It was late the next morning when Steve woke up. He looked at the face of his clock blearily, and then yawned hugely.

“Ten o’clock on a Sunday,” he grumbled. “Thank God I don’t have to go in this morning.” Stretching, he tossed the blanket aside and headed for the bathroom for a shower and a shave.

The snoring from the other bedroom told him Steban was still asleep. Let him sleep, we have a lot to do today, he thought as he showered. Once he was dressed, he went to wake up his son.

Steve winced at the noise level of his son’s snoring. Sprawled out on the bed, his pillow scrunched into a ball, blanket off to one side, Steban was nearly hanging completely off of the bed.

“It’s a wonder he doesn’t wake himself up,” he murmured quietly, then reached over and shook Steban lightly. With a sleepy whine, Steban simply turned over onto his side. Undaunted, Steve shook him again, a little harder this time.

With a grunt, Steban cracked open one eye and turned to look at his father with a scowl on his face.

“What time is it?” he groused in Spanish, trying to focus.

“It’s after ten. Go take a shower and get dressed. By the time you’re done, breakfast will be ready.”

Not being a morning person, Steban got out of bed. Stretching and mumbling to himself, he shuffled into the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, showered, dressed and looking halfway decent, Steban walked into the kitchen. Steve watched his son in amusement as his son devoured the fruit and toast, and then guzzled the mangosteen juice.

“Okay, Popi. What do we do today?”

“Well, first, you tell me about your stepfather. Afterwards, I’ll have to call my lawyer and have him start the paperwork for my obtaining custody over you. I’ll also need to have him check your mother’s and grandfather’s wills. Then…we go shopping. I can’t let you wear the same thing day in, day out.”

Steban’s face fell when he heard the first item. The others weren’t too bad, though. He knew his stepfather wouldn’t fight Steve for custody; in fact, the pendejo would probably be glad to wash his hands of him altogether.

Steve patiently watched his son absentmindedly turn the empty juice glass around and around in his hands. It was hard for him to see Steban’s face, what with him having it bent down as it was. He was about to say something, when Steban slowly began telling his tale.

“It all started at the end of the school year, when Antonio had suggested that I be sent to a Jesuit boarding school. He was ONLY going to be sending me there, and neither of my stepbrothers. THEY would be going to a local school. Both Abuelito and Mami were deadest against it, as was I.”

“Isn’t Luis de la Vega your grandfather?”

Nodding his head, Steban continued. “Abuelito de la Vega, as you might know, is worth millions. In his will, Mami and I were to inherit quite a bit. With the rest being split amongst Mami’s siblings. I think Antonio might have been jealous about the fact that I would be inheriting all that money.”

Steve wondered if his son knew how much his part of the inheritance would be, but didn’t say anything, as he wanted his son to continue.

“As you know, I’m his only grandchild. None of his other children ever had any of their own. Titi Annabelle’s children were all stillborn, Titi Mercedes only likes other women, and Tio Robert is a priest.” Steve nodded his head, but continued to remain silent.

“I think Antonio hated me from the beginning. I was much smarter, cuter and had more charm than either of his own two boys, Antonito and Guillermo. I got along okay with Guillo. He was nice to me most of the time, but Antonito was a spoiled brat and liked to throw his weight around…literally, he’s a fat slob. Mami couldn’t do much with him; because Antonio allowed him to do anything he wanted and usually tried to blame me for some of the crap that Antonito did.”

Steve continued to remain silent, nodding his head to indicate he understood.

“It was about three weeks later that Abuelito and Mami went to San Juan to take care of some errands. They had been arguing with Antonio all morning, and I think they must have still been arguing when they left. The mountain road that they were on was very narrow and twisted. I was told they must have been caught up in a really nasty rainstorm. That’s when Abuelito lost control of the car and it went over a cliff, killing them instantly.”

Grimacing at the news, Steve stepped around the counter and sat down next to his distraught son to rub his back. He noticed the tears building up in his son’s eyes, reached into his pocket, and handed him a clean handkerchief.

“It was four days ago that I heard both Antonio and Antonito talking about since Mami and Abuelito were out of the picture, he was going to have free reign over my future, and how he was going to ship me off to that school in Spain and take over the family business. Somehow, he thinks he has a free reign with my inheritance. He doesn’t though; Abuelito’s lawyer is way too sharp to let something like that happen.

“I told Guillo about it and he said that he would come up with a plan. He’s not as dumb as he pretends to be, you know. What he did was hide a cassette recorder and then got his brother to spill the whole story. Afterwards, Guillo let me hear the tape. That’s when we decided to raid Antonito’s piggy banks, as well as our own. There was just enough money to buy a plane ticket to Hawaii.”

When Steban paused, Steve took the opportunity to get up and refill their juice glasses. Taking advantage of the break, they both took in a bit of refreshment, and then moved into the living room.

“Apparently, you didn’t have any problems getting on the plane.”

Steban looked up at his father, giving him a weak smile. “Yes and no. Carmen Rodriguez, our head maid, came to my rescue. Since I was a minor, I couldn’t buy a ticket, but she could. She didn’t like Antonio anyhow. He was always trying to grab her and such and she hated him for that.”

Steve shook his head at that, but kept his mouth shut.

“So anyway, she bought my ticket for Oahu. I said goodbye to them at the airport, and boarded the plane with Antonito’s taped confession, a thousand dollars and a letter from Mami to you. I hadn’t counted on that hairy stewardess sticking her nose in my business though.” Steban got up from his seat and went into his room for a moment. When he returned, he handed Steve the envelope.

After reading the letter, which contained a heartfelt apology from Luisa, written years before, after their divorce, all Steve could do was sit back against the sofa, his emotions in turmoil.

He looked at his son with a combination of annoyance and admiration. Annoyance for stealing his stepbrother’s savings, (even if he was a jerk), and pulling this crazy stunt, admiration for actually having the chutzpah to pull it off.

“Okay Steban, sit tight while I call my lawyer, I’m filing for custody of you. There is no way in hell that I’m going to allow MY SON to be sent off to a Jesuit boarding school in Spain!”

Steban grinned at him and Steve pulled the boy into a tight hug.

“Don’t you worry, mi hijo; I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Thank you Popi.” Steban leaned his head on his father’s shoulder, perfectly content to let him handle things for now.

*****

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