Seasons of Her Life (16 page)

“I want something done and I want it done now. Your man is planning to abduct my daughter and run away with her to California. She's underage. You take care of him and I'll take care of mine, you hear me? I don't want excuses and sorry explanations. I'll press charges if I have to. And I expect a full written report sent to me at my home in Pennsylvania.” He rattled off his home address, his eyes murderous as he stared at his two daughters. “I don't mean next week or the week after that. I mean tomorrow.”

Ruby cringed when her father slammed the receiver back into the cradle. He turned to Andrew.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

Andrew sprang to Ruby's defense. “Me, sir? I come by in the mornings to take out the trash, and before you can ask, I'm over twenty-one and my superior is a full-fledged four-star general who pounds guys like you to shit, so if you have any ideas about reporting me, think again. And I don't have a name.” Ruby's shoulders straightened. George stepped back. Ruby knew no one had ever spoken to him like this. His forte was bullying women. He'd been careful all his life to avoid confrontations with male counterparts.

“I think you should leave, sir,” Andrew said coolly.

“Yes,” Nangi put in in a soft, cultured voice. “I think you should do exactly what the lieutenant said. I am well versed in the martial arts, and I can kill you with one blow.”

Ruby's mouth dropped open, so did Andrew's. Amber reached up to grasp Nangi's hand in her own.

Ruby inched closer to Andrew, she didn't know why.

Nangi ran with the ball. “I'm planning on marrying your daughter.”

“She deserves you,” George snarled. “She never was any good. As for you,” he said, addressing Ruby, but he didn't get a chance to finish.

“I'm no good, either. I know. I hope you're happy now that you ruined my life. I won't go with you. I'm never going back there. And if you beat Mom again, I'm calling the sheriff. Grace and Paul know what you did. They'll tell. So will Opal. I'm not afraid of you anymore, and let me tell you what you can do with that money you say I owe you. Stick it up your ass! The way I look at it, you owe Amber six thousand bucks, and somehow, I'll find a way to get it out of you. It might take me the rest of my life, but I'll do it.” Ruby knew, for all her defiance, that she would have packed her bags and gone if it weren't for Andrew and Nangi. So would Amber. My God, she was free. They both were finally free.

“The door, sir,” Andrew said respectfully, holding it wide open. Ruby wanted to laugh, but she cried instead. Hard, dry sobs racked her body and tears flowed down her cheeks. Amber was crying just as hard against Nangi's chest.

The four of them huddled by the front door, their faces pressed against the wide pane of glass.

“Look how tall he is,” Amber said tearfully. “He's not even looking back at us. Oh, God, we don't have a father anymore,” she wailed. “Ruby, let's call him back. He's our father!”

Ruby felt her shoulders sag as she watched George open the car door. He settled his long legs beneath the steering wheel before he pulled the door shut. “Now he'll look at us. He knows we're here. He knows we're watching. He thinks we're going to run out. No, he doesn't think that at all. He's disowned us. He's going to drive away.”

“Ruby, we're never going to see him again,” Amber wailed.

Ruby worked her thick tongue around the inside of her mouth. She thought it strange that she had no saliva. “I know,” she whispered. Her hand twitched as she reached out to Amber. “We're free,” she croaked. “We never have to worry about him again.”

“What about Mom? Ruby, what about Mom?”

“I don't know, Amber.”

“Lieutenant, I would be very pleased to buy you breakfast if you have no other plans,” Nangi said quietly as he ushered the girls back into the house. “In the meantime, my girl ... and yours ... can compose themselves.”

Andrew looked at the dapper little Filipino and grinned. “What the hell, if you're paying, I'm game.”

 

Ruby cried for her grandmother, and for Opal, and for Calvin. His career, and their future together, were ruined.

Amber cried for herself and for her mother.

“I'm going to get dressed and go to Sacred Heart. We're too late for morning Mass, but we ... I can say a rosary. Do you want to go, Amber?” She nodded miserably.

They walked down the hall together. “That's some guy you got there, Amber. Can he really kill with a kick or a smack?” Ruby said just to hear her own voice.

“Yeah,” Amber said proudly. “You know, Ruby, Andrew is ... maybe you can make something out of him. That other guy ... I'm sorry. I guess it wasn't meant to be.”

“Do you have any idea how I feel right now? Any idea at all?”

“No,” Amber whispered.

“Then let me tell you. I feel completely empty. Bubba's gone, Pop's gone, and now Calvin's gone. Even if I could make things right, it's too late for me to go to the airport. I'd never get there in time. The plane is probably leaving right now.”

“Tomorrow, Ruby, tomorrow you can make phone calls. Tomorrow you can make things right with Calvin. If he's half as smart as Nangi, you'll be able to fix it up with him. Why, he'll probably call
you
when he gets to California. It will all work out.”

“No, he won't call, Amber. I know Calvin. He's thinking I deserted him. He's thinking he's not good enough for me. I don't know why he feels that way, but he does. And now his career is wrecked because of me. There's no way I can ever make this right.”

Her step faltered. Amber reached out to steady her.

“What is it?” Amber asked, full of concern.

“I was thinking about Bubba,” she said, and then her voice cracked so that she couldn't speak. Her grandmother's death was so devastating, she couldn't bring herself to talk about it.

“Listen, Ruby, that sounded real good ... what you said about not paying your debt, but it wasn't very realistic,” Amber said to her. “If you don't pay, it will go real hard on Mom. Do you want that on your conscience?”

“I want to know how you managed to pay off yours, Amber,” Ruby said, testing her voice a second time.

“Nangi loaned me the money.”

“Why didn't you tell me about that?” Ruby demanded, knowing Amber spoke the truth about the debt. “I should have been told.”

