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Here's an excerpt...
An excerpt from
The Blue Rose
Chapter One
The night Gabriel Delgado found out he was a father, he was gazing into a mirror and scraping the stubble off his chin. In exactly thirty minutes, he would drive his shiny black Honda Civic--sedately--to the home of Samantha Jones, a semi-hot blonde. On second thought, semi-hot was not an accurate description of Samantha. A better word would be tepid. Not hot. Not cold. More like lukewarm.
Former bad boy, Gabe, had low expectations for the Friday night date. For sure, there would be no skin to skin contact, other than a chaste joining of lips in a goodnight kiss. Gabe's bad boyness had come to a screeching halt a few months earlier, which, in the annals of Delgado family history, would be known as Gabe's Summer in Hell.
It was all because of Poppy. Gabe's father, Ernesto, a.k.a. Poppy, was a Boeing engineer and, as such, had prescribed methods for dealing with his sons. For example: There was Poppy's way... and the wrong way. Gabe had crossed the line from right to wrong and, therefore, according to Poppy, earned his summer in hell.
When the doorbell rang, Gabe yelled, "Henry! Get the door!"
Gabe knew twelve-year-old Henry was downstairs, because he'd heard his soccer ball bouncing off the wall for the last 15 minutes. The sound continued, unabated.
"Simon! Grab the door, will ya?" Older brother, Simon, was in his room, probably with his nose in a book or jotting page after page of equations. Simon was an engineering student at UW and most definitely a Poppy clone. No response.
"Jesus Christ," Gabe muttered. As he said the words he ducked, a conditioned response to the imagined whap of a rolled up newspaper, Poppy's method of dealing with a person taking the Lord's name in vain.
"Henry!" he shouted again. "Simon! Poppy! Someone, please get the door. I'm buck naked here."
The doorbell bonged again and again. Whoever was leaning against it wasn't about to give up. Gabe scrambled into his jeans and hit the stairs running. He skidded to a stop on the scatter rug in the foyer and threw the door open, just in time to see the tail lights of a car speeding away.
"Great, just great," Gabe muttered, watching the car disappear around a corner. An icy wind blowing down from the mountains rustled through the pile of dead leaves in the front yard and raised goose bumps on Gabe's bare arms and chest. He stepped back into the house and started to close the door when he heard a faint sound.
Gabe froze. Beyond the open door, he saw nothing but a pool of darkness. He flipped on the porch light and stepped outside again.
"Eep?"
Startled, Gabe rotated his head toward the sound and spotted what looked to be a jumble of blankets tucked under the wooden bench next to the door. Gabe watched, mesmerized, as two tiny bare feet appeared, kicking and waving as if to say, "Hey, dummy, here I am!"
"Meep!"
Louder this time. More demanding. Gabe took another cautious step and then, another, as if the bundle of blankets contained a ticking time bomb. A ticking time bomb with little pink feet, one of which looked very familiar. Gabe leaned over and stared at the flailing feet for a long moment, unwilling to believe what he saw. His heart sank. No way! Not now. Not when he'd just started down the straight and narrow path to eternal goodness.
He snatched up the envelope tucked between the pink blanket and blue blanket and took a big step back. The name, GABRIEL DELGADO was typed on the front. His hands were trembling when he ripped it open and extracted a sheet of paper. When Gabe read the words, he began to shake in earnest.
"Hey, guess what?" the note began. "This is your kid. Don't believe me? Check left foot and right bun. Promise me you'll keep the kid until the diapers run out. Then, do what you think is best. Don't try to find me. Good luck."
"I am so screwed," Gabe moaned.
When he pulled off the blankets, he saw the most comical looking baby he'd ever laid eyes on, and what with Poppy's extended family, he'd seen quite a few. The kid was virtually bald except for a bit of fuzz on top. Two little sprigs of bright red hair sprouted wildly from double cowlicks on each side of its head. Unblinking brown eyes regarded him solemnly. "Oh, sweet Jesus," Gabe said, and not in a profane way. "Where did you come from?"
The sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs jolted Gabe out of his trance, and he yanked the door shut, postponing the inevitable. Almost immediately, the door flew open and Simon stepped out, followed by Henry. Both their heads swiveled back and forth. When they spotted the baby, both heads stopped, as if their movements had been choreographed. Before they could utter a single syllable, Poppy burst through the door, stopped, stared for a full minute and then exclaimed, "Dios mio! What is this, Gabriel?"
"Looks like a baby," Gabe mumbled, hanging his head.
Poppy whipped off his glasses, polished them with his shirt tail, then snatched the paper from Gabe's hand and scanned it quickly. Without saying a word, he squatted in front of the baby and picked up its left foot, examining it closely from all angles. The webbing between the second and third toe was clearly visible. Exactly like all the Delgados.
Poppy stood and gave Gabe a significant look, but still said nothing. He didn't have to. Henry and Simon remained uncharacteristically silent. Gabe averted his eyes and shrugged, aware that his cheeks were growing hot with shame.
