What if we can’t get there in time to save them? What if I lose her forever?
I shudder underneath as the fearful emotions roll out of me and onto her.
She turns around in my embrace and picks my head up. “Okay.” She looks into my eyes, and sadness pools in hers. “I’ll take you with me.” I nod and kiss her. “Always,” she breathes onto my lips.
Our moment is interrupted by the front door closing. We realize our time is up. Our moment finished. We step away from each other.
“I’ll just change.” She walks into the bathroom, and there is a knock on her door.
“Evie?” Mateo asks from the other side of her bedroom.
I walk to it and step out, closing the door behind me. “She is just finishing up packing.”
He nods, and there’s another knock on our apartment door. Mateo looks out the window and sees Emma and Eduardo outside. He drops his head for a moment, then opens the door. It’s time, and we have run out of it on our end.
Eduardo enters the apartment, bringing in all his tension and rage. The room feels incredibly small with all of us here. The anxiety I am feeling is crippling, especially with the impending doom I feel at Evie and Emma walking through that door with Mateo, knowing that he is going to take them straight over to Mr. Martinez and Ramón. They will all go to Brownsville and be kept at his house until Emma and Evie are to be married off for the benefit of Mr. Martinez’s political associations and financial security.
Eduardo is holding Emma’s hand in a death grip. Her eyes are wide as she looks over every apartment space to see if Evie will magically appear.
“She’s getting ready. Almost packed.”
Emma nods. I look over to their clasped hands, and Eduardo’s fingers release Emma’s hand and then regrip it firmly. He’s holding her emerald heart charm in his hand, and I snap my head up, attention piqued.
I’ve known Eduardo for a long time. Part of being friends for so long is that we can read each other perfectly without any words being said. He’s asking me about the bracelet and the earrings I had made for Evie. I nod very subtly and then fix my sights on Mateo. We purposely didn’t tell him about this. The fewer people that know, the better it is to keep a close eye and ear on the girls.
They both have SOS options on their trackers. Evie also has a small microphone to pick up conversations in her earring. I am sure their bags will be looked at or maybe even confiscated and disposed of. We don’t want to risk the chance that they are taken anyway.
“Emma’s suitcase is in the car.” Eduardo looks over at Mateo. “I trust you, Mateo, to guard your sisters with your life.”
Mateo steps forward, never breaking eye contact with Eduardo. “I have always guarded my sisters with my life and would gladly give up my own for their safety. They are the only reason my life is worth living. Without them, I have nothing else. They are my family.”
Emma leaves Eduardo’s side and runs to her brother, throwing her arms around him. I look to the door of Evie’s bedroom, wondering where she is, but she is there standing, listening to the entire conversation. I don’t know how long she has been there, but it must have been long enough because she joins her siblings in a group hug.
Mateo kisses the top of each of their heads. “I promise to do everything in my power to get us through this. He pulls back, looking down at their short statures.
“I just want you two to know that there may be times when I have to act or behave a certain way. I might be cruel or say things that are very out of character from the brother that you know. The brother you know would never say or mean those things, but it is something I might have to do. I have a part to play, and youdo, too. Let’s do everything we can to stay safe and do what must be done.”
Mateo looks over to Eduardo, who is speaking to him. “I have to know that he dies and this is over. There is no other option, Mateo.”
“I’ll make sure to get word to you when to come.”
They nod in agreement. “We will come, Mateo. I promise.”
“Okay,” he says to Eduardo. “We better go before Mr. Martinez gets suspicious.”
We close up the apartment that Evie and Mateo have stayed at the longest together, and I feel like we are closing a chapter in their life. Mateo turns back to look at his place, standing in the middle of the parking lot. He is silent for a while, until he finally speaks as we wait for him to load his vehicle.
“I hope that when we return here, it is to start a different life. A life where we all are free to live, fulfill our passions, and pursue our dreams. I don’t know who I am anymore, other than Evie’s guardian angel or Emma’s savior—their brother. I want to live a life for myself and maybe, just maybe, find the happiness they have with a partner that is so in love with me that we cannot exist without each other. I can only dream of having a life like that one day.”
I clasp my hand over Mateo’s shoulder. “Let’s play our parts and get this done. Then we can all get our own happiness, however that may be.”
We load up the cars, and Mateo starts the engine on his. He blasts the air conditioning, trying to cool off the vehicle. It hasn’t been that long since we arrived from the coast, but the city has a way of making it hotter than average.
Eduardo and I shake Mateo’s hand and watch Evie and Emma get in. Mateo shuts his door and puts it into drive, pulling out of the parking lot. I stare at them as they drive away.
As they turn the corner, I see Emma’s hand on the window with tears streaming down her cheek. Evie stares straight ahead. I know that she is trying to be brave. She can’t risk falling apart, and if I know her as well as I think I do, she is counting her breaths and holding them in a practiced fashion the way she was taught to do when she is about to have a panic attack. She is so controlled now, more than ever, and someday I wish that she won’t have to put on a fake act and be able to show me the most vulnerable side she has. I want to swim in a rocking sea of her salty tears and lick them away from her face as she looks up at me through those tears-stained eyes, knowing that I am the only one that will ever see the real her.
I continue to watch them drive away until there is nothing there except an empty street. I turn my attention to Eduardo. Gus comes out of the car and walks over to us. I lift my chin in an informal hello, and he does the same, but his main focus is on Eduardo.
