Chapter Text
Olivia stared into the back of the empty moving van. ‘Well, that’s the last of the boxes,’ she said to Rafael, as he made his way down the front steps to join her. She settled up with the movers and tipped them, too, as they hadn't broken anything, before joining Rafael in front of the brownstone.
She stared up at the front door, and Rafael put his arm around her waist.
‘So, how does it feel to be home?’ he asked her, giving her a tentative look.
‘Honestly?’ she asked ‘A little weird. We’d been in the apartment so long, you know. Just the two of us.’
Rafael nodded. ‘I do know, Liv. It’s a big adjustment.’
She rested her chin on his shoulder for a moment, watching as the moving van disappeared down the street.
‘It must be strange for you, too. You’ve lived by yourself for most of your life, Rafa.’
He smiled sadly. ‘For me, it’s only a good strange. Ever since the first time you and Noah both stayed here, I’ve been hoping for just this.’
Olivia smiled, and pressed a fond kiss to the side of his face. ‘It’s a good strange for me, too, Rafa.’
The took the steps together, entering the warm house and shutting the door.
‘It’s been a long day, how about a pizza delivery for dinner?’ suggested Rafael. ‘Should I check with Noah? I think he’s still unpacking upstairs.’
Olivia grinned. ‘He won’t ever say no to pizza,’ she said, moving to shut the drapes at the front window of the living room.
She didn’t notice the shadowy figure across the street who had been watching them through the window.
After he called in their order for pizza, Rafael started to get the table ready, as Olivia went upstairs to take a quick shower.
There were a few boxes of Olivia’s dishes and kitchen gadgets still to be unpacked. Ordinarily, the chaos that currently existed all around the house would have bothered Rafael. Instead, however, he had found that in the days since Olivia had told him they were ready to move in with him, very little bothered him, at all.
Rafael switched on the stove to a low temperature, and placed a few plates inside it to warm up.
He found himself wandering over to the hall, yet one more time, to look at the gold-framed photo of himself, Olivia and Noah and Bruno, which they had taken during their recent trip to the Catskills.
The photo was taken as they posed together in front of a small waterfall which had been lit up that night specially for use as a backdrop. It was probably the same basic composition that over a hundred families had taken home with them that night. Still, it had somehow captured the serene smile on Olivia’s face as she looked at the lens and Noah’s impish grin as he looked up at Rafael. More than that, it had somehow managed to memorialise the moment when he truly felt like they had become his family.
He knew what a big step it was for Olivia to trust him with Noah, and to blend their lives with his. For some people, marriage might prove to be their biggest step, but for her, this was the significant one, and he felt honoured to finally be the one that she had chosen as her partner in taking this step.
He glanced at the coat stand near the door, where there were now three winter coats hanging up, his, Olivia’s and Noah’s, as well as some assorted raincoats, and some sort of plastic poncho that Noah had brought back from a day spent at a fairground with school friends. Noah’s muddy sneakers rested askew in the shoe rack, beside Olivia’s smart heeled boots and Rafael’s loafers.
Before, when he was alone, of course, things had been neater, and everything had its place. But now, the house felt full, in way he had never really expected it to feel.
He went into the living room to restock the wood-burning stove, and sat for a few minutes in the armchair, pausing to gaze into the flames. Something about the crackling sound of the fire always helped him to relax. His mother would be home from her trip soon, and he knew he needed to invite her over. When he had called her the day before, to tell her about Olivia and Noah moving in, she had been overjoyed for him.
Of course, she hadn’t been able to leave it there, either.
‘You know, mijo, if you and Olivia are living together anyway, why not just get married and have done with it? It’s easier, no, especially at your ages?’ His mother’s tone was casual, but he knew her well enough to know that this was a cause she was determined to see through.
‘Mami,’ he had sighed. ‘I explained already. No es el momento adecuado.’
He had heard his mother tutting over the line. ‘Well if you say so, mijo. You already know how I hate to interfere.’
Rafael had shaken his head in frustration, but kept his cool. ‘Of course, Mami, you would never dream of such a thing.’
He’d been looking for a pair of socks that morning, and his hand had come upon the jewellery box that held the family ring his mother had given to him. Olivia had been downstairs with Noah, making breakfast. He had paused for a moment, and opened up the box, to look at the sparkle of the stones. He thought about Olivia’s hand, and how the ring would look on her finger. Would she even like the vintage style setting? It was the sentimental value of that connection of the ring to his Abuelita that made it so special to him, but would she feel the same way? Would she want to wear it, every day, for the rest of her life?
He had heard a noise on the stairs, and snapped the box shut, closing the sock drawer swiftly, as if he was about to be caught in some kind of illicit behaviour.
As it turned out, on that occasion, it was only Bruno, the dog, coming to nose around into what was keeping him so delayed for their morning walk.
After a while, a knock on the door alerted Rafael to the arrival of the pizza. He tipped the delivery man, and shouted upstairs to let Olivia and Noah know it was there.
Olivia came downstairs in a robe, her hair still damp from the shower. Noah bounded down behind her.
‘Did you remember to get my double pepperoni, Rafa?’ He asked, reaching up into a cabinet for plates.
‘But of course, I didn’t forget your pepperoni, Noah, and the extra mushrooms too,’ he assured the boy. ‘I have other plates warming in the oven,’ he added.
Noah put the plate in his hands back in the cabinet and went to open to oven.
As Noah reached his hand out, Rafael instinctively rushed to pull him back by the shoulder. ‘Careful, mijo, those are hot, you need to use a glove,’ he warned him.
He saw Noah turn to give him a funny look. He opened his mouth and closed it again, and looked at Olivia, who stared back at him blankly. ‘I’m… I’m sorry Noah, I shouldn’t have called you that, it just slipped out.’
Noah narrowed his eyes. ‘Mijo, that’s what your Mom calls you, right, that means son?’
Rafael nodded, and swallowed. ‘I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.’
Noah smiled uncertainly. ‘I don’t mind, Rafa. You can call me that if you want. It’s okay. But then does that mean that I need to call you…’ his voice trailed off, and the boy looked lost. Rafael’s heart went out to him. He knew that in terms of their relationship to each other, they were still just finding their way.
‘Noah, you don’t need to call me anything at all. Rafa is just fine. But you do need to use an oven glove when you take hot plates from the oven.’
In a swift move, he pulled an oven mitt from a hook and tossed it to Noah, who grinned as he caught it, and bent to open up the oven. Over his bent head, Rafael tilted his head at Olivia, looking to check she thought he had handled the exchange correctly. She gave him a subtle nod, and he sighed with relief, before they all sat down to satisfying dinner.
The next morning was a Saturday, the last one before Noah would be returning to school. Olivia, Noah, and Rafael left the house early together to take Bruno for his walk, all bundled up in their winter coats.
The figure watching from a car across the street followed their movements until they went out of sight.
It was a beautiful family that Olivia had built for herself, he thought, over those long years since he had last seen her. The only problem was, that it wasn’t right. He was the one who should have had the loving family, but because of her, he had never gotten the chance. And now, there was only one way that he could make things fair. He needed to take away from her, what she had once taken from him.