Love Without Boundaries - Chapter 37: Chapter 37

Thrity-Seven
Robert woke up on Monday morning and got dressed. Today was the day he and Preston were getting matching tattoos, he still had no clue as to what it was going to be. He went downstairs to grab something to eat, when he walked into the kitchen he only found Rose at the table. He found this odd; she never ate at the table for breakfast.
“Morning Robert, how are you this fine morning?” Rose said. Robert just stared at her, something was wrong. She was never nice to him unless his mom or uncle were around.
“Good morning to you too and I’m doing pretty well. You’re in a good mood this morning.” Robert said. Rose looked back at him and just smiled.
“Well let’s just say I had a good time this weekend.” He could tell she was up to something, but didn’t really care or had the time to find out.
“Ok, can you tell mom I’ll be back later?” Robert said as he grabbed an apple and headed out. He was stopped by Nora as she and Vince came in through the front door.
“Hey Robert where are you off to in such a hurry?” Nora said.
“Oh I have to meet Preston, where were you?” Robert asked.
“I went over to Vera’s house; we were talking to Vince’s aunt and uncle. We decided to tell them and they were ok with it.” Nora said.
“Aren’t you worried that they will tell you know who?”
“You don’t have to worry about that. My uncle won’t say a word to him.” Vince said.
“But that’s not the best part; he said if I needed to I can move in with them if it came down to that. So I won’t have to move so far away.” Nora said
“That’s great Nora, I’m glad things are going along so well for you two. So what are you guys hoping to have?”
“It doesn’t matter, just as long as we have a healthy a baby.” Vince said as he looked at Nora, Robert was glad Nora found a nice guy who will do anything for her.
“That’s good, well I hate to leave, but I have to go. I’ll talk to you guys later.” Robert walked out of the door before they had a chance to say anything else.
Preston was in his room looking at the drawing he had asked Vera to do for him. It was the tattoo idea he wanted to get with Robert. It was a small, simple design that would look nice anywhere, he hoped Robert would like it. His mom knocked on his door.
“Come in,” Preston said as he put the drawing back in his pocket.
“Hey honey, Robert’s waiting for you downstairs.” Erin said.
“Ok thanks mom, I’ll be down in a minute.” Preston said as he grabbed his wallet and sweater. He walked down the stairs and found Robert waiting for him.
“Hey Amor you ready to go?” Robert asked him.
“Yeah, hey mom I’m leaving I’ll be back later.” Preston said as he and Robert went out the door.
“Ok have fun.” Erin said as they went to the car. Robert pulled out of the driveway and drove off. He turned to face Preston and reached over to grab his hand.
“So tell me where are we getting it done and what are we getting?”
“We are going to Ink Addition, I read they do a good job there and they do custom work.” Preston said as he reached into his pocket.
“So what are we getting?” Robert said as he looked at the piece of paper Preston had pulled out of his pocket.
“You’re just going to have to wait until we get to the tattoo shop, I hope you like it. So I don’t know where you want to get it at?”
“On our wrist, I want people to be able to see it” Preston looked at him.
“Are you sure, you don’t even know what it is?” Robert laughed.
“Yes, whatever you decided on I’m going to love.” Preston smiled, that is where he was hoping he would want to get.
“Ok good I think it will look great on our wrist.” It was another forty minutes before they reached Ink Addition. Robert put the car in park and looked at Preston.
“So are you going to let me see it now?” Preston smiled and unfolded the paper and handed it to Robert. Robert looked at the drawing; it was his and Preston’s first initial with a heart between them. Under it was a dove holding a string in the shape of a heart. It was small and beautiful; it was going to look prefect on their wrist.
“It’s perfect, I love it.” Robert kissed him. “Ok come on.”  They walked into the shop and waited for their turn.
“So tell me, how much is it going to hurt?” Robert said when it was his turn. Preston hadn’t flinched or complained about the pain, so he thought it wouldn’t be too bad. He sat down on the chair and waited as the artist got started. As soon as the needle hit his skin, Robert let out a hiss. He felt like he was getting stung by a million mosquitoes when Robert looked at Preston he saw him trying to hide his smirk and laugher.
