Valaquez Bride (16 page)

"Falling in love
is
very confusing,"
Holly said softly. "Especially the first time. And this is the first
time for you, isn't it, Juliet? You've never been in love before?"

"I'm not in love now either!" Juliet protested with
revealing vehemence. And when she was unable to meet Holly's knowing
gaze, she bent her head, concealing her eyes with the thick fringe of
her lashes. Lifting her shoulders in a resigned gesture, she realized
she couldn't fool Holly and abandoned all pretense when she spoke
again. "Well, I guess I am afraid I'm falling in love. And I don't
want
to! Not with Raul. He—he doesn't approve of me or even like
me very much. So I'm just asking for trouble by feeling about him the
way I do."

"But if Raul is very nice to you sometimes, he must like
you a little," Holly argued. "And you just said you feel like throwing
yourself in his arms when he touches you and I can't believe you'd
respond that way if he wasn't showing you some tenderness."

Juliet hesitated a moment, then shook her head, as if
reassembling her thoughts. "Well, even if he is tender sometimes, the
only thing he feels for me is a slight physical attraction and that's
not enough."

"But…"

"Oh, let's stop trying to analyze this situation," Juliet
interrupted wearily. "Even if Raul did like me a little, nothing would
ever come of it. How could he ever be very interested in me when there
are oodles of much more sophisticated women eager to become seriously
involved with him? Against that kind of competition I don't stand a
chance, so let's stop talking about Raul. All right?" Sitting up
straight in her chair, she glanced at her wristwatch. "Besides, I'd
better go now and let you rest. And I do want to see Benny before I go
back to the
casa
. I can help him move his
belongings out of the hotel and into our house."

"If you
can
get him to move into the
house," Holly said, with a dejected sigh. "As I said awhile ago, I
think it's a great idea but Benny probably won't agree. He'll think of
it as charity."

"But he'll be doing Uncle Will a favor by staying there,"
Juliet repeated her earlier explanation. "So I can't see how Benny
could feel he's being offered charity."

"Oh, you know how stubborn Benny can be. I think he needs
to prove to himself that he can take care of his family without
anybody's help. That's why he's exhausting himself by singing at the
coffee house every night, then going back there early the next morning
to help clean up so he can make a little extra money. But he's never
going to make enough to keep up with the bills I'm running up here."
Holly's voice quavered then lowered to a frightened husky whisper, "You
wouldn't believe how much it's costing to be in here, Juliet, and
they're already asking us to begin paying. Neither my family or Benny's
can afford to help us much and I—I just don't know what we're going to
do."

As Holly started crying softly, Juliet jumped up by the
bed to pat her friend's hand comfortingly. "Please don't get yourself
all upset," she murmured, her own voice hoarse. "Worrying isn't going
to help the baby and besides, you have nothing to worry about. I told
Benny I'd be glad to use some of the money my parents left me to help
you two pay the hospital bill."

"Benny never mentioned that to me," Holly said, drying her
cheeks with the tissue Juliet handed her. "But I guess he didn't
because he'd be too proud to take your money."

"Well, that's just too bad; he'll take it anyway," Juliet
declared emphatically. "Now, how much do you need?"

"But…"

"How much?"

Holly hesitated only a moment. "The bill here's already
over two thousand dollars. And that's too much money for you
to…"

"You let me worry about what's too much and what isn't."
Half-turning, she picked up her purse from the chair. Turning back, she
squeezed Holly's hand and smiled reassuringly. "I'm going to the bank
right now and draw out the money. Then after I give it to Benny, I'm
going to insist he move into our house. So I want you to stop fretting
and get some rest. Everything is going to be just fine, you'll see."

Holly smiled wanly. "I don't know if Benny will let you do
this, Juliet. He's one of the most stubborn people I've ever known."

"Well, he's about to find out I can be as stubborn as he
is," Juliet announced confidently and, after straightening Holly's
bedcovers, she smiled a good-bye and left.

