Delia’s Crossing (11 page)

“He fell asleep, yes. That was when I ran away.”

“And then Edward went there to get you, discovered him, and went looking for you.”

She repeated more to Edward, and he spoke.

“He said he found you running in the road, and he’s sorry he caused you to fall.”

“I thought it was Señor Baker coming after me.”

“I don’t blame you for being terrified. Jeez, Edward, are you going to take her to the police?” she asked him. “You should go to the police,” she told me.

I couldn’t help but be afraid of that. What if Señor Baker told them lies about me? What if they didn’t believe me? Would they put me in jail? And what would happen to my grandmother if she learned such a terrible thing? Would everyone in my village find out and believe bad things about me?

“No, I can’t do that,” Edward told her. “They’d come to the house and create real noise. They’d want to know why my mother sent her off, everything. No police,” Edward said, looking at me.

“Big deal, Edward. So they ask your mother questions? They should. I don’t understand why your mother hired an illegal Mexican immigrant girl who can’t speak English well and then decided to pay for private tutoring. Who tutors their help around here, especially illegal help?”

“I didn’t say she was illegal, exactly.”

“Well, is she or isn’t she?”

“It’s complicated,” he said.

I was able to pick up only a few words of this, but I could tell he wasn’t telling Elena everything, and she knew it and wasn’t happy about it.

“Well, what are you going to do with her?” she asked, pointing to me.

“I’ll figure it out,” he said. “Don’t worry. I’ll get my mother to do the right thing now, or else.
Mi madre
will be
bueno
with you. Don’t worry,” he told me.

“I don’t know, Edward. He’s such a creep.” She looked at me. “Señor Baker
es una serpiente en la hierba.
”

“
Sí,
yes,” I said, “a snake in the grass.”

She smiled. “She can learn English pretty fast, Edward. Besides, she can be put in that transition class at the public school, the ESL class, can’t she?” She turned to me to explain what she had said.

If there was such a class at the school, why didn’t my aunt just send me to it?

“Damn right,” he said. “I forgot about that. Thanks, Elena. You’ve been a great help. I owe you one.”

“You owe me more than one,” she said, smiling at him. “
Buena suerte,
Delia,” she said, wishing me luck, and got out of the car.

Edward and she spoke for a few moments before he got into the car again.

“She’s nice. Elena
bueno.
”

“Yes, very nice,” I said.

He drove out of the restaurant parking lot and headed for my aunt’s estate. The tension and the questions reeling in my head exhausted me. I was looking forward even to my stark, nothing room and ugly bed. All I wanted to do now was sleep and forget, but I couldn’t help trembling as we drove onto the estate and up to the house.

“C’mon,” he said, getting out of the car.

I followed slowly, my legs still wobbly.

The house was very quiet when we entered. I had been holding my breath, expecting to see my aunt standing there fuming, imagining that Señor Baker had called her and told her all sorts of lies about me by now, but there was no one, not even Señora Rosario.

“What you need now is a good night’s sleep,” Edward said, and pressed his hands together, tilting his head on them.

“
Sí, sueño,
” I said.

“C’mon.”

However, instead of leading me through the house to the entrance at the rear and out to the other building, he directed me to the stairway. I stood there confused.

“It’s all right.
Bueno,
” he said, urging me to follow him up the stairs.

I did, and he led me down the hallway, past Sophia’s room. He paused at a door.

“
Mi
room…
mi
…”

“
Dormitorio.
”

“
Sí, dormitorio.
”

I thought he meant for me to go into his room, but he continued walking to another door and opened it to show me another bedroom.

“Guest
dormitorio,
” he said. He struggled to explain. “Visitor…extra…”

I nodded.

“
Para una huésped.
”

“Right, whatever,” he said, smiling, and stepped back for me to enter.

It wasn’t quite as big as Sophia’s bedroom, but it was very big, and it had a king-size bed with a beautiful dark cherry-wood headboard and four posts. The comforter was burgundy, and there were pillows as big as the ones Sophia had. At the moment, nothing looked more inviting to me than this bed.

In such a bed, there can be only good dreams, I thought, recalling something my grandmother once told me.

Edward showed me the bathroom. There was a brand-new toothbrush and other toiletries for guests in the cabinet. The bathroom was tiled and had a very big tub and shower stall. I reminded myself that this was the room I had dreamed would be mine. I had followed a twisted, painful path to get to it, but here I was. But how long would I be here? As I looked around at the comfort and luxury, I thought about my aunt finding me here and exploding into another rage. Edward saw the concern in my face.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s all okay. I’ll make sure,” he said, pointing to himself. “You
sueño.
” Then he thought for a moment and raised his hand. “Wait. I’ll be back,” he said, and hurried out of the room.

I didn’t move. Less than a minute later, he returned and handed me a pair of what I was sure were his pajamas.

“Okay?” he asked.

“Yes,
gracias.
”

He started away again. I stood there, still timid and afraid, expecting to see my aunt appear at any moment and begin yelling at us both. Surely, Señor Baker had called her by now, I told myself.

“
Sueño, sueño,
” Edward said standing in the doorway. “
Buenas noches.
”

“
Buenas noches. Gracias,
” I called to him as he started to close the door.

