Passion's Promise (19 page)

"Oh, is that so?"

"Yes, that's so." She leaned her face toward him and he bent down to kiss her.

"I like that. I like it a lot." He ran his hand across her behind as she joined him on the landing, and he gave her a gentle push toward a badly scarred door.

"Are you sure he's here?" Kezia felt suddenly shy. "I'm sure, babe. He's always here, the dumb asshole.

He spills his guts in this shithouse. His guts and his heart and his soul. You'll see." The name on the door said "Alejandro Vidal." No promises, no slogans, and this time no graffiti. Only a name.

Kezia waited for Luke to knock, but he didn't. He kicked brutally at the door, and then opened it at lightning speed as he entered.

"Qu6..." A slight Latino man behind a desk rose to his feet with a look of astonishment, and then began laughing.

"Luke, you bastard, how are you? I should have known it was you. For a second, I thought they were finally coming to get me."

The small, blue-eyed, bearded Mexican looked ecstatic to see him, as Luke strode across the room and threw his arms around his friend.

It was several minutes before Luke remembered Kezia, or Alejandro even took notice, and it was just as long again before Kezia got more than a glimpse of the man, lost in Luke's bear hugs. There had been a wealth of
g Que pasa, hombre?'s
and a fast flurry of Mexican curses. Alejandro's pure Spanish, and the pidgin Luke had picked up in the joint. Jokes about "twice pipes" and someone's "short," and a variety of unintelligible dialects that were part Mexican, part prison, and pure Californian. The patois was a mystery to Kezia. And then suddenly it all stopped, and the kindest smile and softest eyes imaginable settled on Kezia's face. The smile was a slow spread from the eyes to the mouth, and the eyes were the softest blue velvet. Alejandro Vidal had the kind of face you brought your troubles to, and your heart Almost like a Christ, or a priest. He looked shyly at Kezia and smiled.

"Hello. This rude sonofabitch will probably never re-, member to introduce us. I'm Alejandro." He held out a hand and she met it with hers.

"I'm Kezia." They shook hands with ceremony and then laughter, and Alejandro offered the room's only two chairs as he perched on his desk.

He was a man of average height, but of slight build, and next to Luke he was instantly dwarfed. But it wasn't his frame that caught one's attention. It was his eyes. They were tender and knowing. They didn't reach out and grab you; you went to them gladly. Everything about him was warm. His laughter, his smile, his eyes, the way he looked at them both. He was a man who had seen a great deal, but there was not a trace of the cynic about him. Only the understanding of the sorely tried, and the compassion of a gentle man. His sense of humor allowed his soul to survive what he saw. And while Luke and he made jokes for an hour, Kezia watched him. He was an odd contrast to Luke, but she liked him instantly, and knew why he was Luke's closest friend. They had met long ago in L.A.

"How long have you been in New York?" It was the first time she'd addressed him since they'd met He had given her tea, and then succumbed to gossip and nonsense with Luke. It had been a year since they'd seen each other and there was much to catch up on.

"I've been here about three years, Kezia."

"Seems like long enough to me," Luke broke into the exchange. "How much shit you gonna take around this dump, Al, before you get smart and go home? Why don't you go back to LA.?"

"Because I'm working on something here. The only problem is that the kids we treat are outpatient instead of live-in. Man, if we had a resident facility, I could take this shabby operation a long, long way."

His eyes lit up as he spoke.

"You're treating kids with drug problems?" Kezia was interested in what he had to say. If nothing else, it might make a good story. But more than the story, she was intrigued by the man. She liked him. He was the sort of person you wanted to hug, and she had only just met him.

"Yes, drug and minor criminal histories. The two are almost always related." He came alive as he explained the services the facility offered, showed her charts, graphs, histories, and outlines of future plans. But the real problem remained: lack of control. As long as the kids went back on the streets at night, back to broken homes where a mother was turning tricks on the room's only bed, or a father was beating his wife, where brothers shot dope in the John, and sisters took reds or sold yellows, there wasn't a lot they could do. "The whole point is to get them out of their environment To change the whole life pattern. We know that now, but here it's not easy." He waved dimly at the peeling walls and amply made his point. The place was in very bad shape.

