Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116046 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
“No, please, join me. I really…well, I don’t want to be alone right now.”
“Understandable. Tell me about your tutoring. Do you have a favorite subject?”
We talked all through the meal and long afterward. By the time we were done with our visit, I was just about ready to pass out. From what I learned, in addition to being a very successful businesswoman, Judith was a philanthropist who donated a great deal to the public school system and was involved in over a dozen scholarship foundations. I was also surprised to learn that we’d both lived in Tucson at one point, but on different ends of the city. Her boys had gone to my high school, but her youngest son was eight years older than me. There was no chance I would have known them, since they’d moved to Phoenix while I was still in junior high.
When my belly was full, and I’d eaten my body weight in fresh baked bread layered with sweet butter, I sighed and watched Judith shake some pills out of a prescription bottle. “What are those?”
“Mild painkillers my physician left to help you relax and heal.”
I held out my hand, eager to find some relief from the building ache, and washed them down with a swallow of water from the glass on the table next to the bed. I’d felt something similar to this pain when I was thirteen and I’d been in a car accident with my mom. We’d been rear-ended, and even though I’d only had bruises from it, my body had ached for days afterward. It was close how I felt now, but magnified by these weird, brief flashes of panic. I’d be fine, then suddenly my muscles would tense, and I’d find myself watching the door of the room, waiting for someone to burst through it. Judith must have noticed, because she casually mentioned that the doors, which appeared to be pale wood, were actually solid steel on special hinges that prevented them from being kicked in.
Evidently the Cordova’s were big on security, and I wasn’t complaining.
It felt like I’d had my rose-colored glasses ripped off, and the true world behind the illusion of safety and peace was a dirty, evil place full of killers just waiting for a chance to strike.
A chill raced up my spine, and I pulled the covers closer to me.
“Joy?” Judith leaned forward and put her hand on the edge of the bed, her accent a little more noticeable. “Are you all right?”
Not wanting to admit my weakness, I forced a smile. “I’m fine.”
I frowned as Judith rolled her eyes at me. “Mother Mary, give me strength.”
“What?”
“I’m fine, you’re fine, we’re all fine—until we’re not. There is no shame in admitting it. I remember the first time something terrible happened to me.” Her gaze went distant as she sat back in her chair and laced her fingers together, her perfectly polished nails gleaming in the sunlight. “Things can mark you, change you.”
Curious and eager to indulge in my favorite coping mechanism—ignoring my own problems so I can take care of someone else’s—I lay back into the fluffy pillows and tipped my head so I could still watch her. “What happened?”
She hesitated, examining me closely. “That, I think, is a story for another day. Would you like to hear about how my mother and father met, instead?”
I nodded, growing drowsy. “I would, thank you.”
“My mother, Victoria Hernandez, was a very beautiful woman. She was the popular mayor of a small tourist town on the west coast of El Salvador. Through her careful supervision, strength, and brilliance, she managed to turn the town into a thriving tropical resort. You see, the area of El Salvador I lived in as a young child was wild, lush, and oh-so beautiful. I grew up in a small town, sheltered from the massive Pacific Ocean storms by cliffs with soft, sandy beaches perfect for watching the sunset. My mother’s family was fortunate enough to build a hotel in one of the most beautiful spots in the world. As world travel increased, so did their profits. After all, they owned a piece of heaven. The sunsets over the ocean, the lush jungles…truly paradise on earth.” She sighed and it was obvious she was deeply caught up in memories of the past. “Unfortunately, the more profit the town made, the more it attracted the attention of the local cartels. People started to move into her territory, bringing their money with them. Money the cartels felt belonged to them. Even back in the 1950s, the crime lords were as powerful as the official government…and twice as deadly. A few of the smaller cartels tried to move on her territory, to horn in on my mother’s business and basically take over her town.”
I snuggled deeper into comfortable bed, my body sinking into the plush mattress. Judith stood and pulled the curtains closed as she talked, shrouding the room enough to dim the light to a soft glow. She took a seat again, toying absently with the large diamond pendant on her necklace as her gaze went unfocused with memories.