He smiled at me and closed the door. I remained standing there, still expecting something terrible to happen. Surely, this was too good to be true. I had gone from a nightmare to a beautiful dream. The silence convinced me I was all right for now. I went into the bathroom, cleaned myself as best I could with my painful scrapes, and then got undressed and put on his pajamas. They were too big, of course. When I looked in the full-length mirror, I had to laugh at the sight of myself.

I got into the big bed. The comforter, the mattress, and the fluffy big pillows all felt so wonderful. This had to be what it would be like if I could sleep on a cloud, I thought. However, despite all Edward had said and done for me, I still felt quite anxious and listened hard for any sound of footsteps or shouting, but the house remained quiet.

My head was spinning because of all that had happened so quickly. I had never been on a real roller coaster, but I couldn’t imagine it being any more dramatic and frightening than the roller coaster of emotions I had just ridden.

I turned off the lights with the switch beside me and in moments sensed myself sinking into sleep. It felt as if I were sinking deeper and deeper into the large, soft mattress, but I didn’t care if I disappeared. I never welcomed sleep as much as I did at this moment, and disappearing didn’t seem all that terrible to me at the moment.

In the morning, I woke to the sound of loud arguing in the hallway. Although I didn’t understand what they were saying, I clearly heard my aunt and Edward. Edward said something that caused my aunt to be quiet. Then I heard Sophia. Edward was shouting at her as well.

Moments later, there was a knock on the door. I was so frightened I almost couldn’t find my voice, but I managed, “
Sí
?” and then quickly said, “Yes?”

Edward stepped into the room. He was dressed for school. I glanced at the clock and saw how late I had slept.

“
Todo bien,
” he said. “You stay
aquí,
” he added gesturing at the bedroom. “
Aquí. Comprende
?”

“Yes. I am here.”

“Exactly,” he said, smiling. “Now you are here. You will go to school. School,
comprende
?”

“
Escuela.
”

“Right,
escuela.
You will go.
Mi madre
will…how do you say it…make it happen…do it…”

I nodded.

“I’ve got to go. Don’t worry,” he said. “
Todo bien.
Damn, I have to learn more Spanish quickly. You teach me
español
every day.”

“Okay,” I said, smiling. “And you teach me English, yes?”

“Yes, but you’ll learn it quickly in the classroom.
Gracias. Hasta la vista,
” he said, and backed out, closing the door.

It was quiet again, but then I suddenly heard a lot of talking and coming and going just outside the bedroom door. Shortly afterward, it was opened again, and Señora Rosario came marching in, her arms full of clothing. She looked upset and just dropped the clothes on the bed.

“Sophia is giving you these clothes. She doesn’t wear any of it anymore. Don’t ask me any questions. I do not know why she’s giving you these clothes. I know she’s not your size, so I brought you this needle and thread and these safety pins, too,” she said, dropping them next to the clothes. “When you’ve found something you can wear and you’re dressed, go down to have some breakfast. That’s all I’ve been told. I don’t know why you’re in here now or what else is going on. This is a crazy house,” she added, and marched back out, closing the door sharply.

I rose slowly and started to look over the clothes. She was right, of course, most of it was either too small or way too big for me, but I found a skirt I could wear and a blouse that didn’t swim around me as much as the others with a little creative pinning. I would have to ask that someone go get my own clothes, I thought.

Just as I stepped out of the bathroom to go downstairs, the door opened again, and my aunt stepped into the room. She closed the door behind her and glared at me. Then she smiled.

“Señor Baker called and told me what happened, how you tried to seduce him so he would tell me nice things about you. It doesn’t surprise me that you won over Edward so quickly, Delia,” she said in perfect Spanish. “Like most men, he is easily impressed. What’s that stupid proverb,
dichos
your grandmother, your father’s mother, would quote at me all the time? It’s not the fault of the mouse but the one who offers him the cheese? Of course, her precious son could do no wrong. It was girls like me who were offering the cheese.

“If anyone knows how untrue that is, it’s your mother. Or I should say, it was your mother. She’s been dead to me so long I forget she just died.”

“Why was she dead to you?” I dared ask. It wasn’t that I had suddenly become brave; it was my raging curiosity. How could anyone turn against her own family so much?

She smiled at me again and moved across the room to the window. With her back to me, she asked, “Your mother has never told you why?”

“No, Tía Isabela.”

She spun around.

“Tía Isabela,” she wailed, her grimace deepening. “You should be calling me Madre, not Tía.”

The look on my face made her laugh.

“Don’t worry. You’re not really my daughter, Delia. But,” she said, returning to that burning face of anger, “you should be.”

I shook my head. None of this made any sense.

“Why should I be?”

“Your father should have been with me, not your mother,” she replied. “I found him first. He was my boyfriend first, don’t you know?”

I shook my head.

“That was before I got smart, before I realized what a hole I was living in and where I could go if I made an effort. Your parents, their parents, the whole lot of them, were content to wallow in their poverty, in their hand-to-mouth existence, blaming everything bad on the devil and giving every extra peso to the church. The church, the church, the church…cooking for the church, working to rebuild and repaint the church, cleaning the church.

“Your father was always upset with me because I complained so much about the way we all lived, and he didn’t like my looking at any other men. He would go to complain to your mother, and she was smart. She was his shoulder on which to rest his poor, troubled head. I knew what she was doing. She didn’t fool me.

“‘Oh,’ she cried, ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you, Isabela. I didn’t mean to steal your lover. It just happened.’”