How To Salsa in a Sari (10 page)

Issa forced herself to stand and walk as quickly as possible to the door of the study.

Diego placed a hand on her shoulder. “I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you where the book is. Let me get it for you.”

As he turned his back, Issa prepared to run. She could run down the street and knock on a neighbor's door. She had to call the police. She had to warn her mother.

Diego reached into one of the shelves, his eyes grazing the shelf with the hidden box. Did he notice something off? “Here we are.”

She had to get back to Athens Academy and see her mother in person. They had to run. They could never come back here again.

“Please.” Diego held the book out. “It's yours.”

Issa swallowed. She couldn't arouse his suspicions. She forced herself to smile. “Thanks, Diego. This is so nice of you.” She realized her voice sounded high-pitched and terrified.

“Oh, you don't sound well at all.” Diego's face creased with concern. “Please take the book and go lie down for a while. I'll call your mother and tell her I'm here now.”

Issa reached out and took the book, keeping as much space between them as possible. “Thanks. I'll see you later.”

“Please call if you need anything,” Diego was saying as Issa practically ran from the room.

Police!
Issa's mind screamed as she ran past the pool to the guest house.

Alisha's car skidded to a stop, barely missing Issa.

Thank God! They had to get in the car and go now. They would get the police. Diego wouldn't be able to hurt them anymore. “Mom!”

Alisha got out of the driver's side. “I called the guest house and there was no answer. I just wanted to make sure—”

“Mom! Oh my God. You won't believe—get back in the car. We have to go. Now!” Issa was shaking as she threw open the door to the passenger side, earning a groan from the rusted Toyota.

“What the hell—”

“Diego is a murderer!”

Marriages Are Made in Heaven. But So Again Are Thunder and Lightning

“Have
you been taking too much cough syrup?” Alisha rolled her eyes, tucking a stray strand of hair back into her waist-length braid. “I think you should go inside and lie down.”

If Issa hadn't seen the newspaper for herself, she wouldn't have believed it either. But her mother had to trust her. She couldn't go into the house with Diego. Who knew what Diego would do if he discovered the truth?

“Mom, I am
not
making this up. I know it sounds unbelievable, but…I saw it for myself. In his study there are these articles. About a murder in Cuba. He killed his wife!”

Alisha slammed the car door shut, her face setting with anger. “What were you doing snooping in his study? Diego very kindly took us into his house. You can't go through his personal things!”

“Are you not hearing me! He has evidence in his office. It's in—”

“Stop this right now.” Issa had never heard Alisha use that tone before, but once Alisha heard the truth, she would know why Issa was acting like a lunatic.

“We have to go to the police. Diego killed Cat's mom!”

“Diego told me everything, Iz. Let's sit down and we can—”

“What, I—I'll get the articles! I know where he keeps them!”

“On the top shelf hidden behind the books. I know. Diego showed me already,” Alisha said in a calm voice.

Issa's mouth dropped open, her teeth still chattering. “What? And you believe whatever lie he told you? Didn't you see—”

“His wife
was
killed.” Alisha cut her off. “But he certainly had nothing to do with it.”

Issa felt a nervous breakdown coming on. This had been the longest day of her whole life. Frustrated tears squeezed themselves out of the corners of her eyes. She didn't want to hear Diego's story. She didn't want to live in a house with Cat. She wanted her mother back. Her best friend who considered her the most important thing in her life. Who was this woman standing in front of her defending an axe murderer?

Issa lowered herself into the open passenger side of the car, her head in her arms. She could go to Atlanta. Hide in Aunt Helen's house till Diego stopped looking for her. But what about Alisha? She didn't look as if she was going anywhere.

Alisha's voice sounded far off as she narrated Diego's story. “Diego married a girl his parents found for him and they had a baby girl, Cat. They were good people. Happy.”

“Just like ours was until
he
walked in the door,” Issa yelled. “He is a killer!”

The Morenas' next door neighbor had just come home and was staring openmouthed at where Alisha and Issa were standing in the middle of the lawn and yelling.

Alisha glanced nervously back at the neighbor. “Why don't we go in the house?”

“I am not going anywhere except away from here!” Issa shot Alisha a fierce look. What was the matter with her? She was becoming more and more like Diego, not listening to her daughter. Where had all the equality in their relationship gone?

