Delia's Heart (18 page)

“How did you…where do you get this?”

“Fani Cordova,” I said. “She has them all, many copies to hand out whenever I tell her to do so.”

She glanced again at the picture. “Who took this?”

“What difference does it make? You think your mother would go rushing out to buy you your car or
end your punishment if she saw that and more pictures of you like it? And if the boys at school saw such pictures, would you want to stay there?”

I could see the defiance and strength drain from her face the way I might see water disappear from a glass with a crack at the bottom.

“You’re disgusting,” she said.

“I am only what you make me be,” I said. “You can have that picture. As I said, there are many others. Take it, and get out of my room, and never, ever follow me with Christian Taylor or anyone. I don’t want to hear the Davila name come from your lips in this house or anywhere. They have suffered enough, thanks to what you and your girlfriends did that terrible night, stirring up Ignacio and his friends.”

She slipped off the bed but kept her distance from me. “I tried to be your friend and get my friends to like you,” she moaned.

“The way a spider befriends a fly. No,
gracias
.”

“You’ll be sorry. You’ll see,” she said. “Fani will betray you, too. When she gets bored with you, she’ll toss you off like some empty bag.”

“Don’t worry about me. I don’t depend on anyone here,” I said. “Friends here sway too easily in the wind. You know that, too, and you will see it all your life.”

“Right. You know everything, as usual,” she said. “You can tell Fani Cordova that if she shows any pictures like this, I’ll get her good.”

She tore the picture into pieces and threw it at me before running out of my room. The pieces floated down to my feet. I heard her door slam, and then I picked up the pieces and put the pile into a corner of
a dresser drawer. Someday I might put them together again like a puzzle, I thought. She was mean-hearted but cowardly and stupid.

To calm myself as much as anything, I took a hot shower and washed my hair. It was getting later, and I had to prepare myself for my dinner date. Despite my liking Adan, my heart was heavy, and I was afraid I would be terrible company both tonight and tomorrow. I considered getting myself out of going sailing with him, but then I realized that would disturb Tía Isabela and might stir up some suspicions.

Sophia was defeated tonight, but she was not simply going to retreat. She would hover in the corner and in the shadows, waiting for some opportunity to strike back at me. I must do nothing to give her that opportunity, I thought. If anything, I had to be even more careful.

I fixed my hair and chose my dress and shoes and a pair of earrings. The makeup I wore was still quite understated compared with what Sophia and the other girls at school wore. I was still at my vanity table when Tía Isabela knocked and entered my room. I turned in fearful anticipation, worried that despite it all, Sophia had decided to tell her mother where I had been.

“Very good, Delia,” Tía Isabela said, inspecting me. “You chose the right dress to wear, and I like what you’ve done with your hair and makeup.”

“Thank you.”

“I had occasion to meet Adan’s father today,” she continued, coming farther in and sitting. “Apparently, Adan has told him a great deal about you. His father is impressed and happy about it. These days, the families
of candidates for high office are scrutinized almost as much as the candidate. I’m here to tell you that you should expect people, photographers and reporters, will pay more attention to you. You must think carefully before you speak, especially if you are asked any questions about your family or about the terrible thing that happened to you here.”

So, that was the reason she was being so friendly. She wasn’t pleased so much with me as she was worried about herself and her reputation. How fortunate I was to have Fani give me that picture and stop Sophia before she planted the story in
mi tía
Isabela’s mind. She would certainly see it as a threat to her image and reputation, and the explosion would have been so great all of us would have suffered.

“I will,” I promised.

“No. I mean you must be careful,” she emphasized. “They are bound to ask you questions about the death of Bradley Whitfield. You simply say you’ve been told by our attorney not to discuss it.

“And if they ask you about your life in Mexico, our family,” she added, surprising me with the word
our
, “don’t make them sound so poor and uneducated. You can say your father was a foreman in charge of many men.

“Of course, you can tell them about our home here, our grounds, the nice things you have, and how wonderful it has been to be here and have these opportunities.
Comprende
?”

“
Sí
.”

