Authors: DiAnn Mills
Chapter 25
Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.
Proverbs 29:1
Jacob hadn’t rested well in days. Even when his stomach retched from the flu, he had been able to sleep for an hour or so at a time. But lost sleep was nothing compared to an evil more perverse than anything he’d ever dreamed lurking at his family’s door.
He studied the forms on his desk from last night’s processing. Nameless faces. They meant nothing to him unless he’d been riding the line and apprehended them himself or participated in the talk generated during and after a shift. He’d been isolated from the one thing that had given him purpose.
His mind fixed on the same problem attacking his family for days. He’d chosen not to tell Barbara about the ringed finger. Why upset her until more facts were uncovered? He wrestled with the hope that Nadine was alive. Then he struggled with how someone managed to steal her ring. Or had she willingly given it up? The thought of his daughter collaborating with criminals warred against what he believed about her. The other devastating side of the dilemma was Nadine could have been abducted. No one had seen or heard from her.
Jacob’s insides burned. He wanted to reach out and touch his Naddie, hear her laughter, and watch her grow into a beautiful woman. Their petty differences meant nothing. Barbara accused him of running her off, claimed he’d been too hard on her. Jacob still denied any wrongdoing. Nadine’s life was school and church, not friends who had the potential of leading her astray. He swallowed the horror threatening to overtake his mind. Nadine’s friends, ones Barbara sanctioned, may have already led her down a path of briars.
Jimenez stuck his head inside Jacob’s office. “Any new developments with your daughter?”
“No, sir. Nothing’s changed.” When Jacob considered the number of years he’d been with the Border Patrol, he should have Jimenez’s job. The chief patrol agent should be calling Jacob “sir.”
“Did you tell your wife about the incident this week?”
That is none of your business.
“No, sir.”
“How’s the counseling going?”
Jacob sensed fury raging through him. “I’ve gone once.”
Jimenez slammed the door shut behind him. He leaned over the desk, his face the color of ripe tomatoes. “Do you want to be dismissed? Because if that is what your refusal for help is all about, I can take care of it right now.”
Fury sped through Jacob’s veins like a fire raging out of control. “I don’t know what I want or need or should be doing.”
“Then why aren’t you in counseling?” Jimenez’s voice bounced off the walls of the office. “If you aren’t strong for your family, who’s going to be there for them?” He picked up the desk phone. “Call now and get another appointment scheduled today, or you definitely won’t have a job by the end of your shift.”
Chapter 26
The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God.
J. I. Packer
Sandra signed for Tiana to put away her toys before lunch. The little girl glowered, and Sandra raised a brow.
Tiana sighed. Her little shoulders slumped, and Sandra stifled a smile. “Yes, ma’am,” she signed.
Sandra kissed her cheek and made her way to the kitchen. The little girl loved chicken salad and apples, certainly a treat for her obedience. Not that she believed in bribing children, but she did believe in reward.
As she reached for an apple from the bowl of fruit on the kitchen table, she heard a light rap on the door. It was Jose. She hadn’t told Danika about him to obtain permission for him to visit. With her own sigh, she answered the door.
“I can’t come in,” he said and gave her a dimpled grin. “You’re working, and I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
Thank you.
“How are you?”
“Great. I made arrangements with Lucy to work out the cost of the documentation papers, and I’ll start doing the yard here on Wednesday. If I can get a few yards more, I can soon pay her back.”
Her heart raced, but not for Jose’s benefit. “Be careful. Lucy can be difficult.”
“Oh, I will. Gotta go and get to my next job. Aren’t you going to say congratulations? I’ll get to see you every week. Maybe more if Mrs. Morales has extra work for me.”
She’d have to light a candle for him at church, just as she did for Danika and Tiana. “Oh, I’m excited for you—for us.”
He disappeared to his dented and paint-scraped truck, and she closed the door. How did she really feel about Jose working for Lucy? What if she treated him unfairly as she did Sandra?
Lies and more lies. Tears streamed down her face, and she didn’t wipe them away. Sometimes the thought occurred to her of running away rather than continuing to deceive Danika. It would be the loving thing to do, and she did love her. Instead she’d assisted Jose in misleading Danika even more.
