Rush of Redemption (Rush Series #2) (19 page)

The sleep
that had fallen over her evaporated in an instant.
 She looked at the
cellphone
in 
Sundra’s
 hand as if it were a viper. Her
heart began to pound and her chest rose and fell in rapid succession. With a
hand that trembled, she accepted the phone and walked into the bathroom for a
little privacy.

Clearing her throat, she
said softly, “Hello.”

Silence filled the line for
so long, she thought for an instant he had already hung up. “Hey,” he finally
said quietly. “How are you?”

She didn’t know how to
answer. “I’m okay… Blake’s okay… we’re… okay…” she drifted off.

“
Trin
,
please tell me what’s this is about?” he said softly.

She rubbed a hand over her
weary eyes. “I told you, we would talk about it when you got home.”

“I am home… or at least at
my house, it’s not much of a home without you and Blake in it,” he said.

“You’re home? I thought you
weren’t coming home until the weekend,” she said inanely.

“Of course I came home. You
are much more important than any building.”

She bit her lip at the pain
in her heart.

“Talk to me,” he begged.
“Is this about that bogus 
prenup
 my grandfather
tried to foster on you? I didn’t draw up any such agreement… why would I? I
never planned on letting you go. And if the day came when you wanted to leave…
you could have taken it all, it wouldn’t have meant anything without you and
Blake.”

“But he said…” she began.

“I know what he said, but
he lied. He wanted the 
prenup
, I never wanted
one. Did I ever mention one at all?”

“No, you didn’t. I would
have signed it, Rush. I don’t want your money.”

“I know that. Is that why
you ran?” he asked.

Blowing out a deep breath,
she said, “Why didn’t you tell me about my mother.”

“Your
mother?
 What do you mean?”

“Really?
 Even now you refuse to admit the truth? This is exactly why
I can’t be with you. I will never be able to trust you,” she said sharply.

“Trinity, I have no idea
what you’re talking about,” he said.

“I know about El Paso and
Marc Sanchez, so you can cut the act, Rush. You know how important my mother is
to me,” she replied.

“Marc Sanchez? El Paso?
What does that have to with your mother?” he asked.

Rubbing her eyes once
again, she said tiredly, “I’m really tired. Once you can talk truthfully to me,
we’ll sit down and talk, but until then, I don’t want to hear from you. Please
do not call me again. I’ll let you know when I get home so you can see Blake.”
Without giving him a chance to respond, she clicked off the phone and powered
it down. Wearily, she made her way back to her bed and snuggled her body up
against Blake’s tiny body.

“You okay?” 
Sundra
 whispered into the dark.

“No,” she answered truthfully.

“I know,” she said. “It’ll
work out, you’ll see.”

“I think this is the end.
It just hurts,” Trinity admitted.

“I’m sorry. I really
thought you guys would make it. He really had me fooled. I thought he was in
love with you.” 
Sundra
 gave a mirthful laugh.
“But look who’s talking. I couldn’t even read my own guy.”

“We’ll figure this all out
together. Thanks for coming with me. It means a lot. You’re about all I got.”

“Go to sleep. All this
gushing is getting creepy,” 
Sundra
 said
with a grin.

~*~

Trinity was up long before the sun. She moved around quietly, not
wanting to wake either 
Sundra
 or Blake. She
found a small coffeepot on a counter in a small alcove in between the bedroom
and the bathroom. Sitting quietly in front of the window, she sipped the dark
brew as excitement and panic took turns twisting her stomach into even tighter
knots. Today, she was going to see her mother. She thought back to the last
time she’d seen her face, driving back from the movie theater.

She was sitting beside her
and they were singing one of the more well-known songs from the movie they’d
just seen, the Lion King. As she looked back now, is seemed ironic the song
they sang was 
Hakuna
 
Matata
.  
Hakunamatata
, what a wonderful phrase; 
hakunamatata
, 
ain’t
 
no
 passing craze; it means no worries for the rest of
your days; it’s our problem free philosophy…

Means no worries for the
rest of your days… she’d had no clue of the worries she’d have just minutes
from singing those words. When the black van had rammed them the first time,
her mother had turned to her and gave her a reassuring smile and patted her
leg. 
It’s okay… everything will be okay
, she’d said. She’d begun
driving faster with both hands clutched tightly on the steering wheel.

The black van had rammed them
for a second time, and this time she could 
feel
 the fear
rolling off her mother and her heart had begun to pound so hard in her chest.
But still her mother had turned her beautiful princess face to her and told
her, 
I love you, 
Trinnie
, you are my big
girl. Just hang on, okay?
 But it hadn’t been okay. The third ram had
been the charm for their abductors. Her mother hadn’t been able to keep control
of the car and it had spun as if it had hit a spot of ice. The car had slammed
into a tree, leaving them defenseless. Her mother’s last words to her
were 
no matter what happens, always remember I love you, always
remember
…

And Trinity had remembered.
She’d remembered while she’d been dragged from the car, screaming for her
mother. She’d remembered while she sat tied to a chair with a blindfold over
her eyes waiting on her mother to come for her. She’d remembered when her
father had taken her in his arms after she’d been rescued. She’d remembered
when her father had sat her down and told her that her mother was dead. She’d
remembered while she sat in the front pew of the church and stared at her
mother’s coffin.