“You think this is funny? Ah dammit god this hurts, you could have warned me beforehand” Robert hissed at him.
“What miss the chance to see my big strong boyfriend whine like a little girl, I don’t think so? Besides it doesn’t hurt that bad after a while.”
“Yeah sure it doesn’t, I’ll believe it when it happens.” Robert looked to see how much more he needed done. He only had the first letter done; he still had a lot more to do. He groaned, when the needle touched his skin again. Preston chuckled at him and grabbed his free hand, maybe holding his hand will help him not think about the pain so much. Robert gave Preston’s hand a squeeze.
“Thanks let me know if I’m hurting your hand.” Robert groaned and squeezed Preston’s hand harder. “Sorry,” Robert loosens his grip.
“It’s alright, not everyone can handle the pain. Just glad for once I’m the strong one when it comes to getting a tattoo.” Robert chuckled. When the tattoo artist finished, she let Robert and Preston look at it, it was the same as Preston’s.
“What do you want to do?” Robert asked Preston as they left the shop.
“Spend the whole day with you, but I promised my mom I was going to help her take down all the Christmas decorations.”
“Ah come on, can’t she wait to do that tomorrow?”
“I wish it could, but my mom says she won’t have time later in the week and she just wants everything put up.”
“Well if we can’t spend the whole day together, at least let me take you out for lunch. I know this great little Mexican place.”
“Ok let’s go then.” Preston went to the passenger side and opened the door, but was stopped by Robert. “What,” Preston said.
“Here put on this blind-fold, I don’t want you to see the place until we are there.” Preston looked at the blind-fold; he couldn’t really be serious about it.
“You’re joking right, I mean come on you are not going to make me wear this on the ride to the restaurant?”
“Yes I am, now come on turn around so I can put it on you.” Robert tied the blind-fold and help Preston get back into the car. After ten minutes of driving, Preston starts to fidget in his seat.
“Are we there yet?” Preston asked and Robert laughs.
“Sorry amorcito not yet, but we will be there soon.” It was another fifteen minutes before the car stopped.
“Ok you can remove the blind-fold now.” Preston removed the blind-fold and saw that Robert had brought him to his dad’s house, he looks at Robert.
“Best Mexican place in town?” Robert laughs.
“My dad and abuelita have been asking me on when I was going to bring you back for a visit. They really like you and mi abuelita thinks you’re too skinny. She wants to fatten you up.” Preston laughed.
“Well I really like your family; they have made me feel like I am a part of the family.”
“Good that’s what I was hoping for.” Robert leans in and kissed Preston. “Now come on Nora and Vince are here too. Knowing Vince he might have not left us any food.” They both laughed and got out of the car.
Meanwhile Rose decided to go surprise her dad for lunch and tell him what she found out. She couldn’t wait; she knew he was going to be furious about it. She walks into his office and waits until he is done talking on the phone.
“Hello princess, what can I do for you?” her dad said.
“Oh nothing really daddy, I just wanted to see if you want to have lunch with me.”
“Oh princess I wish you would have called before driving all the way over here. As much as I would love to have lunch with you I can’t. I have an important meeting I have to have during lunch.”
“But daddy I had something very important I wanted to talk to you about. Can’t you just move it an hour later?” she pouted her lips and crossed her arms across her chest.
“No I can’t, I’m really sorry princess. Why don’t we have dinner, just the two of us? I’ll call your mom and tell her not to expect us for dinner. Then you can tell me about this very important thing you need to tell me.”
“Ok Daddy,” he could see that she is upset, he pulls out his wallet and hands her his credit card.
“Here go buy yourself something nice to wear for dinner and I will have Jeff pick you up.” She smiled takes the card and hugs him.
“Thanks daddy. I will see you later. Bye I love you daddy.”
“Ok princess I love you too. See you later tonight.” He walked her out of his office and got back to work.
Rose decided to drive over to the mall to pick out her new outfit. As she was driving, her cell phone went off and answered it.
“Hey Gwen, what’s up?” Rose said.
“Oh my god Rose I have some juicy gossip about your sister Nora.” Gwen said.