At the Granada branch of an American bank twenty minutes
later, the manager himself handled Juliet's transaction. Since she had
never made a withdrawal from her account before, he seemed a bit
curious about why she had suddenly decided to use the money. But,
obviously, her answers to his questions satisfied him because he didn't
delay in giving her the amount she requested.

After leaving the bank, Juliet went to Benny's small hotel
and found him in the diminutive lobby. He looked tired, too tired even
to push back the shock of hair that grazed his forehead but he managed
to smile when Juliet joined him at the registration desk where he was
handing the clerk the key to his room.

"Where are you going?" Juliet asked. "Are you in a real
hurry?"

"Well, sort of. I was going to the hospital to see Holly.
Why?"

Juliet made a great show of twisting the straps of her
purse nervously. "Well, I was hoping I could talk to you for a few
minutes up in your room. I have to ask a favor of you."

Obviously convinced by her tone that she was serious,
Benny nodded, retrieved his door key, then allowed her to precede him
up the stairs to the second floor. Though his room was tiny and
cramped, the plain furniture was sturdy and everything was spotlessly
clean. He only had to remove a paperback book from the only chair so
Juliet could sit on it, while he sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Well, go ahead, Juliet, ask your favor," he prompted. "You know I'll
do anything I can for you."

"Oh, I was hoping you'd say that. But actually this is a
favor for Uncle Will. He's just worrying himself sick about his house
being burglarized while we're staying at the
casa
.
You know, burglars can't resist an unoccupied house, so I told him I'd
ask you to stay there and sort of keep an eye on things for us. Do you
think you could?" She smiled hopefully at him. "Please. I hate for
Uncle Will to be constantly fretting about burglars and actually, you
could benefit from the arrangement too. You'd be closer to the hospital
and, besides, you could save the money it costs to rent this room. What
do you say? Will you do it?"

For a long moment, Benny only stared at her, saying
nothing. Then he rose to his feet and paced back and forth beside the
bed. "You're not just making up this whole story, are you, to help me
out by saving me room rent?"

"What a suspicious mind you have," Juliet retorted. "I
assure you I'm not making up anything. Uncle Will is worried about
burglars and, quite frankly, I'm disappointed in you for not believing
me. I thought you trusted me more than that."

"Oh, I do trust you, Juliet, you know that," Benny
insisted, ruffling his reddish hair by running his fingers through it.
Shaking his head at her, he smiled. "But I also know what a
tenderhearted little thing you are. You'd make up any kind of story to
get me to accept your help."

"Hmmph, well, I'm not making up this story and even though
Uncle Will was very relieved when I told him I was sure you'd move in
and keep an eye on the house, if you don't want to help us,
then…"

"I didn't say no, did I?" Benny exclaimed, glancing around
the cramped room with a grimace. "To tell the truth, I'm getting
claustrophobia in here. It wouldn't be so bad to have a house to myself
and if I'd really be doing you a favor in the process…"

"Oh, you would, you would," Juliet assured him eagerly as
she stood. "So you'll do it then?"

"Well, sure. Why not?" Benny acquiesced, then smiled at
her with a certain amount of relief. "When would you want me to move
in?"

"Today. Right now, in fact," Juliet said, tossing her
purse on the chair. Unwilling to give him time to change his mind, she
glanced around the room. "Where's your luggage? I'll help you pack and
we can move you out of here and into the house before you go visit
Holly. Okay? She'll be pleased to hear you're doing me a favor and
saving money, don't you think?"

Faced with such logic, Benny couldn't disagree and,
fifteen minutes after he took two suitcases from the tiny closet, all
his belongings were packed. He checked out of the hotel, then followed
in the van as Juliet drove the Esprit to her uncle's house.

"Wow, this sure beats my room in the hotel," he commented
as she opened the door to the upstairs guest room. Setting down the
suitcases on the thick lemon yellow carpet, he wandered over to the
window that overlooked the courtyard. "View's better too. There, when I
looked out my window, all I saw was a sagging stucco wall."

"And here you can use the kitchen," Juliet reminded him,
hoisting one of the suitcases up on the chest at the foot of the bed.
"You can buy groceries and that'll be cheaper than having to eat out."

