Bare In Bermuda (29 page)

“Knock please,” she snipped.

“You are annoyed Romeo knows we are lovers,” Eduardo said.

“Yes. I am annoyed Romeo knows we are lovers. I am annoyed that everyone knows we are lovers,” she said, doing her best Lucy Ricardo imitating Ricky impression.

“Are you mocking my accent?” Eduardo laughed.

“Yes,” she said. “My mother and Aunt Midge know. They promised not to say a word to my father. I need to tell him this myself.”

“You can yell at me later.” He kissed her on the cheek. “After I've had coffee and about four liters of water?”

“Hung-over, precious?” She grinned at him.

“Yes.”

“Good. What are you doing today? After golf? I'm guessing three days in a row of us hiding away in my room is too much to ask for.”

“Unfortunately, it is,” he said. “Today I have to do my duty. Tomorrow we will be free to do as we like after the wedding. I will see you later.”

“Later is the wedding,” she said. “Can we find some time before then?”

“I will make certain we have some time alone before the wedding.” Eduardo gave her a quick peck on the cheek and left. She showered and dressed, then went to her parents’ room.

“You're here,” her mother whispered, tugging her into the room. “Your sister has gone mental.”

“You only notice this now?” she snipped.

“I heard that,” Eden shrieked. “Do any of you care that I'm getting married in ten hours?”

“We all care,” Aunt Midge said calmly. “How about us girls all go and find some breakfast and a place to get our nails done?”

“Are you saying there's something wrong with my nails?” Eden examined her nails. “Oh, my god, have you seen my nails?”

“Honey, do you have any Valium?” Aunt Midge whispered to Henna as she walked past.

“I don't think she needs Valium,” she said. “I think she just needs some fresh air and to get out a little.”

“It's not for Eden, honey. It's for me.” Aunt Midge grabbed her handbag. “Let's get moving. We're burning daylight. Chop chop.”

“Where is daddy?” she asked, wondering if she could escape with her father.

“Daddy and Leo are playing golf with Eduardo and Romeo,” her mother said, picking up her purse and pushing Eden to the door. “I was told not to expect to see either of them before the wedding.”

“Makes me wish I played golf,” Aunt Midge muttered to Henna as Judith and Eden walked ahead of them. “I might have gotten out of here before the bridge lost her marbles.”

“Stop it!” Henna giggled quietly as she linked arms with her aunt.

“What are you two laughing about?” Eden demanded as they walked onto the elevator.

“Nothing, honey,” Aunt Midge said.

****

After breakfast and eighteen holes of golf, Eduardo was certain he and Mel would be friends. As they walked back through the lobby, a member of the hotel staff stopped. The man handed him a FedEx envelope. He knew what it contained.

“Beer?” Mel asked as they continued across the lobby.

He nodded and followed Mel into the bar. There they ran into several members of his family and ended up having more than one round. Mel's Spanish, which he claimed to have learned walking a beat in Harlem during his rookie years, was curious but not incomprehensible. After the second round, he excused himself and took his FedEx envelope up to his barely used room.

He was a man on the precipice of a choice. He could either move forward or live in the past. The cold and sterile room felt as if he'd just walked into it for the first time and hadn't put the artificial stamp of ownership on it one usually did in a hotel. His open suitcase sat on his unused bed, and a pile of laundry had begun to build up in a chair. Henna would probably disapprove of his slovenly habits. Pilar certainly would have.

He could hear her voice and feel her presence as he sat on the edge of the bed. Flicking her hair and snapping her wrists as she picked up after him. He missed her scolding him and telling him that their children were tidier than he was. The smell of her perfume had lingered in his nose like a phantom. Her clothing would still be hanging in the wardrobes of her dressing room if Gloria had not gone in and taken what she wanted of her mother's, then donated the rest to charity. That was a lesson in hard love. Gloria was just like Pilar down to her core. Pilar would have had about as much tolerance for his moping about as Gloria had.

With a quick rip across the back of the envelope, he pulled it open and pulled out a sealed paper envelope. The slight bulge in the center told him there was not a letter inside. He took a deep breath then tore it open. The plain gold band he'd worn for twenty-six years rolled into his palm. As promised, the hotel he'd stayed at in Miami had returned his forgotten wedding band as fast as they possibly could.