"I still think you're nuts." But Luke was, as always, impressed with his friend's determination, his drive.

He had seen bun beaten, mugged, rolled, kicked, laughed at, spat on, and ignored. But no one could ever keep Alejandro down. He believed in his dreams. As Luke did in his.

"And you think you're any saner, Luke? You're going to stop the world from building prisons? Hombre, you die before you see that one happen." He rolled his eyes and shrugged, but the respect was entirely mutual. It amused Kezia to listen to them talk. To Kezia, Alejandro spoke perfect English, but with Luke he fell into the language of the streets. A put-on, a remnant, a joke, or a bond, she wasn't quite sure.

Maybe a combination of them an.

"Okay, smartass, you'll see. Thirty years from now there won't be a prison functioning in this state, or in any other state for that matter." She caught "loco" and "cabeza" in answer and then Luke flipped up one finger on his right hand.

"Please, Luke, there's a lady present" But it was all in good fun, and Alejandro seemed to have accepted her. There was the faintest hint of shyness about him. Still, he joked with her, almost as he did with Luke.

"And you, Kezia? What do you do?" He looked at her with wide-open eyes.

"I write."

"And she's good."

Kezia laughed and gave Luke a shove. "Wait until you see the interview before you decide. Anyway, you're prejudiced." They shared a smile three ways and Alejandro looked pleased for his friend. He had known immediately that this was no light-hearted fling, no one-night stand or casual friend. It was the first time he had seen Luke with a woman. Luke kept his women in bed, and went home when he wanted some more. This one had to be special. She seemed different from the others too. Worlds different. She was intelligent, and she had a certain style. Class. He wondered where Luke had met her.

"Want to come downtown for dinner?" Luke lit a cigar and offered one to his friend. Alejandro took it eagerly and then looked surprised when he lit it.

"Cubano?"

Luke nodded. Kezia laughed.

"The lady's well-supplied."

Alejandro whistled and Luke looked momentarily proud. He had a woman who had something no one else on their block had: Cuban cigars. "How about dinner, big Al?"

"Lucas, I can't. I'd like to, but . . ." He waved at the mountain of work on his desk. "And at seven tonight we're having a group for the parents of some of our patients."

"Group therapy?"

Alejandro nodded. "Getting to the parents helps. Sometimes."

Kezia suddenly had the feeling that Alejandro was emptying a tidal wave with a thimble, but you had to givehim credit for trying.

"Dinner another time maybe. How long will you be in town?"

"Tonight. Tomorrow. But I'll be back." Alejandro smiled again and patted his friend on the back.

"I know you will. And I'm happy for you, man." He gazed warmly at Kezia and then smiled at them both. It felt like a blessing.

It was obvious that Alejandro hated to see them leave as much as Lucas hated to go. And Kezia felt it too.

"You were right."

"About what?"

"Alejandro."

"Yeah. I know." Lucas had been lost in his own thoughts all the way to the subway. "That sonofabitch is going to get himself killed up here one of these days with his goddamn groups and his fucking ideals. I wish he'd get the hell out."

"Maybe he can't"

"Oh yeah?" Lucas was pissed. He was worried about his friend.

"It's kind of like a war, Luke. You fight yours, he fights his. Neither of you really cares if you get sacrificed in the process. It's the end result that matters. To both of you. He's not so different from you. Not in the way he thinks. He's doing what he has to do."

Lucas nodded, still looking disgruntled, but he knew she was right. She was very perceptive. It surprised him sometimes. For someone as dumb as she was about her own life, she had a way of putting her finger right on the spot for others.

"You're wrong about one thing, though."

"What?"

"He isn't like me at all."

"What makes you say that?"

"There isn't a mean bone in his body."

"But there is in yours?" A smile started to light in her eyes. Mr. Macho was talking.

"You better believe it, Mama. Lots of them. You don't live through what I did, six years in the California prison system, if you're made like him. Someone turns you into a punk, and if you don't dig it, you die the next day." Kezia was silent as they started their journey back into the subway.

"He was never in prison then?" She had assumed that he had been, because Luke was.

