Chapter 25
Standing in front of the closet’s full-length mirror, Maria looked at the outfit she had recently slipped into and smiled. It was a Saturday evening; the temp outside was in the low 70’s despite the fact it was early November, and in a very few short minutes, Chad was expected to knock on her dorm room door.
Over lunch, the two of them had made plans to stop by McDonald's tonight for a take out, then spend the rest of the evening together under the full moon at Biscayne Bay.
To their benefit, the weather in South Florida during early November was similar to what Maria was used to in Arica, Chile during the month of May. Miami’s never-ending ocean breeze caused the local palm fronds to constantly sway to and fro, and daytime temps had not lowered to the forthcoming crisp wintry temps.
Overhead, tall, puffy cumulus clouds gently sailed like giant ships slowly cruising through a blue atmospheric sea, and the call of seagulls seemed to set Maria daydreaming back to her days of being a youth in her beloved hometown.
I wonder how Papa’s doing? Maria thought as she pinned a gold-colored dolphin-shaped pin onto her blouse.
Off and on during the latter part of the school week, an unexplained feeling regarding her father kept bugging her.
I’m sure Mom would have called me if anything was wrong, or would she? I wonder if something has happened she hasn’t let me know about? … Hmm. Maybe I should give her a call.
Maria turned and began to reach for her phone. However, before she had a chance to dial, a rapping sound from her door distracted her.
“Who is it?” she called, knowing full well who it was standing there.
“It’s me, Julio Iglesias. I’ve come to take you out for an evening getaway full of dining and dancing.”
“Julio Iglesias?” Maria said, trying to sound puzzled. “I’m so sorry, Julio sweetheart. You didn’t tell me you were coming, and I’ve already made plans. I’m not going to be able to go out with you tonight. But let’s get together some other time, Okay? I need to spend some time with a local American Romeo tonight so he won’t get jealous.”
An American Romeo? Chad’s brown eyes instantly glanced upward, and he took a step away from Maria’s door. Who in the devil is she talking about?
“I’m sorry Maria. I’m afraid there isn’t any American Romeo out here. It’s only me. Chad.”
Maria remained quiet.
“Oh. It’s just you, Chad?” she said, sounding disappointed as she twisted the door’s stainless steel knob. “Oh well. I guess you’ll have to do since the Romeo I was expecting apparently isn’t going to show up.”
Maria watched her friend as he casually stepped inside her dorm room, and Chad unquestionably wasn’t smiling.
Gaines loved living in the country, and he especially loved the property he had bought shortly after marrying Maria’s older sister. His only regret, however, was now that a few years had passed, the twenty acres he purchased on the outer edge of the Everglades may have been too close to town.
“You’re roughly fifteen minutes away from Hollywood Mall, and not much more than twenty minutes from either Ft. Lauderdale or Coral Springs,” the realtor from Stepp Reality had said back in the mid-sixties.
Yet here it is only the early seventies, and there’s already at least a half a dozen new housing developments barely five minutes away.
“I’m going to have to leave soon. Aren’t I?” Victoria asked, interrupting his thoughts the moment Gaines turned left into his wooded driveway.
Gaines remained silent as his Dodge followed the curvy two-lane pathway that snaked through the sixty-foot pines toward his eighteen by ninety-foot singlewide mobile home. “That would probably be a good idea,” he said as he passed the fresh water canal he loved to fish for catfish in, located near the back of his property.
Victoria pursed her lips and nodded, and leaned back against the Dart’s simulated leather rear seat.
“Are you and my mother in any danger?” Lisa asked, raising an eyebrow.
Gaines brought his car to a halt at the end of their driveway, and after placing the three-speed automatic transmission in Park, removed the vehicle's key.
Should I tell Lisa what actually transpired in Little Havana? Gaines asked himself as his family exited the vehicle and began to follow their stone walkway. Or should I tell her the truth, despite its implications?
Not sure of what really would be best, Gaines remained standing by the driver’s side door and watched as Lisa opened the mobile home’s front door and let their youngest scamper inside.
“There’s more than what you and my mother have told me about what transpired at Little Havana, isn’t there?” Lisa asked, turning back toward him.
Gaines stared at her and gulped. “W-e-l-l. I …”
“Don’t answer that,” Victoria said, interrupting him. “I believe it's probably best that at least for the moment, she doesn’t know.”
“Know what?” Lisa inquired, slamming their aluminum front door shut. “What secrets are trying to keep from me, mother?”
Victoria gazed her oldest daughter's front yard’s parameter as if someone might be hiding in the bushes, listening. “It’s probably nothing, dear. Okay? Just continue as if everything’s normal ‘cause I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”
Lisa frowned and placed her hands on her hips. No doubt, she wasn’t too happy with her mother’s flippant answer.
“Victoria,” Gaines began, looking between the two. “Don’t you think …?”
“Keep quiet, Gaines,” Victoria said, cutting her son-in-law off. “What Lisa doesn’t know at the moment certainly shouldn’t hurt her. And if something did change to where I thought she or Donna might be in danger, I'd tell her.”
Gaines grimaced at his mother-in-law’s domineering response. But, in seeing how she took care of the situation in Little Havana; Victoria unquestionably knew how the black market worked – at least in Chile. But, would it be the same here in the U.S.? Wouldn't they likely to be a bit more aggressive here - especially considering what the two of us have just done?