Page 73 of Hidden Falls

I sat down at the head of the table with Papa on one side and Mom on the other. Lei took a seat beside Mom, and Dr. Wilson sat beside Papa.

“A lot of people have gone to a lot of time and money to bring you home,” Mom said to me.

“And I have gone to a lot of time and money to bring Malia back to her true family,” Papa said, in the exact hard tone Mom used.

I flapped my hands up and down. “This is not going to do any of us any good. You two need to park that crap and let it go.”

Now both of them glared at me with identical outraged expressions; if it hadn’t been so serious, it would have been funny.

Dr. Wilson had one of those soothing voices. “Let’s stay focused on solving the current challenge: you both want Malia to live with you full-time. Malia, this is your chance to tell your truth for the record. What would you most like to have happen with your living situation?”

“I know exactly. I’ve thought about it a lot.” I glanced from Papa to Mom and back again, drew a deep breath, gusted it out, and spoke. “Papa. I don’t like what you did in kidnapping me, but I realized I never would have come to visit voluntarily. I’m now glad that I met you and my brother and other sister. I’d like to be able to spend more time with you and them. I was thinking the summers make sense.”

Papa’s brows drew down in a thunderous scowl. He let loose a blast of rapid Spanish, complete with hand gestures.

Dr. Wilson held up a palm. “Pardon, Señor Ramirez. Let’s let Malia have her say. Then you and Ms. Clark can share your opinions.”

He growled, but subsided.

I went on, turning to my mother. “Mom, I wish you had tried harder to bring Papa to the table to talk this out instead of endangering everyone with a showdown on a public street. Papa is right. You don’t have a legal leg to stand on. You should have gone through the right procedures to adopt me. You should have been honest with me. If you had been, I wouldn’t have been so shocked by all of this when it happened.”

Mom frowned; she and Papa really had a lot in common, it turned out. “I did the best I could, given the challenges at the time. I thought I was rescuing you from those traffickers. I couldn’t take the chance you’d have been taken away from me and put in an orphanage.”

“If she had been, I would have found her there,” Papa flared. “Her mother and I scoured every institution in the country looking for her. When we heard about the traffickers who were burned near the copper mine, we were grief-stricken; we’d tracked her kidnapping to them. Her mother thought she must have died in that fire, but without her body being found in the ashes, I never gave up looking for her.”

Dr. Wilson reached out to touch Mom’s arm. “Can you imagine how that must have been for Señor Ramirez and his wife?”

“I can.” Mom made eye contact with Papa for the first time. “I’m sorry for your loss. If I had known . . . I would have brought Malia back to you, in spite of what you do for a living.”

“You have contempt for what I do,” Papa said evenly. “But I take care of my people and my family. I am a good employer. I have standards.”

Mom rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Malia. I can’t let you go to Mexico and spend time with your drug lord father in a compound full of guns.”

Papa’s blood pressure had risen so that his face was dusky with color.

“Papa. Is this true?” My voice wobbled. I’d had my suspicions but hearing them confirmed now was a shock.

“Yes, but it’s not like they say.” Papa reached for my hand. “It’s a business like any other. You’ve seen me work.”

“A business that preys on people’s addictions and vulnerabilities. An illegal business filled with violence!” Harry burst out.

“Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet pot,” I told Mom. “It’s not up to you, anyway, and what you do is filled with violence too.”

Mom’s hands fluttered; she was longing for a cigarette. I was glad when she didn’t say anything else.

Lei had written something on the whiteboard. She turned back. “Do I have this correct? Malia would like to spend the school year with her adoptive family in Hawaii and summers in Mexico with her other siblings and natural father.”

“Yeah,” I said. “But what about holidays? I’m open on that, Papa, Mom.” I patted Papa’s arm. “I’d like to learn more about my culture. Experience how you celebrate holidays in Mexico.”

He gave a brusque nod. “I would like that too.”

So that’s how we ended up with an agreement that I would go back to Maui but fly to Mexico for winter break to celebratela Navidadwith my relatives in Mexico City. I’d finish school this year on Maui, and then fly back to Mexico in the summer. “Your Spanish needs work,” Papa grumbled. “But at least now I won’t have to pay for this expensive girls’ school.”

“I really appreciate that you brought the whole family here, thinking that would be better for me. In future, though, I hope we can talk things over first instead of . . .” my face heated up with embarrassment . . . “causing everybody so much stress over a decision like that. My sister Antonia and brother Fernando have needs and rights, too, you know.” I wasn’t about to tell him the nasty things my resentful bro had said to me behind Papa’s back because I totally got why he was mad.

My father inclined his head. That was all I was going to get from him.

“We’re making great progress,” Dr. Wilson said. “Is there anything else anyone here needs to say, for the record?”

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