He called the apartment a loft apartment. The building had a doorman and the people she met in the lift were relatively friendly. Five of his uncles lived in the same building; she was still struggling to put face to names and wives to husbands.
They all welcomed her to the family with bear hugs. They were a touchy-feely family. She didn't have that sort of thing in her family. She guessed that was something she had to get used to. The Lopezes were noisy, racially diverse and friendly.
His grandfather lived in the building three doors down the road because, as Enrique had said, his grandfather had bought a couple of buildings in the ’70s, before Tribeca was so popular. It had been an investment that paid off.
Colleen rolled into a corner of the large sofa. The phone rang and she ran to get it.
"Hello," she said breathlessly. She was desperate to talk to anyone right now. Enrique had left for a meeting early that morning and she had woken up to the sound of silence and a note.
"Hello." It was a female voice. "Is Enrique there?"
"No," Colleen said, feeling deflated. She had wanted it to be Enrique.
"Is this Colleen?" the person asked.
"Yes." Colleen answered cautiously.
"Oh hi, I am Lia. I work with Enrique. I am his office manager and also a realtor in training."
"Okay," Colleen said slowly. "Hi Lia."
"I wonder why he hasn't brought you over to meet us," Lia asked slyly. "Your wedding was kind of sudden..." She left the statement hanging as if she expected Colleen to make a juicy confession.
"I don't know why he hasn't taken me over." Colleen shrugged. Somehow she didn't like Lia and she hadn't even met her. Maybe it was something in Lia's voice, as if she was implying that Enrique was hiding her away.
When she hung up the phone she went dejectedly to look in the mirror. She looked the same: untamed curls, same facial features. Was Enrique hiding her away?
That thought added to her depression. She closed her eyes and imagined that the sun and sea were outside her door.
Chapter Nine
Enrique came home after seven to find her curled up in the bright orange sofa, reading a book.
"Honey, I am sorry I am late. I had several back-to-back meetings. It was one of those occasional hellish days." He sat beside her in the sofa, facing the Hudson view. "Tomorrow, I promise we are going to play tourist."
He laced his fingers with hers. "Forgive me?"
"Yes, of course," Colleen said looking down at their clasped hands and then up at him. "Will I sound like a whiner if I say I am thoroughly bored?"
"No, I understand." Enrique pulled her to him. "When you live here you'll get immersed in your own activities and we'll be one of those boring couples that only see each other between dinner and bedtime."
Colleen laughed. "That sounds terrible."
Enrique pulled off his tie. "That's why my parents moved to Jamaica—to save their marriage. My dad was launching out on his own and was extremely busy. They had both me and Renata by then and my mom was slowly going stir crazy without a garden to plant and nurture. Gardening is my mom's life."
"Then we can't have that with our marriage," Colleen said.
"Definitely not. I'd move anywhere if it ever came to that," Enrique said, "These past weeks have taught me a few things. I can't bear not seeing you for more than a couple hours."
Colleen smiled. "We are in honeymoon phase. Eventually everything won't be as intense and you can do without me for a while."
"Is that so?" Enrique said, pulling her closer, "because my body says something different. I think I am getting even more addicted to you."
Colleen laughed when his evening shadow tickled her.
"Do you think I am beautiful?" she asked him, feeling like an insecure teenager after she asked.
Enrique laughed. "I think you are the most beautiful woman on the entire planet."
Colleen pinched him. "I am serious."
"So am I," Enrique said huskily. “Inside and out. I love that you are not a pretty airhead."
"So why haven't I met any of your friends?" Colleen asked. "Like Lia."
Enrique stiffened. "Lia. She's a co-worker. Not a friend. She called here today?"
"Um... yes," Colleen said.
"Tell you what." Enrique kissed her. "Come shower with me and we can plan our first party together as husband and wife. We can do it next weekend. My week is booked solid next week."
****
Enrique invited his friends over for dinner one week later and Colleen liked them. They were an interesting bunch. They teased Enrique about marrying so quickly; they complimented Colleen's Jamaican dishes. She had a fun time preparing them; it had felt good to be productive again. It had been an eye-opener when she went shopping for herself. She had spent hours in the supermarket looking over everything leisurely.
Enrique had shown her around the major places in a fun-filled tourist day, and she had gone out on her own twice since then. The Tribeca area was charming, with its cobbled streets and old buildings.
"You must give me the recipe for that coconut cake, Colleen," Lia said, following Colleen into the kitchen. "It was delicious."
Colleen nodded. "Sure. Back home we call it toto."
"Your accent is so funny," Lia said. "Isn't Toto a singer or a band?"
"It's also the name of the cake," Colleen said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. She had disliked Lia while talking to her over the phone and now she realized that she disliked her in person. She was pretty, half-Asian, half-black, with a sleek model shape and legs that went on for years. She screamed sophistication.
For some strange reason Lia made her nervous and unsure of herself. She was the life of the party type of a person. Earlier she had told everyone that her name meant bringer of good news. Colleen watched as she leaned on the counter and settled in for a chat. Somehow she doubted that Lia would live up to her name, at least for her, and she hated the way that Lia purred Enrique's name. Earlier she had even called him Rique, which sounded too familiar to Colleen.
