Chapter 15-Mishap
Eduardo Delgado prepared himself to leave Barrancabermeja after spending an afternoon with his foot on the neck of Nicolás Gómez, who had decided to shortfall the shipments of white powdery products to the local distributors, thinking Eduardo wouldn’t notice or find out.
His argument for the blatant thievery was based on his girlfriend Natalia needing a reliable vehicle to get back and forth to work.
Eduardo sympathized with the man, and for a brief moment empathized with him, having been married twice to two totally different types of women.
It still didn’t stop him from cutting off both of the man's hands and firing him from the best paying job in the region.
He didn't like thieves. He also couldn't respect weak men.
He had arrived alone and would be leaving the same way as he entered the oil capital of Colombia.
Too much money was to be made in the area with dignitaries coming in from all over the world, wanting the best powder in the region.
The last thing he needed was an ass muncher like Nicolás Gómez re-cutting the product and short selling to make a few extra bucks.
Eduardo could have respected him more if he'd asked for a loan to get the woman a decent vehicle or simply worked harder to afford his life choice as a lover.
His phone vibrated in his pocket as he began his drive home.
He took the call from Julianna, the overseer of his plane.
She informed him in one sentence that his plane was in the air with Micah and Alita.
The call ended. Julianna had provided him with the basis for the next few hours that would change his life and how he saw his third-born son.
Her lack of details noted that one, the kids were coming back early versus the planned arrival on Monday, and two, Andres was not on the plane and wasn't returning with them, which meant something had gone horribly awry.
He didn't need to make any calls to find out the information.
His phone vibrated again, and he answered.
This time it was his former father-in-law Eleon, who ranted and raved into the phone about Micah's departure.
He yelled about Micah not signing the contract.
The image of his rotund-bellied former father-in-law sitting behind a resolute-style desk, hand-carved from wood from his land, nearly made Eduardo smile as he imagined the man's face sweaty and flustered.
Eleon spoke of the deals which would be lost on his beef with Uruguay and the potential breakdown in communications with the Czar of Suriname.
When he stopped huffing and puffing, Eduardo grunted and ended the call.
He had nothing to say to Eleon until he'd spoken with his son to get the entire story, so until then, the man could stew.
The next call came from Andres, who could not stop laughing. Eduardo held the phone as he listened.
“Papa, these chicks are big mad,” Andres said.
“The one from Suriname, she can barely speak English, the girl speaks no Spanish but she was trying to flirt with Micah. I watched her and that lazy eye kept zooming in on his crotch. She even tried to touch him there. She physically reached for the family jewels, or she could have been reaching for his hand, with that lazy eye, maybe her reach was off. He told her to stop talking to him, and he walked away from her.”
“Really?” Eduardo replied sighing deeply.
“The second one sounded like she grew up in South Central and said she wasn't planning to live on a cocaine farm and walked away from Micah,” Andres said, laughing.
“I tried talking to her, and she was actually flirting with me, knowing I'm getting married in six months.
I was like, chick, you know I live on the same damned farm?
Papa, it is hilarious these people's reactions to him.”
“And what of the third one, the Rossi girl?”
“Papa, I don't know what she read in The Handmaid's Tale that resonated with her, but she is empty,” Andres said.
“It's like they programmed her to serve him but left off her personality. Micah was having none of that. It was actually funny to watch, but Abuela found no humor in it, especially when Micah went towards the kitchens and never came back. I think he is on his way home.”
“Thanks for letting me know, Andres,” Eduardo said, ending the call.
The next call was from his former mother-in-law; a narcissistic woman totally obsessed with appearance and status.
Her call focused on the embarrassment Micah had caused and the reassigning of the seating arrangements for dinner with his absence.
She felt, and it was in her words, that Micah had absconded from the festivities with his guard, whom he had dressed up like his own personal sex doll.
Anya stated with a certain amount of vehemence that she was totally mortified, and Micah needed a firm talking-to when he arrived home about duty, loyalty, and his role in the continuance of her lineage.
“Hmmph,” Eduardo said, ending the call.
