Valaquez Bride (20 page)

With a soft heartfelt moan, Juliet closed her eyes but
they flew open again as a voice spoke her name. Though Señora Valaquez
was rising from the high-backed chair that faced the desk, in which she
had been hidden from view, Juliet couldn't really be surprised. This
quiet library had become as busy as Grand Central Station this
afternoon.

"I did not intentionally eavesdrop," Señora Valaquez said,
as she walked toward Juliet. "I confess I had fallen asleep in the
chair and did not hear you come in. But Pablo entered so noisily and
began talking before I could make my presence known. So I remained
silent. I did not want to embarrass him or you."

"I understand," Juliet murmured, steeling herself for the
disapproving sermon she feared would follow now. So she was astonished
when Alicia Valaquez suddenly gave her an apparently genuine smile.

"I am rather glad I overheard you talk with Pablo," the
señora said quietly. "I had assumed you deliberately played the tease
with him last year, but when he did not deny that you had always tried
to discourage him, I realized I had been wrong. I apologize for
thinking badly of you."

"It's all right, really," Juliet said. "I understand why
you were so concerned about Pablo. He's your grandson and I can't blame
you for being upset with me, if you felt I had deliberately hurt him."

"Which I now know you did not do." The señora smiled
gratefully. "You were firm with him today but also kind."

"I've never wanted to hurt his feelings," Juliet offered.
"I like Pablo but…"

"It is Raul you love." Señora Valaquez finished for her
with a gentle smile. "Yes, of course, I heard you tell Pablo that too."

Imagining she detected sympathy in the woman's dark eyes,
Juliet bent her head. "I hope you won't tell Raul what I said?"

"Why should I? That is for you to do."

Juliet smiled sadly. "I can't tell him that. He'd be
horrified."

The señora's fine dark brows arched speculatively. "Why
are you so certain of that,
niña
? I suspect you
do not know my grandson very well. Or you would not be so frightened of
him that I could hear the fear in your voice when you spoke to him. He
was being very nice to you, yet your voice trembled. Why? What is it
about Raul that makes you afraid?"

Juliet spread her hands in a resigned gesture. "Oh, you
know."

"I suspect I do. Now," Alicia said softly. "I was as
innocent as you when I met Raul's grandfather so I too was afraid of
him, though I loved him very much. So I understand what you are
feeling."

"Thank you for being so nice," Juliet said sincerely.
"It's a relief to know you no longer dislike me, señora."

Amazingly, the woman put out her hand and gently stroked
Juliet's shimmering auburn hair. "You may call me Dona Alicia if you
wish,
niña
," she offered. "Now that we understand
each other better, we can be friends. Si?"

"Si, I'd like that," Juliet replied, finding some solace
in the fact that at least Raul's grandmother's unflattering opinion of
her had changed, even if his hadn't, and probably never would.

Almost two weeks later, Holly's baby was born. In the
hospital waiting room a little past midnight, Juliet looked up from the
pages of the glossy magazine she was merely staring at. She shook her
head as Benny paced in front of her for the millionth time, it seemed.
"Will you please sit down before you wear a hole in the carpet," she
said with a wry grin. "You've been doing that since I got here at nine
o'clock. Stop please; you're making me dizzy."

"I can't stop," Benny lamented, continuing his pacing as
he raked his fingers through his untidy hair. "When they called to tell
me Holly had gone into labor, I was pretty calm—until I got
here. Then when they told me it might take all night for the baby to be
born, I just couldn't sit down and act like nothing was happening. How
can I sit when Holly's all alone suffering all sorts of agonies."

Sighing, Juliet closed the magazine she held. "I don't
imagine Holly's having a terrific time right now
but don't blow everything all out of proportion. She's having a baby;
women do that all the time. And the doctors won't let her suffer
agonies and she's certainly not alone. She's being well taken care of
and is probably a lot more relaxed than you are at the moment. So try
to calm down, Benny. Look at Señor Perez. His wife's having a baby
right now too, but he's not pacing the floor like a caged lion."

At the mention of his name, the rotund man beside Juliet
opened his eyes, lifted his chin off his collarbone, and fought back a
sleepy yawn. His warm brown eyes laughed understandingly at Benny but
it was Juliet at whom he smiled. "You say something to me, señorita?"

