Page 195 of From Rivals to I Do

Another heavy silence. Then, Rafael finally said, “No, ‘mano, it wasn’t an accident.”

Camilla did not understand what she was hearing. Her mind was twisting around the words, trying to make them make sense. What was Rafael saying?

“You might as well know it all, I guess,” he confessed, his voice taking on a hushed tone. “See, Mr. Santiago knew I had a thing for Camilla. I used to sometimes come over to the house after school and ask to see her, but he’d always say no. Always have some excuse. She’s at choir practice, or she’s with her mom. Just dumb stuff to keep me away, you know? But then, I’d see her at school, right? So I figured if I can catch her at school, then maybe…”

Camilla felt like she was going to be sick. Her stomach started to turn. “We did not have the same classes, so it was hard. And, let me you, ‘mano. She was a stone fox back in the day. All the guys were talking about her. You know what I mean?” There was silence. Abel was not responding. “Yeah, so I could never catch up with her. But I thought I had time, right? I had time. I was a senior, but I wasn’t going to graduate any time soon. I had time…”

Camilla had no memory of ever seeing or talking to Rafael. The idea of him lurking in the shadows, watching her as she talked to her friends or went to class, sent shivers up her spine.

“And then I did not see her at school anymore, and I got to wondering, right? So, I asked around. Asked if anybody had heard anything. That’s when I found out she went to live with her mom in Cali.” He scoffed bitterly. “Old Sorry Santiago loses again.” He paused, and it sounded like there was a little chuckle. A laugh at the expense of Camilla’s father.

“So…I got a game together,” he went on. “Made sure it got around the neighborhood but made extra sure he heard about it. Everybody knew he was going to lose his restaurant, so, like, I knew he was going to be desperate for money. I figured he had come to the poker game, and maybe I let him win a couple of hands, then I accuse him of cheating and…” He trailed off. Camilla listened with rapt horror, bile rising in her throat.

“It was the perfect crime until you walked in,” he said. “You weren’t supposed to see any of that and…and I’m sorry that you did. I should have had you stay somewhere else for the night or something. I am sorry for that.”

There was nothing for a while and Camilla had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from either screaming or vomiting. It was all coming together in her mind. Abel went to jail for his brother’s crime. He did ten years for his older brother. And his older brother had planned to kill her father.

She dared a look out of the window and saw Abel standing there, all the color drained out of his face. Rafael walked up to him to reassure him, but Abel backed away, putting his hands up to deflect his brother’s touch.

“Hey,” he said. “Hey, listen. It all worked out, though. Right? I mean, sure, I did not think you’d go down for so long, but you’re out now. And you were young then. You still have most of your life to live still.”

Abel just stared at him for a long time. Then, slowly, he put a hand to his ear. In a cracked voice full of sorrow, he said, “You got all that…? Good.”

Rafael’s face morphed from relaxed to anger in seconds. “What…what did you say?” He backed away from him, his hands shaking. “What did you do? Abel, what did you do?”

“Promise I’ll come to visit you, Raf.”

A second later, the door slammed open, and the restaurant was filled with police in plain clothes. They swarmed Rafael, grabbing him and slamming him against the wall. Rafael swore loudly in English and Spanish as they handcuffed him and dragged him out of the restaurant. The last thing Camilla saw was Rafael’s eyes wide and wild looking, glaring in disbelief that his own brother had set him up.

Camilla came out of the kitchen as a couple of the officers walked up to Abel, telling him what was next. She heard Abel ask, Is he going to jail? How long until the trial?

She just stood there. Stunned, her heart heavy with guilt. She had tortured him for a week for no reason. The things she had said to him!

Abel turned and saw her, a sheepish smile on his face. “Hey,” he said. “So…sorry about all this. I mean, I didn’t realize they’d track so much mud…”

She walked up to him and kissed him. Standing on her tiptoes and her body pressed against his. Surprised, he froze at first, then he settled into the kiss, taking her in his arms and reciprocating passionately. When their lips parted, he looked down into the sparkling gems that were her eyes.

“So…you’re not mad?”

“No,” she said, with a smile. “I am the one who should apologize. I should have believed in you.”

He chuckled. “Don’t sweat it. I’m not sure I would have believed me if I’d just told you the truth.”

They both looked out of the window of the restaurant at the flashing blue and red lights. The yellow lights of the restaurant cut through the police haze and cast itself on the police cars in the parking lot. Part of it caught Rafael’s face as he fussed and fought in the back of a squad car.

“You…didn’t know that everything he did was on purpose.” She had meant it as a question, but it did not come out that way. Abel looked at his brother mournfully, his brown eyes filled with sorrow.

“No,” he said. “Never had any idea.” He paused, biting his bottom lip. She did not envy the feeling he must have about his brother now. To know that his brother never helped him the way that Abel believed he had…

She roped her arm into his and squeezed. He smiled, and she rested her head on his shoulder, smiling as he kissed the top of her head.

“Nowhere to go but up, I guess,” he said.

“Yeah.”

They watched together as the police car with Rafael in it pulled away and drove into the night.

Chapter eleven

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