The Replacement Child - By Christine Barber Page 0,66

with some holy water and ground-up osha root. The curandera told Maxine to make enchiladas and green-chile stew and bury it to the left of Daniel’s grave as penance for not obeying her mother. She buried the osha root as instructed, to show her sacrifice to God, and poured the holy water at the left of the grave to prove that she was ready to accept God’s will. Then she had to spend the night praying at Daniel’s shrine.

Maxine had been tired after staying up all night praying and had gone to bed. When she woke up, she had felt sick. Ernesto took her to the doctor. She sat in the waiting room of her doctor’s office knowing that she had the flu. Ron had brought it home from school. She had a runny nose, vomiting, and fever. She wasn’t pregnant. She knew what it felt like to be pregnant. She’d had two babies, after all.

She knew exactly when she became pregnant—the moment the flu had turned into a baby inside her. She was sitting in the doctor’s office with Ernesto when the room began spinning. She had to put out a hand. Her stomach hurt and, a moment later, it became warm. By the time the doctor came in, she knew that she was pregnant. Her fever and runny nose were gone. She felt the fullness of a baby in her. In that instant, God had given her a little girl. It was a miracle from God and Our Lady. God had accepted her penance for her sin and had given her another baby to care for. God was giving her a second chance.

Maxine touched the sleeve of the soft blouse. The color had looked so good on Melissa.

She pulled a loose thread on the blouse and watched a button fall to the carpet and bounce its way over to Melissa’s dresser. Maxine just stared. Melissa had used the broken bottom drawer on the dresser as a treasure chest. The drawer didn’t open, but there was a hidden shelf underneath. When she was a teenager, Melissa had kept her private things there. Maxine got up slowly from the bed, bent over the bottom drawer, and pried it open.

Gil had waited until Morales had driven away before he and Lucy left. He was giving her a ride home. Lucy had argued with him, wanting to drive herself, but he had seen her drink a margarita. And this way, he could guarantee that Morales wasn’t following her.

They were driving quietly in the car when Lucy said, “I find it interesting that during that entire conversation with Hector you never said one swear word.”

Gil looked at her; she wasn’t smiling.

“I don’t see what difference it makes,” Gil said.

“But it does. You just roughed up a drug dealer and never once said damn or hell. He was swearing up a storm and you did nothing.”

“I didn’t rough him up and still don’t get what difference it makes.” And he didn’t. What was she getting at? He looked at her again. She still wasn’t smiling.

“It’s just interesting,” she said.

He pulled up in front of her house and went around to the other side of the car, opening the door for her out of habit, just as he did for his wife and his mother. She smiled up at him. “Why, heavens be, Detective, you are so gallant,” she said in a southern accent.

He walked her up to her front door, surveying the street as he did so, looking for any sign of Morales. As she was unlocking her door he said, “Just so we’re clear, you obviously aren’t going to tell anyone what you overheard tonight.”

“Obviously.”

“And if for any reason you think that Morales is trying to get in touch with you …”

“News flash, Gil. I didn’t give Hector my phone number or even my real name. He thinks I’m Tina.”

“Just be careful.”

“Oh, you do care. Does that mean you’re not mad at me for taking the Hector matter into my own hands?” She smiled coyly. “So to speak.”

“Let’s not get into that.”

“You are mad at me. Look, I was only trying to help. You said yourself that you needed to get Hector away from other people in order to question him. I was just doing my civic duty.”

“Like I said, I don’t want to get into it.”

“Okay, but you’re missing a great opportunity for us to get into our first fight,” she said as she went inside, adding “good night” over her shoulder