She rose. “I wouldn’t be surprised if some reporter from a Spanish newspaper approaches you. It would be fine to speak to him in Spanish.”

“Where will all these reporters and questions happen?”

“Anywhere! That’s the point I’ve come up here to make. Because Adan’s father is now such an important figure, they’ll be looking for material, for things to write. You look very nice. You’ve been taught how to behave in society. You will continue to make me proud,” she said, making it sound more like an order than a conclusion.

She paused at the doorway.

“Did my daughter behave today, or did she and Christian do something I should know about?”

“I will not spy on Sophia, Tía Isabela,” I said firmly. I would never forget how she used me to spy on Edward, and she knew it, too.

“I’m not asking you to spy. You have to help me with her, help us both now. Never mind. Just continue to get yourself ready for your date,” she said, and left.

If I had ever felt as if I were moving through a minefield, I felt it now. Suddenly, every word I said, every little thing I did, would be magnified and have some importance or possibly a disastrous result. Worrying about it all, I remembered I had promised to call Fani with the results of my confrontation with Sophia.

She listened and said something that frightened me. “She gave up too easily.” She actually sounded disappointed. “At least, I expected she would challenge you to show the picture to your aunt. You’d better keep your eyes and ears open and watch for some trap she’ll set. I’ll talk to you on Sunday, and we’ll think and plan some more. Besides, I want to hear how your weekend with Adan went. Have a good time.”

Why wasn’t she going out on date tonight, too? I
wondered. Wasn’t there anyone she had interest in? It was on the tip of my tongue to ask, but I was afraid to do it. I thanked her, hung up, and went down to wait for Adan.

Sophia’s door was still shut, and I heard no music or anything coming from her room. She was probably in a deep pout. Maybe Fani was wrong. Maybe all of this would finally drive her to be decent.

Adan was right on time and as handsome as ever, in an emerald-green sports jacket that highlighted his eyes. He brought me another single rose. I half expected to see Tía Isabela there to greet him and fawn over him as well, but she didn’t appear. We went out to get into another one of his sports cars. He said it was an Aston Martin, and when he told me what it costs, I lost my breath for a moment. He laughed at my reaction.

“I didn’t pay that much,” he said. “We have some influential friends in the car business. I’m sure you know the irony, Delia. People with the money to pay for things also have the connections to get them for a much lower price. It’s the same everywhere.”

“Yes,” I said. “I am sure.”

We drove off. I looked back once and thought about Sophia stewing in her pot of anger back in her room. Fani’s warning was like a persistent chant. Sophia wouldn’t simply fade into the woodwork. Every day, I would have to be alert and expect some new trap set for me.

“You’re in very deep thought tonight,” Adan said. “Everything all right?”

“
Sí
,” I said.

He didn’t believe me, of course. He told me that
when I had a delicious dinner and met his friend, I would cheer up.

“Charles Daniels is a world-class chef,” he said. “His close friends call him Chuck. He’s been to what is known as a
cordon bleu
cooking school in France, but he’s better when he cooks Italian. We went to undergraduate school together, and then he veered off and followed what he always wanted to do, be a chef. His father, who owns public storage facilities and a good-size trucking business in Los Angeles, wasn’t too happy about him not joining their business. He didn’t see his son becoming a chef as anything to brag about, either. He does have an older brother, however, who is working with his father.”

“Like you.”

“Yes, like me, which isn’t lost on Chuck’s father. He’s always pointing me out to him, but Chuck’s happy about owning his own place and doing what he loves. He’s a jolly guy, lots of fun. He treats the dishes he creates as works of art. Wait until you see how he presents everything.

“I’ll tell you a secret,” he added, whispering as if there really was someone else in the car who could overhear. “Someday, I’m going to build a bigger restaurant for him, and we’ll go into business together.”

He looked at me to see my reaction.

“I’m serious,” he emphasized.

“Oh, yes.”

He shook his head. “I see you’re not easily impressed,” he said. What kind of reactions did he expect from me? “Actually, I like that about you, Delia. I don’t think there’s an artificial bone in your body.”