Poppy leaned over and unlatched the strap holding the baby secure. Gently, he lifted the child from the car seat, held him against his body and pulled the diaper down, exposing one round, pink buttock. This time, Gabe couldn't hold back a groan of dismay. There it was, in living color. The birthmark roughly shaped like a blue rose. Exactly like the birthmark imprinted on the right bun of all Delgados. Poppy sighed and handed the baby to Gabe who held it at arm's length. Poppy said, "He's yours, all right. No question about that." Then, he turned and stomped back into the house. He paused in the foyer and looked over his shoulder. "Gabriel, don't stand there like a dummy. Bring him into the house. You want him to freeze to death?"
Trance-like, Gabe followed his father into the living room, aware at some level that his brothers had gathered up the rest of the baby's belongings. Poppy collapsed into his recliner and stared at the ceiling as if the answer to this dilemma was written there. Probably wishing it would appear as an algebraic equation, Gabe thought.
Still clutching the baby at arm's length, Gabe perched on the edge of the sofa. Rosie, the family's Labrador retriever, trotted into the room and sniffed the baby from head to toe, wagging her thick black tail in approval. Simon and Henry off-loaded baby paraphernalia and turned to leave.
Snap! Snap! Poppy's chair returned to its upright position. "Hold it, you two! This isn't just Gabe's problem. It concerns the whole family."
The baby squealed in agreement, arms and legs churning the air.
With a heavy sigh, Henry plopped down on the couch next to Gabe. "Sure is funny looking. Maybe it's not yours. No red hair in this family."
"Check the birthmark," Simon said. He leaned against the wall, folded his arms and shook his head. "I don't believe this. Gabe sleeps with some chick--he probably doesn't even remember her name--she pops out a kid, decides it's not fun and dumps it here. How is that my problem?"
Poppy leaped from his chair and waved his arms. "Because we're Delgados! When problems come up, like when your mother left, we stick together. We don't walk away. Understand?"
"Yeah, yeah," Simon muttered.
Poppy began pacing back and forth across the living room. Suddenly, he stopped and pointed his finger at Gabe. "Here's what you must do. Get paper and pencil. Write down the name of every girl you've been with when you were... er... not yourself. Include a physical description. Color of hair. Color of eyes. Physical attributes. Leave out nothing."
Gabe groaned. "But, Poppy, there were a lot of girls. How do you expect me to remember them all? Besides, most of the time, I was kinda effed up, if you get my drift." Gabe knew better to use the F word, but even the alternative earned him one of Poppy's disapproving looks.
Before Poppy could answer, the hall clocked bonged seven times. Startled, Gabe leaped from the couch and placed the kid in his car seat. "Man, is it seven already? I've got a date. Can we put this on hold until tomorrow?"
Without waiting for an answer, Gabe headed for the stairs.
"Gabriel." The steel in Poppy's voice stopped Gabe in his track.
"Look at me."
Slowly, Gabe turned to face his father. He heard Simon whisper, "Dumb shit." Henry giggled nervously."Gabriel," Poppy repeated. "Do you remember when Rosie was a puppy?"
Gabe shifted his weight from one foot to the other, wondering if he was about to step into a trap. "Yeah," he said carefully.
"Tell me," Poppy said, his dark eyes snapping with intensity. "How did you take care of her?"
Gabe rolled his eyes heavenward, trying to remember Poppy's three cardinal rules for puppy care.
"After she eats, put her outside to poop. Play with her. Put her back in her crate."
Poppy clapped. "Excellent!"
Gabe grinned. This was going well. He'd soon be on his way.
"Now, Gabriel, tell me this: How do you take care of a baby?"
Uh oh. Gabe felt beads of perspiration pop out on his forehead. "Well, um, I guess you're saying it's the same concept. Right?"
Poppy strolled up nice and close and gave Gabe his shark's grin. "So, after you feed him, you will take him outside to poop, play with him and then put him back in his car seat?"
Right then, Gabe knew he was doomed. He glanced at his brothers. No help there. He'd already stepped in it. Might as well go all the way. He looked his father square in the eyes. "Naturally, I won't take him outside to poop, but I'll feed him and play with him."
"And, you will start this... when?"
"First thing tomorrow morning."
Poppy said, "And tonight?"
Gabe squirmed. "Remember what you said earlier? We're Delgados. We stick together when there's a problem."
"Ah, now I understand." Poppy stroked his chin. "You assumed one of your brothers or your father would take care of the child while you went on your date. Is that correct?"
Gabe flushed. "I would appreciate it."
"Gabriel," Poppy said again. He pointed at the baby. "That is not a puppy. It is a tiny human being who needs round the clock care. Care that will be given to him by you, his father. Do you understand?"Before Gabe could formulate an answer, he heard the amazingly loud rumble of baby flatulence. All eyes turned to the child whose face was bright red as he clenched his fists and strained.
Simon snickered. "Looks like you forgot to take him outside to poop."
Poppy handed Gabe a container of baby wipes and a diaper. "Better get used to it. He'll be doing that a lot."
That's when the Delgado family found out he was a she.
