The orderly looked out into the hallway to make sure it was clear. Seeing no one, he led Steel to his mother’s room.
“I’ll just be a few minutes.”
“No problem. I can distract the nurse on this wing for at least fifteen minutes if she tries to come down here,” the man said with a grin.
“Only fifteen? Better work on that game,” Steel quipped.
The man chuckled. “Yeah. I’ll get right on that.”
He left Steel at the door and walked down a half dozen doors to acart near the nurses’ station that held medications, using it as a form of cover to watch the halls.
As he stepped into the room, he noticed that Daleyza had done an exceptional job of making the space look less institutional and more like home. His mother’s crucifix hung above the bed. Flowers sat in a vase on the dresser, along with a tray of bottles that held his mother’s favorite scent and lotion. Her bed was covered in a homemade blanket she’d crocheted.
She sat in her chair, exactly as he expected, her eyes fixed on her stories and her hands working the rosary in her lap.
Quietly, he shut the door and crossed to kneel in front of her, grasping her hands in her lap. He spoke to her softly in Spanish. “Madre,” he murmured. “It’s me. Ildefanso.”
She didn’t respond. Didn’t even seem to realize anyone was in the room with her.
Suddenly, her blank stare at her son seemed to clear for just a moment. “Mijo?” Then it clouded over again. “My son is dead.” Tears flooded her eyes, and she grasped the rosary in her hands even tighter.
If someone had told him his heart could break more than it already had, he wouldn’t have believed it. Not being remembered by one’s parent was soul-crushing. The bond they shared over the years had been strong due to the pain they shared. In all those years, it never occurred to him that the bond could be erased by this devastating disease.
“I’ve come to say goodbye. I won’t be able to return again, but you will be well cared for. I promise.”
She didn’t acknowledge his words, simply continued to pray.
Ildefanso’s head bowed, his forehead resting gently on his mother’s knee. As she started a new prayer, he joined in with her, his fingers touching the beads.
She stopped praying. “Fanso sent you?”
A sharp, stabbing pain lanced through him. “Yes, Ildefanso sentme to check on you. He’s so sorry he couldn’t be here himself, but he wanted me to tell you that he loves you very much.”
Livia smiled at him, and she allowed one hand to leave the rosary to cup his face. “You’re a good boy. Your mama must be proud.”
He smiled softly. “I hope she is.”
He stood, kissed her cheek, and walked to the door. “I love you, Madre.” And with that, he was gone.
10
AUGUST 21, 2024
Daleyza
Carefully,she looked through the gap in the curtains she’d left intentionally. There. The same black car she’d seen earlier today and over the past several days was parked a few houses down. She couldn’t see the license plate because it was too far away, but she knew she was correct.
Unease skittered down her spine. It wasn’t the same one that Esmerelda had driven to the house. She was being watched. But why?
Silence, like a graveyard at the witching hour, reigned in the house since Livia moved to the memory care facility. For the first few days, panic set in periodically when she couldn’t hear the muted television sound traveling down the stairs as she roamed the house, much like a ghost herself. She visited the woman each day, but still, there was no recognition of her presence. Wracked with guilt and a need to do something, she continued to spend time with her.
Right now, the void of sound weighed on her, its completeness crushing her lungs as she stood behind the curtains, her hand clutching the neck of the sweater she wore, her eyes riveted on the street in front of the house. There were cars parked up and down the street for blocks, not an open spot to be had. There was no reason to believe it was any different from the other vehicles parked along the curbs, and yet… She sensed danger lurking behind the wheel, and she refused to leave the house to walk to the bus stop, where she would be out in the open and defenseless.
A thought intruded.Hijo de puta!Why she hadn’t thought of it before was a mystery. There was only one possible answer. Livia’s family had found them.
Was this why Esmerelda had shown up last week? Had witness protection known that Hector Colonel was coming after his mistress, prompting the move, more so than her rapid decline? But if they had moved Livia because of the danger, why hadn’t they moved her as well? Were her years of care and devotion not payment enough for protection?
Righteous anger rose within her. Why couldn’t they just leave them alone? Hadn’t they taken enough from them? She’d already lost so much, and now she had lost Livia as well. What more could be taken from her?
