The Cartel (39 page)

“Alex went to a lot of time and trouble to find the right horse for you. At least come and see her,” Javier said.

“Alex wasted his time. What is it that you two don’t understand? I can’t ride! My legs don’t work!”

“Your father has found an experienced trainer who works with people with disabilities. You’ll be riding in no time.”

“You call that riding? That’s not riding, Alex. Do me a favor and stop trying to make me forget that I have a handicap. Don’t buy me anything and don’t do anything more for me. Papa, take me back into the house, please!”

“Bella,” Javier pleaded. “You’re being childish.”

“No, I’m being realistic. I want to go back inside.”

Javier came back around behind the chair and put his hands on the bars to push her back to the house. There were tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he muttered to Alex.

“Wait, Bella!” Alex tossed his arms in the air. “I won’t try and do anything more for you. I haven’t been trying to make you forget that you’re handicapped. You won’t allow yourself to forget even if that was what I was trying to do. Your stubbornness and your mind have convinced you that you’re a cripple. I wanted you to realize that everything we do is about choices and you can make the choice to do everything you can to live your life to the fullest while in that chair or you can make the choice to remain in the chair. It’s up to you. But I can see you don’t want or need my help.”

“You’re right, Alex, I don’t. You can take your pity and self righteousness and leave me alone.”

Javier took Alex aside. “Let her cool off. She’ll settle down.”

Alex shook his head. “I think I better leave. I’m sorry that I was tough on her.”

“No. She needs to hear it. Thank you. Don’t go. Antonio will be upset if you leave and so will I. Stay. Have dinner with us. Let me take her in, and maybe after a rest she’ll behave better. Take a walk. The cool breezes are nice this time of year down on the water. It helps to clear the mind. If you want, grab a
cerveza
out of the refrigerator in the tack room.”

“Thank you.”

Alex watched as Javier and Bella made their way back up the path. He went into the tack room, grabbed a handful of hay pellets for the horse and brought it out to her. She eagerly took them from his palm. He then led her back into her stall and put a day sheet on her. She was a spectacular animal. How could Bella be so stubborn and blind? He grabbed the beer out of the refrigerator and took the walkway down to the sand below and made his way to the ocean where he took his shoes off and walked along the shoreline, kicking up the cold water spray. He’d thought that this Christmas again without his mother would be impossible to endure, but then he’d met Antonio and Javier and his life had changed so drastically. And, of course when he’d laid eyes on Isabella he knew that he would never be the same. Her handicap wasn’t a factor to him. Not at all. She was bright, sweet, funny and the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He wanted to be with her, and love her, but she wouldn’t allow that. He thought last night, after they’d talked, that things would be different and her focus wouldn’t be on what she couldn’t do but what she could do. He’d been wrong. Bella would certainly shut him out now.

*****

The events at Javier’s on Christmas Eve had put Pedro in a rage. He knew that Emilio was staying in town because Antonio was here and from his room at Javier’s he’d seen Emilio make a quick appearance on Christmas Eve. Pedro followed him back to the house and he’d been biding his time before he was sure what he wanted to do was the right thing. He banged on the door of the villa overlooking the Bay of Banderas.

“Who the hell is it?” Emilio yelled.

“Pedro.”

“What the fuck do you want?” He flung the door open.

Pedro stumbled inside, smelling like booze.

“You’re all fucked up. Can’t you see I’m busy? Go home.”

Pedro took notice of the two scantily clad women, neither of whom appeared older than sixteen. Pedro nodded in their direction.

“Everyone deserves a good Christmas present,” Emilio observed with a derisive snort. “You want some
fun,
too?”

“No. I want Alejandro Peña dead.”

Emilio slammed Pedro up against the wall and whispered, “Everyone has ears and mouths—including whores—especially whores.” He looked behind him. The women drifted out of sight. “ I already told you that I would take care of him. Get your ass back to the house before anyone notices you’re gone. Someone might want to know why, on Christmas night, you need to be out of the house. Keep your fucking mouth shut. I know for a fact that Javier and my brother are leaving in a few days. We’ll take care of the situation then.”

“I’m supposed to fly to Guatemala then.”

“And I’m supposed to go back to Los Angeles, but I promise you, we’ll take care of this first. Now go home.”

“Home? I don’t have a home. Javier kicked me out because of Alejandro. He told me to come back after Christmas.”

Emilio snorted and put his arm around Pedro, “
Mi casa es su casa, amigo
.”

“No thank you. I’ll be at a hotel. I’ll call you tomorrow. I want this situation handled.”

“Whatever you need, amigo. But, I’ll call you.” He winked at him.

Pedro left the villa. He hated Emilio but not as much as he hated Alejandro. He had no idea why Emilio didn’t want the kid around, but he apparently didn’t and his reasons didn’t matter to Pedro. All that mattered was that Alejandro would soon be forever out of their lives.

Alex thought about all that had occurred in his life over the past year. It was as if he belonged amongst the Espinoza and Rodriguez families, and not for the mere purpose of business. They had become his family. He owed this reclaimed sense of security lost with his mother’s death to Antonio. Alex sensed a connection with Antonio, as if he'd known him in another life. He had heard about the theories of karma and reincarnation in a religious class he’d taken and had to wonder if they might not hold some truths.

But now he walked alone down to the stables. Bella hadn’t spoken to him since Christmas and it didn’t look like that would change anytime soon. It had been a week and now both Antonio and Javier were off doing business elsewhere and he was stationed here as an unwelcome guest. The New Year had passed and he hadn’t really celebrated, other than to have dinner with Javier and a sullen Bella. He’d overheard her tell her father that she didn’t need Alex watching over her while they were gone and didn’t understand why he was staying.