The problem, now that he had it back, he didn't know what to do with it. Putting it back on felt as wrong as leaving his finger bare.

“What to do?” he asked the ring. “What am I supposed to do.”

Pilar's voice spoke to him loud and clear and without any room for argument. “Put the ring away Eduardo. It's been two years. Stop being such a baby. You like this woman and you know I would like her. Okay, maybe she needs a little confidence, but with you to love her, she'll find it. You can't have a future if you're living in the past.” With that, she was gone.

He lifted the ring to his lips and gave it a kiss. Then he stood and tucked it away in his suitcase. He'd take it home with him to Colombia. Then he'd bring it up the mountain to where he and Pilar had gone riding when they wanted a few hours for themselves back when the children were still small. For the moment, he needed to shower and change.

He gathered what he needed and went across the hall to Henna's room. There, he felt he was in familiar surroundings. The room was identical to the one he'd left except for the energy and warmth present. It wasn't cold and lonely. He draped his suit, still on its hanger, across a chair and left his shoes on the ground. In the morning, he'd ask Henna if there really was a point in keeping two rooms.

But at that moment, he had more important matters to attend to. His son was getting married in a few hours, and that was where he needed to be both physically and mentally.

Chapter Eleven

Henna's morning was spent at the spa with her mother, aunt, and sister. There was no Gloria around to make her feel threatened or ill at ease. After a massage, which finished the job of relaxing her totally, she went to the terrace where the ladies were meeting for lunch.

When she thought about it, the Hirsch girls hadn't had a girly day for at least a year. Eden sat with her sunglasses on under a shady umbrella as Henna took her own seat. She looked at her sister who peered back at her over sunglasses, smirking.

“So…” Eden grinned. “Anything new with you?” It was the first opportunity the two had found to chat alone since the previous afternoon.

Henna narrowed her eyes and stared at her sister. “No. Why do you ask?”

“Oh,” Eden examined her nails, “I don't know.” She lifted a drink to her lips and sucked on the straw. “So, meet anyone new recently? Anyone, oh, I don't know…slightly more mature than you with an exotic, let's say, South American flair?”

“Oh, for god sakes. I'm sleeping with Eduardo. Everyone knows. I assume you are a part of everyone.” She picked up a magazine and flicked through it.

“I know. Everybody knows. ” Eden cheered. “I heard about you and Gloria getting into it at the bar.”

“We did not get into it at the bar. Who knows about this?”

“Other than Romeo, Gloria, Hector, and me?” Eden grinned. “Nobody. Except Leo. I did tell Simon. But he already knew. He told me to keep my mouth shut. As if.”

“No one else? Because you could have just sent out a group email. Probably would have saved you some time.”

“Don't blame me,” Eden said. “Eduardo is the one with the big mouth. He's the one who let it slip.”

Her eyes snapped sharply to Eden's smug face. “What?”

“Eduardo, your lover,” Eden purred out the last word. “Told Princess Crazy, he met a pretty lady that made his heart go thumpy-thump. Well, Princess Crazy calls Romeo. Of course, I intercept the call, because I've learned well over the past three months that Princess Crazy is a world class shit-stirrer.”

“Stop.” Henna held up a hand. “Who the hell is Princess Crazy?”

“Esmeralda,” Eden said. “Hector's sister, Romeo's ex-girlfriend, and Eduardo's goddaughter.”

“You mean that poor girl who has profound emotional issues and is currently on her way to a sanitarium in Switzerland because she's unable to cope? That's Princess Crazy?” She gave Eden the hardest and most uncompromising look she could muster. “Do you have any compassion or empathy for the suffering of others, or do you still only think of yourself?”

“You heard about Princess Crazy?” And there was no getting through to Eden.

“We do talk between the sex. Who else knows about us?”

“Well, maybe daddy knows.”

“How would daddy know?”

“I told him,” Eden said.

“What do you mean you told him?”

“Well, the truth is, just for once it's nice that I'm the responsible one he's proud of and you're the naughty little minx who turns his hair gray.” Eden gave a large sigh. “Life is so good.”

“Did you know that daddy, Leo, Romeo, and Eduardo are golfing this morning?”

