Family Bonds - Scott Martinez

[phoenixfire12]

Family Bonds

 

 

It was supposed to have been a joyous affair where the whole family came together, most waiting in either the hospital waiting room or the parking lot, in excited anticipation of the arrival of a new member of the family. Donnie and Rosa Martinez had been presently surprised when she had become pregnant so soon after the wedding. Grandmother said the stars must have been in perfect alignment when the baby was conceived. The boy’s name had already been picked out as well: Jesus. The parents, niece and nephew of Dominica Martinez, had been the subject of many stories floating around Collinsport. It was going to be a girl. It was going to be a boy. It was twins. Triplets. Finally the doctor had to be given permission to tell the family how many babies there actually were and of what gender for the mother grew huge as a house, as one little cousin had put it.

 

What Deputy Scott Martinez walked into was utter chaos. The call from one of the nurses on duty had come to his personal phone instead of the dispatch line that there was trouble at the hospital regarding his family and he was needed to calm people down ASAP. Grabbing his hat and a couple of other officers he told Dispatch where he was going and headed out, lights and siren going.

 

When he finally reached Collinsport Mercy Hospital he noted the concern on the faces of relatives in the parking lot, but it was nothing compared to the agitation inside. The waiting room was filled with civilians as well as manner of EMS specialists, all relatives from all sides of the deputy’s family. Even the Martinez Grand Dame, Grandma Guadalupe Martinez was there sitting next to a sobbing Donnie who was still in his firefighting uniform, probably having been called away from work for the birth of his first born. Initially Scott had the sinking feeling that the baby had died, but upon further observation he noted the faces around him were filled with anger, shock and confusion. Hospital security was there as well, not to interfere, but to make sure the incident did not go any farther than the waiting area.

 

“What in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary is going on in here?” he barked out above the din of voices. It had been a phrase his grandfather Scott had been known to use and Scott naturally picked it up from him. “Enough!” He cast a disapproving look around the room. “There will be order in here before you are all asked to leave,” he said before waving a hand in the direction of the pair seated across the room. “With the exception of Grandma and Donnie of course.” The announcement garnered him a frosty glare from his own mother, Dominica, but he ignored it. Kneeling before the old woman he put a hand on hers. “G’amma. What happened here? Why is Donnie crying and why is the family so upset?”

 

The old woman patted his hand and sighed. “Scottie, your cousin Rosa is Puta!”

 

Scott drew back as if he had been slapped. “No, G’amma. She’s not. She can’t be. That’s not our Rosa. She loves Donnie.”

 

“It’s not mine!” Donnie sobbed. “She whored herself to another man and had his baby trying to pass it off as mine!” Dominica moved to the grief stricken man’s side and put her hands on his shoulders to comfort him.

 

Grandma nodded. “I’m afraid it’s true, Scottie. The baby’s hair is red as fire and his skin is pale as a ghost. It’s not my Donnie’s.”

 

Scott got to his feet in dismay. “Where is she,” he asked, directing the question to his mother.

 

Dominica just pointed down the hall. “Room two-oh-eight.”

 

Scott looked at the two officers he had brought with him, and then pointed to the trio next to him. “These three stay, the rest of them wait outside in the parking lot.”

 

There was much protesting from the gathered family members, but Grandma thumped her cane loudly and repeatedly on the tiled floor until the room finally quieted. “He is a deputy. He is the law. If he says you leave than you leave. Permiso! ” she ordered, thumping her cane once more on the floor.

 

There was much grumbling about it, but within a couple of minutes the room had cleared and hospital security breathed a sigh of relief.

 

“They’ll be okay now,” Scott said to them. “Thank you.” The two officers nodded and went back to their posts leaving the four alone. “Stay here. I’ll be back soon,” he told his relatives before heading in the direction of the maternity room.

 

 

The look he received from the woman in the bed when he entered the hospital room reminded him of a deer caught in the headlights: fearful. Then she relaxed when she saw who it was. “They’re calling me puta, aren’t they, Scott?”

 

Scott removed his hat and approached the bed, nodding. A nurse sat in a chair across the room and was busy with the chart in her hand. He set the hat down on the end of the bed as he approached. Grandma was right. The baby Rosa held in her arms was snow white with bright orange hair… and black eyes. Oh yes. He could see exactly why the family was in a lather now. “I’m guessing you’re not going to be calling him Jesus, so would you mind explaining to me how this happened?”

 

The woman in the bed frowned and nodded. “You’re right. I suppose I should be calling him Ian instead.” She looked up from the bundle in her arms as the baby opened his mouth and flailed a tiny fist in the air. “Remember last year when Donnie got scared and left me at the altar?”