“Fine! Stand here and yell. When we get arrested for disturbing the peace, it's your fault!”

“Yeah, whatever. I'm sure Diego can get you out of jail. He has plenty of experience running from the police!” Issa was growing angry. If Alisha wanted to get into the middle of this, fine, but Issa was too young to go to jail for obstruction of justice. She had a long career in journalism ahead of her and she was
not
going to ruin it in the eleventh grade.

“Diego is not a killer!”

The neighbor quickly went inside his own house.

“Explain to me what—”

“Diego climbed the corporate ladder at his company, Three Isles Financial,” Alisha continued in a lower voice. “He thought he was set for life. Then one day he uncovered a very large embezzlement scheme by his boss, Santiago Sanchez, the CFO. He split the money with Diego and asked him to look the other way.”

“And he did it.” Issa didn't even need Alisha to confirm it. “That's the kind of guy he is, Mom. How can you even think of marrying him?”

“Diego was
afraid
. If he said no, he didn't know what his boss would do. He took the money and tried to figure out how to go to the police.”

Issa was silent.

“Diego told Maria the whole story. Maria was ashamed of him and she went to the police with the whole story and Sanchez was arrested.”

“Then Diego killed her.”

“No, he did not! Maria was attacked and killed in their home the very night Sanchez was arrested. Diego found her body and knew that he and Cat were next. He took all the money and caught the next flight for the U.S. to here, New Joliet. And that's what happened.”

Killed.

Issa felt her throat close. It wasn't what she'd expected, but she didn't care. Yes, he had a tragic past, but so had she. She deserved a chance at happiness and that meant getting away from here.

Alisha had tears in her eyes. “Issa, Cat has had a very hard life. She and Diego need us. That's why I think that we should get married as soon as possible. I trust him completely and I know he'll be so good to us—”

“Well, you're wrong! He's dangerous!”

Alisha had stopped listening, her face a snowy white. Issa turned around to see what she was staring at. During their yelling match someone had pulled up in their driveway. He had gotten out of the car and was standing not even ten feet away.

Alisha hadn't moved, her lips still parted in the middle of a sentence.

“Dad?” Issa managed to get the words out. “Oh my God.”

 

“I'm so glad to see you, girl.” As if he were stepping out of Issa's dreams, Roy Bradley leaned forward and reached for her.

“Daddy?” Issa whispered again.

“I'm right here, baby. I'm right here.” His three-piece suit fit his broad-shouldered body to a tee. He was clean-shaven with a fresh haircut. And as handsome as ever.

Issa felt her knees about to give as she felt Roy's arm around her waist. The guest house key fell from her hand.

“Is this the key for this place? Can I open the door? Alisha, is that okay?”

Issa glanced at her mother. Alisha had enormous tears rolling down her cheeks and managed a nod.

Somehow, Issa found herself sitting on the couch in the guest house, her father next to her. Her mother sat across from them, gripping the edges of the love seat.

“What are you—Daddy, where did you go? Where have you been?” Unable to contain any more emotion inside, Issa burst into tears. She buried her face in her father's shoulder and cried. Cried for all the years she'd lost with him, cried realizing this moment was real, and most of all, cried because her father was here. Now everything would be okay. Her mother would be safe now. Her father was here. Amir had been wrong, her father was back. Everything was okay now.

“I've been keeping tabs on you three for years. I knew after I left that I'd made a mistake. I also knew that your mother would never forgive me.” Issa heard Roy's voice. It sounded so far off. She didn't even care what he was saying, she was just so happy to hear his voice again. “I want another chance. I'll never leave again. I promise. You have my word.”

“Get out.” Alisha spoke up for the first time.

“Baby, please listen. I had my reasons.”

“I don't believe this,” Alisha burst out. “You waltz in here, open my door and sit on my couch? Like nothing ever happened? You have a lot of nerve, Roy. That's all I can say. Now, get out of my house!”

Issa threw herself between her parents. “Stop it!”

Roy rose to his feet. “Alisha. Please. Let's talk this out.”

“Out!”

“Alisha!”

“Mom!” Issa grabbed Alisha's arm as she took a step toward Roy. “We're in this together! You said! You have to at least listen to him. You have to do it for me!”

