The Spanish Kidnapping Disaster

by Mary Downing Hahn

  Then I thought of Grace, lying alone in the hospital. "What will happen when Grace gets well?" I asked. "Will she have to testify against Orlando and Charles?"

  "I suppose so," Don said.

  "How about us?" Phillip asked. "Will we have to be there too?"

  Don slid an arm around Phillip. "I don't know yet," he said. "We'll talk to the police tomorrow. I imagine we have a lot to learn about Spanish law, something we sure didn't plan on when we left home."

  I leaned against Mom, listening to Phillip and Don discuss legal matters. Once again, I was safe. I'd bathed and changed my clothes, Amy had done something to improve my hair, and I'd had a delicious dinner. For the first time, I felt like I was part of a real family.

  But what about Grace's children? The starving ones she'd told me about? They weren't safe. They weren't comfortable. They hadn't had a delicious dinner. And they weren't going to get the money she had wanted them to have.

  Straightening up, I looked at Mom. "Don't you think we should give Grace a reward for rescuing us?"

  Mom stared at me. "Why, Felix," she said, "I never thought of that. Of course we should."

  "And my father," I said, "could you ask him to contribute? He can afford it."

  Mom turned to Dad. "What do you think?" she asked.

  "Felix is right," he said. "We can certainly give Grace two or three thousand dollars, and Felix's dad can easily match that. Grace deserves something for endangering her life to save our children."

  ***

  The next afternoon, Phillip, Amy, and I were allowed to visit Grace. When we entered her room, she was sitting up in bed reading a book, but she dropped it when she saw us.

  "Children," she cried, "oh, what a happy surprise to see you again! And you are all right? No bad effects from our ordeal?"

  While Phillip showed her his cast, I asked Grace about her injury. "It was nothing," she insisted. "No broken bones, just blood loss. I will be out of here in a couple of days, they say."

  From the size of her bandage, I was pretty sure Grace was minimizing the bullet wound, but her color was better, and she looked almost as beautiful as she had the first day I'd seen her.

  "This is for you." I set a huge floral arrangement down on the nightstand. "From our parents."

  As Grace thanked me, I plucked one yellow flower from it and handed it to her. "For your hair," I said.

  Grace took the flower but, with the use of only one arm, she couldn't put it in her hair. "Here, you do it, Felix, please."

  I poked the stem gently into her hair, just above her ear. "There," I said.

  Then I handed her an envelope. "This is for you too, from Mom and Don, from my father, and from Amy and Phillip's mother."

  Without opening the envelope, Grace stared at me. "I do not understand," she said.

  "It's a reward," Phillip butted in.

  "For saving our lives," Amy added.

  While we watched, Grace tore open the envelope and took out the money. For a few seconds, she stared at it. "Oh," she said. "It is too much. I do not deserve it. Not after what I did. This is all my fault, Phillip's broken bone, your cuts and bruises, the fear and pain—I caused it all and your parents do this for me. If they knew, they would not give me anything."

  With tears running down her cheeks, she thrust the envelope toward me. "Take this back, Felix. I will tell the truth, admit what I have done, go to jail as I should."

  Gently I laid the envelope on her lap. "Please take it," I said. "It's partly my fault too. I told you so many lies in Toledo about how rich we were. If I hadn't made that stuff up, you might never have thought of kidnapping us."

  Grace looked at the envelope again, at the money poking out of it. "For the children then," she said, and pressed the envelope to her chest. "I will take it for them, the starving ones."

  "All of it?" Phillip asked. "Don't you want to keep some for yourself?"

  "The children are the ones who need it, not me," Grace insisted. "It must go to them, every cent, to make up for what I did."

  "But what will you do?" I asked her. "Where will you go?"

  "There is still much of the world for me to see," Grace said. "I will journey onward, but I will be careful. No more disasters for me, Felix. I will watch out for the ones like Orlando and Charles, believe me."

  As I perched on the bed beside her, Grace said, "Open the drawer, please, Felix, in the nightstand."

  Obediently I slid it open. It was empty except for two gold hoops, my earrings, the very ones I'd thrown at Grace the day we'd been kidnapped.

  "I saved them for you," Grace said, "just in case you might want them again."

  I took them out and slowly fastened them in my ears. Grace and I smiled at each other. "They look nice," Grace said, "my little gitana. May they bring you luck always."

  The room was quiet for a moment. Then Phillip sat down beside me and leaned toward Grace. "Come to America," he said suddenly, "and visit us. We have a big house."

  "But no swimming pool and no Jacuzzi," I said. "No horse, either."

  "There's a guest room, though, "Amy added. "You could stay as long as you like."

  I stared at her, too surprised to say anything, but Amy wasn't looking at me. She was smiling at Grace.

  As Grace tried to hug all three of us, Mom and Don stepped into the room. While they thanked Grace for what she had done, I caught Amy's eye and winked at her. She smiled at me then, and I decided that having a sister might not be so bad after all. Especially if we could keep our promises to each other.