18

                                    

                                          
**Alana in the media**
                          
"Stepmother!? She looks younger than me."
                          
	"Excuse me, I'm 23."
                          
	"Rosalina please calm down."
                          
	"What do you mean you're 23. I'm only 22!"
                          
	"Well she's not younger than you." Mr. Alex laughed, and I looked at him as though he had two heads.
                          
	"Dad what the hell?"
                          
	"You said she looks younger than you. Now you know she's not."
                          
	"Dad, do you think this is a game? Do you think this a joke? It's not a damn joke. You just divorced Mom, how did you already get married!?"
                          
	"You're mother and I-"
                          
	"Wait don't tell me, she's one of your students isn't she? Isn't there a rule saying professors can't date, let alone marry their students!?"
                          
	"Rosa I-" Rosa pushed past Alex and went straight upstairs. She stomped to Carina's closet and grabbed a box. She threw clothes in the box angrily.
                          
	"Rosa!"
                          
	"I want to get the hell out of this house." As soon as she was done we heard Alex and Alana talking in the hallway. We hid behind the wall and eavesdropped.
                          
	"Are we gonna tell her about the baby?" I turned to grab Rosa, knowing she would start running, but she pushed me off and ran to them.
                          
	"You're pregnant too! This day could not get any worse."
                          
	"How Mr. Alex? Carina told me you had a vasectomy." I questioned.
                          
	"I kind of lied." He looked sheepish. "We kind of just didn't have sex when she was fertile. Or really ever after I told her I got a vasectomy."
                          
"Let me ask you something Dad. How long did you wait till you signed the papers to jump in bed with her? How long after you found out I COULD BE DYING. Instead of being at the hospital when I needed you, you slept with your student. I'm your daughter Dad. Do you not love me? All I ever wanted to do was make you proud Daddy. I just wanted to make you proud." By now Rosa had tears streaming down her cheeks. I hated seeing her like this and I really wish I could fix it. "What did I ever do Dad? Did I not study enough? Did I not work hard enough? I gave up all the things I wanted to do, to make you happy Dad. I gave up friends, fun, things that I loved. I didn't see Kimberli for 2 years outside of school, because you felt she was a distraction. Do you know how many times I cried for you Dad? Because of you Dad? I saw the way you were with your students. You loved them so much. Why couldn't you love me like that Dad? Why couldn't you love me? What did I do? What did Mom do? It couldn't be that she didn't love you enough. She loved you so much. She even gave up having more kids, because it interfered with your life. Gabriel died and you just forgot about us. But you didn't trust her. You told her you got a damn vasectomy. How could you not trust your wife? Did you ever love us Dad? Did you ever care? And don't say 'of course I did. I bought you all this stuff.' Don't you get it Dad? Mom and I, we never cared about the money or the stuff or the cars. We didn't care about fancy clothes, parties, fancy houses. We just wanted to be a family. We just wanted you here. But you always found a reason to go away Dad. You were never here. I just wanted you to be here Dad. Why couldn't you be here? And I'm sorry, Dad. I really am. I'm sorry I wasn't enough."
                          
"Rosa it's nothing like that I just-"
                          
"One last question."
                          
"Okay..."
                          
"Did you ever cheat on Mom?" Mr. Alex was silent. "I'll take that as a yes. Goodbye Dad. Stay the hell out of my life." Rosa ran out of the door and hopped in the car. Following her, I shook my head.
                          
..........
                          
	"I'm so sorry Ms. Carina."
                          
	"Mami, you're so much better without him."
                          
	"Thank you my loves."
                          
	"You'll find someone else Mami, I just know it. Any man would love to be with such a lovely woman like yourself."
                          
	"Rosa honey, that's really sweet but I don't think I'm ready to be in any relationships right now."
                          
	"Why doesn't he love us Mami? We did everything for him and just treated us terribly!"
                          
	"Rosa, baby, calm down."
                          
	"Calm down!? I'm not gonna calm down! Lyric my dad is a piece of-"
                          
	"Woah woah woah, Rosa the children!" Rosa looked over to the kids and started to cry.
                          
	"I'm gonna need a minute by myself." She ran upstairs and I heard her slam our bedroom door.
                          
	"Lyric, she's gonna be okay, just give her some time to blow off steam."
                          
	"I know. I'm just really worried about her. When we found out about Alana, I thought she was gonna have another panic attack."
                          
	"It's best for us to be here for Rosa. She really needs us right now."
                          
	"I really want to keep her happy. I can't stand to see her like this."
                          
	"Things will get better Lyric. Good things happen to good people."
                          
	"But Carina. You just got divorced and you just found out that your ex husband cheated on you during your marriage and he has a new wife now."
                          
	"Lyric think about it. My entire marriage was full of lies. He treated Rosa and I horribly. I'm happy now. In fact, I'm ecstatic! My daughter, who is my only child now, got married to the love of her life and is happier than ever! I have 3 beautiful grandchildren! I have the best daughter-in-law ever! I'm just happy that I get to share these memories with the five of you!"
                          
	"Awww Carina you are the best mother-in-law ever."
                          
	"Thank you sweetheart, why don't you go check on Rosa. She probably really needs you right now."
                          
	"Oh okay, I'll go-"
                          
	"And give her this Lyric." Carina handed me a bowl of Rosa's favorite ice cream. "She always eats this when she's upset."
                          
	"When did you get this?"
                          
	"I always try to keep some on hand. Rosie can get upset easily sometimes." I took the ice cream upstairs and knocked on our bedroom door.
                          
	"Rosie? Baby are you okay?"
                          
	"Lyric you can come in, I really need a hug right now." she said sniffling. I walked into our room to find Rosa laying in bed. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying.
                          
	"Baby, I brought you your favorite ice cream." She gave me a small smile. I sat the ice cream on the bedside table, and engulfed Rosa in a huge hug. "Everything is gonna be okay babygirl. Your mom and I are here for you. We are gonna be so happy without Alex in our lives. No more worries. Your mom says she's happy about the divorce and that all she wants to do is spend time with us and the kids. She says she wants to be the best abuela ever. All she wants is for us to be happy. She wants you to be happy."
                          
	"I want to be happy Lyric, I really do but knowing that I'm just a disappointment to my father really hurts. I can't believe that he lied to my mother and I all this time." I laid next to her in bed and held her.
                          
	"We're gonna be okay baby. We're gonna be happy Rosie." I handed her her ice cream.
                          
	"Baby, it all melted." she said with a small giggle.
                          
	"There's that smile I know and love. I wanna see more smiles coming from you princess."
                          
	"I'll try baby I promise." She looked down at her bowl of what was now melted ice cream. "Can you get me a straw baby, and maybe a glass to pour this in? This is now a milkshake."
                          
	"Of course Rosie!" I said with a big smile. "Anything for you my love." She smiled at me and blew me kisses.
                          
	"You are the best wife ever. I love you so much."