Benny nodded agreeably then frowned as she opened his
suitcase. "Hey, you don't have to help me unpack. I can do that after I
get back from the hospital."

"Oh, I don't mind helping," Juliet said, not adding that
she wanted him settled in before she brought up the subject of money.
And indeed, they had put away most of the contents in the second
suitcase before she picked up her purse and removed a long slip of
paper, which she handed to him.

He only glanced at it, then shaking his head emphatically,
tried to thrust it back into her hand. When she refused to take it, he
uttered an oath. "This is a four thousand dollar check. And if you're
trying to give it to me, I can't accept."

"But you promised to let me help you financially. Are you
breaking that promise now?"

"I said you could
help—
not
that you could hand me a fortune." He tried again to hand her the
check. "Come on, Juliet; this is too much. I can't take all this money
from you."

"You need it, don't you?" she countered as gently as
possible. Laying her hand on his arm, she smiled understandingly.
"Look, I know you'd rather handle everything yourself but this is one
of those times when that just isn't possible. You can't work around the
clock trying to keep up with your bills. You'll only succeed in making
yourself ill and what good will that do Holly? She's already very
worried about you."

"God, don't you think I know that?" he mumbled, pressing
his palm against his forehead. "And I know I'm to blame for this whole
crazy mess."

"How can you possibly say that?" Juliet objected. "How
could you be to blame for what was purely an accident?"

"An accident that wouldn't have happened if I'd had good
sense months ago. Don't you see? I should have taken Holly home to the
States a long time ago. I could've gotten some kind of regular job
there; we could've had a permanent home. Instead, I've dragged her all
over Europe in that rickety van. And that's no way for a pregnant woman
to live."

"Benny, you're being too hard on yourself," Juliet said
comfortingly. "You sound as if you dragged Holly around against her
will but you know better. She wanted to stay in Europe so if you're
going to blame yourself for everything, then you'll have to blame her
too."

"Maybe we are both to blame," he muttered guiltily. "Both
of us should have been adult enough to know that we couldn't continue
our vagabond existence after the baby was born. I only wish I'd
realized that fact months ago. This child is mine, my responsibility.
And, somehow, after he's born, I'm going to have to give him a secure
life and that probably means going back to the States. Unfortunately,
there's not a lot of call for people with master's degrees in music, so
God only knows what kind of job I'll be able to find."

"Let's not worry about that right now," Juliet advised.
"At the moment, the main concern is that Holly get proper care until
the baby's born. And that means she has to pay her hospital bill so she
can stay there. Don't you agree that's
really
all
that matters right now?"

"Well, yes—but
four thousand
dollars! Damn it," he muttered, waving the check. "I can't take this
much from you. It's not necessary. Holly's bill isn't even that high."

"Yet," Juliet reminded him. "But it will be, so keep
what's left when you pay the bill today, then pay them more next week.
If you pay them regularly, they'll stop hassling you. And don't forget
that I'll give you more, whenever you need it."

"You can't give us all your money, Juliet!"

"Don't be so difficult," she pleaded. "For gosh sake, you
and Holly are my best friends. If I can't use my money to help you,
then what good is it?"

"Oh, hell, you have an answer for everything," he groaned
but finally nodded. "All right, I'll take the money."

She breathed a sigh of relief, then grinned at him. "I'm
glad and not only because I want to help. But that happens to be a
cashier's check and I know you wouldn't have wanted me to keep carrying
it around. I mean, someone might have tried to rob a poor little
defenseless girl like me."

"Defenseless, my foot," Benny retorted, laughing
reluctantly. "You're as sly as a fox. You would have made me take the
check by pretending to be afraid to carry it with you. You certainly
know how to play all the angles, don't you?"

"I try my best," she countered.

Benny's expression abruptly sobered again. "But this
is
just a loan. You remember that. I intend to pay back every penny."

"Whatever you want," she agreed, giving him a cheeky
smile. "I'll even charge you interest, if you insist. And you probably
will."