“Thank you for meeting us,” Mary Kate greeted Henry as she gave a warm embrace. The gentlemen shook hands and exchanged polite conversation. “It is always good to see you, Henry. I just wish it were under better circumstances.” Mary Kate climbed in the back seat of the suburban. The reunion brought back very painful memories, which made Mary Kate quieter and more stoic than normal.
The driver saw to the bags, the others got in the car, and they started the last leg of their day’s trek along the county road to El Lobo. The area seemed worlds apart from her home in Mexico. She and Alex loved living on the island just across from Cancun, but they both loved El Lobo and the Cedar Creek area, too. The ranch was so much a part of Alex’s life, and it was times like these that she could hardly believe he would never be coming here with her again.
Why did he have to go on that last job? She’d asked him not to. Mary Kate had learned a very difficult lesson in these last weeks; life goes on no matter how much it hurts.
As they approached the main house, or hacienda as the Sr. Chavez called it, the stately adobe encasement walls were always the first thing that caught Mary Kate’s eye. The sprawling one story structure was started by Alex’s great-great-grandfather when he first received the land grant in the early 1700’s. Though the original structure of the home had remained the same, it had been expanded and renovated over the years with great care being taken to keep the original structure, materials, and design in place. The massive arches and white walls with the red tile roof had always fascinated her. In the center of the complex was an open courtyard with a wood burning fireplace that served as the nucleus of the compound and which all major compartments of the house led to. Behind the structure was a massive terrazzo tile terrace where celebrations and fiestas were held. Directly beyond the terrace was an Olympic-sized swimming pool surrounded by a magnificently landscaped garden. The living quarters were reminiscent of a plantación one might have seen in Spain hundreds of years ago.
The car stopped in the circular drive by the large wooden doors that opened to the main courtyard. Cactus was still in bloom everywhere just as it always was, even this late in the fall. The fragrant gardens, always well maintained, expressed their intended beauty. She noticed the adobe walls were covered with climbing white and magenta bougainvillea.
Mary Kate sat very still for a few minutes before she spoke. “This place never ceases to amaze me with its magnificence.” She apprehensively stepped out of the car as tears filled her eyes and began to trickle down her grief-stricken face. She was not even aware of the tears until Henry handed her a handkerchief.
“Thank you,” she said as she attempted a smile. Mary Kate was always very much in control; in fact, lately, she was too much in control for everyone’s comfort. She wiped her cheeks and dabbed her eyes in an effort not to show her emotions, and then proceeded to the main doors.
“Mi niña! mi niña! I am so sorry,” Maria called to Mary Kate as the group stepped through the massive wooden doors into the courtyard of the hacienda. She ran to Mary Kate and hugged her fiercely. Maria’s family had been with the Chavez family for three generations. Her hair was graying, and she was aging with the times.
Maria had been a major influence in Alex’s life, and they had loved each other very deeply. After Alex’s mother passed away when he was ten, she became his surrogate mother. When Alex was believed dead, Maria was a pillar of strength for Mary Kate, as she would be now.
Maria led Mary Kate to the suite that she and Alex had always shared, and Manny followed them with Mary Kate’s bags. When they reached the door to the group of rooms off the main courtyard, Mary Kate hesitated for a minute before entering. A flood of very painful memories washed over her as she moved into the sitting room of the suite.
She walked to the fireplace and stood silently as she scanned the room with a smile on her face, put there by false bravado. Slowly, she moved her hand to the mantle for steadying support before she spoke. “I think I’m going to lie down for a little while.”
“Don’t you want something to eat?” Maria asked.
“No, I don’t want anything right now. I’ll get something later.”
Manny moved toward her as she remained standing at the fireplace, afraid to move because she was not very steady on her feet.
“I’m fine,” she said to assure him she was all right. “Manny, don’t forget our meeting tomorrow morning with Henry.”
