Trust (31 page)

Finally
tearing his eyes away
from me, Chase pushes his wife
away and breaks the kiss as he looks at her strangely.  "Mirana, what are
you doing?"

It's
a strange question to ask your wife after she greets you with a kiss, but at
this point I can't pretend to know or understand Chase A
nderson at all.  I feel like I should run.  Take off to the limo, hop in
and tell Mark to take me directly to the airport.  But I can't help but want to
see Chase squirm now.  I want to see how he tries to weasel his way out of this
to both his wife and gi
rlfriend at the same time. 

Mirana
is talking quietly now, but s
he’s
grabbed his hand and is clutching it against her chest as
if she doesn't want him to be apart from her ever again.  His eyes grow wide as
she speaks and then makes a strange sound.  It'
s not
until he looks up that I see a smile on his face.  That noise had been a
laugh.  Of all the reactions I had expected from him, laughter was pretty much
the last one.  It makes me want to slap him, and I take a few steps toward the
two of them with th
at very intention.

"The
government?  Definitely not," he says to her.  "S
he’s
not even American.  S
he’s
from Canada."

I
stop in my tracks, confused.

Mirana
looks back at me with equal confusion on her face, and then back at Chase.  She
speaks again, and
despite the fact that I'm close
enough to hear them this time, the words are in Spanish anyway, so it doesn't
really matter.

"Well,
I don't know what she told you," he says, shaking his head.  "But I'm
sure it was a misunderstanding."  Here come the lies
.  Is he really going to claim that he and I haven't been
dating these past couple of weeks?  With me standing right here?  Does he
actually think I'll cover for him and go along with whatever story
he’s
going to try and spin?

"Don't
believe him," I say.
 My eyes feel like they
’
re blazing as I glare at him. 
"Whatever
he’s
about to say is a lie."

Mirana
turns to me again, even more confusion on her face.  "Chase, what is going
on here?  Who is she then?  How does she know my parents?"

"This
is Lila.  S
he
’s
my... well, she was my girlfriend.  Now I'm not
sure."

I
open my mouth to contest his story but stop as I realize what
he’s
said.  He's actually admitting that I'm
his girlfriend to his wife?  What kind of a sick asshole is he?  Or do they
have some so
rt of twisted understanding or agreement?

My
eyes slide over to Mirana, waiting for some sort of explosion of emotion, but
she doesn't react.  Not at first, at least.  Her head cocks to one side as she
looks over at me with her eyes narrowed a bit, as if
s
he’s
thinking about something, then she
smiles as well.  "Ahh, this makes sense then."

"Wait,
what?  What's going on here?"

Mirana's
hand loosens her grip on Chase's now and he pulls it away.  "You didn't
tell her about us, did you?" she asks him.  He s
hakes
his head.

"What
the hell kind of... look, I don't know what weird open relationship you two
have but I don't want any part-"

"No,
wait," Mirana says, holding her hands up and shaking her head.  She looks
over at Chase.  "Do you love her?"

Chase
lo
oks at me, his deep blue eyes fixated on mine as he
nods.

Mirana
turns back to me.  "Our marriage isn't real," she says. 

"Mirana,
I wasn't going to-"

She
raises her hand again and this time Chase stops talking.  "No,
it’s
not fair to you to keep this
secret from her," she says.  "You've done too
much for me and Diego already.  I don't want you to risk losing the woman you
love."

My
head is spinning as I try to make sense of everything, but none of it fits yet.

"What
the hell is going on," I demand, l
ooking back
between the two of them.

"I
thought you were from immigration," she explains.  "
That’s
why I told you that Chase and I were in
love.  You came to warn me about him, didn't you?  You found out he was
married?"

My
head nods automatically but I'
m still lost.

"Denise,"
I hear Chase explain but my eyes continue to stare at Mirana.  Who is this
woman?