The last call came from his eldest son, Yunior, who began the conversation with a deep breath. “My loyalty to my brother is only superseded by my loyalty to you, Papa, but I don’t want you to enter the conversation with Micah unaware of his intentions,” Yunior said.
Eduardo felt tired before even answering the statement, “And those intentions are?”
“Well, he asked me to be his best man for his and Alita’s nuptials,” Yunior said.
“Noted,” Eduardo replied, “anything else?”
“I'm proud of him. He stood his ground. He met each young woman, spoke with them individually, and remained respectful to the tradition until he didn't any longer and left,” Yunior said.
“Good enough; are you doing well?”
“I am,” he replied. “I guess let me know when I need to fly in for Micah’s wedding,” he said as he laughed and ended the call with his father.
Eduardo drove home in silence. Micah's intentions had become increasingly obvious over the past few weeks, and in all honesty, Eduardo already understood what his son wanted and with whom. Now, he just needed to hear it from Micah’s mouth.
****
IT WAS LATE WHEN MICAH and Alita arrived. Alita still wore the dress she’d had on at the opening night of the regalia. He assumed she’d left it on intentionally so he could see what she was wearing in case Anya had made comments on her attire.
“Papa,” Micah said, entering the door first.
“Micah. Alita,” Eduardo said. “It's been a long day. Let's talk in the morning.”
“Good night, Papa,” Micah said, heading up the stairs.
Alita paused for a moment, looking at the Fer de Lance. She wanted to add context to the situation, only adding. “I remembered the steaks for Angel. I also grabbed some beef sausages for you to place on the grill and a few rib eyes for the Lady of the Lands. I shall put those away first.”
“Thank you,” Eduardo said, watching her. “His decision to walk away can change everything for a lot of people. Do you understand the weight of his decision?”
“I understand more than I am ever allowed to speak on, but a new sun means new conversations,” Alita said.
“There is a lot more to you than we see, isn't there,” Eduardo stated, watching her wheeling in the case of meat. “Did you get a chance to see your family while you were there?”
“I did, Senor, and they are doing rather well,” she said, softly smiling. “I also brought some of my mother's cocadas. Angel really loves them.”
“Fair enough; rest well,” he said as she gave a nod. “The dress is lovely, and you look very nice. The emeralds are a nice touch.”
“Oh, this old thing,” she replied, giving a brief smile. Her face lit up when she smiled, and he agreed with his son that Alita was a lovely young woman.
The thing he didn't understand was the level of connection between the girl and his son. Was it a matter of comfort for Micah, leaning into the familiar, or was Alita his actual life partner for all the right reasons? The rising of a new sun answered all his questions.
*****
AFTER THE MORNING RIDE, during which Eduardo broached no subject with his son as they rode the fields and took samples from the coca and coffee leaves, they arrived at the house to have a quiet breakfast. Micah, wanting a cucumber salad he'd tasted at Tim Johnson's house, sent Alita to the garden to pick vegetables with Isabella.
Eduardo took this as the ideal time to speak with Micah about Argentina.
However, before he had a chance, Eleon called Micah.
He shouted into the phone about honor.
He yelled at Micah about duty.
He screamed into the phone about the loss of potential deals in his cattle business.
He demanded that Micah return to Perona de la Mar to fulfill the obligation and sign the contract.
Micah replied, “No.” He ended the call.
Eduardo sat, not sure what was happening in his son's head, but his eyes said something different. Micah stood up. His hands fisted, and he began one long run-on sentence that began with, “Fuck him, and the horse he rides to wrangle those funky ass cows.”
“Micah?” Eduardo said.
“He has some nerve talking about honor and duty,” Micah said before inhaling a deep breath.
“He is using your guilt for his crazy ass daughter and knuckle-brained son to try to take your sons away from you, like he raised us. He didn’t raise us to be the men we are.
Eduardo Delgado is responsible for the men we turned out to be, not him, and he wants to surround himself in his old age with his grandchildren and great grandchildren.
But you know what? Eduardo Delgado wants to be surrounded by his grandkids, too!
That man doesn't dictate shit in my life.
He had the audacity, the gall to tell me that I should respect him because he is my Czar.
No, the fuck he's not! Eduardo Delgado is my Czar. I told him that shit to his fat, swollen face too.”