“Why, Ruby? Would you have done anything differently? It served no purpose. He's gone now. We can do whatever we feel like doing.”

“Yeah, now, when it's too late.” God, she was never going to see her grandmother, never feel her arms, those wonderful protecting arms. Never see the apple peel in one piece again. Never sit on the back porch again. When it was her choice not to return, she'd been able to come to terms with it, but now it was different. She wouldn't be allowed to return. It was all lost to her, just the way Calvin was lost to her.

“Mom ...” Amber said tentatively.

“What about her?” Ruby asked coldly. She wondered what her uncles would do with her grandmother's wicker chair on the back porch.

“She . . .”

“She what? She didn't give a damn about us. Especially me. She didn't even say good-bye to me. She never patted me on the head, never kissed me good night. She never even told me what to do when I got my period. Bubba had to ... to show me how to fasten the sanitary belt. I should have known about boys, how to act, what to do, and I didn't. Mothers are supposed to be your friend. If there's one thing I learned, it's that you have to have guts to survive. Mom doesn't have any. She should have called the sheriff the first time.”

“The town, the gossip . . . Pop . . .”

“Bullshit, Amber,” Ruby snarled. “You believe whatever you want to believe and I'll believe what I want. I wonder if they'll dress her in one of those awful purple dresses.” She realized she would never know. She also realized there would be no more letters from Opal. Wet, hot tears pricked at her eyelids as she closed the door to her room, closing Amber out of her life.

 

Calvin Santos's eyes scanned the busy concourse. His watch told him Ruby was late—by five minutes. They'd synchronized their E.T.A.'s right down to the last second, military style. He'd allowed for grumpy cab drivers, morning traffic, Ruby's busy bathroom, and the weather. He'd even allowed two full minutes in case Ruby decided to eat toast or cereal instead of waiting to have coffee and danish in the coffee shop.

Something was wrong.

Calvin started to sweat when he looked at his watch. Somehow she'd found out he was distantly related to Nangi Duenas. He should have told her. For the life of him, he didn't know why he hadn't. Maybe Nangi had told him not to, he simply couldn't remember. He'd been so stupid to tell Nangi what he was planning, but his cousin had sworn on the name of his father, his uncle, and every priest he could remember that he wouldn't tell Amber. Maybe Ruby overheard Amber and Nangi talking. Ruby would consider keeping a secret of that nature from her unforgivable. He knew he was lying to himself. He'd deliberately not told Ruby because he thought Nangi could feed him information, via Amber, about Andrew Blue. Damn!

Ruby changed her mind for her own reasons. If he had to decide what to believe right this second, it would be that Ruby changed her mind because he wasn't good enough for her. It had nothing to do with Nangi. In his gut he knew his cousin wouldn't betray him. He looked at his watch again. If he called, he'd hear the words.... Once words were said aloud, they couldn't be taken back. He simply could not handle that kind of rejection, that's all there was to it.

A squadron of bees swarmed inside Calvin's head, a battalion of them in his stomach. He felt dizzy, disoriented. When his vision cleared, he was certain all the busy travelers were staring at him. He had to do something. He blew his noise in a white handkerchief that smelled of Clorox.

He had been so sure she would come. So certain. He felt like crying. He loved her. He
really
did. He'd told Nangi so, and Nangi in turn had said he loved Amber. They were going to marry in the spring. He'd felt so damn good when he told his secret, and Nangi had slapped him on the back and said something about still waters and then called him a son of a gun. He'd felt so damn good thinking he belonged at last.

It had all been a lie. Ruby didn't want him. He simply wasn't good enough for her. The hell with it. If she
did
want him, she'd have to do the calling. He wasn't sticking his neck out again to get it chopped off.

Calvin ached for his loss. He shackled his defense, this time more securely. He'd never trust anybody again. He sealed off the place in his heart allotted to Ruby Connors. At least she would always be with him there.

George's voice was so normal sounding, Irma cringed against the pillows. He'd gotten home a short while ago, just in time to speak to Dr. Ashley, who had been on his way out. She couldn't hear what they had said.

“Do you need anything, Irma?” She shook her head. “Where's Opal?”

Irma licked her lips, made dry by the medication she'd been taking. “Your brother came over to get her. She couldn't do anything for me, so I told her to go. Grace Zachary came over to help.”

George replied in the same agreeable tone, “If she's needed over there, you were right to send her. Don't want that Zachary woman here, though. What happens in my house is none of her business. You hear me? Now, if you don't need anything, I'm going to sharpen the lawn mower and then mow the lawn before it rains.”

Irma tried to dig her body deeper into the bedding. “The girls . . .” she whispered.

“Ruby won't be getting married anytime in the near future. They're bad seeds, Irma, they take after you. They've taken up with foreigners that look like niggers. Fil-yip-pinos. One of the little bastards informed me he's marrying
your
oldest daughter. I called the other one's commanding officer and told him what-for. Then I disowned both of them. They won't be coming for their grandmother's funeral, and they'll never darken this doorstep again. We have only one daughter now.” It was all said so matter-of-factly, Irma knew it was true. “None of you women are any good. Underneath, you're all like that one who lives next door. Filth, garbage. You all want the same thing, don't you?”

Irma closed her eyes. She wished she could die that very moment. When she opened them again, she stared through the window at the dismal gray day to where her husband was standing inside the shed, sharpening the lawn mower. This was normal, she'd seen him do the same thing hundreds of times from the kitchen window. If she didn't think about her daughters, she wouldn't cry. She continued to watch her husband while she thought of all the letters Ruby had written to her grandmother. She wondered what was in them. Bits and pieces of her daughter's new life that she wanted to share with her grandmother and Opal. Opal had never once let on that she'd heard from Ruby. Why, Irma wondered, was God punishing her like this?