Nydia shook her head. “I doubt it because if she did then she definitely would’ve mentioned it to me. I’m going downstairs to finish helping out in the kitchen. We’re going to have more folks than usual because Sandra invited a few of her coworkers to join us.”
Lamar wanted to know more about Nydia’s family but knew if he was going to spend a week with them, then he would become more than acquainted. “Thank you, sweets.”
“What for, Lamar?”
He stopped himself before taking her in his arms and kissing her with all of the passion he had repressed since seeing her again. Lamar had believed not seeing her for nearly a month was enough time for him to ask himself if it was love, loneliness, or infatuation that he felt for her, and in the end he knew it was love. For the second time in his life he had fallen in love with a woman and wanted her to share not only his life but also his future.
“For allowing me to share a little piece of your life.” Lamar went completely still when he saw Nydia’s eyes filled with tears. “What’s the matter, sweets?”
Her eyelids fluttered as she struggled not to cry. “You don’t have a little piece,” she said after a pregnant silence. “You have all of it.”
Turning on her heel, she ran down the staircase as if someone were chasing her, leaving Lamar staring at the spot where she had been. He stood there, unable to move for a few minutes, as he attempted to bring his tortured thoughts into focus. He loved her and there was no doubt Nydia loved him, but he wondered if it was too soon to ask her again to become his wife. They’d met for the first time in August and now it was December, and in the span of four months he’d fallen in love and made love with a woman whose mere presence had tied him into emotional knots. Sighing heavily, Lamar felt calmer than he had in a very long time. He would wait until January, when Nydia would come back to New Orleans to make it her permanent home. Closing the bedroom door, he opened the Pullman and unpacked.
* * *
Nydia opened the freezer and removed a plastic container. “How manypastelesdo you want me to take out?”
Sandra, stirringsofrito,alcaparrado, salt, pepper, and cumin in a half cup of heatedachioteoil in a five-quart pot with a wooden spoon, glanced over her shoulder. “There’s going to be sixteen of us, so take out at least thirty.”
“Make it forty,” Isabel suggested. “Luis and Nelson never stop at two.”
Nydia placed twenty parchment-wrapped vegetable and meat tamales in a large pot, covered them with cold water, and tossed in a handful of salt. She turned on the stovetop and adjusted the heat to a gentle boil.
Before driving to the airport to pick up Lamar and Kendra, she had set the table in the dining room with place settings for sixteen. Earlier that morning her brothers had added the extra leaves in the table, doubling its length. They had also set up warmers on the buffet server where everyone would serve themselves before sitting down at the table. The menu included roast pork shoulder,pasteles, tostonesor twice-fried green plantains with mojito, a garlic dipping sauce,arroz con gandules, and sliced avocado. The beverage choices were lemonade and hot chocolate for the children, and coquito and white sangria for the adults.
“Nydia, could you please go and get yourprometidoand have him taste my coquito to see if it’s better than his friend’sabuela’s.”
She turned and stared at her grandmother. Although she’d informed everyone she was inviting a friend and his daughter to join them for the holiday week, her grandmother, in particular, wanted to know everything about Lamar. Nydia had told Ana Medina how he’d become fluent in Spanish and that he was fond of Puerto Rican food.
“Please don’t tell me you’re competing with his friend’s grandmother, Abuelita,” she said under her breath.
“I heard that,nieta,” Ana spat out. “Now, go and get yourprometido.”
Nydia lowered the flame under the pot. “He’s not my fiancé, Abuelita.”
“What else can he be if you invite him to meet your family?”
“He’s mynovio.”
Ana waved a heavily veined hand. “Boyfriend or fiancé is the same to me.”
Isabel closed her eyes and shook her head. “Nydia, please go and get Lamar before my mother starts arguing with you and ruins everything,” she whispered in her ear.
Ana’s bright green eyes narrowed behind the lenses of her round, wire-rimmed glasses. “What did you say, Isabella?”
“I just told Nydia to go and get her boyfriend so he can sample your coquito.”
Nydia left the kitchen and walked through a narrow hallway leading to the rear of the house and down a staircase to the basement. Recessed LED lights were dimmed, but there was enough illumination to see Lamar, Kendra, her brothers, and their children sprawled on reclining leather chairs and sofas watching Jim Carrey’sHow the Grinch Stole Christmas.
A long table was filled with bowls of snacks including popcorn, potato chips, guacamole, salsa, buffalo wings, deviled eggs, and pita chips to offset hunger until everyone sat down to dinner, which was scheduled to begin in an hour.
She leaned over the back of his chair. “My grandmother wants to see you upstairs,” she whispered in Lamar’s ear.
Nydia lingered over his head, savoring the scent of the body wash from his recent shower. He’d changed from his sweater and cords into a pair of charcoal-gray flannel slacks and a crisp white untucked shirt. Nodding, he stood and took her hand as they made their way to the staircase.
“Why does she want to see me?” he asked.
“You’ll see,” she said mysteriously.
