Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
I robotically dropped back to sitting and stared at my plate. Ms. Martinez sat down with a cup of coffee,
“Shoo Earl!” she said to him, annoyed. He backed away. She sat down and put her coffee in front of herself. “He can go. Leave us girls to talk. Food not okay?”
“I…I uh, haven’t tried it.”
“Eat. I’ll keep you company.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Are you okay?”
I stared, dumbfounded at her, then finally answered, “Not really.”
“Tell. Tell me everything.” She leaned forward and propped her chin on her palm, her elbow on the table. She stared at me with big brown doe eyes.
I winced.
“You don’t trust me. I understand. I’m a stranger to you. Let me talk while you eat. We’ll become friends in no time.”
I took a bite of cubed melon from the plate.
“I’ve been with the family since Tommy was a small boy. His mother died when he was just a boy. The Ferrano family hired me to look after him. I was an illegal alien with no future. I’d been smuggled into the country by a nasty piece of shit who wanted to work me and my family to death in payment for getting us into the states. Mr. Ferrano, Tommy’s father, Tom, he broke up the operation that was ruining lives of a lot of people. He freed dozens of people treated like slaves. In thanks to him I offered to work here for their family for nothing; they saved us, a lot of us. Of course, they have paid me generously all these years, anyway. He got me citizenship, too. I stayed anyway; I wanted to be surrounded by people who cared.”
“Slaves? They saved you from slavery?” I shook my head, a sour look on my face.
She continued, “This family, they don’t play everything by the books. But, they did a lot for me. There are a lot of people out there like them, don’t kid yourself. They don’t all get called by the same names but there are some very bad people out there disguised as good people and there are people who do bad things sometimes but are not bad, they do what they need to do. This family, what you see is what you get. They did good for me.”
She pointed her thumb at her chest, “And for my parents.” She looked up, kissed her fingertips and pointed them at the sky, “They’ve become family to me.” She motioned to my plate again. “Please, Chiquita; you need to eat.”
I took a bite of food. She kept talking.
“Tommy is the oldest of four. He’s taking over the family business after he marries you. He has big responsibilities. Big. This means you will have an important position. He’s like a son to me, you know? I have no kids but his mother died and so I was like his mother. We’re like family. You’re resistant to this. I know a bit about your father. I know that he gave you to pay them. Having a man like this for your father, what he did was a blessing. Better to be with the Ferrano family than a man like that.” She spat the word ‘that’ out with a grimace.
I was shocked. “I’m a prisoner, Mrs. Martinez. How is this better?”
“Call me Sarah. Better to be a prisoner of a good man than an evil one. Tommy is a good man. You’ll see. Underneath all his – you’ll see.”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t imprisoned by my father. He left me in foster care for years. I was free but he came and he – and Tommy is forcing me into –” I stopped talking. I didn’t want to say another word. Rule number two.
“Your fiancé will provide for you, keep you safe, give you a family, an amazing loving family. Maybe you don’t think this is what you want but you will be very blessed. I know he has dark tendencies, but I think the right woman will bring him into the light. He’s had much pain in his life so far. He’s had a lot to prove. He’s beautiful outside; he just needs love to help create some beauty inside where he feels ugly. You’ll see.”
How promising. Ugh.
I sipped the coffee and stared out at the forest beyond the pool. I was done listening to her. This was pointless.
“I hope we can be friends. You can come to me if you need anything.”
Yeah, she’s loyal to him, to them. I won’t go to her for a thing. I stared, unseeing, ahead of me.
She must’ve picked up on my vibe because she left me alone then, patting me first on the shoulder and saying something softly in Spanish. I ate a bit, but it was tasteless and pointless. I was worrying about Rose, Cal and everyone who would be worried about me. I don’t know if ‘worry’ was the right word for the emotions I was feeling about my dad, though. He had really done it this time. And Tommy said he’d take care of things with Rose and Cal but I hadn’t a clue what that meant. I felt sick about it.