Now and Always (11 page)

She smiled sadly and shook her head. “We decided to go, but we had to get a boat or a raft or an inner tube. It didn’t matter what, anything would do. My cousins got their hands on a boat, a small one. It needed work, but my family went at it and soon it was ready. We were ecstatic because we were finally leaving, but things got tough. A few hours out to sea, the boat broke down. My father and cousins tried to fix it, but nothing seemed to work. Instead of being on our way to America, by nightfall we were adrift. The first night was easy. Everyone thought we would run across another boat that might help us. But we didn’t. The same thing happened for the next few days. By then, there was no food, little water, and the sun and heat were relentless.”

He reached over, pulled her into his lap and held her, waited for her, but she didn’t go on. He prompted her. “How long did it take?”

Connie held him and buried her face against his chest. “We were adrift for over a week. When we finally landed somewhere on one of the keys, we were sunburned, blistering. Even though my father and mother had given Carmen and me the lion’s share of their water, we were suffering from dehydration. When the authorities came to take us in for processing since we were now here legally, I was delirious. I ended up in the hospital, all by myself. I spent a day or two alone, wondering where my family was since no one I asked seemed to know what had happened to them.”

“I admire the courage it took to risk your lives for freedom. But I can’t understand how rough it must have been for you when you arrived.”

Connie cradled his whisker rough cheek in her hand. “I never want to be alone again like that, Victor. I don’t know what I would do without my family or you,” she admitted.

Victor covered her hand and pressed it against his cheek for a second before holding it in his and bringing it to his mouth for a kiss. “You are such an enigma. So strong and yet ….” He hesitated, seemingly afraid she would be offended.

“So scared?” she finished for him. “Aren’t we all afraid of something? Someone?”

He considered her question for a second and shrugged. “I’m afraid for my patients who may die. I’m afraid of not being able to cure them. But those things don’t reach me here,” he said, bringing her hand to lie over his heart. “They don’t take away little pieces of me.”

The way they do you
, she heard in his voice although he never said the words.

“Don’t they?” she challenged. “Every time you lose someone or fail at something, doesn’t it diminish you in some way?” She needed to know that he cared enough for those things to make himself vulnerable the way she was vulnerable to him.

“No,” he replied quickly, too easily.

Connie didn’t believe him. “My too macho man would never admit it, would he?”

Victor considered her, leaned down, and tilted her face up for his kiss. A tender caring kiss that said everything he couldn’t voice. That he had very quickly become afraid of losing her. Of being without her and that made him more vulnerable than he could ever admit. But he wanted to show her how much. He kept his kiss gentle and moved his hands on her with almost reverence, telling her in his own way how much he needed her.

Connie sensed his restraint and the gentleness in his touch that let her know he cared, deeply. “Victor, my love.”

“Yes, Connie. What can I do?” he asked as he leaned her down until she lay on the bed, the weight of his body pressing her into the bed.

“I want you, Victor. All of you.”

He raised his head and smiled tenderly. “You have me, Con. For now and for always, remember?”

She nodded and whispered against his lips, “For now and always.”

Chapter 13

Connie had worried that dinner at her parents that Sunday would be something akin to the Spanish Inquisition. A lot of questions, followed by evasive answers. Some mental torture in the form of deep glares and disapproving frowns. Then more questions which would lead to a lot of shouting — her father’s — and then tears — her mother’s.

As she filled the kitchen sink with hot water and soap, she pondered why it had been nothing like that. Of course, Victor and she had discussed how to handle the news of their relationship. They had agreed that she would raise the topic in private with her parents alone. Still an outsider, he had no part in that revelation.

Throughout the afternoon, Connie had avoided the issue, not quite ready to announce such news. It had been easier to do than she had thought it would be. As she and Victor had first entered, it became apparent that her parents were well familiar with him and treated him almost like a prodigal son. It was also clear they intended to put their best foot forward. They were dressed in their Sunday best and her mother sported the string of matched pearls that had been a twenty-fifth anniversary gift from her father.

Connie eyed Carmen as her sister hugged Victor, and Carmen smiled, shrugged. “He’s dropped me off every now and then. When mom had that back problem, Victor treated her.”

