18. Our Fortunes Are Made #2
“No one did.” Lettie snatches up her jacket and heads toward the back door to make her exit. “If that’s all, I’ll be leaving now.”
Diego takes off after her. “Wait, you just got here!”
The three of us file out of the house and Mauricio waits for Lettie in the driveway.
As she approaches, he peels himself away from the car hood and goes to open the back door.
We hadn’t asked Lettie to bring any back up from home but God am I glad she did.
She’s always thinking ten steps ahead of us.
“And now I’m leaving.” Our sister says. “Unlike the two of you, I have no romantic entanglement keeping me in this city. I don’t like New York. The streets are dirty, the people are rude, and the cab drivers are maniacs.”
“Technically, this is Jersey.” Diego points out.
I ignore him. “Why don’t you stop by the house first? Say hello to Dahlia and Kay. I’m sure they’d be glad to see you.”
Lettie stops in her tracks. A breeze hits and she tugs on the collar of her jacket in an attempt to keep it closed. Today, the sky is dark and gray and the air is crisp and humid. It smells like rain. With her phantom white hair and honey-colored eyes, she looks haunting in this light.
“I…” her features visibly soften. “I wouldn’t know what to say to them. Kay maybe but not Dahlia.”
“I’d love to know what happened this past year that was so terrible that neither of you could be bothered to speak to her.” I stare them both down. “Is there something the two of you need to tell me?”
All I’ve heard are fragments, bits and pieces from an argument here and an awkward encounter there.
Up until now I dismissed all these conflicts as a byproduct of the issues I was having in my own relationship with Dahlia or lack thereof.
However, I’m starting to believe there’s more to the story here.
Lettie gives a light shrug and wraps her arms around herself. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Figure it out then. Because I’m not allowing either of you to get away with vague answers anymore. It hurts the way you’ve been treating her. It hurts Dahlia and it hurts me. Never mind the fact she was in the hospital and neither of you came to see her.”
Lettie and Diego exchange glances in a language I cannot understand. Between the two of them, an entire conversation is had and they settle on a way forward together.
“Okay,” my sister relents. “I’ll stop by. For a little while.”
I scoff and hold up a hand. “Please, don’t act like you’re doing me a favor. I’d hate to have to beg you to do the courteous thing.”
Her expression softens. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know but if someone nearly died taking a bullet meant for my brother and saved his life, no one would have to beg me to go and say hello. Or even say thank you.”
“You can blame yourself for that.” Lettie snaps. “Nobody said to fly to New York!”
Diego’s voice tightens. “Leticia…”
“If you want to know why neither of us is talking to Dahlia right now it’s because of you!” she explodes. “Because we spent the last year trying to convince her to take you back when you couldn’t even be man enough to do it yourself. And in the process, it cost us our relationship with her.”
Mauricio dips into the car out of sight, likely aware of the fact that he is now encroaching on what is quickly becoming a very private family argument.
She turns to get into the car but at the last second slams the door shut and spins back around. “Actually, now that you brought it up.”
Diego visibly winces. “Oh no…”
“For the record, I never wanted Dahlia in our lives in the first place. You go galivanting around the city with an American tourist for two weeks and suddenly it’s a good idea to invite her to a private dinner in our grandfather’s house.
None of this would’ve ever happened had Dahlia not been with you the night of the car accident. ”
“That wasn’t my fault—”
She cuts me off. “But everything else that happened after was your fault. When you had the opportunity to leave her at the nearest hospital or make arrangements to send her home, you didn’t.
No, you wanted to take her with us.” She throws her arms up.
“You kidnap her and drag the rest of us along with you like you always do. I’m sure your desire to play the hero had nothing at all to do with the fact that you were screwing her.
Or that you felt guilty she was even on the road with you in the first place.
“You don’t ask us, don’t consult with us, and you sure as Hell don’t apologize for the minor inconvenience of holding an innocent girl captive for an entire summer. Thanks for that by the way. So happy to have that weighing on my conscience for the rest of my life. You ungrateful asshole!
“To make matters worse you go and fall in love with her like a fucking idiot. And then, you send her home! For no reason! Because three months later, you jump on a plane and get her back. Fine. Wonderful. Then she lives with us. For a year!” She exclaims. “Luring us all into a false sense of security. Selling us the lie that maybe we really are a family. That maybe, just maybe, we can have it all again. We won’t have dad and we won’t have mom but you know what, we have something different. We have Dahlia.
“Things are okay. They’re more than okay. They work. We like each other. For the first time in practically my whole life I’m not the only girl in the family. I actually have somebody to talk to. And then you go and let her leave! A second time!”
Realization begins to settle in. “Leticia—”
“And to make matters worse you expect us to clean up your mess! You call her from my phone, you send Diego to New York to speak to her. Well you know what Alex, did it ever fucking occur to you that maybe she left you because you weren’t a good man?
And by turning your siblings into your messengers you were proving her point?
So yeah. Sorry. I didn’t call or visit when she was in the hospital but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to.
“I can’t even face her I’m so ashamed. Diego and I had the nerve to beg her to take you back when we knew you were in the wrong.
So you know what, I’m glad she left you.
If she had any functioning braincells left, she wouldn’t take you back a third time!
She’d tell you to go fuck yourself and this time, I’d tell her she’s right. ”
She yanks open the car door. “Mauricio!” she shouts. “Take me to Dahlia’s.”
She gets in and slams the door shut behind her.
A minute later, the car pulls out of the driveway but I know it won’t get far. Mauricio doesn’t have Dahlia’s address but he’s probably too terrified to tell Lettie as much.
I look at my brother and he shrugs. “That about sums it up.”
“How long was she holding that in?” I snap.
“I think you forget Lettie isn’t a little girl anymore.
How we live our lives has an effect on her.
” His expression softens with sympathy but his words carry the bite of reproach.
“Maybe have a little bit more compassion and understanding. You know how hard it is for Lettie to let people in. You weren’t the only one hurt when Dahlia left. ”
“Let me guess. You’re upset with me too?”
“Actually, I am.” he digs the car keys out of his pocket and shoves them against my chest. “The difference between you and me is I don’t have tunnel vision.
Dahlia was owed an apology but Lettie and I are too.
We never consented to you bringing her into our lives and our family.
You took it upon yourself to do that. It hurt us when Dahlia left but it hurt even more knowing you let her leave.
“Now I know you don’t approve of Karina and me. You’ve made that abundantly clear.”
“That’s not—”
“Fine. Whatever. But I don’t regret it and I’m not going to be ashamed about it either.
I saw my chance and I took it. I’m going to fight for her until I can’t anymore because she’s the one I want.
And in five years from now, the rest of this shit won’t even matter.
” He brushes past me on his way to the car. “It’ll barely be worth the memory.”