Life had become a merry-go-round. Sandra wanted off, but it was spinning out of control.
* * *
For Danika, Monday had been an exceptionally long day. She second-guessed every vehicle behind her, as though an assailant tailed her. A little action and excitement would have kept her mind off the junk in her life. Phoning Barbara on the way to work this morning was like peeling a scab off a wound. Her sister-in-law stood on the brink of a mental breakdown. When Jacob was at home, he alienated himself from her and the other children by brooding and sleeping in his office. Where was he spending his off-hours? Too many options poised on the forefront of Danika’s thoughts: hiding from his family, another woman, illegal activities. All seemed possible.
Her cell phone rang. The caller ID read
Felipe
. She could use a friendly voice.
“What are you up to?” she said.
He was laughing so hard that he couldn’t answer.
“Let me in on the joke. I could use a good laugh.”
“You would not believe what just happened at the Progresso Bridge.”
“You’re right. I have no clue.”
“Get this. A woman crossing into the U.S. was arrested for smuggling chorizo.”
Danika must have been totally out of it. “That’s stupid, not funny.”
“She had it stashed in her kid’s diaper.”
Danika laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks. “So what causes an agent to investigate a diaper?”
“Beats me. The smell, I guess.”
She laughed about the sausage-stuffed diaper all morning. After her shift, she changed clothes and headed home, then pulled into a convenience store near the McAllen station for a Diet Coke. Although she was in jeans and a T-shirt, she lived and breathed her job. It was her habit to scan every face and interpret body language wherever she ventured.
She opened the refrigerator compartment inside the store and wrapped her hand around the drink. She chuckled at the huge stock of Red Bull, guaranteed to keep the buyer wired for hours. A sure sign of illegal activity was a trail of empty Red Bull cans and the familiar beeps of Nextel phones, which had service on both sides of the border.
A Hispanic woman with a small boy caught her attention at the register. Danika held her breath, afraid to breathe for fear the woman would run. It was
her
. The woman Danika had been trying to find for two years. She had to talk to her, ask her how she knew Toby.
“Perdón,”
Danika said once she’d made her way to the checkout. She trembled, not her usual style when on the job. But this was different. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”
The woman whipped her attention in Danika’s direction. Recognition settled in her eyes, then panic. She swung the little boy into her arms and left her purchases at the register.
Danika hurried after her. “Wait, please. I only want to talk.”
Too late. The woman snatched open the passenger-side door of an old dusty Toyota, and the driver, an elderly man, sped away, kicking up dirt and stones. Danika saw the Mexican license plates. A lot of good that did. The old suspicions and doubts about Toby’s possible infidelity crept into her mind.
At Toby’s funeral, this woman had sat in the back of the church. When the crowd was dismissed, she lagged behind, weeping and holding a baby. Danika remembered the intense grief. She attempted to talk to her, but the woman had rushed from the church, rooting the fears of Toby’s possible unfaithfulness.
Days later the doubts still bedeviled her, and she confided in Becca one evening while her friend visited. “Did you see the woman at the funeral who was so upset—the one with the baby?”
Becca hesitated, and Danika realized the woman had caught her friend’s interest too. “Are you referring to the woman who left in a hurry?”
“The same.” Danika tried to hide the misery over what she feared. “Did you see the baby?”
“Yes. Cute little guy.” Becca rose from the sofa with an empty glass in her hand.
Danika touched her arm. “Sit down, please. Do you think Toby could have been unfaithful?”
“I . . . I have no idea.”
“Which tells me you’re thinking the same thing.”
Becca eased onto the sofa. “What are you saying? The baby did not look like Toby, if that’s what you’re asking. . . . I looked.”
Danika realized she needed to know why the woman had attended the funeral. None of his family recognized her either. Toby obviously led a second life with his pro-immigration activities. Could he have deceived her in other ways too?
Her cell phone rang, jarring her to the present. There were times she’d like to pitch that thing out a window. Alex’s name and number popped up on the caller ID. She toyed with not responding, but maybe a break from all the garbage running through her head was a good thing.
“Hi, Alex.”
“What wears a mask, wields a knife, and smells like oregano?”
Was he talking about Zorro in the kitchen? “I have no idea.”
