CHAPTER TEN

A screech from the microphone broke her reverie. A man stepped down from the stage and approached them. He shook hands and hugged people as he made his way around the table.

“Rickito!” Isabel hugged him and Arturo embraced the man warmly. He was introduced to Teri as Isabel’s brother, Ricardo, affectionately called Ricky. He was a small man, shorter than Teri and his hands were about the same size as hers.

“I am happy to meet Angel’s novia.” Ricky let his fingers gently touch one of the sapphire earrings Isabel had lent her. He met her eyes, smiling broadly. “Are you enjoying the music?”

Teri said she was and complimented him on the club. He told her it had been their father’s restaurant. When he’d taken over he put in a dance floor. The same cooks worked there as when his father was alive but now they had a bartender as well. The other musicians were reassembling on the stage. Ricky kissed Teri’s hand and his sisters Isabel and Luz on the cheek before joining them.

Arturo stood and held his wife’s chair before leading her to the dance floor. They danced well together. Teri sat grinning as Angel stroked her hand.

“What are you smiling about?” he asked.

“Your parents. They look so young. It’s nice to see people who stay in love.”

“It’s a family tradition,” he whispered. “Be careful if you marry a Garcia because we mate for life.”

His breath on her neck incited a riot of shivers like frenetic spiders skittering across her flesh.

Teri looked down at her drink, drawing a shaky breath as she reached for it. She sipped the icy liquid too fast, causing a stabbing pain in her temple. “What was it that your uncle Ricky called me?”

“Novia. He called you my sweetheart. It can also mean my fiancée or betrothed.”

“Ooh.” Teri took another sip sending a shaft of agony shooting to her head.

Angel smiled. “Teri,” he whispered against her hair so that only she could hear. “I know things are moving too fast for you. I know you’re vulnerable. I’m crazy about you but, if you want me to back off, I will.”

She felt as though a feather pillow had exploded in her chest. “I—I don’t think I do,” she said, resting the back of her hand against his chest.

He clasped it tightly and kissed her fingers. “Good.”

The family continued to talk and laugh together. Esme came to her brother Angel and asked him to dance with her. He led the young girl to the floor and Arturo asked Teri to dance.

Surprised, she said, “I’m terrible. I warn you.”

He smiled and held out his hand. When they took the floor Teri found he had a strong lead. Teri enjoyed the dance in spite of her lack of experience with Latin dances.

“Are you in love with my son?” Arturo asked.

Teri was taken aback by his question. “I can’t answer that,” she said.

“Can’t or won’t?”

Teri twirled around twice and returned to Arturo’s arms. “I think it’s early in our relationship to make any serious announcements.”

“If you think so.” Arturo smiled. “I met Isabel when she was fifteen and I knew she was the one I would marry.”

“Fifteen? She was a baby.”

Arturo shrugged. “Me too. I was only seventeen and Isabel’s father wouldn’t allow us to date. I called on her for two years and was allowed to sit in her parlor with her grandmother chaperoning us.”

“You were very patient.”

“I knew what I wanted,” he said. I was willing to wait.”

“And you’ve been together since then?”

“Together until death do us part. That’s what we promised each other.”

Arturo’s stoic certainty gave Teri a glimmer of hope. What if there was a future for her that included a man raised by such parents?

They returned to the table and Angel held her chair.

“Can we get a breath of air?” she asked.

“Of course.” He took her hand and made a path through the crowd for her to follow. When they stepped outside the warm air felt good after the air conditioning.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m just a little confused.”

“Too much family?” he asked.

“No. You’re family is wonderful. They love you very much.”

“I know,” he said. “I think they’re overwhelming you with all their questions and assumptions.”

Teri ducked her head. “It’s okay. They’re just curious about me and I don’t blame them. I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“I know who you are, Teri.” His deep voice caressed her.

She looked up at him. “Do you now?”

“Yes.”

“Who am I?”

“You’ll find out.”

“You’re teasing me now.” Teri turned away to watch another barge motoring down the river.

Angel’s hands gripped her shoulders and gently pulled her back to rest against his chest. “I know who you are Teri,” he said against her hair. “You’re the woman I love.”

Teri closed her eyes as Angel’s fingertips stroked her shoulder. She felt her pulses racing as she tried to catch her breath. “You don’t know me,” she said. “I don’t know if you’d like the person I really am.”

He turned her around slowly. “What are you saying?”

“The person I was in New York before...before everything happened, I was all about me. When I was modeling everyone around me was all about me and when I went into the advertising business I was still all about me. I only thought about clients and campaigns in relation to what they could do for me.” Her eyes widened as Angel started laughing. “Stop it! It’s not funny.”

