Chapter 41

Ana drew the curtains in her mother’s bedroom as Mamá Blanca lay on the bed with her eyes closed, tears rolling down her cheeks. Dr. Gaitán returned his stethoscope to his black leather bag and removed his prescription booklet. As he wrote, he eyed Ana and her sisters over a pair of black-frame spectacles.

“She’s going to be all right.” His thick mustache covered half of his upper lip. “Doña Blanca has a strong heart.”

Ana glanced at her sisters. They were all probably thinking the same thing. No, Mamá Blanca will never be all right again. Not after what happened. Alejandra avoided Ana’s gaze and studied her short nails. It was so rare to see Alejandra in a dress, with her fingers so clean and those emerald earrings Papá Pancho had made, but it was even stranger to think of her as someone’s mother, especially a grown woman. Only now did Ana realize how little she knew of her younger sister. It was a pity not to know someone after spending practically your entire life around that person—not that Ana had been open with her family either.

Dr. Gaitán handed the prescription to Amanda, who stood beside him, arms across her chest.

“Give her this sedative,” he said. “So she can rest.”

“All right,” Amanda said. “Thank you for coming, Dr. Gaitán. I’ll walk you downstairs.”

“No. I’ll go,” Ana said. She couldn’t stand to be in her mother’s presence anymore, not when she had this urge to yell her own truth, the way that girl, Malena, had done half an hour ago.

Dr. Gaitán bowed to all the women in the room and headed for the door, one hand holding his bag and the other one adjusting his bow tie.

After the doctor had left, Ana walked into the living room, where María Teresa spoke with Rafael and Javier.

María Teresa removed a strand of her fiery red hair—it still didn’t bear any traces of gray—from her face. “How is your mother?”

“She’s going to be fine.” Ana forced a smile.

“Gracias a Dios.” María Teresa picked up her purse from the coffee table. “I’d better go, then.”

“No, please. Stay here. At least tonight.”

“Thank you, Anita, but it’s not necessary.” She held Ana’s icy hands in hers. “It’s not the right time for company. Besides, I want to go to Quito first thing in the morning to see if I can find Liliana.”

Liliana, of course. She had run away with that man and was somewhere in Quito.

“Javi, would you please take María Teresa back to her hotel?” Ana said.

“Absolutely.”

María Teresa hugged her and promised to write or call as soon as she heard from Lili.

Holding onto the doorknob, Ana glanced after her friend and son as they vanished into the bleak street. Exhausted, she rested her head against the door. It had been a terrible day and she only wanted it to end.

Rafael’s shadow in the foyer startled her.

“I’d better go find Claudia,” he said. “She hasn’t arrived yet.”

Claudia. With all the commotion, she’d forgotten about her. “I don’t think she will be coming back any time soon.”

Rafael’s brows furrowed. How she hated when he did that.

“Why?”

“I didn’t want to tell you while María Teresa was here, but I checked Claudia’s bedroom and her suitcase is missing, along with some of her clothes. She must have returned to the house while we were waiting for her at the church.”

He hit the wall by the door. “Maldición! What the hell is wrong with that girl? Has everyone gone crazy in this house?”

“Maybe she realized she didn’t love Sebastian after all.” Ana stared at the wrinkles multiplying in Rafael’s face.

“Love? What a stupid thing to say. Sebastian is the best catch in this filthy town, for God’s sake!”

She fought a sudden urge to smile. As humiliating as the wedding cancellation had been, she was happy that Claudia hadn’t married a man she didn’t love. She knew all too well what a mistake that was. She wished she’d had the same courage as Claudia did in fleeing a destiny that wasn’t hers.

He glowered. “Are you smiling?”

Ana pursed her lips.

“You think this is funny?” Rafael’s voice grew louder. “You probably knew all along who that girl was, too. You’re the one who brought her here.”

“Are you insane? Why would I do that?” Ana closed the door, looking around the house, wondering for the first time where Malena had gone off to. She walked to the living room, though she hadn’t seen her there earlier.

“Where is she? Did she go upstairs?” She headed for the staircase.

“You don’t have to worry about her anymore,” Rafael said.

That spiteful sneer appeared on his face.

“Why? Where is she?”

Rafael loosened his tie. “I sent her away.”

“What do you mean, you sent her away?”

“I told her she wasn’t welcome in this house anymore.”

Ana held on to the railing for balance. She had to take a deep breath in order to control the heat building up inside of her. “Why would you do that?” Her voice came out hoarser than she’d ever heard it.

“She lied to all of us. She’s the daughter of a murderer. Do I really need to explain this?”

Ana tightened her grasp on the banister until she could see her veins. “How dare you?” Her voice was low, but somehow Rafael’s expression softened.

“Come on, we don’t have to turn this into a fight. I’m exhausted.” He climbed the stairs. Ana grabbed his arm.

“Answer me! How dare you tell my niece to leave my mother’s house? Or have you forgotten whose house this is?”

He jerked his arm free. “Watch it, woman. I’m not in the mood.”

“You had no right!”

“She was a phony, a con artist. Her father murdered your cousin. Have you forgotten that? I was just doing you all a favor, and this is how you repay me?”

“She’s Alejandra’s daughter!”

“I don’t care who she is! I don’t want her here. And that’s that, end of discussion.”

As he turned back up the stairs, Ana grasped a mass of his hair and pulled him down with all her strength. Rafael stumbled down the stairs to her level. For a second, it felt good, but almost immediately her legs started shaking. She would pay dearly for this.

Rafael’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets. He backhanded her face so hard she fell down the stairs.

He came toward her, eyes flickering like she’d never seen before.

She found her voice. “Go ahead, hit me if you want, but after you’re done, get out of this house. I don’t want you here anymore.”

Rafael suspended his arm in midair. “What?”

Ana stood up, rubbing her cheek with her palm. “You heard me. I want you out of this house, never to return again.”

He lowered his arm. “Look, I’m sorry. I lost my control. I shouldn’t have …” He ran his hand over his forehead. “This is insane. You know I would never hurt you.”

“You’ve hurt me all my life, but it’s over, Rafael.” It felt good to say those words out loud. She should have said them years ago.

He laughed bitterly. “You’re just saying that. You won’t be able to stand the rumors. Ana Platas, the divorcée.”

“I don’t care about that anymore. All I want is peace in my life.”

“I’ll tell Claudia the truth,” he said.

“Do it. I don’t care. She’s an adult already.”

“Your family won’t be able to recover from the scandal. First Abigail, then Alejandra.”

Ana tasted the blood in her mouth and brought her index finger to her wounded lip.

“This is how you pay me for what I did?” He took a step forward. “After what I did for that no-good sister of yours? After I gave Claudia my last name and treated her like a daughter?”

“You were happy to adopt her. You wanted a daughter, a big family.”

“You weren’t even good for that, Ana. You could only give me one son.” He squeezed her shoulders with both hands. “But I forgive you. Let’s just forget all of this.”

Amanda’s voice came out sharp from the top of the stairs. “You heard my sister, Rafael. She doesn’t want you here, and neither do I, or anybody else in this family. I suggest you pack your suitcase and leave. We’ll write you a check for whatever expenses you might have before you find another job.”

Rafael pulled Ana closer to him. “Anita …”

She pushed him away. He stared at her, defeated. Ana straightened her spine, as if the top of her head had been pulled up by a thread, surprised at how small Rafael looked to her now. She’d been so afraid of him all these years, when the solution had been this simple. How different her life would have been if only she and Abigail hadn’t been so weak.