons.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to prove,” he says.

“I’m not trying to prove anything. I’m being responsible. I signed a six-month contract and there are two more months left in it.”

“A contract with my company that you don’t need to finish. I can render it fulfilled.”

“I’m going to work.”

“Agh!” He turns around and brings his hands to his head. I fold my arms over my chest when he looks at me. “Do you have any idea how many people would kill to not work and stay at home?”

“Well, I regret I’m not one of them.”

“Claudia.” He purses his lips. “You’re so stubborn. I should have known better and had you fired.”

Ha!

“Go fuck yourself.” I turn to leave but am hit by a wave of morning sickness, and rush to the en suite bathroom, where I lean over the toilet, ready to hurl. Artemis leans against the doorframe with arms crossed. I get up to wash my mouth and send a death glare to his reflection in the mirror above the sink.

“Claudia . . .” he starts again, trying to sound as though he’s being logical.

“No.” I face him. “Listen, Artemis, I get that you’re worried.

And I’m not unappreciative of the offer to stay home. But this is my life. And I choose to complete the internship. I need to show that I’m reliable and have an immaculate work ethic. I want to continue working, period.”

“Do you want to open up your own publicity agency? I can . . .”

“Oh my god!” I cover my face with my hands. “It’s like I’m talking to the wall.”

He blocks the door on my way out. “Wait, wait. Don’t leave like this.”

I take a deep breath. “Do you realize you’re acting like a complete idiot this morning? Considering giving orders to have me fired? Are you serious?”

He rubs his stubble. “I’m sorry, very sorry. I don’t know what my problem is. I would like to . . . it’s just—” He takes a step in my direction. “I just want to make sure that you’re safe. If anything were to happen to you . . .”

“Artemis, I’m fine,” I assure him. “Do you think I would do something that could put the baby in danger?”

“It’s not that.” He sighs and cradles my face with his hands.

“I’m an idiot. I’m sorry.”

I give him a fake smile. “I appreciate the apology. However, I’m depriving you of my company at night for a week. Enjoy sleeping alone, idiot.”

I make an exit. I hear him call my name but I keep walking.

By the time my belly is showing in the fifth month, I’ve completed my internship and Artemis has left his job as CEO and appointed his best friend Alex to the position. He’s done with his commitments to the family company and is free to do what he wants. Now he only oversees business projects of his own. I even convinced him to enroll in an illustration course to rekindle his passion.

Returning home from the checkup when we finally get to find out the sex of our baby, we find everyone waiting for us in the living room. Grandpa, my mom, Apolo, and Mr. Hidalgo are here. Ares joins us via video on a tablet placed in the middle of a table.

“Well?” my mother asks.

“It’s a girl!” I inform them, elated. Though they’ve never said as much, I’m sure they were all crossing fingers, hoping for a girl.

“I knew it!” Grandpa smiles and gives Apolo a high five. “A Hidalgo girl!”

“Yeaaaaah!” I hear Ares shout excitedly from the tablet.

“Apolo, you owe me twenty dollars.”

“Did you make a bet? Seriously?” I scold Apolo, who shrugs.

“It was Ares’s idea.”

I bend and get closer to the screen to say something to him.

“Idiot.”

Ares smiles at me. “You love me and you know it.” He winks.

I give him an eye roll and straighten up.

My mom gives me a hug, and Mr. Juan comes up. “You’re making Hidalgo family history,” he comments. “She’ll be the first girl in our family branch. My brothers and I have only had boys.”

“My first granddaughter,” Grandpa interrupts him. “Have you started getting her room ready?”

“Are you using one of the rooms upstairs?” Mr. Hidalgo asks.

“Ah, but the stairs might be a problem. What are you planning?”

“Uh . . . we haven’t . . .” Artemis and I glance at each other.

“You’ll live here, right?” Grandpa asks, worry clearly etched on his face. “This house is enormous. I also think that the grandparents”—he points to my mom and Mr. Juan—“would love to have their granddaughter close to them.”

“We haven’t discussed that, Grandfather,” Artemis replies, and I shift my weight from foot to foot, feeling a tad uncomfortable. How have we not thought about this already?

We talk with everyone a little longer before heading upstairs to Artemis’s bedroom. I yawn and stretch my arms in the air before I sit down on the bed. Lately, I feel very tired even when I hardly do anything. I completed the internship and the new girl who looks after the housework is doing a thorough job. I no longer complain about Artemis being overbearing. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I was still in charge of running the household.

Artemis unbuttons his shirt and takes it off while I gawk. My hormones have made me insatiable lately. He leans over and gives me a soft peck while gently caressing my face. I grab him by the neck and pull him forward until we land on the bed with him on top.