“Oh. I didn’t know,” she said and wondered what else she didn’t know about her family and this man who intrigued her so. “They seem to like him,” she said as her mother led Victor into the living room, giving him the choice seat on the sofa.

“They adore him,” Carmen whispered into her ear.

Her father sat across from Victor, asked him something, and Victor nodded, grinned and looked up at Connie. He motioned for her to sit beside him, which she did, although she kept a reasonable distance between them. There was no sense flaunting whatever was going on before her parents.

Her mother returned and handed Victor his drink. The conversation proceeded from there. Her parents questioned her about the stakeout. She answered, careful to keep secure any sensitive information on the investigation.

Dinner came quickly and afterward, Connie’s father asked Victor to join him for a cigar and a walk around the block while the women cleaned up and got dessert ready.

“
Señora
Gonzalez, I’d like to help,” Victor said and began to clear the table, but her mother laid a hand on his arm and brushed off his help.

“Please call me Rosa, Doctor Cienfuegos.”

“No, not doctor, please. Victor is fine,” he replied and nevertheless gathered the few plates in his vicinity and took them into the kitchen, earning points in his favor with Connie and Carmen.

As he laid the plates on the kitchen table, Connie swatted him on the behind with a dish towel.

He whirled, surprised. “Are you crazy? Your parents will think —”

“That something’s going on? I think they know that already. Why do you think they haven’t come in here yet?” she said as she approached him.

He looked at the door to the kitchen, then back to Connie and grinned. “Well, let’s not waste the opportunity.” He drew her close and met her lips in a light kiss which deepened by degrees until the squeak of a shoe just outside the door made her shift away.

“Go for that walk with my dad,” she said, passed a hand over his cheek, and walked toward the kitchen sink. She turned on the tap and squirted a lemony scented soap into the rising water.

“Are you sure? I could stay and help.” He ran a hand along the nape of her neck. “I wouldn’t want to earn back the macho label for that reason alone.”

She chuckled, turned her head, and dropped a quick kiss on his cheek. “Go. I need to speak to my mother alone anyway.”

“Okay. Don’t worry about your dad. I’ll let him know my intentions are honorable.”

Connie glanced up at him. Passion slumbered in his eyes. “Not too honorable,” she said lowly, huskily.

“Later, then.” He playfully bit the side of her neck and walked to the door just as her mother and sister entered the kitchen, hands filled with plates.

Victor held the door open for them and shot Connie a wink before leaving.

“How cute,” her mother gushed, surprising Connie.

“Yes, he is too cute,” Carmen teased, handing Connie the plates she had scraped off.

“He’s okay.” She refused to give either her mother or Carmen any ammunition to use against her.

“Connie, it’s obvious even to an old lady like me,” her mother said. She pushed some food off a plate into the garbage can and brought the dish over to the sink.

“What’s obvious?” Connie slipped on gloves, struggling with the one that went over her cast. Finally the latex snapped snugly into place over her injured arm. She dipped her hands into the hot soapy dishwater as she waited for an answer.

“It’s obvious you like him and he likes you.” Carmen slipped beside her, took the soapy plate, rinsed it off, and then placed it in the dish drain.

Connie smiled to herself.
Like
was an understatement. She cleaned another plate and handed it to her sister as her mother walked over with yet more dishes that were ready for washing.

As Connie took them, she realized for the first time that it was the good china, usually reserved for special occasions, like Christmas Eve and other holidays. It made her wish she hadn’t called ahead and told them she was bringing Victor. She had wanted them to be themselves, but then again, Victor had already met them. He knew them as they were and it didn’t seem to matter.

And why should it
? she thought. They were hard-working middle class people with no pretensions of being anything else.

“I like him,” she admitted.

Who wouldn’t like him
? she thought. He was handsome, nice, and honest, but so perfect at times that he was untouchable. Or at least part of him seemed to be. Despite all they had shared in the last few days, she had no idea how to reach that part of him.

She finished off another dish, and passed it to her sister, who whispered, “When are you going to tell her?”

“Tell me what?” her mother asked from behind her.

Connie glared at Carmen and nudged her with an elbow when Carmen would have answered. She took the last of the china from her mother and paused in her washing to say, “When this assignment is over, I don’t need to move out of the condo. I can stay in the apartment.”

