Page 13 of Savage Fire

She hadn’t dialed her mom’s phone number in too long, and she didn’t even know if it still worked. For all Tessa knew, her mother was dead!

God! The tightening in her chest morphed into an ache that pierced.

Letting the tears burn the backs of her eyes, she opened her contacts and hit send, completely ignoring the hour, knowing that her mother would be up before the sun as she always was.

The phone rang, and Tessa held her breath.

Two rings, then a click. “Hello?” a weary, raspy voice answered. A familiar voice.

Stunned to hear her mother’s voice after seven years, tears filled her eyes. She blinked them away. Her mother hadn’t changed her number in seven years.

“Hello?” her mom prodded, exasperation in her weary voice. Checking the time on the dash clock, Tessa realized her mom was probably just getting out of bed.

Open mouth. Speak words!

“Muh…Mama?” Tessa finally croaked, her own voice caught in her throat.

Heavy, stricken silence followed her greeting.

“You there, Mama?” Tessa asked, suddenly anxious. Maybe her mom had answered, but now Jacob had the phone.

“Con-Condesa?” Tessa could hear the relief and agony in her mama’s voice. And at the sound of her birth name on her mother’s lips, she nearly crumbled. It had been so long.

“Yes, it’s me, Mama,” she replied in Spanish, knowing that the language had always been a balm to her mother who’d missed her own parents—judgmental Mexican immigrants—dearly even after they’d abandoned their pregnant seventeen-year-old daughter because she’d sullied herself with the blond surfer instead of marrying the pious, older man they’d picked for her.

Great, terrible sobs filled the line, spilling through the microphone and into Tessa’s ear. Inside her guts, Tessa felt something loosen, like a knot tied too tight was finally being undone. Tears spilled down her cheeks once more, dropping onto her dark blue uniform shirt.

“Baby! My baby! Condesa, where are you? What happened to you? Are you safe? Are you happy?” Her mother’s excited questions made Tessa smile sadly.

“Mama, slow down,” she said, laughing softly. “I’ll answer your questions, but first, I need to know…is Jacob there?”

Instead of answering, the sounds of movement, fabric swishing over fabric, and a grunt made Tessa’s heart speed up.

“Mama?” she inquired warily.

More movement, a soft click, then—

“Sorry, baby,” her mother’s voice was somewhat muted, as if she was holding her hand over the phone. “I had to get somewhere quiet where no one could hear. And you know how difficult that was before—it is much more so now.”

Why? Had Jacob the perv married more infant brides? Probably completed another round of impregnations on the brides he already had. Lord, what a nasty, awful, gag-inducing thought.

“Talk to me, Condesa—where are you? Are you safe?”

“Yes, I’m safe, Mama—”though I did get kidnapped then shot not too long ago“—and Iamhappy. Life has been good.” At least it had been for the last couple of years, since she’d met Skathi. Before landing in Vegas, it had been an exhausting slog of uncertainty, fear, and long, lonely nights.

“Oh, God, Condesa…I’ve been so worried about you,” her mother said, sniffling.

Guilt hit Tessa like a horse kick. “I know, I’ve been worried about you, too. But I couldn’t call before now. I never knew ifhewould answer, and I didn’t want to take the chance that he could somehow find out where I was and come and drag me back.”

“I know, baby, but it’s been seven years. I haven’t heard from you in seven years. In all that time, I didn’t know if you were alive, if you were healthy, if you’d settled down and had a family…without me.”

God, the guilt. Tears flowed freely now.

“I’m sorry, Mama.” She didn’t know what else to say. Yes, she’d fled because her reality as an innocent eighteen-year-old was an abhorrent one, but in all that time she’d been gone, she could have reached out to her mother. Even just once. But she knew Jacob probably monitored all communication going in and coming out. Even now, calling her mom’s cell, Tessa knew there was a high chance Jacob was either listening in or would see the record of the call when he checked the reports.

A heavy sigh, a sniff, then her mother assured, “It’s alright, Condesa. I knew this could happen when I pushed you to leave. I knew there was a chance I’d never see you or hear from you again, and I was okay with it. But now that I finally know you’re alright—” A sob sounded down the line. “It’s relief and grief at the same time,mija.”

Tessa whimpered, totally not the badass ball-breaker in that moment. In that moment, she was the scared, wounded little girl who missed her mama.

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