But now, sitting in the
quiet, early morning, Trinity wondered if maybe her mother hadn’t loved her
enough. After having had a child, she wondered what could possibly motivate a
person to leave their child behind. A cold chill ran over her body,
leaving goose bumps on her flesh. What if her mother didn’t want to
see her? Maybe Rush had found that out and had only been trying to protect her.
She swallowed hard as she thought of how Rush had been since they’d been back
together: kind, sensitive, protective, loving, and yes… even trustworthy. He
would never forgive her. She exhaled deeply. He should have trusted her with
the truth. That had been their problem all along; they failed continuously to
trust each other.

She shook her head. No,
today she was going to find her mother. If her mother refused to see her, then
she’d deal with that. But she 
had
 to know. She just had to.

Chapter Eleven

Trinity forced herself to wait until nine o’clock before leaving
the hotel. 
Sundra
 had refused to allow her
to go off on her own. So here they were driving through the streets of El Paso.
It seemed a whole different world from where they came from. In Savannah, the
streets were lined with beautiful, old homes which promoted the idea of past
history of the old South, filled with genteel grace. While here in El Paso, the
streets were lined with homes with bars on the windows and doors which promoted
the idea of crime and fear. Why would her mother move here, so far from her
home?

“You okay?” 
Sundra
 asked as they drove.

Trinity gave a nervous
laugh. “My hands are shaking. I don’t know if it’s nerves or excitement… maybe
a little of both.” Trinity paused then said, “What if she doesn’t want to see
me, Sun?”

“Then we’ll head on over to
Juarez, Mexico and have lunch… maybe a margarita or two,” 
Sundra
 said while snapping her fingers up next to her
head as if she sported castanets.

“I could really use the
margarita right now,” Trinity said with a laugh.

“Don’t worry. We’ll take
this step by step,” 
Sundra
 promised.

Trinity’s heart began to
beat faster as she glanced at the GPS and realized she was merely blocks away
from the Rio Grande Vista Lodge… and her mother. She drove the blocks and
finally turned into the parking lot. The long-term stay hotel was an old,
rambling complex. The building was dirty and the large pool was empty of water
with the exception of the accumulated rain in the bottom and varies types of
debris. She drove around until she spotted the door with 12B on it. Slowly, she
backed into a parking spot. She parked far enough away so she could get a
complete look at the room. She glanced back into the backseat to find her
precious baby boy fast asleep, unaware of the drama surrounding his mother.

As she turned around and
looked up at apartment 12B, she saw a woman sitting in front of the window. As
there was a sheer curtain in the window, it was hard to tell what she was
doing. Maybe she was up drinking a cup of coffee and reading the daily paper.
She swallowed hard. Was that her mother?

Taking a deep breath and
exhaling silently, Trinity said, “Okay, well here goes nothing…”

Sundra
 interrupted her. “You are not going up there alone. We’re
all going. It’s all or nothing,” she stated firmly.

“Thanks, 
Sundra
. I was hoping you’d say that,” Trinity said softly.
“Okay. Let’s do this thing.”

Opening the door to the
backseat, she extracted Blake from his 
carseat
 and
pressed his sleeping body against her own. She breathed in his familiar smell
and kissed his head. She grabbed his blanket and threw it over him; not because
it was cold, but because somehow without it he was too exposed here. As she
glanced about her, she reached in and grabbed his diaper bag absently and slung
it over her other shoulder. This place was really 
creeping
 her
out. She couldn’t understand why her mother would stay in a place like this
voluntarily. She wished Rush were here with her as fear filled her. She felt so
uncertain about all of this now that she was here. Her mother was bound to
freak out!

She took a deep breath
and 
Sundra
 gave her a reassuring smile.
“Okay, let’s go,” Trinity said. Side by side, they walked up to the building
and climbed the stairs to the second landing. When they were on the
landing, 
Sundra’s
 
cellphone
rang. She drifted off behind Trinity but they kept walking. Behind her, Trinity
heard 
Sundra
 answer her phone.

“Hey,” it was obvious from
her voice that 
Sundra
 was unsure about
speaking to whoever was on the phone.

“…Umm, I don’t think now is
a good time. Can she call you back…”
Sundra
 said
into the phone.

Rush. It had to be Rush.
Trinity glanced back at 
Sundra
 and shook
her head. 
Not now
, she mouthed and then turned back. She couldn’t
stop now. She had to keep going while she still had the nerve. When she reached
the door with 12B painted in flaked, gold paint, she took another deep breath
and knocked on the door. From where she stood, she could still see the woman
sitting at a table next to the window. Through the curtain, all she could make
out was the short, dark hair. The woman remained motionless and didn’t seem to
acknowledge the knock. Trinity glanced behind her to where 
Sundra
 was in deep conversation with Rush. Her
eyebrows were bunched together as she listened intently to whatever was being
said.

Trinity turned back to the
door and knocked softly once more. Trepidation filled her when the door was
opened by a Hispanic man wearing a dirty, off-white T-shirt.

“Yes?” the man asked with
his eyebrow lifted questioningly.

“
Uhh
.
 I would like to speak
to 
Ameila
, please,” Trinity said hesitantly,
referring to her mother’s alias.

“
Ameila
,
yes, come on in,” the man said.

Trinity glanced back
at 
Sundra
 as she began to step into the
apartment. 
Sundra
 was shaking her head frantically
but Trinity didn’t understand what she was trying to communicate. Trinity gave
her a 
not now
 look and stepped into the apartment fully. She
glanced around the room and immediately felt panic rise up within her. There
were several Hispanic men in the room. When she turned her head to the woman
seated by a table in the window, it took her a second to realize the woman
wasn’t real, she was a mannequin. The man who’d opened the door lurched towards
her, his intentions obvious. Trinity clutched Blake tighter to her body and
stepped back and turned toward 
Sundra
, who she
almost toppled over.