Chapter Twenty-Two #2
“Engaged to be married, starting a family, his dreams were finally coming true…” Beth shook her head and began to cry.
Iris noted a remoteness from Maria-Elena and a lack of an engagement ring. The girl didn’t move toward Beth during her outburst, it seemed they didn’t know each other well.
Beth touched her swollen belly. “Thank God we have this little one on the way, a piece of my Jacob to live on.”
Maria-Elena quietly excused herself.
“She’s very shy,” Beth said in a low voice. “I wasn’t sure about her at first, her background, cultural differences, but she’s sweet. We’re gonna take care of her, like Jacob would have wanted. And I can’t wait to love on that baby.”
Iris caught up with Maria-Elena on the couch, away from Aunt Beth.
“When are you due?” Iris asked.
Maria-Elena smiled. “End of October. I’m hoping she comes Halloween, it’s my favorite holiday.”
“Aw, a girl, that’s wonderful. Baby costumes are the cutest.”
“I know, I want her to be a pumpkin.” Maria-Elena rubbed her tummy. “You don’t look like you live around here.”
Iris told her she was in from New York.
Maria-Elena nodded and stared straight ahead, thinking for a moment. “We were never engaged, me and Jake—Jacob. Beth maybe thinks I’m embarrassed, but I feel worse lying.”
“Oh, that’s okay.” Iris didn’t know what to say.
“We weren’t even together. We agreed I was gonna raise this baby without him.
He didn’t want to be a dad, didn’t want no custody, nothing.
I never even met his mom before he died, now she wants to be involved with everything, the doctor’s visits, the delivery, she even offered to move in after she’s born. ”
“Do you want that?”
Maria-Elena shrugged. “I mean, it’s nice of her. But we don’t have room. Help would be good, my mom works and I want to finish school, but…”
Finish school… Iris wondered how old she was.
“I’m not comfortable here. I don’t know these people, this isn’t my home,” she said, before adding, “No offense.”
“None taken.” Iris felt the same way.
“Jake wanted me to have an abortion, but I wouldn’t. We hadn’t spoken in months,” Maria-Elena confided.
Iris heard herself mindlessly quoting his sponsor: “He had some demons he couldn’t stare down.”
Maria-Elena nodded. “He wasn’t all bad, though. He saved a girl’s life once.”
Iris fell silent.
“He wouldn’t really talk about it, though. He said the real him could never live up to the story.”
Gabe returned from the food table carrying two plates of mayonnaise-slathered beige salad. “I was told one of these is chicken salad and the other is tuna, but honestly, I can’t tell which is which. I’ll eat whatever you don’t want.”
“I think I’m ready to go.”
Gabe’s face softened. “I’ll tell Esdras we’re ready.”
—
Before they left, there was one more person Iris needed to see, and she wanted to do it alone. She wasn’t ready for Gabe to see the most hard-edged member of her remaining family. She stepped outside and found Clay sitting in a rocking chair on the porch, smoking a cigarette.
Clay was in his late sixties, and with his square jaw and light blue eyes, he might have been a handsome man if life had been kinder to him, or vice versa. But his skin was textured from acne scars and sun exposure, and his hair had gone thin and gray.
Iris never felt more softness for her uncle than right now. She greeted him gently and offered her sincere condolences.
Clay’s eyes rolled up at her. “You brought your own chauffeur to a funeral?”
“It’s a company car service. I don’t own a car.”
“City gal.” The smoke plumed out his nose. “Glad to see you’re doing so well for yourself.”
“I’m trying.”
“You know what I think’s rich? When your parents died, your dad didn’t leave a cent for his big sister.”
“They didn’t expect to die so young, I don’t think either of them even had a will.”
“Don’t you think if your dad knew that Jacob saved his little girl’s life, he would’ve wanted to leave him something?”
Iris felt her stomach flip. “I was eleven, I had nothing to do with their estate.”
“You didn’t have to, it all went to you anyway. Life insurance, home insurance—”
“Uncle Clay—”
“Uncle, now? Now we’re family.”
She tilted her head at him in dismay. “We’re always family.”
He looked her dead in the eyes. “Then help us.”
She frowned at him, not understanding, or thinking she understood but hoping she was wrong.
“You owe us, you owe Jacob. That little baby will have less of a daddy than you got, and a lot less to show for it. You owe Jacob a great debt. You’ve hid from us for twenty years because of it.”
“That isn’t true—”
“You know, when your parents died, Beth and I, we wanted to take you in. Even with everything Jacob was going through with his injury, we were fully prepared to raise you and love you as our own.”
Iris didn’t know that.
“Your grandparents fought us, went to court. I didn’t think a young girl should have to grow up in an old folks’ home, but the judge sided with them. Money always wins.”
Her heart twisted as she thought of her wonderful Nan and Pop. They were the perfect soft place to land after the tragedy. And it had nothing to do with money. “It all worked out for the best.”
He snorted. “Did it? I just buried my son.”
Iris began to apologize, “I didn’t mean—”
Clay’s blue eyes were cold. “Then why don’t you get back to me, when you know what you mean.”