Year of the Monsoon (17 page)

“Stop!” she whispered angrily to herself. She grabbed her open file drawer and slammed it shut.

“Whoa,” Maddie said from behind her, making Leisa jump. “What was that about?”

Leisa’s face burned. “Nothing,” she muttered, turning back to her desk.

“Okay,” Maddie said, clearly unconvinced. She held out a series of police mug shots. “Meet Pedro Alarcon.”

Leisa stared at the images of the man who had been in Maddie’s office a few days ago. “He really does have a record?”

“Yup. Drugs mostly. He’s been investigated for more than one murder, all women, probably the ones he was pimping, but the police could never find any others who would testify. Too scared. So he got off.”

Leisa looked up. “You don’t think he killed Mariela’s mother, do you?”

Maddie shrugged. “I don’t think so. She definitely died of an overdose. But what if the heroin wasn’t hers? What if she took some she was supposed to deliver to someone else? I don’t know what he wants with Mariela, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

Leisa heard a car horn beep. “You stay here,” she said to Bronwyn as she backed out the front door, locking it behind her. She ran to Jo Ann and Bruce’s car.

“Ready?” Bruce asked as she got into the back seat and buckled up.

Within twenty minutes, they were pulling into the parking lot at St. Joseph’s. She led the way into the old school gymnasium where chairs had been set up facing a table draped with a colorful woven cloth.

Maddie had insisted that any child who wished to attend could come to the funeral for Mariela’s mother.

“We shelter children from death so that they’re afraid of it. Most of these kids have seen the ugly, violent side of death. With this funeral, there won’t be a body, nothing to scare them. Linus will make it beautiful.”

Father Linus Chappa was a young Franciscan priest who volunteered part-time at the Home.

“He cannot be a priest. He looks like he’s sixteen,” Leisa had muttered to Maddie the first time she saw him.

“I know.” Maddie smiled broadly, watching Linus as he crouched at the foosball table in his jeans and t-shirt with his shaggy blond hair and long sideburns. “But the kids love him.”

The love affair was mutual. Linus loved the kids, too. He had described Mariela’s heart-breaking situation to his superior, Father Ignatius, who cautioned, “Do not assume this girl is innocent, simply because she is young. She has undoubtedly seen, and possibly experienced, more than you and I combined.”

Linus did make the funeral beautiful. He wore colorful, joyful vestments. Mariela had made new decorations for the paint can – spring flowers strung together in a chain draped around the can. Linus talked about family.

“All of us are born to some family, somewhere,” he began. “Sometimes we get to stay with them, sometimes we don’t. I was one of the ones who didn’t get to stay with my family. I was raised by foster parents.”

Most of the children looked at one another in surprise and sat up to listen more attentively.

“You knew?” Leisa whispered to Maddie. Maddie smiled.

“I was actually raised by lots of foster parents,” Father Linus continued. “I made things tough for them. I was angry. I didn’t want them to like me. They weren’t my family. But what I didn’t understand then, was that we all have the chance to make another family – the family we choose. I thought if I loved new people, became part of a new family, it would mean I didn’t love my original family anymore. But it doesn’t work that way. God made us so we can love more and more people, and it never takes away from the love we had for the people who came before. It never gets used up.”

Linus had all the kids’ attention now.

“No matter what kind of family you come from, sometimes people have to go away. Maybe it’s their job, like the army. Maybe they went to prison. Maybe they died, like Mariela’s mama. When that happens, the thing to do is remember the good things about them, remember the things you loved, and let your other family – your new family – help you through it. And some day, even if we have to wait until we get to heaven, we will see them again. And since tomorrow is Easter, this is a perfect time to remember that God is greater even than death, that this world is not the end for us.”

After the service, a small group drove to the cemetery. Mariela rode in the back seat of Bruce’s car with Leisa, the paint can held securely on her lap. When they got there, Bruce opened the trunk as Maddie, Lyn and Linus pulled up beside them.

Bruce pulled two large wreaths of flowers out of the trunk.

“What are those for?” Mariela asked.

Bruce squatted down so that he was at eye-level with Mariela. “People often bring flowers for the graves of people they loved, on holidays or birthdays. We thought you might like to have a wreath for your mother’s ashes, especially since tomorrow is Easter.”

Mariela thought about this. “Why do you have two?”

Bruce glanced up at Leisa. “We thought you might like to lay a wreath on your parents’ graves, also.”

Startled, Leisa accepted the second wreath. “Thank you.”

Maddie and Lyn led the way to a mausoleum in the center of the cemetery. There, a small vault awaited Florida Gonzalez’ ashes. Leisa didn’t find out until long after that Maddie and Lyn had paid for the vault themselves. A man affiliated with the cemetery was waiting for them. He let Mariela place the paint can in the small opening. Linus sprinkled the can with holy water and said a prayer, and then the man sealed the vault with a bronze door engraved with Florida’s name. The wreath was hung on a small hook on the door, so that Florida’s name was encircled by flowers.

Mariela beamed and turned to Leisa. “It’s your turn.”