"Your wedding pictures look lovely," Lia said, turning her catlike eyes on Colleen. Enrique had done some large prints of the wedding pictures.
"Thank you," Colleen said, looking across at them. There were a few that were visible from the kitchen.
"I would love to be on the beach right now," Lia laughed, a grating high-pitched, affected sound that sounded so fake Colleen winced.
"The last time I went to the beach was with Enrique in Bali. We were checking out a property for a buyer. Swimming naked is so fun."
"What?" Colleen asked, frowning.
"Oh, it was nothing." Lia shrugged. "Enrique and I only play around with each other when we are away on trips. We let our hair down, so to speak. I doubt it will affect your marriage."
"Hey Colleen," Enrique said, coming to the archway. "What's wrong?"
"Er... nothing," Colleen said, shaking her head. She sent a glare at the smiling Lia, who looked like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
Enrique raised his eyebrow at Lia. "What did you do?"
"Nothing," Lia said, a small smile on her face. "I was just telling your wife here about our Bali trip and I was about to mention that you and I would be going to the Maldives next week."
"I haven't told her yet," Enrique said, groaning. "Listen hon, we'll talk about this later," Enrique said to Colleen.
He pulled her out of the kitchen and away from a smug-looking Lia. Colleen found that she was trembling, little shivers shooting off her body in angry waves. She couldn't wait until his friends left. Lia was the last one to go, murmuring with him in the foyer.
*****
When the door closed behind Enrique and he headed toward her, Colleen was shaking with fury. "I thought she was just your office manager."
"Huh?" Enrique's smile slipped off his face when he saw her devastated expression.
"Lia just told me that she went swimming naked with you in Bali and that you two only play aroun
d when you are away on trips. And now I hear you are going to some place with her next week?"
"What the hell?" Enrique looked shocked. "Why did she tell you that? Usually she has sense. I don't know what has gotten into her."
"Did you go swimming naked with her in Bali?"
Enrique ran his fingers through his hair and groaned. "It was nothing."
"No. No. No." Colleen covered her ears. "This is not happening."
"This was before you," Enrique said, "we..."
"Why did you marry me if you had Lia?" Colleen shouted.
"Because I love you," Enrique said. "Lia and I fooled around in Bali, if you can call it that. Nothing came of it. We work together. I came to my senses in time. She is a very good employee and I would not want that sort of relationship between us.
"We tried a local drink to please our host and it was spiked with rum. Both of us were a bit tipsy, Lia more than me, and when we went back to the hotel we dared each other to go naked into the water."
Colleen marched to the guest room and shouted before she slammed it, "When you go to the Maldives with her, are you going to play around, too?"
"Oh for heaven's sake. I am committed to you," Enrique said, beating on the door. "Come on, Colleen." He rattled the door handle.
What had started out as a lovely evening had just been shot down. He groaned out loud and punched the door. The Maldives trip was one whole week, planned long before he got married. He was going with one other associate and Lia. He hoped that he could convince Colleen that there was nothing between him and Lia but a drunken night that hadn't even culminated with sex.
*****
"Are you going to be okay here alone?" Enrique asked Colleen five days later. They were around the breakfast table. She had totally frozen him out for the past few days and he was feeling desperate.
She pretended to be asleep when he got in at nights, even it was early, and she was baking up a storm. He looked beyond her to the counters. There were stacks of cakes and cookies and what-not lying around.
"I'll be fine. Your cousin Andrea promised to show me around." She gave him a semblance of a smile. "Enjoy your trip."
"Not when you are so cold to me now. I am going with two other people," Enrique said, dragging his hands through his hair in frustration. "Colleen, we've been over this; you said you understood that that little episode with me and Lia happened before our marriage."
"Two weeks before," Colleen said. "And you are still working with her and she says you only play around on trips."
"She was lying. I spoke to her about it. She said that she called and apologized to you," Enrique said, hissing through his teeth. "Nothing happened. You are overreacting. This is crazy!"
"Maybe I am crazy, insane, a total idiot," Colleen rejoined, "but I know a woman on the prowl when I see one, and Lia is one. And even in her little apology she sounded as if she was laughing at me. She can take her apology and shove it."
"And I know an insecure wife when I see one." Enrique raised his eyebrow at her. "I hope your attitude changes in the week I'll be gone."
"Maybe," Colleen hissed, getting up, "and maybe I'll not be here when you get back."
"Don't threaten me like that," Enrique said roughly. He felt a cold fear tingling up his spine. He was genuinely scared that she would leave. He was not as secure in their relationship as he wanted to be.
Colleen smirked. "It's not a threat."
Enrique got up and hugged her stiff, unyielding body. "You can't just get up and leave a marriage at the first quarrel." He spun her around and looked into her dark brown eyes. "I know I'll find you here when I get back. Hopefully you will have a smile for me, eh?"
Colleen inhaled his aftershave and then relaxed. She really had allowed her insecurities to override her common sense.