“Again?” he whispers against my lips.

“Are you complaining?”

“Absolutely not.”

When I reach the ninth month, it’s hard to walk very far without having my ankles swell up, and I become short of breath doing the simplest of tasks, never mind the stress on my back or trying to find a comfortable sleeping position. Artemis and I have decided to spend the first year of our daughter’s life in this house.

We would love for Grandpa, my mom, and Mr. Juan to enjoy her company for as long as they can. We’ll decide later whether we’ll live somewhere else long term.

We haven’t heard from Mrs. Hidalgo, which doesn’t surprise me. She probably doesn’t want anything to do with me and my baby. And I’m perfectly fine with that. I’d rather not have someone with such terrible energy anywhere near my daughter.

Artemis is way more relaxed now that he’s no longer working for Hidalgo Enterprises and has only his own business ventures to oversee from time to time. He’s truly having a great time getting back to drawing since he began his illustration course months ago. Although it hasn’t been long since he started, his artistic sensibility and aesthetic have improved a great deal. I guess time is inconsequential when you have innate talent.

We’re almost finished setting up our daughter’s room and have paid attention to every detail with tender loving care. It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, which means everyone is home since we decided to have a party together. Gin and Alex have dropped by to help with the final touches. Apolo and Ares are in the living room assembling a piece of furniture that came with complicated instructions. I can hear them arguing over it from here. Alex is helping Gin put up a sign with my daughter’s name on it up on the wall next to her crib.

“More to the right! It’s crooked!” Alex complains.

“That’s just what you said to me last night,” Gin replies.

“Gin!” I shoot a reproachful look in her direction.

“I’m joking. Anyway, Alex is no saint,” she proclaims in her defense.

Alex and Gin love bantering with each other. Thanks to Artemis and me they’ve become close friends. I suppose they’re our best friends, so they have no other choice.

“Alex,” I call to him. “What happened with Chimmy?”

“Chimmy?” Gin asks. “Oh yeah, the secretary. Right?”

“Nothing. Why? Is there something that should happen?”

Alex does his best to sound puzzled.

Artemis coughs into his hand and mumbles, “Coward.”

“I heard you. You’re not my boss and I can kick your ass.”

“My apologies, Mr. CEO of Hidalgo Enterprises,” I joke.

“Don’t encourage him, Claudia. I need someone in my corner.”

I push against the arms of my chair to lift myself back up to my feet.

But when I straighten, I feel a warm liquid roll down my inner thigh and drip on the floor. Everyone looks at me in shock.

“Oh.” It’s all I can say. “I think my water broke.”

Then everything turns into chaos. Artemis keeps asking if I’m doing okay every other second. Gin and Alex are pacing from one side of the room to the other. I hold my belly with one hand and reach for Artemis with the other for support as we make our way out of the room and down the stairs. Ares and Apolo look up.

Gin is hot on our heels, and she screams at them. “The baby!

She’s coming!”

The chaos intensifies. My mom, Grandpa, and Mr. Juan come out of the kitchen where they were preparing the meat for the barbecue.

Everyone is trying to talk to me and calm me down at the same time. Meanwhile, they’re the ones who have lost their minds.

“I’m fine,” I keep repeating.

The ride to the hospital is much quicker than I expected.

Upon our arrival, we check in and fill out the paperwork.

Although I can walk, they put me in a wheelchair.

I wish I could say that the entire birthing experience is wonderful. At first I thought being exposed to a team of doctors would be uncomfortable. Modesty, however, is far from my mind at this moment. Everything becomes irrelevant when all you want is to bring your daughter into this world, and for the pain of labor to end.

Artemis holds my hand the entire time. He looks so pale anyone would think he was the one giving birth.

“Come on, Claudia. One more push.” Dr. Diaz encourages me. I make an effort to push while holding my breath. “Hold it.

Hold it. Just like that. Good, nice.”

I put all my remaining strength into my last push to get this baby out. I’m out of breath, light-headed, with nothing left. But none of that matters when I hear my daughter’s cries. Dr. Diaz cleans her before placing her in my arms, and I can’t keep back my tears. I’ve never felt love for someone this way, so deep and fast. Artemis leans over, and his eyes are wet. He strokes the tiny head of our baby with such gentleness, as if she’s a delicate treasure so fragile she could break from his touch.

“Hello. Hi, my love,” I whisper between sobs. “Welcome to the world, Hera Hidalgo.”

Artemis kisses her forehead before giving me a quick peck.

When he pulls away, he gazes at me with eyes that gleam with affection, and for the first time I’m ready to fully reciprocate what I see in them.

“I love you, Artemis.”