He put her bags down and left with Maria. When the door closed, Mary Kate moved to the couch, sat down, and closed her eyes as she leaned back to hold back the impending tears. She lost the battle as she thought about the many nights to come that she would spend here alone in Alex’s home, without him.
Manny and Maria stood outside the door to the suite, and looked at each other as they listened to Mary Kate’s heart wrenching expression of grief.
“There is nothing we can do right now to make things any better for her,” Maria told Manny as they stood there. They both knew that only time would heal her broken heart.
Chapter 3
Mary Kate rose early and dressed for the meeting at Henry’s office. She left the suite and headed for the kitchen in search of coffee. When she reached the kitchen and breakfast area she found Manny and Peter deep in conversation.
“Are you ready to go?” she asked Manny as she got herself a cup of coffee and went to the table and sat down.
“I am ready when you are,” Manny responded. “We’ll need to leave within the next thirty minutes to get there by nine.”
“I just need a piece of toast and I’ll be good to go,” Mary Kate said as she headed to the toaster.
“While you’re at Henry’s this morning I’m going to evaluate the security of the area and get started on addressing what needs to be brought up to speed,” Peter informed her.
“Sounds good,” Mary Kate replied. “Maria, we should be back by noon, I hope.”
With that Manny and Mary Kate headed to Henry’s office in downtown Cedar Creek. “Please park in the back,” Mary Kate asked Manny as they approached the office. “I really don’t want to meet anyone and have to go through a million questions.”
Manny agreed. They parked in the back of the building, and went in through the private entrance. The receptionist greeted them warmly and offered her condolences, then led Manny and Mary Kate into Henry’s small conference room.
This was to be a meeting to review and discuss the memorial arrangements for Sr. Chavez, and a preliminary discussion of the upcoming legal issues that involved taking over as executor for the Chavez Estate. The three of them sat around the elegant conference table as Sandy brought in coffee, brandy, and pan dulce in preparation for the meeting.
“Don’t you think it is a bit early for brandy?” Mary Kate inquired as she looked at Henry.
“You never know, we might need it before we get through this meeting,” Henry countered as he poured brandy for all of them.
Just as they began the meeting, the office door to Mary Kate’s back opened and closed softly. Mary Kate heard someone enter the office, but she didn’t turn around. Manny and Henry were both watching for Mary Kate’s reaction to the person now standing behind her. The visitor had not spoken to any of them. Her first thought was of Max.
She spoke without turning around, “Hello, Max. Please sit down and join us.”
The person behind her spoke in a voice rough with emotion. “It isn’t Max, Mary Kate.”
She froze in shock, and turned to look over her shoulder in disbelief. It was Alex! She began to tremble as she stood. She wasn’t sure her shaky legs would hold her. “This is impossible. It can’t be,” she said in a reverent whisper barely heard by the group. She reached in his direction, and lost her footing. Manny grabbed her arm to steady her. She continued toward Alex, and threw herself into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around him, sobbed, and shook noticeably. Suddenly, she stiffened and jerked away from him feeling confusion and pain, instead of joy and relief. Mary Kate stared at
that all too familiar face and opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She took another step away from Alex and just stared at the man she believed to be dead, realizing that he was actually there.
Mary Kate looked at the other two men, and then looked back at Alex understanding for the first time they were not at all surprised to see him. They had known all along that he was alive, and kept it from her.
With each passing second, she became more and more incensed. She balled her hands at her side, clinched her teeth, straightened her spine, and raised her chin as a show of strength. Tears were streaming down her tormented face as Alex reached for her.
“Don’t touch me,” Mary Kate almost growled as she backed further across the room to the door. “How could you put me through this horrendous nightmare? I thought you loved me.”
Alex took a step closer before he spoke. “I love you more than anything, that’s why I had to do it.”
Not even hearing him through her pain and devastation, “I just can’t believe you’d do that to me. My God, where have you been all this time?”