She shyly took Jo Ann’s hand as the group began wending its way through the headstones toward Rose and Daniel’s graves. Leisa became aware of movement off to her right. When she glanced over, she saw a man who looked familiar pausing to look at a headstone. Puzzled, she tried to place him. Suddenly, it came to her. Pedro Alarcon. She turned to say something to Maddie as they walked around a massive grave marker for a family named Boone, but what she saw then drove Alarcon from her mind. She stopped so abruptly that Mariela bumped into her.

Nan was just laying a large bouquet of flowers against Rose’s side of the shared headstone.

Leisa whirled and glared at Maddie and Jo Ann. Jo held up her free hand and said, “We had nothing to do with this.” Maddie nodded in agreement.

Nan spotted them and waited uncertainly as Leisa approached.

“What are you doing here?” Leisa asked in puzzlement.

Nan looked back toward the brightly colored flowers leaning against the polished granite. “Your mom was always so good to me,” Nan explained. “She was more a mother to me than my own. I just –”

“You’ve been here before?” Leisa interrupted, spying a dried, wilted bouquet in Nan’s hand.

Nan shrugged. “A few times.”

Leisa stood there, bewildered. She herself hadn’t been here since the funeral. As the silence stretched awkwardly, Jo Ann said, “Mariela, this is our good friend, Nan.”

Nan tore her gaze from Leisa and turned toward Jo, then blinked down at Mariela.

“Hello,” Mariela said softly.

“Hello,” Nan returned.

Maddie introduced Nan to Linus who shook her hand. They gathered around. Linus sprinkled the grave with holy water and said a blessing over Rose and Daniel’s graves. Leisa realized she was still holding the wreath. She stepped forward and laid it propped against the middle of the headstone. When she remained kneeling there, Mariela came nearer and put her small hand on Leisa’s shoulder.

“Don’t be sad,” she said. “Remember what Father Linus said? We’ll see them again.”

As Leisa patted Mariela’s hand and got to her feet, she heard Jo Ann say, “Nan, we’re all going back to our house for dinner. Won’t you join us?”

“Are you sure this wasn’t pre-arranged?” Leisa hissed at Maddie as they walked back to the cars.

“Completely accidental,” Maddie swore.

Maybe, but Jo wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. She made sure that Nan was seated next to Leisa at dinner, with Mariela on Leisa’s other side.

“Mariela?” Jo prompted once everyone was at the table. “Would you like to say grace?”

Mariela looked up at Leisa who smiled and nodded encouragingly. Everyone clasped hands as Mariela prayed, “Dear God, thank you for this good food. Thank you for my mama’s beautiful funeral. Thank you for my new family. Amen.”

Leisa was so acutely focused on the touch of Nan’s hand in hers that she didn’t really hear Mariela’s words at first. When she glanced around the table, she saw everyone covertly dabbing at their eyes and clearing their throats. Slowly, she relinquished Nan’s hand to accept the ham platter being passed her way.

“Did I see you talking to Mariela?” Lyn asked Nan later that evening back at their house.

“For a while,” Nan admitted. “She seems like a sweet little girl, but who is she? I mean, why all the fuss at the cemetery?”

Maddie explained about Mariela’s past, and asked, “Didn’t Leisa ever talk to you about her?”

“I think she tried to,” Nan recalled as she began to put the pieces together. “But she never got the chance.” She saw Maddie and Lyn glance at one another. “What?”

“Um,” Maddie began hesitantly, “from some of the things Leisa has said, I think she has thought about possibly trying to adopt Mariela.”

Nan stared at both of them for several seconds. “Oh.”

“She knows now is not the right time,” Maddie hastened to add, “but… I think you should know she’s been thinking about it.”

“Speaking of which, kind of,” Lyn interjected when Nan continued to gaze mutely at them, “have you written to Todd?”

“We weren’t speaking of that,” Nan said testily.

“Yes, well, that’s kind of the point. We never really do speak of that, do we?” Lyn pointed out with gentle sarcasm.

Chapter 14

LEISA WOKE IN A
sweat. Lying in the dark, she continued to feel the throbbing between her legs. That dream had felt so real. What had begun as Nan making love to her had morphed into Sarah humping her madly while Nan looked on with unspeakable hurt in her eyes. Leisa threw her arms over her face, expelling a frustrated breath. When it became clear that she was not going to be able to go back to sleep, she kicked the covers off angrily and stomped into the bathroom. Bronwyn opened one eye just enough to give her a reproachful look. The clock said four-thirty. The gym opened at five.

After hurriedly washing her face and brushing her teeth, she pulled on workout clothes and a baseball cap.

“Don’t see her again,” Lyn had said.

The day after the kiss, Leisa had gone over to Lyn and Maddie’s after work, knowing that Maddie had a late meeting. She found Lyn in the studio. To her relief, Lyn was done painting for the day and was at the sink washing her brushes. “Do you have a minute?” she asked tentatively.

“Sure,” Lyn said, her hair tied into a loose bunch at the nape of her neck. “What’s up?”

Leisa cracked her knuckles nervously. “There was a woman – before Nan – my lover in college,” she stammered. “It ended badly.” She began pacing. “She got married. I moved on. But… I ran into her. She works at the gym I joined.”