Enrique groaned and kissed her hard on the mouth. She responded to him by melting in his embrace.
"We shouldn't have started this now." He dragged his lips from hers and picked up his bag.
"I love you." He headed to the door and looked back, as if committing her face to memory.
She felt her resolve to be an old sourpuss starting to crack. She also felt as if she had been an idiot. She had just wasted five days being mad with him over something that happened before they got married. Even though she couldn't trust Lia, she did trust Enrique, and she was beginning to believe that she loved him too.
She exhaled slowly. "Be safe."
He smiled wider. "I will. I have you to come home to."
Colleen enlisted one of Enrique's nieces as a tour guide, and she finally had broken away from her lonely feeling. Enrique had called her sporadically during the four days that he was away, sounding relieved every time he heard her voice on the phone, and she had to admit that she was relieved to hear his voice as well. They would be all right. She had stopped baking like a mad baker and had taken her excess pastry to a homeless shelter that was a couple of blocks from the apartment.
She had just gotten in from shopping in the Soho district with Andrea, who seemed to know everywhere in the maze of the city and where to get the best stuff, when her cell phone rang. She picked it up while examining a multicolored Boho chic blouse she had purchased earlier.
"You are not going to believe this," Maureen gasped as if she was hyperventilating.
"What?" Colleen asked, gentling her voice so that Maureen could calm down.
"You need to sit down," Maureen said in a rush. Her voice was agitated and Colleen actually felt goose pimples on her arm.
"Are you sitting down yet?" Maureen asked.
"Just tell me," Colleen said. "Did something happen to my parents? Is it Miss Lou? Or Dan?" She feared the worst. "Maureen, speak!"
"Isaiah and Greg are not dead," Maureen said as if the words were being shaken out her mouth. "It is all over the news. They were found along with other fishermen presumed dead on a prisoner island run by pirates. The Colombian government had a sting operation there and found them alive and well."
The phone clattered from Colleen's nerveless fingers and she sat down on the bed heavily.
"Colleen!" Maureen was shouting from the phone on the floor, but for the life of her Colleen could not move. Isaiah was not dead. Isaiah was not dead!
Chapter Ten
Isaiah cracked his knuckles one after another as he sat in the back of a government car heading to Whitehouse. He and Greg had just walked through a media circus, as everybody wanted their story on how they went missing for four years. The news cameramen had been pretty intrusive, pushing the cameras in their face and hollering question after question at them.
Several ministers of government had met them at the airport and had taken charge—they had had an official press conference at the airport. It had been a big deal that they were back and no doubt it would be the topic of conversation for weeks to come.
Hopefully now the media furor would die down and they could get on with the business of reconciling with their families. They had told Jamaica everything about their missing five years, their malfunctioning boat, the ship that had seemed like a godsend but had turned out to be pirates brandishing guns. How the men had carried them to an island plantation called Diablos, near Colombia, where they forced them to work to plant and maintain acres and acres of the coca plant. They also had a factory where they extracted cocaine from the plant. Thousands of pounds of the drug were created every month and shipped around the world.
It had been tough when they were first captured but both he and Greg had learned quickly that once they did not try to run away and minded their own business, they would be okay. They hadn't even been treated that roughly except for the first couple of days. They had shared huts with two Bolivian fishermen who had been captured as well and had quickly learned the lay of the land and the farming routine.
Their capturers had treated them relatively well, even going as far as bringing them women, prostitutes from the Colombian mainland. It was one of those prostitutes that had alerted the Colombi
an government to what was happening on Diablos and resulted in them being free.
Isaiah forced himself to relax, closing his eyes and exhaling loudly. Greg had not moved from his side of the car. He was motionless, as if all feeling had gone from him. He was staring out the window of the car in a daze.
He understood the feeling, except that he wasn't just dazed, he was anxious and nervous. What would going home be like now? Would Colleen have watched him on TV and be waiting for him?
Five years, three months and six days was a long time to be away. He closed his eyes and envisioned her face. He had done that every day since he was away. At first, he hadn't been interested in the women that their capturers had supplied; he had just wanted to come home to Colleen.
He had never given up hope, never lost hope that one day he would come home. He had spent quite a bit of time praying about just that. In a roundabout way he was beginning to think that God had allowed them to be found because he had badgered Him so much about it. Day after day, he had never given up.
But now, on their journey on the familiar streets that he never thought he would see again, he was beginning to realize that five years was a long time. Colleen would be twenty-five. His brother and sisters would be older. Dan would be seventeen, Keisha would be twelve and his sister Tina would be eight. He spared a thought of anxiety for his mother. He wondered if she was well. What did they end up doing to survive? When he had left they had been depending on him to finance the household.
Oh Lord, he had so many questions. He started shifting his feet uncomfortably. The Colombian government had outfitted them in good clothes and put them up in a hotel before sending them back to Jamaica. He looked down at the new pair of shoes, trying to focus his attention.
Greg glanced over at him. "I hope Maureen hasn't rented out the house. I may not have any house to go home to."
After the End Page 8
