“Sí? I love it. Keep throwing in Spanish words whenever you can,” he said, and drove up to the front of the house. I was positive I saw Sophia’s curtain part so she could gaze out.
/> Adan jumped out of the car and came around to open my door.
“Gracias, señor,” I said, and he beamed.
“Su casa es grande,” he said, nodding at the hacienda.
“No es mi casa.”
“Hey, you live here, it’s yours,” he said. He took my hand to lead me up the stairs to the front door. “I am delivering you safely,” he said, and made a grand bow. “Please tell my cousin I was a real gentleman.”
He made me laugh.
“Now, that’s better. You have a smile that would tame a wild tiger.”
“Buenas noches,” I said, and reached for the doorknob. He caught my hand and turned me to him.
“Buenas noches, Señorita México,” he said, and kissed me quickly on my lips and bowed again. “I’ll call you in the morning to make arrangements for the party, sí?”
He was moving so quickly that I felt as if I had been running and had to catch my breath.
“Sí?” he asked again.
“Sí,” I said, and opened the door. He watched me enter the house. “Good night, and thank you,” I said softly, and closed the door. I had the feeling that if I opened it quickly, he would still be standing there.
“Who brought you home?” I heard Sophia ask from the top of the stairway. “I saw you weren’t brought back in their Rolls-Royce.”
At first, I thought I wasn’t going to answer, but I knew that would not put a stop to her questions. I started up the stairway.
“He is a friend of Fani’s,” I said.
“Who? I know all her friends.”
“How could you know all her friends? You have never been to her home, have you?”
“Big deal. I still know who she hangs with. Who was that?”
I paused just a few steps beneath her. “Sophia, it is none of your business who I am with,” I said slowly and firmly.
She glared down at me. I lowered my head and continued up the stairway. Just as I passed her, she reached out and seized my hair. With a short scream of frustration, she tugged so hard on me that I lost my balance and fell backward, slamming down on the corner of a step and turning over and over as I desperately reached out for the braces of the banister to stop my descent. I screamed in pain when my right foot got wedged in one of these braces and abruptly jerked me to a stop. I was nearly to the bottom of the stairway.
Señora Rosario came running down the corridor first, followed by Señor Garman and then mi tía Isabela. I was groaning and trying to catch my breath while the pain shot up my leg and into my hip.
“What on earth is going on here?” Tía Isabela asked.
Before I could utter a response, Sophia took a step down and said, “She might be drunk or something. She tripped on a step and lost her balance.”
“Drunk?” Tía Isabela said, looking at me.
I shook my head. “No, it is not true, Tía Isabela.”
Señora Rosario was at my side, trying to help me get up. In an instant, Señor Garman moved around her and literally lifted me to my feet, but I screamed with pain when I placed weight on my right ankle.
“Maybe it’s broken,” he told Tía Isabela.
“I’ll get some ice,” Señora Rosario said, rushing out.
“What a mess, and this time of the night, too. I swear, you girls will be the death of me,” Tía Isabela said.