Mirana
makes a disapproving sound with the back of her throat.  "I told you that
woman would only cause you grief."  She shook her head again as she
looked at me.  "You can't listen to anything that
puta
says." 

I
have no idea what
puta
means, but I have a feeling it isn't a
term of endearment.

"You
poor woman," she says, putting her hand on mine and squeezing it. 
"Come back inside.  Let's talk. 
Chase and I can
explain."

My
first instinct is to pull my hand away and still run back to the safety of the
limousine.  To hide behind the tinted windows and let Mark take me back to the
airport so I can flee to the familiar and comfortable.  My country.
 My apartment.  But what's waiting for me there now
anyway?  Evelyn is gone.  Only Harrison remains.  How fucked up is my life if
he turns out to be the most stable thing in it?

"Come,"
she urges, pulling at my hand.  Chase is just watching us without say
ing a word.  At least he has sense enough to keep quiet
now. 

"I
don't know what's true anymore," I say softly.  "You're married but
you're not.  You were in love a few minutes ago, but now you say you aren't. 
Chase... so many lies."

"I
never lied abou
t her," Chase says.

While
it’s
true that Chase never actually told me
he wasn't married, that's a pretty weak argument.  I glare at him and his gaze
drops away to the ground.  He knows the difference is meaningless.

"It's
not his fault," Mirana protests,
squeezing my
hand again.  "Please, come inside and I will explain everything.  Chase is
a great man.  If he loves you, you're very lucky.  I do love Chase, but not
like that.  I love him for a different reason."

"Why?"

Mirana
shrugs, tugging my hand aga
in and turning toward the
house.  "Because he saved my life."

I
let Mirana lead me back into the house in a daze as I try to process everything
going on, but I'm still so confused.  Is Chase a cold hearted asshole or not? 
That’s
the main question
I'm still trying to answer.

"What
do you mean, he saved your life?  What happened?"

We're
back in the house now, and Chase has followed Diego into his bedroom to see
something the boy had created out of Legos.  More than likely in an attempt to
give me
some time alone with Mirana.

"Diego's
father was not a nice man," she starts, her eyes drifting downward to the
long dress she wears as she straightens out an imagined crease.  "Not to
me or Diego.  At that time, Chase was dating a friend of mine, Maria.
 Chase liked to come to Cuba because he wasn't supposed
to.  He's always doing things like that.  On one of those trips he met Maria
and then he would come back about once a month to visit her. 

"It
was on one of these trips that he met me.  Maria asked
me to come out with them to a restaurant on a double date with Juan,
Diego's father.  Chase knew right away what was going on between us.  It was
like he could read both of our souls.  I had always been able to explain away
my injuries to Maria, and she wo
uld believe what I
told her."  Mirana looked up at me, her dark eyes looking fuller,
surrounded by unfallen tears.  "But Chase didn't.  Not for a
moment." 

Mirana
was quiet for a moment before continuing.  "Chase and Maria eventually
stopped dating but C
hase kept coming back to Cuba on
a regular basis for his vacations, and whenever he did he would check in on
me.  He found out where my parents lived, and he spoke to them about Juan.  He
had them talk to me.  I was stupid back then.  And scared.  Chase he
lped me get away.  For Diego."  She took a long
shuddering breath and I put a hand on her knee which she grabbed and squeezed
appreciatively.

"Chase
is a good man.  He barely knew me, yet he gave my parents money so that they
could hide me away from Juan.
  Juan was enraged, and
he kept looking for us.  Cuba is not a big island; we could not have hidden
from him forever.  Chase said that Diego and I would have a better life in the
U.S. and that coming here would be the only way to keep us safe from Juan.  E
ven though he barely knew me, Chase promised to help
me
and he started the process to bring us
here, claiming that we were engaged.  B
ut
getting a Green Card
is a very long process and, as you can
see, it is
still
going
on
. 
There was anguish on Mirana's f
ace, and I
couldn’t
imagine how hard it must have been for
her to be forced to put her trust so completely in a virtual stranger, and to
leave her family and everyone she knew to come to another country.  It must
have been a terribly hard, but necessary, d
ecision.

