Raquel's Abel (32 page)
“When I decided to sell the jewels, I insisted it be done anonymously.”
“Why? Why would we want it to be a secret?”
“Grandmother said Grandfather was insistent that no one learn who she was.”
“Why? What could happen here?”
“Remember, all those years no one knew. I don’t even think Father knew.” If he’d known something like that, he would have mentioned it.
“Even he didn’t know?”
“No. So that means that our grandparents didn’t want anyone to know. Grandmother only started talking about it when she was old and senile.”
Wrinkles appeared across Regina’s brow. “In other words, they were very scared.”
“And we don’t know how Grandmother got the jewels.”
Regina began to giggle and soon, she was bent over in convulsions.
“Have you forgotten where we are?” I looked around at Daddy and Mommy’s graves as Regina continued to laugh.
“It’s just that I got this mental image of Grandmother being an international jewel thief.”
I felt a chuckle start in my stomach.
“Remember that movie with Catherine Zeta-Jones in the catsuit?”
Looking up at what was left of Grandmother, my insides throbbed at the thought of her sneaking into castles and banks, stealing jewels.
Then I remembered the sadder possibility. “Regina,” I said, not getting her attention. I laid my hand on her shoulder. “If Grandmother was Anastasia, she saw her entire family killed right in front of her eyes.”
Regina stood up straight and stared at the urn.
“And it would mean we were related to the Czars.” I remembered how I had refused to do a biography on Nicholas II because of his ineptitude. At that time, I had no idea there was a possibility he could be my great-grandfather. A shudder ran down my spine. My grandparents had wanted to bury this past.
I turned to Regina. “I think that we should respect their wishes. There was a reason we were never told.”
“Yes, if they wanted the world to know, they wouldn’t have kept it a secret for so many years.”
“We just have to quench our curiosity.” I reached up and grabbed Grandmother’s urn with both hands and lowered it gently. I turned to Grandfather’s crypt. “You’re not here to ask so we are going to do what we think you would have wanted.”
Regina and I walked back out to the car.
I nestled Grandmother’s ashes in between us.
“Who did you sell the jewels to?” Regina asked me as we pulled away.
“Luckily, there were museums willing to pay a high price for the items.”
“I think that’s good. People will be able to see the things rather than having them locked up somewhere.” She absent-mindedly stroked the brass handles.
“They were beautiful things,” I said out loud as I remembered the Fabergé eggs and the dark gold earrings and necklaces that were in the collection.
“And soon you’ll be on your honeymoon.” She looked at me as I drove. “Are you all healed up?”
I nodded. “Yes, I’m ready to go.” I felt myself give an uncontrollable grin.
“And you’re still going to Moscow?”
“Yes, and I’m going to do what Grandmother asked me to do. I’m going to stand on the bridge and dump her ashes into the river.”
As I parked the car, I thought how satisfied I was that Regina was going to be happy. It had gotten even colder and I pulled my coat up around my neck as I dashed to the front door. I grinned at how easy it was to run these days.
The door burst open and Maria Elena darted out barefooted, wearing a short-sleeve shirt and a pair of baggy pants. “I doing it,” she hollered so everyone in Richmond could hear.
“What?” I couldn’t imagine what could be going on in the house for her to come charging out of the house like that.
“What you say. I do it.” She did a little Salsa twirl on the stone drive.
“It’s gotta be thirty degrees out here. You’re going to catch your death.” I held my arm out hoping she’d realize I was trying to get her to go back in the house. I was shivering, and I had a coat on.
Her arms were flailing and most of what was coming out of her mouth was gibberish. “I do what you saying and he still loves me.”
“Pedro? You called him?”
She started to nod but soon her entire body was jumping up and down in the rhythm.
“He still loves you?”
“He saying he still think about me.” Her hands came together in front of her mouth as if praying and she began to spin around.
“Come on.” If she stayed out here barefooted like that she would get sick. I opened the door and dragged her inside. “Tell me. What did he say?” I took my coat off and put it on the coat rack.
“He say he still think about me and our little baby.” Her head dropped and her body drooped.
“You can have another baby, Maria Elena.”
Her face popped up and she smiled radiantly. “That what he say.” Her hands balled up into fists and she beat them up and down. “He coming!”
I looked at her. “Coming?”
“He taking a plane.” She closed her eyes. “I send him the money and he coming here.”
“You already sent him money?”
“What? You think I don’t having my own money? I do. I saving my money,” she said indignantly as if I’d just cut her to the quick.
“I’m so happy for you.” I held my hands out to give her a hug, but she’d turned and was half way up the stairs before she turned around.
“I needing to get ready, and you know, making myself beautiful.”
I watched her skip up the stairs as if she were a child at play.
A light tapping sound behind me told me Abel was approaching. A mild shiver ran up my spine as I thought how soon he’d be my husband.
“You look like you’ve heard some good news.” He gave me a quick, but wet peck on the lips.
From the second floor, we could hear Maria Elena singing.
“She is very chipper.”
“She certainly is. Her boyfriend’s coming from South America.”
“Boyfriend?”
I nodded. “They’ve been pining away for each other all these years.”
Abel looked downward as if studying the floor.
“Did that make you think of something?” I wrapped my arms around his waist.
“It certainly does make me think of something.” He smiled and touched his nose to mine. “When you find that special someone, the one you were meant to be with forever, you have no option but to be patient and let that love come to fruition.”
“I can’t wait for our honeymoon,” I mouthed between his light sweet kisses.
The End
http://leighbarbour.com
Author Bio
Leigh earned a Masters in English Linguistics at George Mason University (under the Title VII Bilingual grant) and a Bachelors in Geography from Radford University.
Being fluent in Spanish, she won the prestigious Fulbright Fellows Award as an English Teaching Fellow. In 1994 she spent one year instructing teachers in Arequipa, Peru.
Now Leigh and her husband live in Durham, North Carolina.
Red Rose Publishing
Raquel's Abel
