“No. Es mi mamá’s.”
Blooming heck!
His mother’s?
Someone, please tell me Hector didn’t live with his mother.
He pulled me to him, put his hand to the small of my back and guided me into the house. Once in, he shut the door, took my hand and we walked into the living room.
I came to a dead halt at what I saw.
Eddie was there with Jet. Indy was there with Lee. Big crazy guy Tex was there with some pretty, older, blonde lady. Lastly a short, round, Mexican-American woman was laughing with the pretty, older, blonde lady.
They all turned to me. I prepared to turn and run.
Hector felt it, dropped my hand, his arm went around my shoulders and he pulled me tight to his side.
Now would someone please tell me that, on our very first date, Hector didn’t bring me to a dinner party at his mother’s house?
“This is Sadie,” Hector told the room.
Yes, Hector brought me to a dinner party at his mother’s house.
Then the night, already bizarre in the extreme, got more bizarre.
The short, round, Mexican-American woman (who I was assuming was Hector’s mother), walked up to me. She stopped right in front of me, her eyes sharp on my face. I felt the Ice Princess arrive back from vacation and start to slide in place but something made me push her out and send her packing again.
“Hello,” I said softly.
Then, no kidding, I watched in fascination as tears filled the woman’s eyes.
Yes, actual tears.
Her hand came up, started toward my scarred cheek, I pulled in my breath, the hand halted then dropped.
She sucked in her lips and I saw her biting them, tears still shining in her eyes, she reached out and wrapped her little hand around my casted arm. She held it in front of her, her head tilted down, I couldn’t see but I could tell she was looking at my wrist.
I leaned a bit forward and asked softly, “Excuse me, but are you all right?”
Her head came up and she dropped my arm. “You look like a fairy princess,” she whispered in a croaky voice.
I’d heard that before and I still didn’t know what to say.
I didn’t get the chance to say anything.
“Who would hurt a fairy princess?” she asked me as one tear slid down her cheek.
My body jerked then went solid and, belatedly cluing in after being made fuzzy by the beginning of my crazy date with Hector, I realized she knew I’d been raped.
Instead of this making me panicked or embarrassed or angry at Hector (or Lee or Indy or Tex or Jet or whoever) for telling her, I leaned even closer to her.
“Mrs. Chavez,” I said gently but she wasn’t looking at me anymore, her eyes sliced to Hector and she started yelling at him in rapid-fire Spanish.
Yes, yelling. And, yes, in Spanish.
I tried to take a step back because, well, she kind of scared me but Hector still had a tight hold on me.
Then she started waving her arms around and she spun, stalked up to Eddie, got in his face and started yelling at him still in Spanish.