Chapter 3
"Mama! Papa! We're home. I got the tortillas....Mama?" Tabitha cried as she and Pablo entered the house, through the back door. The time was around mid-afternoon and they were sweltering from the sun's blistering heat. Perspiration lazy slid down their smoldering foreheads. Tabitha set the wicker basket on the kitchen counter then turned to look questionably to Pablo. She could see in his brown, starry, troubled eyes that there was defiantly something wrong. Tabitha continued to shout, the fear rising steadily up her throat, "Mama? Papa?" She traced the house two times, repeatedly shouting her loving mother and father's names.
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"I want a whole troop to search the village. The girl and boy must be here somewhere! As soon as they are caught we'll get it over with," Captain O'Donnell shouted orders to the young man at his side. Mrs. L`etoile quivered, tears staining her face as one of the arms gripped both her arms tightly. She looked uneasily to her husband who stood defiantly only feet away. He quickly gave a reassuring nod. Mrs. Hernandez continued to scream with all of her might to her husband. Mary L`etoile shivered after turning away from Mr. L`etoile. She quickly made an effort to quiet Mrs. Hernandez because of the awful look squared on the soldier's face. His tolerance looked to be shortening by the second.
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"Astum, come here!" Pablo called urgently.
There were three suitcases aligned neatly on the doormat, each labeled with one of the L`etoile's names. "What are these doing here?" she asked, her heart aching too much to believe it's self.
Pablo's eyes quickly darted to the floor, his heart pounding rapidly. He looked to Tabitha earnestly. "They have taken them away. They'll be looking for us now."
"No!.... Mama!.... Papa!" Tabitha screamed as Pablo leapt forward to hold her back.
"Shhh..." he whispered, mostly trying to comfort her, but also trying to keep her quiet. He knew that there was bound to be a whole posy of government soldiers prowling the village for them as that very moment. Suddenly he leapt with fright as the loud drumming of hurried footsteps crept up the front path to the front door. Pablo uneasily peaked out of the window as Tabitha clung to him in despair.
"They have heard us. You must go!" he whispered, tugging her limp and sobbing form to the kitchen, along with one of the suitcases. "Tabitha, listen to me!" he growled, taking her head in his hands. Her tears eased, but she quivered at the usage of her real name. Astrum had always been like a pet name between her and Pablo Banderez. It meant 'brightest star' in Latin.
"Tabitha, Tabitha... Tabitha!" he exclaimed, trying to wake her from her dazed expression. She nodded solemnly, her eyes gleaming with salty tears.
"I want you to leave Adja. Get away. Make your way to Madrid. Get to Portugal and then.....sail to America. Here, take this!" he nodded, forcing the green suitcase into her arms and ushering her to the door. "Go now!"
"Wait, Pablo." Her voice had actually mustered up the courage to speak.
"I'll hold them off. You go!"
"Pablo!"
"What?"
"I love you!"
He rushed up to her, cascading Tabitha in a tight embrace. "I love you too, but you must go!"
She turned away sadly, tears once again filling her swollen eyes. Just as she made it to the edge of the first hill top she heard a loud "bang". It was followed by four more. She could not muster up enough strength to let out the wail that was so desperately trying to escape her shuttering lips. It was if she were running through a deep snow, like she had once witnessed when she was only a mere toddler while the L`etoiles were living in France, the place she had been born and her native origin.
In no way would she ever be able remember how she exactly made it up to the pinnacle of the large, mountainous like hill for the rest of her life. The thick veil in her mind wiped it out of her memory. To the right was the little village of Adja, Spain, her home for the past 10 years. Tabitha scanned the landscape for her house. It looked the same as it always had, stain glass windows shinning brightly in the deep red, July sun. She smiled to herself, thinking back to the very day one summer earlier when she and Pablo had spent countless weeks crafting the aqua colored window boxes that now hung, overflowing with lavender and other various herbs. Tabitha had intended on spending the rest of her years there with them, Grandma, her Mama, Papa, and Pablo. She remembered Pablo's grief stricken face as he told her to go. He really did love her, and more than anything in the world she knew that he would want her to make it to America. And she would. She would do it for him.