He eased closer to her slowly, and began speaking softly. “Please Mary Kate, just listen, and let me explain. I had to disappear for your own protection. If I just pretended to be dead, anyone watching you’d know it was a farce. The cartel involved with the last operation would come after you and use you to get to me. Your life depended on me no longer being a threat to them.” He kept easing toward her as she kept backing away. “I love you, and I could not allow them to use you against me. You’ve got to understand, Amada.”
She reached up with lightning speed and slapped him. “You have no right to call me that anymore!” She barely could speak between the sobs. “I don’t have to understand anything, and I don’t want to talk to any of you right now.” She turned and reached for the door, “I have to get out of here.”
Alex stepped to follow her, “I’ll drive you back to the ranch.”
“No!” Mary Kate shouted as she raised her hand to hold him back. She threw open the door, and it slammed against the wall. “I can take care of myself.”
Alex told Manny to go with her, but she whirled around and shot him a look that stopped him dead in his tracks. Mary Kate left the building the same way she came in, only in a determined stride. When she reached the car, she leaned her forehead against the driver’s side window trying to regain her composure.
Alex came out of the office building and pulled her into his arms murmuring to her in Spanish to calm her. “Amada, I’m here and everything’s going to be all right.”
“Stop it and let me go,” she cried as she fought him to be free.
“No, I won’t let you go, Amada,” Alex whispered to her as she dissolved in uncontrollable sobs. He just stood there and held her until she finally calmed down a little.
After a few minutes, Alex spoke as he began to guide Mary Kate to the passenger side of the black Lexus sedan. “Come with me and get in the car so I can take you home.” She allowed him to open the door, tuck her in the seat, buckle her in, and close her door. He quickly returned to the driver’s side, got in next to her, started the car, and drove out of Cedar Creek toward the ranch.
Mary Kate cried silently now, not wanting to think of what she had been through but she couldn’t help it. Thinking that she’d lost Alex only to find out that it was all a lie.
“Mary Kate, please listen to me.” He glanced at her as he spoke.
She gazed out the window, staring at the countryside she’d seen so many times before without seeing any of it. It was killing her to think that the entire ordeal of losing her husband had been a charade. One she was not made aware of.
Mary Kate turned in her seat to address Alex for the first time since they left the Henry’s office. “How could you do this to me, someone you supposedly love?” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and took a deep breath. “And why now? Why, after all this time, did you come back now? Is the threat of the assassin over?” Mary Kate continued to stare at Alex with her questioning eyes.
“I did this because I love you more than anything, and it is because of that love that I put you through this.”
“You sure have a hell of a way of showing your love,” she asserted before looking back to the landscape.
He glanced at her again before he spoke. “The assassin is still out there, and per our current intel he or she is going to target other family members. If I resurface, then he will continue to target me and hopefully leave you and Max alone.” He glanced back at Mary Kate only to see her profile.
She didn’t respond and the remainder of the drive to the ranch was silent. The only exception was an occasional sniffle or shutter from Mary Kate when she couldn’t control her emotions any longer.
Alex parked the car in front of the massive wooden doors at the main entrance of the hacienda. Mary Kate got out of the car and headed to the doors before Alex could get to her.
“Mary Kate! Wait!” He called to her but she just kept walking and ignored him.
She entered the courtyard as Maria opened the doors to see what the shouting was about. Maria stood there and stared at Alex and watched a man she believed to be dead cross the courtyard. Alex did not even acknowledge Maria in his effort to catch Mary Kate. Alex grabbed her arm and turned her to him just as she reached the door to their suite.
She glared at him and in an eerie cold voice, barely more than a whisper, she said, “Take your hands off me.” Then she went in the door of the suite, pushed it closed behind her and slid the lock into place to secure the hurt and pain outside.
She went to the antique sideboard, took the top off the bourbon decanter, poured a staunch drink, and downed it. The warm brown liquid burned all the way down to her stomach, as the tears she shed over the last several months had burned her cheeks, and then she poured another. The bourbon began to take away the pain, which she knew would ease with time. She went to the stereo, put in the CDs of her favorite songs and turned up the volume to drown out the hurt.
