Chapter Three Don’t Clap
Henry
I was supposed to be guarding the twins. But all I could do was stare at this young woman who was their nanny. When it came to Maya, I kept feeling impressed by her. The twins adored her and they respected her too. And I could see why.
On the plane to America, they were well behaved even if they looked excited and amazed.
They had never been out of Mexico. In fact, they’d never been allowed to leave that old house and street where we found them.
I already felt bad for what their lives had been like.
Then again, their world had improved greatly once Maya came along.
Carlos had told me that if not for her, the kids would have been emotionally damaged and uneducated.
He also felt sure she gave up her own money just to keep their nutrition up.
She was just a wonderful person all the way around.
It wasn’t common for me to think about a woman with such glowing praise.
My experience with the fairer sex was not very good.
I had been in love with two women in my past. The first was in school.
They called this high school sweethearts in the United States.
In England we just called it childhood sweethearts.
And it was sweet until university or college as Americans call it, when she then became a little too friendly…
with every guy she met. Being a teen, this betrayal hit me more than hard.
Broken up over it was a mild description of what I felt at twenty.
Then later in my life, I dared to love again.
I took a chance despite feeling hesitant.
We were happy until she got greedy. All I can say about that one was that if a woman could be called disloyal and untrustworthy, then she met all the requirements for those qualities.
After that romantic disaster, I dated casually.
Just to scratch that itch as it is called.
I always made sure the women knew I wasn’t dating them in a serious way.
I would take them out and treat them like queens.
Then if we got along, I would try to go to their residence, so leaving the next morning would be easier.
Yes, I make it sound sorted and shifty… and that it was.
I admit it. I went after the sex and no ties.
It had been because I didn’t trust females and I knew that was unfair but I never found one that… did it for me.
I again looked up at Maya. I somehow knew that this woman might just do it for me.
I winced inwardly. But just look at her…
intelligent, polite, shy and beautiful. I paused and kicked myself.
I needed to stop looking at her like she was a cookie to eat.
But damn, I bet she tasted better than any on the plates here.
I hid my smirk by taking a bite of the cookie.
Since we sat down at the table, I’d followed her example and ate them in the same order she had.
I figured that would be my safest route.
After all, I knew absolutely nothing about cookies.
Where I’m from, cookies weren’t that great.
At least not like Italian and American cookies.
What the British called a cookie was traditionally a biscuit.
British biscuits were typically crisp, flat, and designed to be dunked into tea.
My favorite here in America had to be chocolate chip.
Now I was discovering Italian cookies and they were tasty.
I glanced up and saw Maya’s expression had changed and her eyes were watery. I hoped this wasn’t an allergic reaction to the cookies or something. However, after looking at her, I think she had actual tears in her eyes. Like the kind that came with sadness. What the hell?
Our eyes met and she looked away from me, which she did quite often. She quickly grabbed a napkin to dab the tears before they rolled from her eyes.
I removed my gaze from her as I did not mean to embarrass her.
I gazed around the large kitchen while attempting to do my job which was as Rain had put it…
guarding the kids and Maya. Finally, I swung my gaze back to the occupants at the table as it had gotten super quiet. My attention landed on the twins.
They were now sitting with their hands in their laps and their heads bowed. All the animation and enjoyment that they exhibited a few minutes ago was absent.
Raising my gaze, I locked eyes with Gabriela.
She looked troubled by the sudden heavy silence in the room.
I felt troubled by it as well. There were things going on here that I was unaware of.
Having to do with the life Maya and the twins had lived in Mexico.
I now realized that the trauma would take a while to dissipate.
None of them had spoken about it, but as I could see now, it was there just beneath the surface.
Mrs. Santorini was the one to break this awkward stillness as she came over to the table and asked, “So what cookie is the winner?”
Gabriela smiled a bit and said, “I haven’t taken a vote.” She glanced at Hope then at Alex. “Which is your favorite?”
The twins slowly looked up at her. They did not answer her.
“The Pizzicati,” Maya spoke up.