 

Oh yes, he remembered that alright. Rosa was in hysterics, seeing his rejection as a stab in the heart in front of all their family and friends. The police [i][b]had[/b][/i] been called in then, to quell the riot that ensued. Donnie had fled the church through the window of the good Father’s office where he had been getting ready for his wedding day and had disappeared for a week before his brothers and prospective brothers-in-law had caught up to him in Bangor and proceeded to “change his mind” about marrying Rosa. It wasn’t that he didn’t love her. He was just scared. And young… and stupid. A family meeting had been called where Donnie had to explain himself to everyone, Grandma especially. Donnie and Rose had been childhood sweethearts and they knew before everyone else did that they would marry and love each other for eternity.

 

Apparently Donnie was having doubts as the wedding date had grown closer for neither of them had ever dated anyone else very seriously.

 

In the meantime Rosa had disappeared to deal with her heartbreak. No one had ever known where she had disappeared to for two whole weeks before she finally showed up on Donnie’s doorstep, fists flying in his face. Once more the police had been called and Scott finally caught up to the pair in Collinsport Mercy’s emergency room.

 

One thing could be said for Scott’s family: They certainly were a passionate bunch, and their hot Latino blood didn’t help. Maybe that’s why so many of his relatives were either fire-fighters or in some other EMS field. [i][b]Something[/b][/i] had to temper their passion. Scott had been the most easy-going and laid back of them all.

 

Just like Gam’Pa .

 

She played with the baby’s red hair, curling its fine strands about her finger. “Just look at him, Scott. Isn’t he beautiful?”

 

Martinez reached out a finger and touched the baby’s hand, wincing as the tiny little fingers curled around and suddenly clamped on. “Kid’s got a grip like a vice,” he said.

 

Rosa smiled and pushed a lock of dark hair behind one ear. “I couldn’t stand hearing everyone saying how sorry they were that Donnie ran out on me, how sorry they were, the angry threats against him… after a few days of that I just got sick and tired of all the hatred and the pity. I felt like I was choking. It was bad enough he broke my heart like that but to hear my own kind, gentle father threatening to kill Donnie when he got hold of him… I just couldn’t take it anymore. I fled to the only place I knew no one would look for me… the University of Rockport. UI made friends there, but this one guy I knew, he had always been such a good friend. I could tell him anything and he always seemed to have just the right answer for me. His mane was Ian McShane. He let me stay in his dorm room since his roommate moved out to go live with his girlfriend. I told him what Donnie had done and he told me Donnie would come back to me and beg my forgiveness. I laughed at him, Scott. I laughed at Ian because I thought Donnie really meant it. He broke our engagement, Scott. He broke everything we had together. All the trust, all the love. Donnie threw it all away because he was a coward. He wanted to know other women.”

 

She sighed. “Maybe we should have dated other people when we were younger. Maybe if we did… maybe Donnie wouldn’t have run off like he did. I always knew we were meant to be together, Scott. I [i][b]knew[/b][/i] it. Mother Mary, she told me. She came to me one night in my dreams so long ago and she told me we were meant to be together. I never doubted it. Until he left me anyway.”

 

Scott took Rosa’s hand in his and silence reigned for a moment, the three of them holding hands: Scott, Rosa and the baby who had yet to be named.

 

 

“Ian let me stay with no strings attached. I could do whatever I wanted and he gave me my space to be along if I wanted. I cried all the time. One afternoon he came back from classes and heard me crying. I guess it really hurt him to hear me in such pain. He finally invaded my privacy and told me to get dressed. That there was a carnival the University was putting on and we were going. He didn’t let me get out of it either. It took about half a day before I’d smile, but who could resist a big stuffed toy dog anyway? We stuffed ourselves with food, listened to music, played games, rode the rides and watched the fireworks that night. I swear I gained five pounds that day and it all went straight to my beautiful ghetto ass!

 

“Well, while we were watching the fireworks he leaned over to me and said in a bit of a slur… we had been eating ourselves into oblivion and I think we each were on our sixth Corona… anyway he said he loved me. That he had always loved me since that first day we met in Chem class and that if Donnie didn’t want me he’d be damned proud to be my husband if that’s what I wanted. Apparently his Mom had been bugging him about not having a girlfriend and to placate her he showed her my picture and said we were dating, which was really funny because I could have sworn he was gay. I even told him as much.” She shrugged. “He really wasn’t. Who knew?”

 

“I think I can guess what happened next,” Scott said.

 

“Oh no, we weren’t drunk. Buzzed but not drunk. We started kissing and for the first time in my life I didn’t think of Donnie. Not for one second. I didn’t feel worthless. I didn’t feel rejected. I didn’t feel like my life had ended. I felt loved. I felt wanted and needed again. Ian was a beautiful soul, Scottie. He loved me even though I loved Donnie with all my heart. He was okay with that, too. Well, whether it was the Coronas or his words I don’t know, but I didn’t believe him. I told him to prove how much he loved me. I dared him to prove it to me.” She shrugged. “He did. Never dare an Irishman. They’ll take you up on it. I don’t regret sleeping with him. As far as I was concerned Donnie and I were over. He made that perfectly clear on our wedding day.