"I
know it is wrong, that we have told a lie to the government.  If they find it
out, Chase would be in a lot of trouble.  And I know it makes his life more
difficult, to keep this secret.  But he does it for me and my son.  So that we
can live h
ere safely.  When you showed up this
afternoon asking about him... I thought you were from Immigration.  They have
visited us in the past, asking questions about our relationship to determine if
we have a “legitimate” marriage.  I'm sorry, I just assumed y
ou were another agent. 
That’s
why I told you those things about Chase
and me, but they aren't true.  I do love him, but not like that.  He is a great
and generous man, and the last thing I want to do is ruin a chance at a real
relationship for him."

I sl
owly let out the deep breath I had been holding as I
listened to her story.  Out of the corner of my eye I look up to see Chase come
out of Diego's room.  He sees me, and I can tell by his expression that
he’s
not sure whether to approach or not.  I
give h
im a reassuring nod.

"I'm
sorry."

"You
have nothing to be sorry about," I shake my head.  "I'm the one that
should be sorry.  I never should have doubted you."  It seems like with
Chase, no matter how things sound I need to always start giving him the be
nefit of the doubt.

"I
wanted to tell you, but
it’s
complicated.  And
it’s
really not only my decision, since
it’s
a secret I share with Mirana.  I would
have taken the risk for myself, but I
couldn’t
ask her to do that.  S
he’s
very close to getting her g
reen card and then she'll be in the clear, but until
then………”

"It's
not your fault.  Denise... she was obviously looking for this reaction from me,
and I was foolish enough to give it to her."

"Puta,"
Mirana says again under breath.

Chase
gives her a si
delong glance and then nods. 
"Yes, she has a way of finding the one thing that will get under someone's
skin and then twisting it around to turn it into a catastrophe.  She knows that
Mirana is my wife and that s
he’s
from Cuba.  I think she also realizes
the end goal.  S
he’s
not stupid.  But she doesn't know the
details.  She found out by accident.  I never would have told her.  But despite
her flaws, I know she
wouldn’t
report us, although she obviously isn't above using it to
try to break us up."

"The
o
nly reason she doesn't report us is because she
knows we're not lovers," Mirana says angrily.  "S
he’s
always been a jealous and spiteful
woman."

"I
know," Chase agrees.  "I've been hearing that a lot lately.  I should
have figured it out on my own long ag
o."  He
looks at me with an embarrassed half grin.

"So
what now?" I ask.  I really don't know.  I'm such a fool, I
wouldn’t
be surprised if Chase is completely
done with me after the number of times I've been so quick to condemn him.  But
instead of telli
ng me to go to hell, he reaches out
and touches my hand.  I let his fingers slide against my palm and grasp them
hard.

"Once
the G
reen
Card
issue is done in a couple of months, Chase and I will get a divorce.  Then
he’s
free to marry you," Mirana says. 
M
y eyes widen in surprise as I look at her, searching
her face to see if s
he’s
joking at all.

"Uh,"
Chase clears his throat.  "We're not quite there... yet."  Then he
looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

My
eyes are still wide and I shake my head as well. 
"No,
that's right.  We're not there.  Wait, yet?"

He
just shrugs and smiles again, then leans forward and kisses me. 

"Now
you must stay for dinner," Mirana announces. 

I
haven't even thought about how hungry I am until she says that.  Is it dinner
ti
me already?  Because of the time change I don't
even know how long ago it was since we last ate.  I look over at Chase and
he’s
nodding enthusiastically.  "S
he’s
as good a cook as her mother,
Elena," he says. 

That’s
good enough for me.  Looks like I'm h
aving dinner with Chase, his wife and his step son.  At
least
there’s
never a dull moment with this man.