“A doctor standing at your door with an extra-large pizza. The problem is Sandra won’t let me in, says she has orders from you not to open the door to strangers.”
Danika laughed until her sides ached. “You poor, helpless delivery boy. I’ll call her right now. How very nice of you to bring dinner, especially when I’m starved. I suppose you’d like to stay?”
“Oh, can I? That sounds better than a tip.”
* * *
Alex, Danika, and Tiana ate pizza and played board games on the living room floor. He pushed a red checker into Tiana’s path.
The little girl wriggled her nose and jumped it. “You’re too easy,” she signed.
“You’re too good,” he signed back. “Since you’re the winner, you get to go with me to the rodeo—if Mom says it’s okay.” Oh no. He should have asked Danika first. His gaze flew to her, but she smiled back. Whew. “The next one is Saturday night. But I’m not riding. It’s spectator only.”
“I’ve already made plans for Saturday,” she signed. “Maybe a rain check?”
“Sure. Sorry for jumping in and not checking with you first.” He rolled over onto his back and rubbed his stomach. “That sure was good pizza,” he signed.
Tiana giggled. “You ate the most.”
“And I’m ready for dessert.”
Tiana peered at Danika. “Can we, Mommy?”
“Dessert is a special treat,” Danika signed to Alex. “But it sounds great to me. Want to go for Italian ice cream? Tiana loves the mint chocolate chip.”
Although Danika gave all indications of enjoying the evening, Alex sensed her preoccupation. No wonder. He wouldn’t be able to hide his worries nearly as well as she did.
Today he’d overheard a conversation in the ER that he passed on to Ed. The condensed version was the Border Patrol had met its match, and they’d never find the traitor. They were looking in the wrong place.
The wrong place.
Did the clue mean Jacob Morales wasn’t involved?
Ed hadn’t commented, and Alex had been too swamped to pursue an answer. Later he’d contemplate the information. Right now he was driving two beautiful ladies for gelato. Sandra chose to stay home. He knew the woman feared he’d tell the truth about her undocumented status. But for now, tonight anyway, he’d keep the information to himself.
Within the half hour, the three scooted around a small round table with their bowls of gelato. Each had selected two flavors and then set the bowls in the middle so all could sample the mint chocolate chip, peanut butter and chocolate, tangerine, hazelnut, chocolate cookie dough, and rainbow fruit. It amazed him how Tiana acted so much like a normal four-year-old. That was due to Danika’s taking appropriate steps to help her daughter communicate in a silent world.
Alex inwardly chuckled. Years ago while in college, his church started a deaf ministry, and he’d learned sign language. Once in a while he used signing at the hospital, but not until he was introduced to Tiana had he been able to put it to good use.
Tiana dipped her spoon into his hazelnut.
“You are going to pop,” he signed.
“I have lots of tummies like a cow,” she responded and retrieved a second spoonful.
Danika laughed. Alex liked making her happy, making both of them happy. If Danika couldn’t open up to him, at least he could add a little sunshine.
“You talk a lot,” he signed to Tiana.
“That’s ’cause I have fast fingers.”
“She got you there,” Danika said audibly. “Thanks for dinner tonight. It’s been a diversion I needed.”
“I took a gamble after our conversation this morning.”
She pushed her bowl in Tiana’s direction. “Why are you pursuing me? I mean, let’s be honest here.”
“I could ask the same of you. After all, you phoned Sandra to unlock the door.”
She took a moment to answer and wiped a dribble of sticky gelato from Tiana’s chin. “I don’t know for sure.”
He captured her gaze. He read sincerity, but he also knew part of the story behind her and Toby’s relationship. A lot of hurt lay behind those blue-gray eyes, and one day soon Alex would have to tell her about his friendship with Toby and his views about immigration.
“I know you’re talking,” Tiana signed. “Is it about me?”
“Typical female,” Alex responded. “Always about you.”
“I think you like talking to my mommy. Do you think she’s pretty?”
“Tiana,” Danika’s fingers flew, “that’s not appropriate.”
“But true,” Alex signed. He turned to the little girl. “You and your mommy are the most beautiful women in the world.”
Tiana beamed. Danika blushed. Tonight he was once more a lucky man.