The teens looked over at her.
Maya gave them a nod. “Go ahead, give her your pick,” she urged as she gave them an encouraging smile.
“The puff ball ones,” Hope said.
“I like the biscuit one,” Alex said.
“Biscotti,” Maya corrected.
“Yes, what she said.” He nodded his head at Maya.
I could see that they weren’t afraid of Maya. I’d already concluded that before. However, her sadness had a definite effect on the kids. “I have to agree with Maya,” I spoke up now. “The raspberry cookie. Very nice.”
“Oooh, so the Pizzicati is the winner!” Gabriela said.
“But you did not vote,” Alex told her immediately.
“But if she adds a vote,” Hope told him. “Then we will not have a winner.”
A very smart summation by the teen girl. She was right, five votes would skew the results.
“But we do,” Gabriela replied. “I too, love the Pizzicati.”
“Awww!” the twins exclaimed in disappointment.
“That is three to 2,” Gabriela concluded as she beamed at them.
The twins both laughed as if they really had liked the voting game.
I smiled as they were just so innocent and charming.
And it wasn’t an act like I’d first thought when we were traveling with them.
They weren’t like many teens in the world.
But they had been raised in an uncommon environment.
As far as we knew, they’d been in lockdown since they were babies.
Especially not like American teens who were practically dating at fourteen, on their phones constantly or hooked up to a video game.
I paused to study them. In fact, I remember them being fascinated by Rain’s cell phone while we traveled in the SUV through Mexico.
They had seen them, Alex told us, but they had never held one.
What kind of life had those two old witches subjected them to?
I again glanced at Maya. I felt sure she knew every detail.
She had been there for several years and the kids considered her to be the person who loved them the most. I then looked around the room again.
Catching Gabriela’s gaze. These kids had a lot of things to tell her and I knew she would want to know it all.
Not that I thought that was a good idea.
Poor Gabriela already felt a twisted sort of guilt.
She was not to blame for the twins being taken but even knowing that wouldn’t help her.
And Maya perhaps could fill her in as well.
However, I knew one thing, none of it was good.
I saw that old house. It looked like it was literally falling down around them.
I did feel glad that those old women were already gone when we arrived as I’d never hit a woman before and especially never an old woman.
But I still wanted to knock them around a bit for their cruelty to the twins.
Carlos had a drink with Rain and I in Mexico City at the hotel before taking the flight home.
He had told us that he regretted not going and getting the kids for the last nine years.
I reminded him that his father had been in the way.
His father had threatened the kid’s lives if Carlos made any kind of move.
He had also said that Gabby would be killed if Carlos interfered.
One could say those were just threats and the old man never meant them.
But Santiago Castillo never made an empty threat in his whole miserable life.
He would have followed through and I reminded Carlos the kids would not have been there to rescue had he made an attempt years earlier.
In fact, Santiago’s standing orders had followed through even after his death. Alvaro and Miguel had gone to Catemaco to do his bidding. As in… kill the kids if Carlos tried to rescue them.
So, when Carlos found out that Santiago had passed away, the very first thing he did was call Rain and I. To arrange to finally get the twins. We had waited for that call as he had explained about the kids years before when we had stayed with him while he was injured.
Gabriela stood from her chair and then wobbled a bit.
I instantly bolted up and steadied her. She was very pregnant and falling would be dangerous to her and the baby at this stage.
“Oooh, dios mio!” she exclaimed. “Thank you! Um Henry, right?”
I nodded at her.
“Carlos and Rain call him Sir Henry,” Maya spoke up.
Alex nodded. “And that means he has been knighted.”
I laughed as I finally let go of Gabriela’s arm. “No, they call me that as sort of a nickname.”
Hope stood from her chair and slowly took a few steps over to her mother. “These babies…” She pointed at Gabriela’s belly. “They will be our brother and sister?”
Gabriela halted and her face went a bit pale as she asked, “How did you know?”
Hope shrugged. “You have a big belly. That means you are um…” She looked sorry that she ever asked the question now.
