Sounds of Silence (19 page)

Chapter Eighteen

“Y
our turn, Mommy, your turn!” shrieked Danilo, dancing among a group of children playing in the dining hall.

Isabel, who had willingly taken on KP after supper, laughed over her shoulder as she finished wiping down a counter. She shook her head. “Benny’s turn.”

Benny looked up from teaching Julio DeGarmo to tie his tennis shoes. “You’re the one who taught me this game. Show us how it’s done.”

“Oh, all right!” Isabel took off her apron and allowed the children to lead her to the open play area.

“Okay, Mom, you sit on the stool and be the puppet, and I’ll be your voice. Mercedes is gonna move your arms.”

Isabel’s mother had taught her to play
la títere
as a preschooler, and she had always loved the traditional Mexican game. As the puppet she had the easy part. All she had to do was sit like a rag doll.

She’d been in a rather melancholy mood for the last couple of days. Helping Benny care for the children was as natural as breathing, but she knew she couldn’t stay. Her mother had called every day wanting to know when she’d be driving up to San Antonio.

So far Isabel had put her off, claiming insurance settlement delays and meetings with her real estate agent. But if she planned to move to San Antonio, she needed to get the children settled in well before school started. That would be here before she knew it.

The real problem was that she didn’t want to leave at all. Benny, naturally enough, had begged her to stay, and Isabel supposed she could. Food and housing would be taken care of, and Benny had even found a sponsor to support a small salary. Besides, she was hoping to adopt Mercedes. International adoptions could take up to a year, and it might be expedited if Isabel could stay in Mexico. Danilo’s schooling would be a drawback, unless Isabel home-schooled him. That held its appealing aspects, but still…

Really, the whole decision-making process gave Isabel an enormous headache. Every time she sat down to list pluses and minuses of going or staying on paper, it came down to a pair of blue eyes.

If I go, I leave him behind. If I stay, I have to deal with having pushed him away
.

She had told him she loved him straight-out, and he hadn’t even bothered to call after he’d fallen asleep in the ER waiting room. Maybe she’d misunderstood his feelings for her. He’d never said he loved her in so many words.

“Mama!” Danilo stood directly in front of her, arms folded and looking irate. “You’re supposed to pretend with your face when I’m talking for you. Play right!”

Isabel blinked. “Oh. I’m sorry, I was thinking.”

Danilo rolled his eyes and moved where Mercedes—who stood behind Isabel holding her wrists—could read his lips.

“I think I’ll take a shopping trip today,” shrilled Danilo, mimicking his mother’s voice, and Mercedes flapped Isabel’s hands comically. “I don’t have a
thing
to wear.”

Isabel got into the game, batting her eyelids, and the other children giggled.

“What if somebody asks me out on a date?” Danilo said, and Mercedes patted Isabel’s cheeks with her own hands.

“What?”
exclaimed Isabel. She tried to stand up, but was hampered by Mercedes’s arms on her shoulders.

“You’re not allowed to talk, Mom,” Danilo reminded her in his own voice, hands on hips. “You’re supposed to look happy.”

Isabel sat back down. She glanced at Benny, who was convulsed with laughter.

“I’m gonna kiss him!” was Danilo’s next falsetto bombshell. “Kissy-kissy-kissy!” Isabel found herself in helpless giggles as she tried to pucker her lips, while Mercedes wrapped her arms in a ridiculous self-hug.

Suddenly she realized every eye in the room was trained on the door at the side of the room. All the children were shrieking in laughter, and Eli stood there hiding a smile.

“Oh!” Isabel gasped, unable to move.

Eli sauntered toward her, took her hands, and pulled her to her feet. “Kissy-kissy-kissy, Isabel,” he murmured. “You’re supposed to look happy.”

“I—I—”

Eli turned to Danilo. “Is it okay if I borrow
la títere
for a few minutes?”

“Sure, why not,” Danilo said magnanimously. “She’s not very good at it anyway.”

Isabel found herself led outside, where it was just beginning to get dark, a few stars sparkling overhead.

Eli sat on the porch step and tugged Isabel down beside him. “I’m sorry I haven’t been over before now,” he said, disarming some of her hurt. “I had something I wanted to take care of before I came.”

“That’s okay. I did wonder…” But she couldn’t admit how self-centered she’d felt about his failure to call. She fell silent, suddenly shy. Now that he was here, she didn’t know what to say.

She looked at his hand, which still held hers, and jumped a little when he kissed her knuckles. “How are things going here with Benny?”

Distracted, she looked at his mouth, which nuzzled her fingers. “Good. Fine. I like it.” She wasn’t sure what he’d asked her.