“Oh my god, do tell.” Rose thought great more juicy details she gets to tell her dad at dinner tonight.
“Well according to Jenny, she overheard your sister telling one of her loser friends that she was pregnant and the father is Vince. Can you believe that; oh my god your dad is going to flip out when he finds out she is pregnant.” Rose couldn’t believe it; this was going to be the perfect revenge against Nora for having Vince break up with her. Just when she was about to say something, Rose’s car is hit by a large SUV, causing her to spin out of control and slam into a pole.
“Hey are you going to eat that taco and if not can I have it?” Vince asked Preston. Preston was so full; he didn’t think he could eat another bit.
“Well that depends on how bad you want my last taco?” Preston said.
“Ah come on, you’re not going to make me beg for it are you?”
“Maybe” Preston just smirked at him.
“You know what never mind I don’t want it that bad.” Vince sat pouting in his seat and everyone started laughing at him.
“I was just kidding Vince; yes you can have my taco.” Preston passed him his plate and just like that his frown was gone. Robert laughed and shook his head. Just then his cell phone went off. He checked the caller I.D. and saw it was his mom.
“Hey mom what’s up?”
“Robert where are you; and do you know where Nora is?” Tanya said; Robert could hear from the tone of her voice something was wrong.
“I’m at dads and Nora is here too, what’s wrong mom?” Robert asked.
“You and Nora need to come to the hospital right now.”
“Mom can you tell me who is in the hospital?” Robert asked as everyone at the table got quiet and looked at him. He then heard his mom start to cry.
“It’s Rose, she has been in a terrible car accident. They are trying to do everything they can to save her, but they are saying she may not make it. Her injuries are too severe; I don’t know what she was thinking about when she just ran a red light.”
“Ok mom we are on our way, we will see you soon.” Robert hung up the phone and looked at everyone.
“Rose has been in a terrible car accident, Nora we have to go over there right now. Vince, do you mind giving Preston a ride home?”
“Yeah sure, I will do that, it’s no problem.” Vince said.
“I’m sorry I can’t take you home first Preston.”
“That’s fine, go to the hospital; just call me whenever you find out how she is.”
“Dad and Abuelita I’m sorry for having to rush out like this.”
“It’s ok mijo just go, call us later when you can.” Robert nodded, he and Nora got up left. Preston and Vince followed behind them and said bye to them. Robert and Nora rode in silence to the hospital. When they finally pulled into the hospital, they made their way to the waiting room, where their mom was. When they saw their mom, she had red puffy eyes and her face filled with worry.
“So what have you heard?” Nora asked
“Nothing yet, your uncle is back there trying to find out something. All we can do is wait and pray she comes out of this ok.” Robert pulls his mom and Nora into his arms; as much as he had despised Rose she didn’t deserve this. It was an hour before his uncle showed up. From the look on his face, Robert could tell the news wasn’t good.
“What did they say Antonio?” Tanya asked, he took a deep breath and ran his hands over his face.
“She is in a coma and she isn’t going to come out of. The only thing keeping her alive is being hook up to the life support machine. They are telling me that there is no need to on keep her on life support, no matter how long we keep her on it she will never wake up. They are giving us an hour to say our final goodbyes.” Antonio said as he started to cry.
“Ok come on kids you go and say your last goodbyes,” Tanya said. Robert and Nora walked into the room they had Rose in. Just before entering, Robert turned around to see his mom telling his uncle something, he just had hand to his mouth and nodded. He knew how much his uncle loved Rose and how hard he was taking it right now. For once in his life he felt pity for his uncle. Nora and Robert walked up to the bed and stared at Rose’s lifeless body on the bed. Her body was covered in cuts, scrapes and bruises.
“She looks so horrible Robert; I wish we could do something for her. I know we have had our problems with her, but this isn’t fair or right that this had to happen to her.” Nora said. Robert pulled her close to him.
“I know, come on let’s get this over with.” Robert and Nora said their goodbyes and went back to the waiting room, to find their mom and uncle talking to a doctor.
“You kids done already?” Tanya asked.
“Yes mom, is there anything we can do?” Robert asked.
“No mijo, why do you and Nora just go home and we will be there soon.”
