Delia's Gift

  “Yes, but those aren’t my orders. They’re his mother’s standing orders. Apparently, and you probably know more about it than I do, Edward still has some agreement with her not to see you or speak with you. Nothing has changed in that regard. She said you were well aware of this, so it should not come as any surprise. I remember that she had informed me of the agreement between Edward and her a while back, when this whole Mexican mess started. When she was here the other day, she reminded me of it and made me promise that I would enforce the agreement should Edward come around. She asked that I inform her if her son tried to violate the agreement.

  “That was Isabela on the phone just now,” he continued, sitting forward. “I had to let her know he had come here. I don’t want her troubling you.”

  “You don’t want her troubling me? It’s far too late for that, señor.”

  “I understand. She’s beside herself. She almost burned my ear through the phone,” he said. Smiling, he added, “I wouldn’t want to be in Edward’s shoes right now when he gets home.”

  “This isn’t right. I won’t permit her to—”

  “Relax, Delia. This is a very, very sensitive time for all of us. You asked me to look into the Mexican boy’s situation and do something about it, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, but what does that—”

  “Well, if Isabela starts rattling cages, it will complicate everything. Besides, this is between Isabela and her son now. You have enough on your mind without bringing in someone else’s problems.”

  “It’s not someone else’s problems, Señor Bovio. Edward is my cousin. He has always been a good friend to me.”

  “I understand, but nevertheless, you can’t interfere between him and his mother,” he said sternly. “Let it be for now. And I wouldn’t go planning on some secret meeting with him somewhere, either,” he warned. “That could be even worse. You’ve already seen what a secret meeting can do.”

  “This isn’t what I expected when I agreed to come here,” I said, flopping into one of the cushioned chairs. I was angry but not sure if I should be angry at him or at Tía Isabela.

  “Look at you. All flushed. Did you run all the way up the driveway?”

  I pouted and didn’t answer.

  “Listen to me, Delia. It wouldn’t have been any easier if you had been sent back to Mexico, would it? Edward couldn’t go there to find you.”

  “Why not?”

  “It was part of my deal with the Mexican authorities when I got them to release both of you,” he said. “Actually, Isabela insisted on that.”

  “Of course, she would insist on that. She always expected I would go back, and she didn’t want him following me.”

  “Whatever. You know you and he and his friend were actually arrested, and you were being charged. I don’t think you would have liked being in a Mexican jail. It was very serious. Your aunt saved all three of you from a terrible time when she called me. I repeat, let it alone for now, Delia. What you do afterward with yourself is your own business.”

  “Afterward?”

  “After you give birth. You don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that, now, do you?”

  The frustration washed over me. Would this be the way every argument or discussion we had would end? Would I always have to give in for the sake of my baby? And I didn’t like the way he said “afterward with yourself.” We had had a discussion about “afterward” when he came to the clinic. I had told him I would never desert my baby. I could see he still thought I might, that I might think more about myself and my future.

  “It’s all ridiculous,” I said, not hiding my anger at him now. “I do feel as if I’m locked away here. I was standing there looking out that gate like some prisoner looking through bars. I won’t be locked in like this!”

  I stood up and stamped my foot, well aware that I was behaving just the way my cousin Sophia behaved when she was frustrated or told she couldn’t do something.

  “Take it easy. You’re getting overwrought for nothing. It was an incident. It’s over. No one is keeping you locked in. I had my driver take you to the Davilas’, didn’t I?”

  “It’s not over! Don’t say this is over just because mi tía Isabela got what she wanted.”

  He saw the rage building in me, and his expression quickly softened. “All right, all right. Look, I tell you what. I’ll speak with Isabela about it again. Give me some time to calm her. I’ll explain why it would make you happy to be able to have your cousin visit from time to time. She’s very upset right now, but I’ll get back to her. That’s a promise,” he said. “She usually listens to me after a while. Just don’t expect any miracles overnight. She’s not the easiest mountain to move.” He smiled.

  “No, she’s not. But move she will,” I told him. “Or else.”

  “Threatening Isabela is the wrong approach to take,” Señor Bovio said, shaking his head. “I know something about politics, diplomacy. She would only dig her heels in deeper and make even more trouble for you both, Delia. Don’t forget that you and your cousin and his friend were involved in what amounted to an international incident. This isn’t some parlor game we’re playing. If somehow she got wind of what we’re trying to do for that Mexican boy who was at the center of it all, she would really explode.”

  He was right. I felt myself calm down. “I know,” I said in a voice of defeat.

  “Besides, this is exactly the sort of thing I am trying to keep away from you while you are pregnant,” he continued softly. “Let me use all that I have at my disposal to make your life easier, comfortable, and healthy, especially healthy, during these months. If Adan were here with us, he’d be asking you the same thing.”

  I raised my gaze quickly. He was looking to the side and smiling, as if he could see Adan standing there, agreeing. Then he turned back to me.

  “I’m a grandfather who has to think like a father, too. I didn’t ask for this,” he said, sounding a little cold. “Fate imposed this on me, but I am not the sort of man who shirks his responsibilities. I am determined that this baby will be born healthy and strong.”