He grinned a little. “I’m glad, because I’m hoping she’ll let you stay a little longer until we can find a place to live.”

“A place to live?” His lips had moved to her palm, and she couldn’t think of anything original to say. “Who?”

“You. Me. Danilo and Mercedes. We definitely need a yard.”

“I don’t need a yard. I’m moving to…Eli, would you stop that?”

“Okay.” He released her wrist and took her face in his hands. “Kiss, Isabel.”

She couldn’t help it, he was right there and all she had to do was tilt her head a little.

“Man,” he said after a minute, “I’m going to enjoy doing that for the rest of my life.”

“You know,” she swallowed, “I think there’s something you forgot.”

“Yeah.” He shook his head ruefully. “I said I would wait until you came to me, but you
did
say you loved me. Even though I think you only did it because you thought you were going to die. Still…I’m pretty sure it counts.”

Isabel started to laugh. “It counts. Eli, are you asking me to marry you?”

His eyes widened. “D-d-didn’t I ask you?”

“Well, no,” she said apologetically.

“Come on, Isabel, cut me some slack. I’ve never done this before.”

“Done what?” she asked with false innocence.

Eli shook his head. “Okay, let me start over. I love you, Isabel, and I want to be your husband. I want to help you raise Danilo and Mercedes.” The tenderness in his eyes had Isabel blinking away tears. “The reason it took me so long to get over here to ask, is because I’ve been trying to work out a transfer to San Antonio. I want you to be able to go to college, and I know how hard it is for you to live here where so many painful things have happened.”

Isabel could hardly breathe. “Eli, you can’t leave Border Patrol for me!”

“Well, I could,” he said with a shrug, “but I won’t have to. There’s a Border Patrol job there, and Dean says I have a pretty good chance of getting it. Do you think—” He swallowed. “Do you think you could compromise just a little bit?”

Isabel felt hope banging around in her chest. “I don’t know what to say.” He had already done so much for her—

“I hope you’ll say yes, because otherwise we’re going into a custody battle over that big brown mutt in my Jeep.”

Isabel jumped to her feet. “Mutt? What mutt?”

“Fonzie turned up in Mrs. Peterson’s backyard yesterday, going through her trash.” Eli stood up and followed Isabel, who was running toward his vehicle.

Sure enough there was Fonzie, nose hanging over the open side, tongue lolling. She grabbed the dog in a hug.

“The children will be so excited!”

“Okay, so was that a ‘yes’ on the yard?” he asked, rubbing a hand around the back of his neck.

Isabel whirled to throw her arms around Eli. “That’s a ‘yes’ on everything!”

Staggering a bit, he laughed and kissed her hard. “Do you really love me, Isabel? Enough to be my wife in spite of my job?”

“Beyond what I could ever have imagined,” she breathed, kissing his cheek. “Eli, your job is part of who you are, and I’d never be so presumptuous as to throw that away. Hasn’t God been good, to help us find one another?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said with deep satisfaction in his voice. After another long kiss he suddenly raised his head. “I told you I was bad at this stuff.”

Isabel had trouble uncrossing her eyes. “I think you’re catching on pretty fast.”

Eli grinned. “No, I meant I forgot something else.” He leaned inside the Jeep, muttering an impatient “Back off, Fonzie,” as he reached into the glove box. “Here it is.” He opened his hand to reveal a black velvet box nestled in his palm.

“Oh, my.” Isabel took the box and opened it with shaking fingers. Inside was a turquoise ring, set in twists of silver with small diamonds on either side—a design utterly unlike the gold solitaire set she’d lost in the fire, but just as beautiful. She looked up at the man who was to be her husband, immersing herself in the love in his eyes. “Will you put it on my finger?” she whispered.

“Okay.” He awkwardly took the ring out of the box, which he tucked into his pocket, then picked up her hand. “I picked it out, but my mom said you’d like it.”

Isabel stood quietly, tears trembling on the ends of her lashes, as Eli slid the dainty ring onto her engagement finger. “I love you, Eli Carmichael, and you’d better get used to hearing it.” She laced her fingers through his and stepped close to him, looking straight up into his blue eyes. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life learning to be the companion and friend and lover you deserve.”

Eli touched his lips to the turquoise ring, then kissed her lips again. “Okay, then we’ll be in class together. I love you, Isabel.”

ISBN: 978-1-4268-5131-5

SOUNDS OF SILENCE

Copyright © 2005 by Elizabeth White

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The Texas Gatekeepers

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The Texas Gatekeepers