“Ok mom, we will wait for y’all at home.” Robert watched as his uncle made his way to Rose’s room, then turned to hug his mom goodbye. Once they were in the car Robert called his dad and told him what was going on, he told him he was sorry and if he could help with anything to just let him know. Then he called Preston.
“Hey snookum how is everything?” Preston said.
“Um not good, her injuries were too severe and they are going to take her off of life support. I know that I was never really close to her, but it’s just not right that her life has ended this way.” Preston knew that Robert’s relationship with Rose was never close, but he knew Robert still felt bad about what happen to Rose.
“Is there anything I can do or help with?”
“No, I’m just going to wait for my mom and uncle to come home and find out when her funeral is going to be. I’ll just call you when I can.”
“Ok, but if you need something just call me.”
“I will and I’ll see you as soon as I can.”
“Ok,” Robert hung up the phone and started the car to head home. It was late in the evening by the time his mom and uncle came home. Robert had waited up for them, as soon as they walked in his uncle went straight into his office and shut the door. Robert knew he didn’t want anyone to see him cry. Robert followed his mom into the kitchen.
“He isn’t taking it very well is he?” Robert asked his mom.
“No he isn’t, everyone knew how she was the apple of his eye. This is going to take him a long time to get over.” Robert nodded his head.
“When is the funeral going to be?”
“It’s going to be on Thursday, we already have everything arranged. I know its two days before your birthday.”
“It’s fine mom, I have already cancelled my plans. I wouldn’t feel right going out and having a good time, when we just barely buried Rose.”
“Well I wish you would at least go out and try to at least have some fun on your birthday.”
“I’ll think about mom, well I’m going to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Ok mijo, see you in the morning.” Robert went to his room and collapsed on his bed, the next couple of days were going to be hell.
On the day of Rose’s funeral, Robert was ready for the day to be over. He hated having to be around so many people he didn’t care for, he was also tired of people coming up to him and telling him they are sorry for his loss. He still didn’t know how he felt about Rose being gone. All he knew was his mom and Nora were not doing well. He knew that even though Rose wasn’t really his mom’s daughter, she still loved her as her own and was sad about her death. Nora and Rose never had a close relationship, but Nora was the type who would cry and be upset if everyone else was crying. He also thought her hormones might also have something to do with it too. However out of everyone his uncle was the one taking the hardest. You could see it written all over his face. He hadn’t been eating or sleeping well since Rose passed away. He hadn’t talked to him since the day before Rose passed away, he didn’t know what to say to him. He just decided to let him have his space and let him get over this on his own. The day was almost over and the last of the people were leaving. He had helped his mom clean up before heading to bed. He felt bad that he hadn’t called or texted Preston since Monday. Once he was in his room, he picked up his phone and called him.
“Hey snookums, how did everything go today?” Preston asked.
“It was ok I guess for a funeral. I’m sorry I hadn’t called you since Monday.”
“That’s alright; I know you have a lot on your hands right now. So how is everyone?”
“My mom and Nora are hanging in there, but my uncle isn’t taking it very well. I get the feeling like he blames himself for what happen to Rose. I actually pity him; he looks so lost and doesn’t know what to do now. I have never seen him like this before; I’m actually worried about him.”
“I would be too, but you know that is just probably his way of grieving. He is just going to need time to heal.”
“Yeah I know who knows this might actually change him. We might even be able to get along.”
“Maybe you never know. So how are you doing?”
“To tell you the true I don’t know, I don’t know how to feel about this. She was always a horrible person to me, but at the same time she was family and I feel sad that her life was cut short. I really don’t know. I’m just glad the day is over and done with. I don’t think I can hear another I’m sorry for your loss. It just has been a long day and I’m tired.”
“Well then I will call you tomorrow so you can get to sleep. Goodnight snookums, I love you.”
“Goodnight amorcito, I’ll call you tomorrow and by the way we are still going out for my birthday. My mom is making me; she doesn’t want me to stay at home. So tell Vera and Xavier we are still going.”
“Ok I will sweet dreams.”
“Bye I love you,” Robert hung up the phone and got into bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow he fell asleep.