  “I am not arguing about that. I, too, want nothing else, Señor Bovio.”

  “Good. Good,” he said, relaxing. “Now, let me change the subject. I have some good news for you. This afternoon, a teacher, James McCarthy, will be bringing you books, manuals, whatever you need to finish your high school diploma requirements. He will supervise your work, leave you the assignments to complete, and then, when the time comes, administer your exams. If you get busy with it, you should be able to graduate about the same time as the students attending the school.

  “In the meantime, I have spoken to my friends at the education offices, and we will receive a list of the best schools of nursing to which you can apply. I’ll get you all of the information on all of the schools, and you can spend time thinking about each one and deciding. When you are able to attend such a school, the tuition and living expenses at whatever school you choose will be taken care of, so you will have absolutely no worries in that regard.

  “After you give birth, I’ll see to it that you have an automobile of your own, clothes, whatever you need or want, for as long as you want.”

  “How long do you expect my baby and me to live here, Señor Bovio?”

  “You can live here as long as you wish, Delia. I am willing to do anything to make you happy. There’s no reason to worry about all that now, anyway.” He waved the air as if he could wave away the words and thoughts.

  “I’ll try not to worry about it, but I’m sure I’ll think about it, señor.”

  “Of course, of course. So,” he said, pressing his hands together, “as you see, in the meantime, your days will soon be filled. Mrs. Newell is, in fact, at this very moment working out a schedule for you that will include exercise as well. All of your physical examinations, evaluations, whatever tests are needed, will be scheduled.

  “Now, please, do me a favor. Go up to your room and rest, and get yourself in a calmer mood. I’ll
have you called the moment Mr. McCarthy arrives with your school materials.”

  He smiled. It was difficult for me to hold on to any indignation in light of all that he was doing and promising. And when I thought about it, it was true that Tía Isabela was really responsible for this. She was just trying to get back at me. I could just imagine how Sophia was teasing and tormenting her about Señor Bovio stopping her from getting her satisfaction.

  “I’m all right,” I told him. “I was in the middle of going to the pool to get some exercise and air. I’ll go back to that. It relaxes me.”

  “Good. If it relaxes you, please continue,” he said. “Swimming is an approved exercise, but don’t overdo it.”

  His phone rang, so I nodded and left when I could hear that it was business and not Tía Isabela again.

  I could see his logic. Everything he was saying sounded reasonable, but nevertheless, I was terribly disappointed. It had been quite a long time since Edward and I had had an opportunity to talk. There was so much more I wanted to say to him, to explain more about what had happened in Mexico. I was sure he was curious about all that was happening to me now, and I needed him. I desperately needed someone to talk to, someone I could trust. For as long as I had been in America, he had been that someone. He and his companion, Jesse, had been my knights in shining armor.

  Everything was set up at the pool as usual, so I chose a lounge, slipped off the robe, and went into the water. I began to do some laps, enjoying the water and losing myself in the exercise. When I reached the side of the pool after my fifth lap, I looked up at the polished toenails and shapely legs of Fani Cordova. She was standing in a pretty yellow skirt and blouse and smiling down at me. She wore a pair of designer sunglasses that were studded with jewels. Her hair was pinned up. I thought she looked more beautiful than ever.

  “I see you’ve adjusted to your new life pretty quickly,” she said.

  I pulled myself up and out of the pool. “Hi, Fani.”

  “My cousin called me to come see you, but I already knew you were here. Sophia didn’t waste a second getting out the news about you all over the community.”

  “I expected that.”

  “Yes, well, you don’t look pregnant to me. Is this another scam you’re pulling?”

  “What?”

  She sat on a lounge and watched me take my towel. “Another scam, like that whole charade you created with what’s his name, the Mexican boyfriend.”

  “It wasn’t a charade, Fani, and it wasn’t a scam. I couldn’t talk about it at the time. There was too much danger for him and his family.”

  “You sure had me believing you about all that terror crossing the desert and his dying. I thought I was the best when it came to pulling wool over other people’s eyes.”

  “Pulling wool?”

  “You can stop that ignorant Mexican girl act, Delia, especially when you’re talking to me,” she snapped. “I know you’re smarter than almost any of the other students who were in our classes.”

  I put on my robe.

  She was glaring at me with daggers in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry you are so angry at me.”

  I sat across from her and started to dry my hair.

  “Sorry? What did you expect? I loved Adan, and I don’t mean just as a cousin.”

  I stopped drying my hair. “What do you mean?”

  “There was a time when I thought he and I might tie the knot. Know what that means?”

  “You never said anything like that, and you were happy that he was seeing me.”

  “Well, that was because he didn’t see me as I saw him, so I gave up on it and settled for a closer friendship. We got so he would confide in me as much as he would in any of his male friends. That’s how I knew he was so bonkers over you and that it was hopeless. I tried to talk him out of going back to you, telling him not to feel so sorry for you, that you were much smarter than he could imagine. I did keep him away for a while and got him fixed up with Dolores Del Ray. I had his father convinced it would be a good match, but he threw that out the window to go back with you. He’d be alive today if he had listened to me.”

  Tears froze over my eyes.

