Chapter 12

“You see now, Minerva,” Darwin patted the back of the newly awakened Minerva on the couch. “There is always good in everybody. No matter how despicable they are…”

            “I know.” Minerva’s tears were still wetting her face early in the morning.

            “Is that only your reply, Minnie?!” Her head was still bowed down in sorrow despite his echoing voice. “It’s the same words you kept on uttering since last night!”

            She abruptly turned her head towards him and pointed a finger to herself. “Can’t you see I’m having my moment? Please, Darwin. Just let me cry for today. You know that pregnant women are particularly overly emotional…”

            “Particularly overly emotional,” he said in a comedic, mimicking voice. “Fine! I will let you have your crying session for today and the hours to come. But—”

            Darwin leaned closer to her ears as if he was about to kiss this lovely woman. “You’ll be mine tonight, babe.”

            His voice and wink and seductive smile made Minerva halt for a minute. But she eventually cried again, palms covering her face and she finally sobbed. She sobbed and cried and wept and sobbed again until he vanished into the room.

            “Men…” She uttered in a soft tone.

***

Minerva woke up to the smell of shrimp gumbo and penne carbonara.

            When she widely opened her eyes, Minerva couldn’t believe what she saw.

            Darwin was cooking. 

He was freaking shirtless, with only the pink-checkered apron covering his upper body.

            She cackled at the sight of him as she sauntered towards the kitchen. Darwin saw her. Instead of frowning, he beamed at her and winked. He took a spoonful of the soup from the Japanese ramen he was cooking and released a satisfied sound of ‘ahh perfect!’.

            It was Minerva who covered her mouth to keep her from giggling. But, when Darwin jerked his head to her again, he bit his lips in a seductive way.

            Minerva couldn’t help it but burst into laughter. “Are you seducing me in the midst of the kitchen?”

            He grinned as he shook his head. “I was inviting you for a good, old hearty breakfast.”

            “In my vocabulary, a ’good, old hearty breakfast’ is a breakfast that has cereals and pancakes and waffles and, of course, milk.”

            Darwin softly laughed. “Is that so? Poor me. I should have known my efforts in preparing a nice and husband-ly breakfast for my soon-to-be-wife will just turn out to be a waste.”

            He clicked his tongue and was about to throw all the food in the trash can when Minerva yelled to stop. “I’ll eat them, Darwin. My baby seems to crave these foods so I’ll eat them.”

            “Your baby?” His face yielded a smile and said, “Or you?”

            “Both of us,” Minerva quickly replied. “I am hungry now. Let’s eat then.”

            She rushed to the kitchen and scooped herself a small bowl of mash potato, rice, a plate of penne carbonara, and all the dishes that Darwin Dennis Gray cooked.

            “Bon Appetit!” Minerva hoisted her spoon for a second before scooping a spoonful of pasta. Darwin just watched Minerva Miriam Miller gobbled almost all the food on the table—almost forgetting as well that Minerva was feeding for two: herself and his half-brother’s child.

            “My mother had been a good woman all along…” Even before Minerva finished her sentence, she was already crying—again. He watched her tears plunge into the food that  he had cooked.

            Darwin’s throat bobbed and was about to scold her for ruining the art that took him for a bunch of hours to make, to cook, to prepare.

            “Indeed she is…” That was what he just replied so that his mind would divert to the reason why Minerva’s tears fell into the dishes he prepared and not the fact that her sorrowful tears could actually add a different flavor to these foods—literally.

            “Your mother is an excellent woman. You truly are your mother’s daughter.”

            Upon hearing that, her tears halted. Minerva’s smile brightened the room. Darwin smiled as well. His grin hadn't yet reached a minute when Minerva burst into tears. Tears of joy, not sorrow. He could have been frowning but instead just kept his chin high and stapled that smile on his handsome face.

            ‘Just keep smiling…just keep smiling…’ Darwin Dennis Gray hummed those words in his mind to the tune of Dory’s ‘Just Keep Swimming’ in the movie Finding Nemo.

            “Do you think—” She wiped her tears with her hand. “Will I be a good mother to my child?”

            His eyes slid to the belly of this woman. Darwin took a deep breath before replying, “You’re the only one who can answer that, Minerva.”

            She nodded in agreement. “Well said.”

            “Every mother has a choice to be good to their children, Minnie. But not all children have the choice to not love their mothers. Blood is always thicker than water, as they say.”

            Minerva’s face beamed in delight. “Why are you talking as if you’re a student of Plato today, Darwin?”

            He just shrugged his shoulders. “I told you already, Minnie. I am a graduate of Philosophy that’s why.”

            They laughed. A laugh came from the bottom of their hearts. A laugh that is so contagious and uplifting that it made the morning sky even brighter as well.

            She jerked her head, finding Darwin still grinning. But Minerva’s face shifted

            Minerva knows who Dennis is. She knew that he was the brother she never had, the father that she missed to be with, the friend that she had long been looking for, and the lover that she never knew she would one day possess.

            “Everything is possible after all,” she declared.

            When Darwin lifted his head and confusion was clearly on his face, she just smiled at him in the sweetest way she could. “Thank you, Darwin. For your good heart and everything.”

            Darwin Dennis Gray also smiled back with a boastful wave of a hand. “You were left to me. That means you’re a part of me now.”

            He leaned closer. Minerva just held her laugh as she saw ketchup was still on his cheeks. “You are mine, Minerva Miriam Miller. You are fucking mine.”

            “And I am yours.” The words slipped but she’s glad anyway. They are still both smiling even before they close their eyes as they lulled themselves in a good, deep sleep.