Alex could hear the music in the courtyard and wished he could do something to ease the pain, but knew he couldn’t get close enough to her right now. He only hoped she would give him the time to make things right. He turned and went to his father’s study to find something to ease his own pain.
Later that evening, Alex was sitting by the fireplace in the main open-air courtyard watching the roaring fire that was taking the nip out of the fall night air. Placed around the fireplace were chairs, a settee, and a coffee table that dated back to the origination of El Lobo when Alex’s great-great-grandfather started the homestead. The furniture was very comfortable, and provided a warm receptive venue for the fireplace. This was often the gathering place for family and business discussions, and one of Alex and Mary Kate’s favorite places on the entire ranch. Because of its central location, they spent many late evenings here alone. They would discuss recent adventures, make plans, or occasionally watch the fire while in each other’s arms.
Though it was a favorite spot that Alex spent a great deal of time in the past, it was a painful place to be right now. It was also a strategic location. He could see the massive front doors to the hacienda as well as the front door to the suite he used to share with Mary Kate and hoped he would again.
Alex heard the front doors open and looked up to see Peter and Manny. “Good evening gentlemen. Have a seat and join me.” The two men crossed the courtyard and sat down.
“I am assuming Mary Kate is still secluded in the suite,” Manny stated.
“You assume correctly, my friend,” Alex declared reflecting the foul mood he was in. Staring at the fire he spoke to no one in particular, “I should have been straight with her from the beginning, and none of this would have happened.”
“You did what you thought was right. What you felt would protect her,” Manny replied.
“Well, it may have protected her for a while, but now I have created a situation that has her in more danger than ever. She won’t even
look at me, let alone talk to me.”
“Mary Kate is an intelligent woman and she loves you. Give her a little time to deal with the shock of your return and she will come around. You’ll see,” Manny stated.
“I hope so, and I hope it is soon enough to secure her safety.” With that said Alex got up and poured all of them a drink from the antique crystal decanter that held the traditional brandy always kept there by Sr. Chavez for as long as he could remember.
“This is the way Mary Kate always handles traumatic events. She closes herself off from the world and buries herself in music and solitude. Once she has had time to sift through everything and regain control of her emotions privately, she’ll be my Mary Kate again. I have to believe she’ll forgive me and love me like she did before. If she doesn’t, there will be no reason for me to live,” Alex paused before speaking again, “I just have to believe that she will.” He returned to his seat, drank his brandy, and smoked his cigar in silence as he stared at the blazing fire.
Alex thought of the many times the three of them, and usually with Mary Kate, had sat in this very same spot and planned or rehashed assignments. Many of those times were for business and many under much happier circumstances, but this was a place of strength and solitude for all of them, especially for Alex and Mary Kate.
“My return will mean changes to the security plans and procedures needed for the next several days involving the service for Dad and the reception afterward here at El Lobo.”
“We have already taken that into consideration and have adjusted the plans accordingly,” Peter told Alex.
“Good, I’d like to hear them,” Alex responded just as the music in the suite stopped, and the door across the courtyard opened. Mary Kate stepped out, walked to the sitting area, and stood behind Alex’s chair. All three of the men started to rise, but Mary Kate indicated by shaking her head from side to side for them to remain seated. In an effort to not upset her anymore, all respected her request.
Alex thought Mary Kate looked like a vision in her emerald green silk caftan tied just under her full pert breasts. Her auburn hair was softly cascading over her shoulders and down her back. Her creamy ivory skin, with all its pale freckles, was void of any makeup. Due to the hours of tears shed throughout the day, her eyes were red and swollen. She was a vision of beauty known to most men only in their dreams.
Twice in a Lifetime: A love story you'll never forget! (Cedar Creek Saga Book 1) Page 2
