“What?” Tía Isabela turned to me.
“Didn’t you ask me to ask her?” Sophia asked me before Tía Isabela could speak. She nodded to signal that I should nod, but before I could, Tía Isabela spun on Sophia.
“I’m not going to drag this family and this name through some ugly courtroom drama. Are you mad? You want to see us in the newspapers? You want to see me shunned by everyone?”
“He shouldn’t be able to get away with it!” Sophia cried. “She wants you to do it.”
Tía Isabela turned to me and asked in Spanish if I had gone to Sophia to ask for such a thing. I looked at Sophia. She was nodding to prompt me. I did the best I could to get out of the situation diplomatically. I simply told Tía Isabela that we had spoken of it, but I said nothing about asking her.
“It’s out of the question,” Tía Isabela told Sophia. “You’ll have to get your revenge some other way, Sophia.”
Sophia mumbled and sulked throughout the rest of the dinner. As soon as she finished, she rose and marched out of the room.
Tía Isabela turned to me. “Edward will be operated on tomorrow morning,” she said. I wondered why she hadn’t told Sophia. “I have the best eye surgeon in the area.”
“I will pray for him,” I said. “I would go to the church with you and pray, Tía Isabela.”
“Go to the church with me? Let’s not overdo it, Delia. You’ve got yourself into a good thing here. You don’t have to do any more than what I asked you to do.”
She rose, and so did I.
“Saturday morning, I’ll take you to my boutique, and we’ll get you some of the clothing I promised. You’ll have something nice to wear to that…fiesta,” she said, as if it were something disgusting. “I’m sure you’ll be the nicest dressed.”
She looked toward the doorway and then to me.
“I want to know if that daughter of mine is into any drugs, even marijuana. You let me know instantly,” she said, and walked out of the dining room.
Inez came in immediately and started to clear the table. Out of habit, I joined in, but Señora Rosario came to the doorway and stopped me.
“You don’t do that anymore,” she said. “Enjoy her generosity while you can. Believe me,” she added, “it won’t last long.”
Why was it I didn’t feel that I was the recipient of any generosity?
Maybe another of my grandmother’s expressions had the answer. I suggested it to Señora Rosario.
“No es el que puede dar pero el que quiere dar. It’s not the one who can give but the one who wants to.”
Señora Rosario laughed.
How strange, I thought, but this was the first time she had laughed at anything I had said or done.
Even Inez was smiling.
I left for my room to study my ESL workbook assignments and to pray for Edward’s recovery.
The moment I entered my room, Sophia came in behind me and closed the door.
“You didn’t help very much with my mother,” she said. “You didn’t nod,” she added to be sure I understood. “That’s all right. I’ll come up with a way to have Bradley pay. You want him to suffer, don’t you? At least you want that, right? Understand? Make Bradley suffer. You know suffer?”
“Yes, but God will make him suffer,” I said.
“I know that, but there’s no reason we can’t help God, is there? He’ll appreciate it. Look,” she said, smiling, “I’m sorry I was mean to you when you arrived. You’re my cousin…what’s cousin in Spanish?”
“Prima.”
“Right. You’re my prima. We have to look out for each other, help each other, okay? Sí?”
“Yes,” I said.