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“It’s been over a week, you guys need to put your Christmas decorations away,” Daisy laughs as she enters the Reyes house. She plops down on their comfortably worn sofa, a familiar guest in this home.
Gabe rolls himself over to their nativity and straightens one of the wise men figurines. “No way. Christmas isn’t over until Dia de los Reyes.”
“What’s that?”
Robbie takes the seat next to Daisy, throwing his arm over the back of the sofa. “Three Kings’ Day. It’s when the three wise men-”
“Brought gifts to baby Jesus. I know the story. The nuns made sure of that.” Daisy “But I didn’t know it was a big thing people celebrate.”
“Some people really go all out. I’m talking huge parties with lots of food... parades… gifts!” The way Gabe’s face lights up tells Daisy all she needs to know about the holiday.
“But we keep it simple.” Robbie wears a smile, but the tightening of his jaw says otherwise. Simplicity wasn’t a choice. “We just eat Rosca de Reyes and send a wish to the wise men.”
“You wanna join us?” Gabe asks. “It’s next Sunday.”
“Spend Reyes’ day with the Reyes bros? How could I say no?”
Robbie fights back a smile at her reply but fails. Daisy can’t help but match his grin.
“Where’s Robbie?”
Gabe leads Daisy through the house to the kitchen where he’s set out plastic cups and soda.
“He’s still out getting the bread.”
“You don’t think he found trouble again, do you?”
Gabe and Daisy had learned the hard way it was best not to send Robbie out for pizza on movie night because he’d come back over an hour later, head still hot and the pizza cold.
“Nah, probably just a long line at El Super. We’re not the only ones who wait till the last minute.”
Gabe pours himself a drink and heads to the living room. Daisy follows. They sit in silence for a moment before Daisy gets uncomfortable and breaks it.
“Is orange soda part of the Dia de los Reyes tradition?”
“Just ours. When we were little our parents would let us get sodas at the lavandería.” Gabe grins into his cup. “I always got orange, and Robbie would get grape.”
Daisy had noticed Gabe had an easier time talking about his parents than Robbie did. It didn’t feel like an invasion of privacy when she asked him questions.
“Did they like Dia de los Reyes?”
“Mom was really into it. She always baked the rosca, and she’d have us write letters to the wise men.”
“Letters with your wishes.”
“Kinda... they’re supposed to be wishlists like the ones kids send Santa. And the three kings would bring them to your house while you were sleeping. But we could barely afford the gifts we opened on Christmas, so instead of getting gifts again we ask the three kings to grant us a wish in the new year.”
“That’s cool. So instead of the fat jolly man, you guys had three rich dudes breaking into your house.”
They both laugh until they hear the front door open.
“Cake’s here. There’s a shitty van parked across the street, so I assume Daisy’s here too.”
“Hey!”
Daisy can hear Robbie’s chuckle from the kitchen. She finds him unboxing a ring of bread, covered in colorful strips of candied fruit and sugar.
“I’ve never actually seen fruitcake, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it looks like.”
Robbie shakes his head. “Nothing like that. It’s actually pretty good.”
She watches him lick the sugar off his fingers and toss the box aside. Daisy opens the cabinet behind her and takes out three small paper plates.
“Not yet.”
Robbie takes the handles of Gabe’s wheelchair and helps him over the uneven threshold of the back door. As much time as she spent at their house, Daisy hardly ever saw their backyard. It was just a sorry looking patch of grass, and a rusting white table. Iron roses and leaves decorated the backs of two chairs and the trim of the table. Gabe places three index cards and pens on the glass top.
They write their wishes in silence. Robbie finishes first. He catches Daisy’s eyes as he looks up from his card and she gives a small jump, suddenly remembering she’s supposed to be writing. She stares down at her card, mind still blanking on what to wish for. She sees Gabe hand his card to Robbie out the corner of her eye and just writes the first thing she can think of. Robbie holds out his hand, but she is hesitant to hand him the card.
“I won’t peek.”
She folds it in half for good measure. He smirks as he takes it and puts it on top of Gabe’s.
“Now what?”
“We’re supposed to tie them to a balloon and let them go, but this one,” Robbie nods his head at Gabe, “is worried about the whales.”
“That balloon could choke a sea turtle.” Gabe defends.
“So we keep them?”
Robbie stays quiet for a second, his dark eyes moving between his brother and Daisy.
“I have a better idea.”
He holds one hand palm up, the three cards on top. They catch fire, and within seconds the crisp white cards turn golden and curl against his fingers as the flames lick at them. Robbie closes his fist, smothering the flames. He tosses the ashes into the air, and they land pitifully in the dirt next to him.
“Uh… the wind was supposed to take those away.”
Daisy snorts as he wipes his palm on his jeans.
“It was a good effort, Rafiki.”
The trio heads back inside.
“Are you ready to find Jesus, Daisy?”
“I’m sorry, what? I think I just flashed back to my days at the orphanage.”
“There’s a tiny doll of baby Jesus hidden somewhere in the cake. The person who finds it in their slice is ‘blessed.’”
“Unless you bite him.”
Robbie’s got that mischief look in his eyes that makes Daisy sometimes forget he’s got the Spirit of Vengeance living behind them.
“You a biter, Reyes?”
“Please don’t ruin my appetite. I’ve been waiting for this cake all day,” Gabe mutters while pulling a knife out of the drawer beneath the counter.
Robbie makes a mess cutting into the cake. More sugar and candied fruit ends up on the counter than their plates. He wasn’t lying, the cake was pretty good. Daisy is a little disappointed she doesn’t find a baby in her piece. The face Robbie makes when he accidentally bites into it makes up for it though.
The three of them end up where they usually do, watching movies in the living room. Gabe, his stomach stuffed with cake and leftover tamales, falls asleep.
“What did you wish for?” Robbie’s voice is soft as not to wake his brother, but also because he’d hate to shatter the comfortable calmness between him and Daisy.
“If I tell you, it won’t come true. Aren’t those the rules of wishes?”
“Not always.”
“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”
Robbie shakes his head gently. He looks across Daisy at Gabe’s sleeping face, then back to Daisy’s watchful eyes.
“I didn’t wish for anything.”
He takes her hand resting between them and interlaces his fingers with hers.