 

 

“The next day I needed to go shopping. Ian gave me some money and the keys to his car before he went to class. Apparently someone in the family had seen me at the Carnival and told Mama, and mama in turn told my brothers. They found me shopping in Rockport and told me Donnie was home. I told them I didn’t care. HE walked out on me, I didn’t walk out on him. They said Donnie so sorry for what he’d done and he would be home that night if I wanted to see him. I spat on the ground and told them I’d see Donnie when Hell froze over. You want to know the most touching thing was, Ian was ok with me and Donnie together. When I told him what my brothers had said Ian told me to go home. He said my life was with Donnie. I told him I wasn’t going to go. The bastard didn’t want me in his life and I didn’t want him in mine.”

 

“But you [i][b]did[/b][/i] go to see him.”

 

“Oh I saw him alright. I almost kicked his door in along with his teeth. All I remember about that argument was hammering my fists on his chest and screaming at him. Good thing he works out like a fiend because I could have really hurt him. Then we’re inside and having an argument. Then I remembered we were on the lawn and I’m sitting on him beating the snot out of him and the cops show up and drag me off of him.”

 

“That I remember vividly,” Scott said remembering being kicked in the shin by his cousin as he and another officer were trying to get Rosa into handcuffs. The screaming may have been deafening, but he felt like he’d been kicked by the preverbal mule in that instance.

 

The tiny little life in her arms yawned once, never waking from his slumber. The barely audible cooing sound was adorable.

 

“We had a long talk in the emergency room and Donnie begged me to take him back. Of course I said yes. I always remembered that dream of the Virgin and I had faith once more. We’ve had our share of fights before, Scott. Some really good ones, but now….” She looked up from the baby and tears filled her eyes. “He thinks I betrayed him, Scott. He hates me for it. Donnie hates me. The whole family hates me.”

 

“They don’t hate you,” Martinez insisted.

 

“Liar!” Rosa spat. “They called me puta didn’t they? Whore! That’s what they all think of me. They think I slept with Ian out of wedlock. Well I didn’t but you can’t tell Donnie that. Oh no. He’s made up his mind already and nothing’s gonna change his mind. I only agreed to marry Donnie because I do love him. He knows all about Ian. I told him before we got married. We had one honest night of just talking and getting everything out in the open. He told me about his fears and I told him about sleeping with Ian. Donnie understood. He knows I love him, that I always have. It’s not like I’m going to leave him for Ian anyway. ”

 

“Maybe he can help?”

 

 Rosa laughed. “I doubt that. Ian’s dead. He died two months after I went back to Donnie. He was riding his bicycle and some jerk blew a stop sign and made an illegal turn where he shouldn’t have. Ian was dead before the ambulance got there. My brother Franco was one of the paramedics that responded. He was the one who called and told me about the accident. Donnie came with me for moral support because he knew we were good friends. When I found out I was pregnant I wondered if it could have been Ian’s, but I guess the doctor was a little off on the conception date. I am not giving up my baby, Scott. No matter what I am not giving him up. He’s all I have left of a beautiful friend, but I guess I can’t go home either. Donnie won’t accept the child, and if he won’t accept the child he won’t accept me.”

 

“You’ll come stay with me than,” Scott said. “It’s not a big house, but it’s big enough that you and the baby can have your own rooms if you want. Or you can take over the whole basement. It’s kinda like an apartment down there anyway. It’s warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than the whole house put together.”

 

The woman shook her head. “Oh no. We couldn’t put you out like that.”

 

Scott smiled and squeezed her hand. “You won’t be. Remember what GamPa Scott used to say: “We are family and right or wrong family [i][b]always[/b][/i] sticks together.”

 

The woman snorted and frowned at the door and the family she knew were not too far away. “Tell that to them.”

 

“Oh you can bet I will.” Scott gave her hand another squeeze before releasing it and gently prying his finger from the baby’s fist. “As a matter of fact, I’m going to see the doctor and find out when you two can go home.”

 

The deputy picked up his hat from the end of the bed and walked out the door, giving mother and child one last smile before closing the door.

 

The nurse closed the chart and set it aside, then picked up a blood pressure cuff and proceeded to apply it to the patient’s arm. As she did so momma smiled at baby. “You’re Uncle Scott is a good man, but I swear taking on the family is not a good idea. God help him because he’s going to need all the help he can get.”

 

{End Scene}

 

NOTE: If you want to know where Scott Martinez fits into the Revival go to my Jonathan Harker profile and look at the pictures of his co-workers. Scott was guarding Joe Haskell the night vampire Daphne made him jump Martinez from behind to get out of the house and join her in the stables.