Reaching out, Gabriela grasped her hand. “No…How did you know that I am having twins.”
Hope looked confused. “I just thought…”
“She thinks all mothers are going to have twins,” Maya filled in her answer as she laughed a little. “I suppose that would be natural.”
Gabriela laughed and squeezed Hopes’ hands. “No, not all mothers have twins. Most just have one baby. It seems I will now have two sets of twins.”
“So will you send them away too?” Alex asked Gabriela.
The kitchen went very quiet.
Gabriela went still and her lips trembled.
“Alex, that…” Maya tried to help the subject but her voice faded away.
“I never sent you away,” Gabriela’s voice shook as she explained the truth, “You were taken from me as soon as you were born.”
I sat quietly and felt like the room had become heavy with darkness. Like I could almost feel Santiago’s ghost screaming his rage. I shivered a bit and tried to shake it off. I glanced over at Maya.
She visibly shivered too as if she felt the same vibe.
“Why didn’t you come and get us?” Hope asked her.
“I could not find you. But I want you both to know that I never wanted to be parted from you.” Tears now rolled down Gabriela’s cheeks as she couldn’t hide the grief she still suffered with.
“A very cruel, very bad person took you away from me. I know you may not understand any of it. And I get that. But you need to know one thing…I loved you. I always loved you both. I dreamed all the time that I would get to be with you again.”
“I am sorry that they believed this,” Maya said. “The aunts told them that was what happened. I could never argue with it as I never knew what the history really was.”
Hope cried and told Gabriela, “I-I’m sorry.”
Gabriela took her hand again then reached up to swipe her tears away. “Don’t be. None of this was yours or Alex’s fault.” She looked over at him as well. “But we are together now and you are going to be happy here. You will see. We are finally reunited and we will be a family.”
I smiled and looked over at Maya.
Tears filled her eyes again.
I know she really cared about these kids, but she seemed to be so sad. This girl had something going on and I felt like maybe it had to do with her own family. It wasn’t any of my business though. Yet, I found myself wanting to help her.
Gabriela smiled at Hope then at Alex. “So, do you want to see your rooms?”
The twin teens stared at her with astounded expressions.
“O-our rooms?” Alex asked.
Nodding, Gabriela replied, “They are next to each other, so don’t worry. You won’t be far apart.”
“Wait…” Alex interjected. “We each get a room each?”
I smiled again and shook my head. I wasn’t surprised to hear this, considering the poverty they had lived in.
“They always shared a room in Catemaco,” Maya explained.
Gabriela shrugged as she told them, “You have your own rooms. Your own beds and your own bathrooms with showers and bathtubs.”
The twins paused and glanced at each other, then back at her. They looked totally stunned.
“How can such a thing be true?” Alex asked her.
“Which thing?” Gabriela asked as her expression showed her amusement at the question.
“A-a bathtub and a shower?” he explained what he meant.
“You will see that it is so…And there are lots of surprises coming to you both. All good things. Then Maya will be just across the hall from you as well,” Gabriela explained as she looked over at Maya. “That is if she is staying?”
Both the twins gasped loudly and whipped their heads over to stare at Maya.
She let out a long breath and said, “I am unsure. I…There is something I need to do. Then I will try to come back here to see you both?”
As if it never occurred to them that she would leave, they both looked really upset.
“But we thought…” Alex stared at her.
“…that you would always be with us?” Hope finished his sentence.
Maya stood and looked at them both. “I didn’t mean that I would leave you forever.”
They both seemed to psychically slump in utter relief.
I had to squelch my chuckle. Well, they both could act as dramatic as the average teenager.
Gabriele did laugh as she clapped her hands together. “Ok, so let’s—”
At her clap, the teens jumped as if a bomb had gone off. They both stepped behind me to hide.
Looking startled, Gabriela stared at me while trying to see them. “What… Qué les pasa, mis amores?” she asked in Spanish. What’s wrong, my darlings?
I looked over my shoulder at the teens to see real fear on their faces. What the hell?