Dark Paradise

chapter twenty

C H A P T E R T W E N T Y

CELIA AND CONNIE WERE A CRYING MESS. Helena cried as she embraced her daughters and held them tight for one last time. She knew it would be a long time until she held her daughters and granddaughter in her arms again. Jared tried to not cry, but he couldn't help let a few tears fall while he hugged his girls goodbye.

"Take care sis," Brody said to a puffy-eyed Celia before embracing her in a tight hug.

Celia gave him a tight squeeze before pulling away and hugging the rest of her siblings. Javier thanked Jared and Helena for allowing him to stay with them and being wonderful hosts. They welcomed him back anytime and made sure he promised to take care of Steve, Connie, Celia, and Olivia. Javier then said his goodbyes to Brody and Ashley.

"My sister is going to miss you. She wants to apologize for not being here to say goodbye." Ashley explained as she hugged Javier. "At least she has your number."

"It's fine and yeah, she does," Javier confirmed, knowing the number he gave her was a fake one. She'd figure it out soon enough and Javier would be long gone. "Tell her I said goodbye."

Ashley nodded as she wrapped an arm around her boyfriend. The four waved goodbye as they headed towards security. Celia was wiping away her tears as they moved to stand in line. As the line progressed, Connie realized something.

"Nick didn't even come to say goodbye." Connie pointed out to her sister as she kept up with the line.

"Why would he? He's convinced Celia is going to move back." Steve answered for Celia.

Javier didn't like hearing that Celia was being convinced to move back to Florida. By the looks of it though, Celia didn't seem to be on the fence about it. If she did happen to move, he would want to make sure everything between him and Celia was okay. He wanted to do so while they were in Miami but it was hard to do so. Other than the fact they were always someone else with them, Celia and Nicholas were practically attached by the hip.

"Stop," Connie said in disbelief before using her free hand to shake her sister's arm. "No way!"

"Hey, hey," Celia looked over at her sister as she began to remove any belongings to place in a bin to go through security. "He's been talking about it, and I've been keeping it in mind.

"You should give him a chance." Connie nudged her sister's shoulder with her own. "If he's asking you to move back so you guys can be together, that saying a lot. I think it says marriage material."

"Oh, stop it, Connie. A guy will say hi to me and you'll say he's marriage material. Hell, you said Javier was and look at him. Besides, I don't know." Celia admitted to her sister and she watched Javier go through security. She turned her gaze back to her sister. "I mean it'll be different if we date either way."