Eloise told Athena that he’s not sleeping. She’s still taking him to meetings, but she said she’d be lying if she wasn’t worried about his sobriety.
I get it. He’s always been super close to Mamá, and while we don’t know that she’s aware of Papá’s indiscretions, the fact that it has happened at all is enough for Ares. He’s a hot head, his blood burns with the Latino passion we’re famous for, but his heart is also the biggest I know.
He’s caught between wanting to tell Mamá, and wanting to kill Papá. Fueled by rage and the desire for, if not revenge, then at least recompense. He wants to scorch the earth, or at least the family dynamics.
We’re split fifty-fifty on how to proceed with our half-siblings, too, which isn’t helping the harmony of our group. Ares and Artemis have no strong desire to meet our brothers. Athena has already talked to one of them, and she’d like to meet the others, as would I.
“We need to talk to Mamá.” Ares has said this four times in the past thirty seconds. As he spins on his foot to change direction, he rakes his hands through his hair. “We at least need to know if she knows. We’ve waited long enough. I can’t keep this to myself anymore.” He grinds his chest with his fist. “We’ve sat on this for months, and we’re no further ahead. We—”
He’s cut off by the doorbell. The fact someone got upstairs without us being buzzed by the front desk means it’s someone we know.
Athena holds up a hand. “I called her.”
“Called who?” Artemis is already moving toward the door. He pulls it open before looking through the peephole. “Mamá.”
Edith gasps at the same time my eyes finally catch up to what my ears heard. Mamá walks into the apartment, tugging her scarf off and shifting her shades onto her head. She looks like a supermodel.
Edith moves to pull her feet from me, but I stop her. “I should let you all...” She drops her voice to a whisper. “Apollo it’s okay. I can go out for a while.” She shakes her phone at me. “I can go hang out with Penelope or something. It’s a family thing.”
“And you’re family.” It’s not my voice that corrects her, it’s Athena’s. “We don’t expect you to leave.” She speaks for all of us, as usual, but my brothers don’t correct her, and they don’t speak up—my brothers are nothing if not vocal. If they were uncomfortable or unhappy with Edith’s presence, they’d say so.
Mamá puts her hands on her hips and surveys the somber room. This isn’t going to be a fun conversation for any of us, and now that it’s here, in the room with us, my gut weighs heavily at what’s about to go down. “Does anyone want to tell me why you all look like someone died?”
“Papá is cheating on you.” The words are out of Ares in an anguished burst of speed as he races to throw his arms around her.
Her face twitches—surprise, maybe? —but it’s barely perceptible at all. Her face softens as she embraces Ares.“¡Ay, mijo! Tranquilo.”
If Ares isn’t crying, he soon will be. His body shudders in our mother’s arms and my heart breaks for him. I have no idea why he’s taking this the hardest of all of us—perhaps because he’s the youngest, I don’t know. Either way, he looks like a little boy in Mamá’s arms.
“You already knew.” Athena’s voice is flat as she speaks.
To her credit, Mamá doesn’t shrink or lie. “Sí, mija.I knew.”
“So why did you stay?” Athena plants her hands on her hips and she’s like a time-delayed mirror image of how Mamá looked a moment ago. “Why don’t you leave that sorry piece of shit.”
Mamá’s face darkens, her eyes narrow, and she points a long, perfectly manicured finger at my sister. “Watch your mouth, Athena. That’s your father you’re speaking about.”
Athena doesn’t back down. She never backs down. She squares her shoulders, meets Mamá’s glare with a judgmental one of her own and shakes her head. “If it was my boyfriend we were talking about, you’d have a different answer.” She hooks her fingers into quotation marks.
“Never stay with a cheater, Athena, they’ll never stop cheating, and you deserve better than that.” She pauses, barely for a beat before she’s back on the offense. “So how come only I deserve better, Mamá, eh? Why don’t you deserve better?” Athena’s words are rapid-fire, shooting the accusation at Mamá.
Mamá shrugs. “Men will be men,mija. I’ve had a good life. He takes care of me...”
In Dominican culture, rich men cheating on their wives is pretty commonplace. Rich men were always expected to have mistresses eventually.
But this isn’t any rich man, and this isn’t any wife. Those women stayed with their husbands because they were stay at home wives and had no way to support themselves. But Mamá has her own money. The restaurant is in her name, she has her own car, she never sold her childhood home that Papá bought for her when we were younger. She could leave. She could be by herself.
She just isn’t.
My stomach sours as Mamá continues to soothe Ares who seems to be crying in earnest at this point. Artemis hasn’t said a single word, but the rage wafts from him in such strong waves that Athena keeps sending concerned glances his direction.
Our twin link seems to be malfunctioning. I can’t get a read on what’s going on in his head. Is he mad at Mamá for staying, at Papá for being a cheatingcabrón, at Hen for being so confrontational?
Hard to say.
Athena doesn’t accept Mamá’s explanation, or defense as to why she’s still with someone who very clearly doesn’t deserve her. “I’ve spoken to some of his other children.” Her eyes shine with challenge, like she’s taunting Mamá, provoking her.
“No.” The only word to fall from Mamá’s lips.