“Artificial bone?”

“You know, phoniness. You’re authentic from your head to your feet,” he explained. It reminded me of when Fani had first begun speaking to me and telling me I was an authentic Mexican who could work in an authentic Mexican restaurant.

“I am only who I am,” I said.

The restaurant was somewhat smaller than I had expected, but I was not disappointed in the food or Adan’s friend Chuck. When he was able to do it, he joined us at our table, and he and Adan told one funny story after another about their college experiences.

The contrast between them physically couldn’t be any greater. Chuck Daniels looked like an authentic chef, rotund, with premature jowls and roller-pin forearms. When Fani first showed me any attention at the private school, Sophia, jealous, of course, tried to turn me against her quickly by telling me that beautiful girls and handsome men like to be friends with people who are less attractive. It makes them stand out more. It was another way for her to insult me. I thought about it and asked her, “So, then, why are you not her best friend?”

I didn’t ask it with any nasty tone, but it was enough to send her flying off to complain to her girlfriends about me and how I was impossible to help. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but wonder if what she had said could be true. I wondered about it now. What did Adan and Chuck have in common that would make them so close? Perhaps I was hoping to find something that would turn me away from Adan, but it didn’t take long to see that he and Chuck had a definitely warm and sincere friendship. Later, Adan would tell me Chuck was the brother he had never had.

“I’d do anything to help that guy,” he said. “And I will. His father gets me that angry.”

He slipped out of his unpleasant mood quickly, however, and talked excitedly about our boat trip to Catalina.

“I’d take you someplace else,” he said after we had left the restaurant, “maybe dancing, but I want to get you home early. I want you to be fresh and awake tomorrow so you don’t miss a thing.”

When we drove up to
mi tía
Isabela’s
hacienda
, he didn’t get out immediately, however. He shut off the engine and sat there. I didn’t know what to make of his silence. I was getting nervous.

“I’m glad I met you at this particular time in my life, Delia. I feel my father and I are starting the final liftoff of a rocket ship. I imagine you’ve been told some pretty racy stories about me. I know I have something of a reputation. I’m sure your cousin Edward has warned you about me.”

I started to protest, but he put his hand up.

“It’s all right. I’m not saying I don’t deserve the notoriety. I just want you to know you’re the kind of girl who can make a guy like me grow up.”

He smiled and leaned in to kiss me softly. Then he pulled his head back a little and looked at my eyes. If I ever sensed I was losing my grip on any restraint, I sensed it at that moment. It would make me feel so guilty later, but I brought my lips to his waiting lips and kissed him. He held on to me firmly. Then he lowered his head to my shoulder and whispered, “I’d better get you out of this car now, or I won’t let you out at all.”

He sat back, opened his door like someone truly
trying to oppose the demands made by his own body, and got out to come around and open my door. In silence, he walked me to the front door of the
hacienda
, where he pretended to be a gallant Zorro and kissed my hand.

“
Buenas noches, señorita
,” he said. “
Sueños dulce
.”

“Pleasant dreams to you, too, Adan,” I said in a voice that seemed to rise out of my heart.

He smiled and hurried down to his car. I waited until he got in and started away, and then I entered the house in a daze. I felt as if I were floating up the stairway. Sophia opened her door as I approached my bedroom. I imagined she had been sitting at a window and watching for us. She was in her nightgown and barefoot.

“I do not want to fight with you anymore, Sophia,” I said.

She folded her lips into a wry smile. “That’s okay. I’m not going to start an argument or anything. In fact, I’m going to be your friend. I just thought you’d like to know where my mother was tonight, or rather, who she was with.”

“I do not—”

“She went out with Adan Bovio’s father,” she said quickly. Then her smile widened. “She’s just using you, just like she uses everyone else.”

She stepped back into her room and closed her door.

I stood there listening to her words echo in my ears.

Maybe I should be grateful she was so spiteful. Adan’s words and good looks, the whole warm evening, and his kisses had lifted me into a place so high
I could no longer see Ignacio’s face. It was truly like personally delivering him to the third death.