“Just sit on the settee, Edward. I know all that I need to know,” she interrupted. She turned to me. “Sit,” she ordered, pointing down at the floor as if I were a dog.
Edward and I looked at each other and then sat across from each other. Tía Isabela pressed the tips of her fingers together and brought her thumbs to her chest as if she were going to begin a prayer.
“The damage you two have done to this family is irreparable. If it had been created and caused only by Delia, I could have faced the community and even been the object of sympathy. After all, I have tried to civilize this third-world wretch, given her the finest education, provided far more than her necessities of life, housed her in luxury, and introduced her to the highest levels of our society. I taught her etiquette and thought I had begun to turn her into a classy young lady.
“Instead,” she continued, her eyes now narrowing into hateful, angry slits, “you took everything I offered, and you crushed it, spit on it, destroyed it, and delivered a serious blow to my reputation, a reputation I’ve taken years to build. Whatever motivated me to bring you here and get you out of poverty and ignorance was surely my undoing. Yes, I blame myself, too, blame myself for believing I could turn a pig into a princess.”
“Stop it, Mother,” Edward said. “Enough.”
She turned so slowly to him I held my breath.
“You’re a bigger fool than your sister and even a bigger disappointment to me and to your father’s memory. Supposedly, you have brains, an honor student, and you go along with this deception?”
“He did not know, Tía Isabela. I swear,” I said.
“Then he’s a bigger fool for not knowing, for being sucked in by your sweet, false act. I guess you’re more of a man than I thought, Edward, just as blind when it comes to a female’s guile.”
“I’m not going to sit here and listen to much more of this, Mother. What’s done is done.”
“It’s only done because I’ve been able to put an end to it, you fool.”
She sat back and pulled up her shoulders, as if her spine had suddenly hardened into a steel rod.
“You’re right. You’re not going to sit here and listen to much more of this. You’re going to leave this house, get into your car, and go back to your campus. You are not to return until the end of the school year or unless I call for you to return. You are not to have anything more to do with your…” She turned to me and nodded. “Your cousin. I want the registration to the car you foolishly gave her, and I want that car sold immediately. I can’t imagine why you would ever do it now, but should I hear that you’ve bought or done anything for her, I’ll see to it that the authorities reconsider your actions in Mexico. That goes for you both and for Jesse, especially Jesse. Am I clear?”
Edward glanced at me and then looked down.
“Am I clear?” she repeated.
“You’re clear,” he muttered.
“I think your, what should I call him, friend? Your friend Jesse might not even return to college.”
Edward looked up quickly.
“His family might not be as capable of rebounding. His father and mother are both in a deep depression. We met to discuss you both, and we all agree that neither of you is good for the other.”
“None of you has a right—”
“We’ll see about rights,” she said confidently. “Pack whatever you want, and go. The sooner you are out of the house, the better it will be for all of us at the moment.”
“Gladly,” he said, rising.
“Where’s the registration to her car?”
“It’s in the car with the title and insurance cards.”
“You’ll bring me the keys,” she told me. “As soon as we’re finished here. Get your tail between your legs and go, Edward.”
He looked at me again and walked away.
“Do you have any real idea what your conspiring with this Mexican family has done to them and to their son? He will spend more time in prison than he would have had to spend, and unless there is some arrangement made, his parents could be tried for obstruction of justice. They could both go to prison, too.”
“Mi dios,” I said.
“Yes, you’re right to call to the Almighty for help. He’s the only one who might provide it.”
She pulled herself up again in the chair.