That had hurt. Javier explained that he was a trusted employee and had become a good friend and that he would be using his office to balance various records and books. Javier’s words had healed the hurt a bit, but the silence coming from the woman he was falling in love with was angry and thick.

He didn’t know where she was at the moment, probably in her room reading again. She spent a lot of time doing that. He’d even bought her new books and had set them on her dresser when she wasn’t close by. She hadn’t returned them to him, so maybe she was softening some.

As he turned the corner into the closed-in stable area, cutting off the breeze that had sent a chill through him, that familiar scent of horse, fresh cut hay and manure wafted his way. He liked it, the earthiness of it. He’d made his way to the stables every day. It had become a ritual to go and see the mare that Bella denied. He’d be sad to see the horse go. He’d already placed a call to the original stable she’d come from and the old owners had forwarded him information of someone else who had been very interested in the horse. Alex then had called the people and they were still interested and excited that she was again for sale.

Heading for the tack and feed room to retrieve Regala’s treats, he stopped, surprised.

There was Bella, in front of Regala’s stall, feeding her a carrot. She looked up at him.

“I’ve found a new home for her,” he said.

“So soon?”

“Yes.”

“She is lovely,” she said.

“Yes she is.”

“Maybe I should keep her.”

“That’s up to you,” Alex replied and approached her, not allowing the tinge of hope he felt come thorugh in his voice.

“I didn’t think I could love another horse after Delilah, and I’m not sure that I can, or at least not the way I did with her.”

“Of course not. No one is expecting that from you, Bella.”

“I suppose if I keep her, then you should call that trainer you were talking about.”

Alex didn’t reply.

Bella reached up and put her hands around the bars on the stall. She tightened her grip on the bar and pulled with a groan. Alex went behind her and placed his hands under her arms.

“No. I have to do this alone.”

Alex removed his hands and watched in awe as Bella grasped the bars even tighter, her hands turning red and with every ounce of strength she could muster, she pulled herself up. She stood for several seconds until she collapsed back into her chair, tears sprung to her eyes.

He knelt down next to her. “You’re a stubborn woman.”

She laughed between her sobs. “Call the people who want the horse and tell them we’re keeping her. I’m going to ride again.”

****

Alex was pleased that Bella had a change of heart. After leaving the stables and having lunch together, she phoned the physical therapist and told her she wanted to continue therapy and be more aggressive with it. She then asked for the phone number of the horse trainer Alex had told her about and she set up a time for him to come by and see her and the horse. After all the activity she was exhausted and had gone into rest before dinner.

In his gratefulness he felt that his mother had something to do with all that was happening to him. He knew his mother’s spirit was there in the room with him, loving him as she always had. And he knew she was at peace. She was letting him know that things were all right with her. He sat down on the bed in the guest room he was sleeping in at Javier’s hacienda, thinking of her, of her soul, of his loss, and at the same time, appreciative for the joy he had so suddenly found.

Hearing a sound, he looked up to find Bella, seated in her wheelchair, just inside the doorway to his room, more radiant than he’d ever seen her, her long hair pulled back in a braid. She wore a pink silk blouse with black linen pants.

“I thought you were resting,” he said.

“I was, but I was so excited after this morning that I couldn’t fall asleep. I thought I’d clean up and come to see you.”

“I’m glad that you did. You look beautiful. How do you feel?”

“Fine.”

"How about you? Are you all right? You seem sad," she said.

"I'm fine. I was…" He paused and looked out the window away from her and then down at his hands.

"That's all right, you don't have to tell me. I don't want to intrude on your privacy."

"No, really. You’re not. I was thinking about my mother."

Isabella rolled her chair over to him and touched his arm. "I think about mine often, too. You must miss her."

"Very much. She was a wonderful woman. She raised me all by herself. My father deserted us before I was born. He was a wealthy man, and she worked for him. I don't know all the details, but I do know that the bastard left us. My mother suffered over the years, slaving for us to get by.”

“I’m so sorry. How horrible for you. I didn’t know.”

He faced her and with a fury building inside of him whenever he thought of his father out there somewhere, he said, “If I ever meet my father, it'll be a sorry day. I have nothing but contempt for him."

*****

The following morning, Bella and Alex took a walk down to the beach to enjoy the sunlight bouncing off the ocean. A roll of waves crept up and sprayed the rocky shoreline. Alex looked at Isabella, sitting next to him on a rock. They’d left her chair on the path and he’d carried her across the sand. She was scheduled for a therapy session again that afternoon, so Alex didn’t want to push her. Her skin glistened as water splashed against her and she laughed. He laughed with her and wiped the droplets of water from her face.

Moments later her laughter halted and she turned to him, growing serious. "You wouldn't believe how corrupt things are down here,” she said. “I've tried talking to my father, but he brushes me off, as if I were some dumb girl. I know my family could do something to help our people, but my father concentrates on making more and more money. I think he does
some
good things. I'm sure of it. I don't know exactly what they are…" She hesitated. "My father is a good man. It's hard for me to imagine him as being a part of the corruption. I try to ignore what we are, but the reality of it is getting harder and harder to avoid each and every day. What do you think, Alex? Do you think there are any honest politicians anywhere? Is my father like the everybody else?"

“I doubt it. But that doesn't make your father a bad man. It only makes him human."