Her face red, Alisha gripped the back of the sofa. “Talk. You have ten minutes. Then I want you gone.”

“I want you back, Alisha. I want everything back the way it was.”

“Not possible. How dare you come in here and manipulate my daughter into—”

“
Our
daughter,” Roy corrected her.

“
My
daughter. You gave up all rights to Issa and Amir the day you decided we weren't enough for you. Go. Wander. Figure out your life. Because we aren't it.” Alisha held up her left hand, Diego's ring flashing defiantly in the light. “I am moving on. With a wonderful, stable man who is willing to give us everything you weren't. He's taken in Issa as his own and—”

“I'm
not
his own!” Issa shrieked, but no one even glanced at her.

“Oh, I know all about Diego. His shady past, his bratty daughter? You're going to subject Issa to that? Can't you see she needs both her parents? Give me another chance, for Issa.”

Both Roy and Issa looked with desperation at Alisha, who was shaking her head.

“Please, Alisha. I need you to do this for me. Remember that night you came to me and begged me to take you away from your parents? You said they were going to force you to marry someone else and you only wanted to be with me? We ran away to the D that night! I didn't ask any questions!”

“You expect me to pay that debt to you for the rest of our lives! You think you can just leave and come back whenever you want? You want to pick up like you never left!” Alisha's cheeks were flaming red.

“I got scared! I realized how tied down I was—”

“We were doing so well,” Alisha sobbed. “You finally got that job you wanted. I finally finished school. We were finally doing well! Why did you leave?”

“I thought having kids would get rid of this Bedouin desire in me.” Roy held tight to Issa's hand. “I really did. I promise. Then one day I realized that we had put down roots. I was going to be there for a very, very long time. I just panicked. I needed to get away. Honestly, I was going to come back. I just needed to think about what I wanted to do with my life. I knew you would be able to support the kids. So I left.”

“I got laid off from that job,” Alisha whispered. “And we were alone. I was so scared. You left us with nothing. No explanation.”

“Did you get my note?”

“A note?” All tears gone, Alisha narrowed her eyes. “Of course we got your damn note! That was an explanation? You leave your whole family one day with a note! And we never hear from you again?”

“I was scared I was going to ruin everything, so I ran. I traveled around the country doing this and that, but I couldn't forget you guys.” Roy's caramel-hazel eyes were somber. He looked serene, peaceful and as if he'd done a lot of growing up the past five years.

“Daddy, why didn't you call us?” Issa asked. “Why didn't you call Aunt Helen and tell her you were back?”

“By the time I came back, you'd already sold the house and moved. You'd already gotten settled here. I knew it was over.”

“You are unbelievable.”

“I will never leave again. You have my word.”

Alisha's eyes were going ballistic. “Didn't I have your word on our wedding day?”

“I'm only an idiot once. I had the best thing in the world and I lost it. I'll never do that again. Alisha, please. This is me, you know me. We're good together.”

Alisha crossed her arms, goose bumps evident on her skin. Issa could tell she was softening.

Come on, Dad, she's almost there. Tell her you're sorry. Promise her you'll be there for her always. She'll forgive you.

Roy lowered his voice. “I wanted to come to you but I knew you would never forgive me. But when I saw you were engaged to Diego, I had to come. I can't let you go. You're everything to me. Can't you see that? I'll do anything for you. Look.” Roy pulled out a sheaf of papers from his jacket pocket. “I inherited money and I actually did something with it. I bought our house again. The one in the D. Your brownstone. I got my old job back. Issa can go to her old school. She doesn't belong here with all these snooty people!”

Issa held her breath. There it was. A commitment. He'd bought their house. He was ready to be a family again.

“You've destroyed our family once and you won't do it again,” Alisha said quietly. “I gave everything to these kids and you will not come here and ruin it. Just get out. It's over. You're too late.”

“No!” Issa heard herself scream, and couldn't believe her voice was capable of the high-pitched screech that was rattling her vocal cords.

Alisha firmly placed a hand on Issa's shoulder and pulled her away from Roy. “Stay out of this, Iz. This is between your father and myself. He doesn't understand what a family is. He can't come in here and leave whenever he wishes. I don't want you in the middle.”