“I do,” Eden said. “In fact, I told daddy right before he went down to the lobby to meet Eduardo and Romeo for breakfast. Before you tell me how childish I am, I just want to remind you of all the times you've ratted me out in my life. I think we're now officially even.” Eden smiled.

“You realize daddy is carrying clubs with him,” she said.

“Eduardo can handle himself,” Eden said. “I know you think you know him, and in a few ways you do know him better than I, but honestly I know him a whole lot better than you do at this moment. Eduardo Salazar is not a wimp.”

“Good point,” she said. “Besides, any man daddy can scare isn't the one for me.”

“Excellent point. So what do you think? He's a little old fashioned but charming.”

“Eduardo is...” She sighed deeply just thinking about him, and the word that best described him.

“Incredible? Makes you feel like a princess? Like a woman?”

“Exactly,” she said.

“Romeo is the same.” Eden glowed like a bride should. “I love him so much you can't imagine.”

“Do you believe in destiny?” Henna put down her magazine and crinkled her nose.

“Who are you and where is my neurotic sister?”

“I'm serious. Do you believe in destiny?”

“Yes,” Eden said. “I knew Romeo was the one for me the moment I saw him. It was destiny.”

“I don't know. It's just so illogical. Destiny.
Brujas
. It's so far away from how I normally look at life.”

“You've heard about the
bruja
.” Eden nodded. “Do not underestimate the power of the
bruja
.”

“I don't believe in the supernatural.”

“Not powerful like that,” Eden said. “I mean they really do go to her for council and they listen to her. She's got a lot of power on the mountaintop where their plantation is. Not so much the Salazars, but the people who work for them and live near them, so they give her a lot of respect.”

“That's disturbing,” she said.

“She's a scary old woman. Seriously, there is something very spooky about her.”

“You met the
bruja
?”

“I met the
bruja
,” Eden confirmed. “When I went to Colombia over Easter. I had to go and meet the
bruja
. Spooky. Aunt Midge would love her.”

“What did she tell you?”

“I can't tell you,” Eden said. “It's a secret. Bad things will happen to me if I reveal anything she told me before it happens.”

“You don't speak Spanish,” she said.

“I've gotten a lot better over the past three months. Besides, she drew me a picture. It's actually pretty good. She's got a sort of Modigliani edge. I'd show you, but then I'd be cursed to be alone, childless, and miserable. But then again, I could always move in with you and we could start collecting cats and cookie jars.”

Henna's two worst fears. The first great fear; living alone with cats and surrounded by collections of bric-a-brac. The threat of that grim sort of future controlled too many of her decisions. Just as her other great fear ruled too many choices. Ending up with the wrong man prevented her from ending up with any man.

“Thanks. This is nuts. I've got people coming at me with destiny and impressionist
bruja's
. It's like common sense has left the building.”

“I think if maybe you thought with your heart on occasion and not just your head, then maybe you wouldn't be alone.” Eden reached over and took her hand. “I love you. It makes me sad that you're alone. I want you to find what I've found with Romeo.”

“You hardly know him,” she repeated what she'd said all along.

“How long do you need to know someone to know you're in love and you want to spend your life with them? I knew when I met him that I wanted to be with Romeo.”

“But...”

“But what?” Eden shrugged with a smile.

“What if it doesn't work out?” There were always the little practicalities Eden never seemed to think about. Were they going to stay in Italy? What about later? Would they go to Colombia? Why couldn't they just live together for a period of time to try it out before they took a leap into marriage defied reason? They had no plan. She seemed to have more questions that needed answering than Eden did.

“What if it doesn't?” Eden shrugged again. “I'm no prophet. I'm pretty sure it will, but shit happens all of the time. Look at Aunt Midge and Uncle Lou. They were crazy about each other. Do you really think she planned on him dropping dead of a heart attack? Not everything goes according to plan, Henna. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and assume love will carry you through.”

“You really are in love, aren't you?” She stared at her sister. “This isn't just some crazy whim like the time you went to Japan because you thought a hostess job meant working in a restaurant.”

“You promised you'd never bring that up again.” Eden had the decency to turn slightly pink at the reminder of her most infamous muddle.