“Is it because of Victor?” her mother replied heatedly, dropping her load of silverware into the water where it splashed upwards, sending suds onto Connie’s apron.

“Victor has nothing to do with this. It’s just time I was out on my own.”

“Are you going to live with him?” her mother asked, hands on her hips and a flare of righteous anger in her eyes.

Connie faced her mother until they were eye to eye and her mother could see her clearly. “I have never done anything to disappoint you and I won’t now. Victor has his own home,” she said, uncertain of just what to call Victor’s living arrangement. “The apartment is in South Beach, only fifteen minutes or so from you and dad. Close enough to visit all the time if you’d like.”

“But, Consuelo,” her mother protested. “There’s no reason for you to move out.”

Connie took a deep breath and laid down the forks she had been scrubbing. “There are times I need to work late. It’s been unfair to the family to have you disturbed when I come home at those hours. Plus I need a place where I can work at home.” She gestured to her surroundings. Suds and water flew off her gloved hands. “I can’t work here. There’s no room for my computer and other things that I need to access easily.”

Her voice trailed off at the hurt look on her mother’s face. She pulled off her gloves, stepped closer to her mother, and embraced her. “I’m going to miss not being at home, but it’s time. I’ve got a career and I need to give it my attention. But I’ll still be over for Sunday dinners and you can visit me.”

Her mother returned the hug, nodded, but as she pulled away, the glint of tears in her eyes was painfully obvious. “Where does Victor fit into this decision?”

Connie hugged herself, wishing she had a ready answer. “I don’t really know. We’ve started seeing each other, but it’s still too soon to know.”

“But not too soon to sleep with him?” her mother asked.

A soft gasp escaped Connie and behind her Carmen dropped something into the dish drain that landed with a clink against the china.

“Mom. It’s not something I wish to discuss.” She couldn’t lie, but she couldn’t tell her the truth either.

“When it’s time, you’ll use the appropriate precautions?” Her mother raised one eyebrow in question.

“I … I ….” Connie stammered, blushing hotly.

Carmen laid a hand on her shoulder and answered for her. “She knows what to do. We both do.”

Their mother waved a dismissive hand in Carmen’s direction. “Don’t you think I know all about you and that Rivera boy? But Connie … you’ve both worked too hard to let anything ruin it now.”

“I understand, Mom. I promise to be careful.” The sound of the front door opening signaled the return of the two men, ending the conversation as they turned their attention to making coffee and laying out plates with desserts.

When the coffee had oozed to the top of the espresso maker, the Cuban
pastelitos
and other pastries laid out, the women returned to the dining room. The men had reseated themselves and were waiting.

Connie laid out demitasse cups for each person. Carmen followed behind her, pouring the rich dark coffee into the cups. Their mother served pastries to everyone once she and Carmen had seated themselves.

Connie accepted a honey and rum-soaked pastry, savoring the sweetness followed by the bite of the liquor. She spooned four spoons of sugar into the small demitasse cup and looked up to find Victor grinning at her.

“Sweet tooth?”

“Connie’s one weakness,” Carmen chimed in.

Victor’s grin broadened. “I’ll have to remember that.”

“Come bearing sweets and there won’t be any problems,” she teased and blew on her espresso, sipping the last of the sugary coffee. “Delicious.”

Victor sipped his own coffee and with a half glance at her, smiled playfully and said, “Definitely. Sweet and delicious.”

Connie nearly choked on her drink at the sexiness buried in his tones. “I think we should be going.”

“So soon?” her father chided.

“It’s my fault. I have to be at the hospital early tomorrow for surgery.” Victor finished his coffee, rose, and thanked her parents.

Connie also stood, hugged them both, and then her sister Carmen as she and Victor walked outside.

“See you tomorrow, Victor,” Carmen called out and winked at him.

Victor chuckled and waved goodbye as he slipped into the driver’s side of Connie’s car. Connie handed him the keys and he started the car and pulled away.

Connie smiled as they made their getaway.
It had worked out pretty well after all
, she thought and snuck a peek at Victor. He had a half smile on his face. “What are you thinking about?”

“That I seemed to have passed muster and that you and I still have all of tonight to spend alone together.”