Page 4 of Finding Love in the Clouds

“Boy or girl?” Enrique asked and squeezed her hand from across the table.

“We are going to let this one be a surprise,” she answered with a slight lift of her shoulders.

“When are you due?” Gabriel asked, leaning down to hug her as well.

“Junish, if everything goes well. I am not exactly a spring chicken, so you never know. Forty makes things much higher risk. My doctors will be monitoring me carefully, and I will be sticking close to home for the next six months.”

“That is great news. I am really happy for you both,” Gabriel replied, retaking his seat at the other end of the table, across from Anthony. “If that was her news, what in the world could you possibly have to share?” he quipped, directing his gaze at the older man.

“Well, before we knew about the newest addition to our family, we had made a decision and have decided to stick with it. We all have a lot to thank this town for. We would not be the men, and woman, we are today without the people here, but it’s not perfect. You all know I have always held firmly to the belief that you shouldn’t complain about something if you aren’t willing to do something about it, so- I’m doing something about it. I will be running for mayor in the next election.”

Everyone expressed their excitement for him, and Fernando smiled broadly; there was no better man suited for the job. Anthony had arrived at the boy’s home and stepped into a leadership role immediately. He saw a positive side to every situation and fought to bring change when change was needed, even at his own expense. Fernando dreamed of making this group of unwanted boys into a family, and he could never have accomplished that feat without Anthony’s determination and resourcefulness. If anyone would be a good mayor, it would beAnthony Johnson, the hardest-working person he had ever known, and Fernando would do everything in his power to help make that happen.

“I’m going to need your support. This is a big endeavor and work that I feel is important. I’ll be honest with you: I’ve already been approached about running for Governor in the next election. Hannah and I have mixed feelings about that. I feel the work that needs to be done right here is important, and I don’t want folks in the community to think that being mayor, should I win, was nothing more than a stepping stone.”

“Being Governor would be huge, though. You are the least political and most honest person I know. If anyone deserves to be Governor and a chance to make a positive change for the people, it would be you. With all four of us behind you, it would be hard for you to lose due to super PACs and less honorable opponents,” Fernando urged, excited at the prospect of his big brother becoming Governor.

“That is still a ways away, but I wanted you to know as it could impact all of you and your businesses. Okay, let’s cut this cake, and we can finish the discussion over dessert.” Anthony took the cake knife from Hannah and, slicing generous portions, passed the pieces around the table as Hannah placed rum pudding in front of everyone.

The conversation had died down momentarily so everyone could enjoy their dessert. Fernando was imagining the campaigns they could run on his network and making a mental list of people in legal he would need to run all of this by to make sure they didn’t get into trouble with all the voter and campaign laws when Enrique started choking. When Fernando looked up, his brother’s face was beet red, and he was guzzling water like a fish gone dry.

Passing him her water glass, Hannah asked, “Enrique, you okay? Pudding go down the wrong pipe?”

Enrique gazed at her with tears in his eyes, “Very funny, Hannah. What did you do to my pudding?”

“Oh, that,” she replied innocently, lifting one of her delicate shoulders. “That’s just a few drops of Carolina Reaper juice. Our chef promised it wouldn’t really hurt you but would definitely leave a lasting impression.”

Fernando dropped the spoon he had just dipped into his pudding. He liked food, but spicy was not his thing. Carolina Reapers were like the hottest peppers on the planet, and there was no way he was eating anything with that in it.

After being assured that only Enrique was suffering from this punishment, everyone, save Enrique, resumed eating their dessert. Fernando hid his smirk as he thought over the situation. When it came to creative punishments, Hannah was a pro. She adopted four teenage boys into her family. Beating them wasn’t an option, but sometimes, they needed more than just love and hugs. He was pretty sure that Enrique would be on time next year or would skip dessert.

Soon, the table was cleared, and everyone gathered in the living room for the evening’s festivities and the final countdown to midnight. This was Fernando’s favorite part, and he couldn’t wait to hear what the brotherhood challenges would be this year.

He accepted his long-stemmed crystal flute filled with champagne as Anthony got things started.

“This brings us to the part of the evening’s festivities that we have all been waiting for,” Anthony announced, clasping his fingers around the stem of his glass. “As you all know, there will be two pacts this year –”

“Hold on,” Enrique frowned in confusion, cutting Anthony off. “I didn’t know that. Why are there going to be two?”

“Anthony sent a message last night in the family chat,” Fernando answered. “Did you check it?”

“I was busy,” Enrique mumbled, glaring at his brother.

“Anyway,” Anthony continued. “There are two pacts this year because of Julio’s return. Due to his deployments, he’s missed his opportunity to propose pacts over the years. And now that he’s back, it only seems right that he gets to pose one this year.” Turning to Enrique with a mischievous grin on his face. “Enrique, drumroll please.”

Rolling his eyes, Enrique responded, “Really? I haven’t done that since I was a kid. Can’t a man live anything down in this family?”

“Oh, come on, Enrique,” Hannah laughed, “You know it’s all in good fun. Hyperactive tapping is nothing to be ashamed of, and for the record, you have not stopped; you just modified your tapping to a more professionally acceptable level. It got you into lots of trouble as a child, so naturally, your brothers will remind you of it now and then.”

“Fine,” Enrique muttered begrudgingly, handing his champagne glass to Gabriel before tapping his fingers in a fast staccato on the top of the table beside him.

“Julio, you have the floor,” Anthony said, gesturing to the dark-haired man, who nodded in response as all eyes focused on him.

“You know me, guys,” he said. “I’m all about having fun. But the true spirit of the pact has always been about how fulfilling it can in some way make us better. So, I gave my pact proposal a great deal of thought. We are all incredibly successful, and I think each of us is grateful for how much we have been blessed, but I also feel like we are letting the scars from the past continue to hold us back to some degree. I have been reading up on PTSD and overcoming trauma recently, and I think we all would benefit from looking at our fears head-on and working to overcome them. We are not broken, abandoned littleboys anymore, surviving on the scraps and handouts of others. We need to put those sad children to rest once and for all. With that said, I challenge each of my Bad Boy brothers to face their greatest fear and go on an epic adventure while doing it before next New Year’s Eve.”

Surprised by this announcement, Fernando frowned. This was not what he was expecting at all. He didn’t have time to go on an adventure, and he didn’t have a fear that was holding him back.Okay, maybe flying.But how was he supposed to overcome that in a year? It wasn’t like he could take a few flying lessons and it would miraculously go away.

“Hey, is this a hard 365-day challenge, or is there some leeway on this? Say, maybe 730 days?” Fernando asked the room at large.

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