"No, not to you. About you," Juliet explained. "I was
telling Benny that he should follow your example and relax. You don't
seem unduly worried about your wife."

"He had a few stiff drinks before he got here, I bet,"
Benny interceded. "He wouldn't be acting so calm if he hadn't."

The older man laughed. "Is not drink that has made me
calm, señor. Is the experience I have. For Rosa and me, this will be
baby
numero cinco
."

"Five! You mean you've been through this hell four times
before?" Benny exclaimed, horrified. "How have you lived through it?
Man, if I have my way, this will be our first
and
last baby. I couldn't stand the guilt of getting Holly pregnant again.
It makes me sick to think about the pain she's having to endure right
now."

Señor Perez shook his head admonishingly, while lifting
his shoulders in a fatalistic shrug. "Women, they have the babies, señor. Men can-not do it. Is meant to be," he philosophized. "You have
no need to feel the guilt."

"Well, I don't happen to see it that way," Benny shot
back, tension making him uncharacteristically grumpy. "This is my baby
too, but Holly has to do all the suffering."

"Benny, don't snap at the señor just because you're a
nervous wreck," Juliet said gently, catching her friend's hand as he
paced by her. "Sit down a minute. We'll talk." When he reluctantly
acquiesced and slumped down beside her on the orange vinyl sofa, she
released his hand and smiled compassionately. "Señor Perez is right,
you shouldn't be feeling guilty. Holly wanted to have a baby right away
so I don't know what you're blaming yourself for."

"Oh, this whole pregnancy's been so miserable for her.
First she was sick in the mornings, then she had to stay in the
hospital bed so many weeks and now, to top the whole mess off, she's
having to go through labor pains."

"That's usually the way pregnancies end," Juliet reminded
him wryly, but her slight smile faded when it wasn't returned. Her tone
grew more serious. "Look, I know Holly wouldn't want you to worry like
this. You're wearing yourself out for no good reason. Isn't that right,
Señor Perez?"

"Oh, si," the older man replied with a wise smile. "Is
better to save your strength for when the baby goes home and cries all
the nights."

"Cries all night! Why should babies cry all night? Are
they always sick?"

"Babies, they cry," the señor philosophized again. "Feed
them. They stop for a while but soon they cry again. Is the way they
are. You cannot change it."

"Yeah, yeah, is meant to be," Benny mumbled, then jumped
up to resume pacing again.

The next two hours passed slowly and Benny's unceasing
movement began to make Juliet nearly as nervous as he was. Señor
Perez's vigil was ended when a nurse came to tell him his wife had just
had a healthy nine pound boy, his third son. After accepting Juliet's
congratulations, he left the waiting room with a beaming smile on his
way to call relatives to tell them the news.

As he disappeared into a phone booth down the hall, Benny
turned to Juliet, horror widening his eyes. "Nine pounds! Do you think
something's wrong with it? Isn't that awfully small?"

"Lord, no. A nine pound baby is fairly large," Juliet told
him laughingly. "I think most babies weigh less than that, about seven
or eight pounds."

"Oh, God, then what if our baby's nine pounds?" Benny
groaned. "That's too big. Holly's such a little girl. She can't have a
nine pound baby!"

"Oh, will you be quiet," Juliet pleaded. "Stop looking for
trouble everywhere. First nine pounds was too small; now it's too big.
You've got to calm down, Benny. This will all be over soon and
everything will be just fine. Someday, you'll look back at tonight and
laugh at how nervous you were."

"Huh, I doubt that," he snorted as he stared glumly out
the window. "I'm not even sure I'll survive tonight so it won't be
possible to look back on it."

Juliet didn't answer. Nothing she said helped anyway. For
the next half hour, she idled away the time by rearranging the contents
of her purse, then making neat stacks of all the magazines in the
waiting room. By the time she finished, Benny was reduced to muttering
to himself as he continued walking back and forth across the room.
Taking pity on him, she tried to initiate another conversation.

"Uncle Will said to tell you he certainly appreciates you
staying at the house. It's a relief to him not to have to worry about
break-ins."

Benny halted mid-stride. "How's he doing anyway? Leg
mending all right?"