"Alejandro?" Luke let out a hearty bass laugh. "Nope. All his brothers were, though. He was visiting one of his brothers at Folsom. And I dug him. When I switched to another joint, he got special permission to come and see me. We've been brothers since then. But Alejandro's not on the same trip, never was. He went the other way from the rest of his family. Magna cum laude at Stanford."

"Christ, he's so unassuming."

"That's why he's beautiful, babe. And the dude has a heart of pure gold."

The arriving train swallowed their words, and they rode home in silence. She tugged at his sleeve at the Seventy-seventh Street stop.

"This is us." He nodded, smiled, and stood up. He was back to himself again, she could see it. The worry for Alejandro had faded from his face. He had other things on his mind now.

"Baby, I love you." He held her in his arms as the train pulled away, and their lips met and held. And then suddenly he looked at her, worried again. "Is this uncool?"

"Huh?" She didn't know what he meant, as he pulled away from her looking embarrassed.

"Well, I can dig your not wanting to wind up in the papers. I made you a lot of speeches last night, but I do understand how you feel. Being yourself is one thing, making page one is another."

"Thank God I never do that. Page five maybe, page four even, but never page one. That's reserved for homicides, rapes, and stock market disasters." She laughed up at him again. "It's okay, Luke. It was 'cool.' Besides . . ." there was mischief in her eyes . . . "remarkably, very few of my friends ride the subway. It's silly of them, actually. This is such a marvelous way to travel!" There was pure debutante in her voice as she fluttered her eyelashes at him, and he gave her a severe look from the top of his height.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." He took her hand and swung it as they walked along with matched smiles.

"Want to pick up something to eat?" They were passing a store that sold barbecued chickens.

"No."

"Aren't you hungry?" She was suddenly famished. It had been a long day.

"Yes. I'm hungry."

"Well?" He was hurrying her along the street and she didn't understand, and then with a look at bis face she understood. Perfectly. "Lucas, you're awful!"

"Tell me that later." He took her by the hand, and laughing, they ran over the subway grate, and then turned the corner toward home.

"Lucas! The doorman!" They looked like disheveled children, running helter-skelter down the street hand in hand. They came to a screeching halt outside the door to her building. He followed her decorously inside, as they both fought to stifle giggles. They stood in the elevator like altar boys, and then collapsed in laughter in the hallway as Kezia dug for her key.

"Come on, come on!" He ran a hand smoothly under her jacket, and slid it inside her shirt.

"Stop it, Lukell" She laughed and searched harder for the elusive key.

"If you don't find the damn thing at the count of ten, I'm going to . . ."

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am. Right here in the hall." He smiled and ran his mouth over the top of her head.

"Stop that! Wait ... got it!" She pulled the key triumphantly from her bag.

"Nuts. I was beginning to hope you wouldn't find it."

"You're a disgrace." The door swung open and he lunged for her as they stepped inside, and swept her into his arms to carry her to their bed. "No, Lucas, stopl"

"Are you kidding?"

She arched her neck regally, perched in his arms, looked him in the eye and bristled, but there was mirth in her eyes. "I am not kidding. Put me down. I have to go wee-wee."

"Wee-wee?" Luke's face broke into broad lines of laughter.
"Wee-wee?"

"Yes, wee-wee." He put her down and she crossed her legs and giggled again.

"Why didn't you say so. I mean if I'd known that . . ." His laughter filled the hall as she disappeared toward the pink bathroom.

She was back in a minute, and tenderness had replaced the spirit of teasing. She had kicked off her shoes on the way, and stood barefoot before him, her long hair framing her face, her eyes large and bright, and something happy in her face that had never been there before.

"You know something? I love you." He pulled her into his arms and gave her a gentle hug.

"I love you too. You're something I've imagined, but never thought I'd find."

"Neither did I.I think I'd resigned myself to not finding it, and just going on as I was."

"And how was that?"

"Lonely."

"I know that trip too."

They walked silently into the bedroom and he turned down the bed as she stepped out of her jeans.

Even the Porthault sheets no longer embarrassed her, they were lovely for Luke.