Page 24 of Prisoner of War
Chapter Six
Minnie stumbled down the service lane and out into the formalized vegetable garden, holding her churning stomach, a hand clapped over her throbbing mouth. Beyond the high rows of staked tomatoes was a trellised passionfruit vine. She grabbed the trellis for support, leaned over and vomited.
When she was done, she kicked sand over it and staggered inside, under the trellis. Therewas a bench sitting in the dappled shade and she curled herself up on one end of it, shivering and only partly aware of her aches, bruises and cuts.
She heard Carmen’s voice again.At least I’m not stupid enough to get the men I sleep with killed. Fresh, cold sweat gathered at her temples with every repetition. Her stomach rolled again.
“It’s not true. It isn’t true,” she whispered.
Duardohad made his own choices, just as she had. What was it he used to say? He’d translated it and used her knowledge of English to get it just right. She could hear his voice even now. “Nothing you do can make anyone do anything,mi pequeño. For every act starts first with a decision to act and you have no control over that decision.”
Why had she acted—reacted—to Carmen’s goad in that way?
Guilt,pure and simple.
Only, if Duardo was right and everyone made their own decisions, then how could she have caused his death?
Her mind shied away from that poser. It was more comfortable to mourn and miss him. The big laugh, the warm arms. Above all, his hands and the length of his hot body against her. That was how they had been when he’d first translated the thought about decisions and control.That had been in his home, in Pascuallita.
Minnie sighed as she recalled that special twenty-four hours. Frankly, she had been terrified at the thought of meeting his family.
* * * * *
She tugged on Duardo’s hand one more time. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked him as they walked up the cobbled, crooked and steep street toward the houses at the top of the hill.
“Why would I not?”
“Because in Vistaria, meeting your boyfriend’s mother means something different than in the States. In the States, it’s just a passing moment.”
Duardo nodded. “That is true.”
“So, are you really sure?”
He smiled. “More sure than you. What makes you so afraid?”
She could feel herself blushing. “Your mother won’t approve of me.”
“She will adore you,” he said instantly.
Minnie shook her head.“Most mothers don’t approve of me,” she confessed. “You remember me telling you how I have...well, how I can generally talk to most men, get friendly with them?”
Duardo’s smile broadened. “I am a man. I do not need to remember you telling me. I know that quality for myself. I have seen it at work.”
“Right, well, reverse that effect and that’s what I do to guys’ mothers.”
He stopped right inthe middle of the road, dropped his suit bag and gym bag at his feet and turned to face her. He took her face in his hands and his dark eyes were warm. “That is because most mothers are protective of their sons. My mother has had to get used to the idea that she cannot protect me anymore. I am a soldier, a captain in the Vistarian army and soldiers sometimes die. She has learned to accept that. Doyou understand?”
“Yes.”
He kissed her, despite their public location. “Besides, my mother has so much to do she has no time to be protective.” He picked up his bags again, took her hand and began climbing the steep road. “And I am a big boy, no?”
Minnie sniffed. “There’s always a little boy inside the big one,” she said darkly.
Duardo laughed and turned through the gate of a big, ramblinghouse. It was typical of the style of housing in Pascuallita—many leveled houses that clung to the sides of hills and outcrops, with orange tiled roofs and lead-lined windows and big beam and plaster walls built with good timber hewn from the forests surrounding the town.
Duardo pushed open the front door and drew Minnie inside.
She was instantly bombarded with impressions. Good cooking smells,laughter far away in a room somewhere, a conversation in quick Spanish beyond the walls of this room, warmth, richly colored furniture and dim, warm light. The house was big but felt cozy and comfortable.