"Not fast enough for Uncle Will," Juliet answered, smiling
affectionately. "He's very eager to get that cast off, mainly because
he is about ready to murder that tyrannical nurse of his. He can't
stand her."

Benny frowned. "Maybe I should be looking for a place for
us to move if you think you and your uncle will be going back to his
house soon. With the baby, Holly and I will need something bigger than
a hotel room, maybe a little apartment. I just hope I can find
something cheap."

"You don't need to do that," Juliet insisted. "The doctor
doesn't plan to remove Uncle Will's cast for several more weeks. So you
and Holly will have the house to yourselves for a while and even after
we move back, you won't need to leave. We'd both be happy to have you
stay on."

"Nope. We'll move out when you two come back. We wouldn't
want to get in the way. I just hope I'll be able to find us a place
inexpensive enough to allow us to save some money for our airfares back
to the States."

"You still plan to go back then?" Juliet asked,
suppressing a sad little sigh when he nodded. "I was sort of hoping
you'd change your mind. I'm really going to miss you both."

"We have to go though; it's the only way for us to have a
stable life." Benny smiled teasingly. "Besides, you won't have much
time to miss us. Raul Valaquez will provide you with plenty of
excitement, I'm sure."

Juliet tried to smile in response, but couldn't quite
succeed. "I doubt I'll even see Raul very much after Uncle Will and I
leave the
casa
. So I guess I'll just be at loose
ends until I can get back into college for the second semester."

"From what Holly told me about you and Raul, maybe you
shouldn't be so sure you won't be seeing him," Benny suggested. "He
might…"

"Señor Talmadge," a nurse from the doorway interrupted.
And when she beckoned to him, he simply stared at Juliet rather sillily.

"Well, go on," she urged, waving him forward and following
after, excitement rising in her. As Benny stopped before the nurse,
gesturing nervously, she gave him a broad smile.

"You have a daughter, señor," she announced, her English
much better than Señor Perez's had been. "The baby is little but that
should be no trouble. She seems perfectly healthy."

"And my wife?" Benny whispered urgently. "Is she all
right?"

"The little señora is perfect too," the nurse assured him.
"She is tired now but there was no trouble with the delivery."

As Benny swayed slightly, Juliet feared he might actually
faint. After breathing a deep sigh of relief, however, he grabbed the
nurse's hand and shook it so enthusiastically that the poor woman
flexed it gingerly when he finally released it.

"I will return in a few minutes to take you to see the
baby," the nurse told him as she turned to leave. "But it will be about
an hour before your wife is returned to her room. Then, you may visit
her also."

Nodding, Benny spun around and enveloped Juliet in a
nearly suffocating bear hug. "Holly's fine; the baby's fine; they're
both fine! Isn't it fantastic?"

"It's wonderful, Benny," Juliet said raspingly, striving
to catch her breath again. "Congratulations, papa."

"Papa. Me," he whispered incredulously. "I can hardly
believe it."

He repeated those words innumerable times during the next
several minutes but when the nurse returned to lead them down the
corridor to peer through the glass at the nursery, he suddenly became
speechless. Yet when a bassinet was pushed up to the window, he gazed
down at the flannel-bundled baby with awe.

"Gosh, she's tiny, isn't she. But look how beautiful she
is. Don't you think she's beautiful?"

"Very beautiful," Juliet agreed though she really couldn't
tell. Obviously incensed, the baby was howling, her small red face
contorted so much that her eyes were squeezed shut and her mouth was
wide open. But Juliet was certain that in a more pacified frame of
mind, Benny and Holly's daughter would be beautiful.

"She has thick black hair, like Holly's. See?" Benny
commented happily, then muttered with disappointment when a nurse
inside the nursery picked up the baby to pat her bottom comfortingly.
Then she carried her away to sit down with her in a rocking chair in
the far corner.

"You'll get to see her again," Juliet assured him as they
walked back to the waiting room. And when he immediately collapsed onto
the orange sofa, she smiled sympathetically. "Why don't you stretch out
and try to take a nap until you can see Holly? I think I'll leave now.
You don't need me anymore; you'll want to see her alone. Tell her I'll
visit tomorrow."