The Unbreakables (BWHM)

Chapter 32

After we ate we all dispersed to different parts of the house, Kayla in the kitchen, helping Ruby to wash the dishes, and Kayla's mom having tea on the sofa with Elizabeth who had just arrived fifteen minutes earlier. I decided to go sit out on the porch to try and think on everything I learned today from Kayla's parents. When I stepped out on the porch it was already occupied by Kayla's father.

"I'm sorry I didn't know that anyone else was out here." I said starting to turn and go back inside the house.

"No Antonio, please stay." Gabriel replied patting the seat on the porch swing beside him. I reluctantly walked over to him and sat down on the swing.

"If you don't mind, I would like to hear all about you. I know life has not been easy for you, but if you're anything like Al was you hadn't let the hardness of it decide your outcome either." Gabriel said staring out toward the beach.

"When you call my father by his name with such familiarity, he becomes a real person to me and not a faraway dream my mother spent sixteen years pining over. It makes me want to know more about him, to see if I am in fact just like him." I explained looking toward the beach too.

"So you really don't have any memories of him?" Gabriel asked turning toward me, his face peaceful and serene, even though his eyes were troubled.

"No, none." I replied not feeling sadness, only regret.

"Well I suppose not, you were only five when he sent you and Carmen to Cuba, before that though you and Al were inseparable. Whenever he could and it wasn't a danger to you, he took you on his rounds at the clinic. The whole staff was crazy about you, they all called you little Dr. Rodriguez." Gabriel gave a bark of laughter at the memory.

"I forgot that my mother told me that he was a doctor." I remarked, amazed that I could forget that. I had been searching for so long with a single minded determination to find Alejandra that I never really had a thought about the man I came from.

"He was not just any doctor; he was one of the best. He was one of the ones that actually cared about their patients and not the type of insurance they carried, not that insurance was much of a factor in Africa." Gabriel laughed bitterly.

"He sounds like a saint." I retorted.

"No not a saint, just a good man. Al was wise beyond his years and he had patience for us who weren't. He was even like that when we were children, always waiting for me to catch up and never feeling any less about me. I still miss him to this day." I continued to stare out on the beach letting Gabriel words soak in.

"I wish I could remember him." I spoke longing for the father I never knew.

"Amelia and I still have a lot of pictures of Al, Carmen, and you when you were a baby. Everything I could salvage from the house after the explosion that night I brought back with us to the states. Once this is all over I'll relinquish them to you."

"Gabriel I couldn't-" I started but Gabriel stopped me before I could finish.

"There all rightfully yours and Al would have wanted you to have them." Gabriel stated with finality in his voice. I was over filled with joy, the only pictures I had of my mother were in my mind, and all of our worldly possessions had been lost the night my mother was killed.

"Thank you, Dr. Nichols." I replied trying to show this man respect.

"Don't do that, I'm Gabriel to you, and hopefully even one day Uncle Gabriel. You know Amelia is your godmother, your mother and her where very close, although at first it didn't start out like that." Gabriel spoke with a grin and a far off look.