I’m no longer afraid. These are the words I’ve heard from his lips every day these past months. The ones I’ve heard him whisper to my belly. Now, when I hear these words in his voice, I think only of the kind boy I grew up with and this beautiful baby in my arms. Artemis smiles at me.

“I know, my precious.” He says this without a hint of arrogance, sounding more like the words are confirmation of a truth he’s known all along. A truth I don’t need to explain because he’s aware of how hard it is for me to put into words what this all means to me. “I love you, too, Claudia.”

I’m discharged on the third day. And Hera becomes the center of attention at the Hidalgo house. Everyone fights over who gets to hold her, who gets to change her diaper, and who gets to put her to sleep. It’s quite clear that her being the first Hidalgo girl is a monumental occasion. On the upside, their generous assistance affords Artemis and me the chance to rest on occasion.

Hera is a beautiful baby. The color of the sparse hair on her tiny head is brown. Her facial features are adorable, and her eyes are blue, though the eye color of babies tends to change with time. I didn’t expect her eyes would turn out to be this shade.

Maybe it’s a trait that skipped a few generations. My mom says that my father had blue eyes, very much like Ares and Artemis’s mother.

Regardless, Ares makes use of this opportunity to tease Artemis. “I’m sorry, brother,” Ares says in an overly dramatic way.

“I tried to resist, but Claudia can be very persistent. She—”

Artemis slaps the back of his head.

“Show some respect, Ares.”

Ares gives us a wide smile.

“Always so serious.” Ares shakes his head, leaning over the crib and reaching for. “Hello again, my precious. Who is going to be a heartbreaker just like her uncle, huh? Who?”

Apolo rolls his eyes. “A heartbreaker? Are you serious? You couldn’t think of something else—like intelligent, or something along those lines?”

Artemis sighs and sits next to me on the bed. I’m still feeling a little sore.

“Do you need anything?”

I shake my head. We sit together and watch everyone fight over who gets to hold Hera.

FOURTH OF JULY

Artemis and I are alone for the first time in months. Hera is at home with her grandparents, who were more than happy to look after her. I believe this is the first Fourth of July that we’re spending alone together. Just like the night when we were teenagers and I rejected him because of his mother’s threats.

We’ve come to a beautiful and secluded beach a few hours away from the house. A gorgeous moon adorns the dark sky, and its reflection shines brightly on the water. We sit on the sand. Off to the side, where the beach turns inward, there’s a boardwalk where a small crowd lingers. The wind blows back my hair, and I look over at the man sitting next to me.

“This is beautiful,” I attest. As I rest my head on his shoulder, I notice that he’s shaking. I straighten. “Are you cold?”

Artemis shakes his head. “No.”

“But you’re trembling.”

He doesn’t look at me and points in the direction of the boardwalk, above which fireworks suddenly shoot over the ocean and explode in a multitude of different colors. I open my mouth, surprised and genuinely impressed by the magnificent display. I stand up and move closer to the shore to get to a better view of the light spectacle. I should have guessed Artemis would have prepared for this moment.

“It’s wonderful,” I tell him when he comes to join me. “I love it, it’s—” I stop midsentence when he bends in front of me, going down on one knee in the sand. I cover my mouth in shock.

“Claudia,” he begins. “I’m not good with words, but here under these fireworks, I’ll try my best. We grew up together. You were my friend, the one who stood by me, and my first love.”

The memory of him sticking out his tongue when we would fight as kids comes to mind.

“Together, we have overcome so much,” he adds.

I think back to all the times he was there for me when I would sleepwalk, or when I was terrified of the dark. And the times he would get into fistfights and I tended to his cuts. And how he would come to my defense when the other kids would pick on me at school. And the way his brown eyes would calm me as he created a safe space for me.

“Our journey hasn’t been easy and had many obstacles. But we’ve been together for over a year and we’ve welcomed our precious Hera,” he continues, overcome with emotion. “And I know, without a doubt, that you are the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, the woman I want to build a home with. For me, it has always been you.”

Big fat tears roll down my cheeks.

“And so this iceberg, Supercat, and a man who is crazy in love has a question to ask on this Fourth of July: Will you marry me?”

He brings up one hand holding a box with a ring inside. I put down the hand that was covering my mouth and smile through my tears.

“Yes. Of course. It’s a yes!”

I lean forward and hug him. Fireworks explode and illuminate the night sky. When I pull away, he places the ring on my finger and gives me a kiss. It’s a kiss packed with emotion, love, and promises. He stops and places his forehead against mine.

“You’re not rejecting me this time, huh?” he jokes.

I caress his face, brush his soft scruff, and answer his question with a soul-destroying kiss.