“Yes it is,” he said, sobering. “I thought you were going to tell me I wouldn’t like you because you’d murdered your boyfriend.”

Teri howled in outrage and hit him on the arm. “How could you think such a horrible thing?”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I would still love you. I’d have to arrest you, but I’d still love you.”

She hit him again and turned her back on him. “To think I was sharing a profound inner revelation with you and you still think I could be a killer.”

“The only one you’re killing is me.”

Teri whirled around, hands on hips.

“You’re killing me with that dress, that face, that body. I haven’t been able to think straight since I met you at St. Pius. I thought I was going to hell for lusting after a nun. And then I figured out who you are. You’ve made some bad decisions lately, but when I got to know you I couldn’t think of you as a murderer.”

“That’s comforting.” Teri narrowed her gaze and stuck out her chin. “So, what now?”

“I’ve got a lead. I’m just waiting to see where it goes.”

“I mean between us?” She held his gaze steadily.

He flashed her a wide grin. “I’ll take it as a good sign that you agree there’s something between us.”

“Of course there’s something between us!” Teri turned away, pacing a few steps and then returning to confront him. “I can’t even breathe around you. When you look at me like that I feel dizzy.”

“I’m liking that a lot.” Angel grinned as he reached for her.

“Don’t be smug.” She felt as though she was melting into his kiss.

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Teri and Angel returned to the dance floor while his family continued to exchange amused glances. She felt self-conscious at first, but soon lost herself in the music and movement. She lost herself as she danced in Angel’s arms. And when they sat with the extended Garcia family, she enjoyed their company. She was aware that Angel’s people had expectations of her, and she wasn’t sure she could live up to them. But they were so warm and had been so kind to her. They were the kind of family she would choose, if she could assemble a perfect loving family.

“We’re going for a drive,” Angel announced taking Teri’s hand. “We’ll see you back at the house.”

A chorus of catcalls greeted their departure. Stepping out into the night air was like putting on a damp garment. The scent of magnolias enveloped them. As before, Angel curved his arm around her waist.

“I could get used to this,” she said.

“Me too.”

“Where are we going?”

“We’re really going for a drive. I want to cruise by the nun’s place just to make sure everything is alright.”

“Why?” she said. “Do you think they’re in danger?”

He unlocked the car and put her inside. “I don’t want to take any chances,” he said when he slid onto his seat. “And I want to see if the PI who’s surveilling the place has anything for me.”

They drove in silence to the rear of the small apartment complex. “Duck down,” he ordered. He circled the block slowly, commenting that the same cars were there earlier but Marcel’s gray sedan was not in place.

He drove her to his parent’s house. Angel took their bags out of the trunk. They entered through the back door.

Angel set the bags down. “Hang on while I take care of something.”

“Sure.” She waited while Angel checked to make sure the doors were locked securely. He made a quick circle of the house, returned to her side with a slight grin.

“I don’t want to frighten you, but I had to make certain the house was secure.”

“You make me feel safe.” She stood on tiptoe to graze his cheek with a kiss. He gazed at her intently for a moment before gathering their bags. Teri followed him upstairs.

He opened a door along the corridor and placed the blue bag and her painting equipment inside. “You can sleep here.” He turned on a light beside the bed.

She smiled as she saw a photograph of a much younger Angel in a baseball uniform. “This was your room.”

“My mother keeps it as a shrine,” he said.

He sat on the edge of the bed.

She picked up the photo. “You were adorable.”

“I still am,” He grinned at her. “Come sit beside me.”

Teri joined him, thinking of the last time they shared a bed. She gazed around the room at the mementos on shelves and framed on his walls. The beautiful little boy had matured into a ruggedly handsome man with magnetic appeal. Perhaps his early success in sports and academics had contributed to his core of confidence.

“The bathroom’s down the hall.” Angel squeezed her thigh, starting a tingling sensation where his hand rested.

Teri was well aware that they were alone in the house. “Where are you going to sleep?” she asked.

“I’ll either bunk with my little brother or crash on the sofa in the den.”

They sat gazing at each other.

“Well, goodnight,” she said.

“Goodnight.” He brushed a kiss onto her lips and slipped out of the room, leaving her to contemplate her situation.

Teri turned back the covers and touched the pillow, thinking of young Angel sleeping there. She unzipped the blue bag and took out her nightgown and tooth brush before tiptoeing down the hall to the bathroom.

Angel leaned against the door inside Mikey’s room. He heard Teri close the bathroom door and the rush of water. He smiled, thinking of her in the heavy cast iron claw-foot bathtub, thinking of her in his bed.

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