  She opened her purse and took out a cigarette.

  “You are smoking?”

  “Since Adan’s death,” she said. “Maybe I’m suicidal. Didn’t you once tell me everyone who gets close to you suffers some way, somehow? One of your other big secrets, I imagine.”

  “I was being honest with you, Fani, and trusting. I thought you were my friend then.”

  “I was your friend, probably your best friend.” She puffed again and looked at me, moving her closed lips from side to side as if she were washing the inside of her mouth with a new thought. “Maybe I still am or could be. It will depend on what you do now.”

  “What do you mean? What will I do?”

  “I hope nothing more to hurt my cousin. Señor Bovio lost the election because his son died, you know. He lost his whole great future. And let me tell you something, Delia,” she said poking the air between us with her long cigarette. “He would have been a great U.S. senator for our people. A great many people lost when he lost.”

  “Why did he lose?”

  “Why did he lose?” She laughed coldly. “His heart fell out of his body, and he had no energy or interest in the campaign after Adan died.”

  She blew her smoke straight up and then studied me again. Her critical gazes made me very uncomfortable. I tightened the robe.

  “How many months are you supposed to be?”

  “It’s not what I’m supposed to be, Fani. I am about three months,” I said.

  “Right.”

  “I am, Fani.” She was infuriating me now. “Some women don’t show for many months.”

  “Some never show,” she said.

  “Why would I lie about this?”

  “Why?” She laughed and waved her hand. “To be here for a while, that’s why. I’m sure it’s a little better than the Mexican village you were returning to, isn’t it?” She smiled. “From what I was told, you certainly didn’t behave like a pregnant woman the day you came.”

  “What? What does that mean?”

  “You and that José or whatever his name is, the pool man. My cousin had to fire him.”

  “He fired him?”

  “Ray said you were flirting with him. Not that I blame you. I’ve seen him. He’s got quite the body. If I ever felt like slumming, he’d be my choice.”

  “I did not flirt. I am sorry Señor Bovio thought that and did this. I don’t like that someone lost his job over me.”

  “Right. You’ll lose sleep over it. So, you’re sure you’re really pregnant? Lots of times it’s a false alarm, or it’s something a woman wishes.”

  “Doctors examined me, took tests, Fani. I couldn’t make this up just to live here, and I wasn’t exactly feeling that I should live here.”

  She laughed. “I bet not.”

  “You’re being very cruel, Fani.”

  “Yeah, well, I haven’t been exactly Miss Congeniality these days with anyone, so don’t feel bad.” She smoked some more and then said, “Things aren’t so good at my house.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My parents.”

  “What about them?” I expected she would tell me they had become stricter after Adan’s death, imposing curfews and restrictions on her. I was sure she would blame that on me as well.

  “I think they’re heading for a nasty breakup.”

  “A breakup? Why?”

  “My mother found out something about my father that has turned her against him. It’s like living in the land of the dead these days.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. What did he do? Is he seeing another woman?”

  She blew more smoke straight up again and looked away. There was a long silence, and then her shoulders rose and fell. “I don’t know why I’m telling you anything,” she said. “Except,” she added, looking back at me and smiling, “you’ve pro
ven you’re real good when it comes to keeping secrets. My cousin, Ray Bovio, doesn’t even know what’s happening with my parents yet. And I don’t want you telling him! He has enough to worry about, and he’s had enough unhappiness, thanks to you.”

  I just stared at her a moment. “Maybe,” I said, “it’s better you don’t confide in me, Fani. Yes, I keep secrets well, but secrets burn you from the inside out.”

  “Thanks. I just knew I could depend on you when it came to being a friend.”

  “I don’t know what to say to you, Fani,” I said, exasperated. “Do you want me to be your friend or not? Sometimes you sound as if you don’t, and sometimes you sound as if you do.”

  “I’m here, aren’t I? I didn’t have to come.”

  “Sí. Okay. You can tell me your secret, and I won’t tell anyone. Why is your mother angry at your father, so angry that she would leave him?”

  “He has a boyfriend,” she said.

  “What? What does this mean, a boyfriend?”

  “He goes both ways, Delia, but mainly with his boyfriend these days, it seems. You know what going both ways means, don’t you?”

  “Sí.”

  She looked angry, but I could see tears glistening in her eyes. She looked out toward the stables. “Anyway, who cares what they do, right? I’m going off to college in late August, and I won’t be back much.”

  “I’m sorry, Fani.”

  She turned her now fiery eyes at me. “Stop saying that. One thing I won’t stand for is you feeling sorry for me. You’re the one who should be pitied. What do you think your future is going to be once you have your baby? A few years from now, you’ll probably be working as someone’s maid. Maybe I’ll hire you myself.”

  I felt my blood boil. “No, Fani. Whenever I am ready to go, Señor Bovio is paying for my college. I’m going to become a nurse.”

  “How would you go to college when you have a baby?”

  “I won’t go right away, but he’s buying me a car and paying all of my expenses.” I smiled. “I’m thinking I’ll get my own apartment, and maybe,” I said, still smiling, “I’ll have a Mexican lady babysitter. He would pay for it if I asked.”