A Place In the Sun
16
''Tracy?'' Ryan asked, looking around the bedroom for her.
He saw that the covers on the bed were heaped up the middle, he pulled them back and saw her lying there, passed out.
''Tracy, get up, and get out of here,'' he told her, pulling her to the feet.
''No, no, no, just let me take a little nap.''
''No, Trace, I have plans, you need to leave.''
''Let's go jump on the bed!'' Tracy shrieked, doing a total 180, grinning from ear to ear. She ran into the bedroom and climbed up onto the bed.
''Tracy.''
''C'mon, c'mon, c'mon,'' she said, trying to pull him up on the bed.
''You need to go back to wherever you've been staying and take a cold shower or something.''
''Fine, be that way, I can see I'm not wanted here,'' Tracy said, jumping off the bed in a huff and marching to the door.
''If you need to get any more of your things, just call me before you come, okay?''
''Yeah, whatever,'' she said, grabbing her purse.
''Bye, Tracy,'' Ryan said, pushing her out the door.
''Bye, babe,'' she said, blowing him a kiss.
...
''Mommy, is your visitor here yet?'' Katalin asked from the landing of the steps.
''Kata, go back upstairs, please,'' Gillian told her.
Katalin froze on the landing.
''Mommy, why is he here?''
''He's leaving, baby.''
''Speak for yourself, Gill,'' Ray said, standing up and walking towards Kata. ''How have you been?''
Kata clutched her doll tightly and held her lips shut.
''Oh, going to give me the silent treatment, huh?''
''You heard Mommy, she said leave!'' Kata started to run back up the stairs.
Ray caught her by the back of her overalls. ''I didn't tell you that you could leave.''
''Leave me alone!'' she yelled.
''Ray, get out of here!'' Gillian said, pulling him away from Katalin.
Ray turned around quickly, letting go of Kata, and slapped Gillian across her face.
''You haven't seen the last of me,'' Ray said, leaving.
Gillian watched to make sure he really left the premises and came back to Katalin.
''Mommy, you said we'd never have to see him again.''
''I'm sorry, I thought we wouldn't,'' she said, holding her baby tight.
''Do we have to leave now?'' Kata asked her.
''Why?''
''Ray.''
''No, baby, we're not going to run from him. He's not going to hurt us anymore.''
There was another knock at the door.
''Kata, run upstairs now, Mommy's visitor is here,'' Gillian told her.
''Yes, ma'am,'' Katalin said, hugging her Mommy again. ''Love you.''
''I love you, too,'' Gillian said. ''Now stay upstairs till I come up.''
Kata nodded and ran back upstairs.
Gillian went over to the door after she heard the bedroom door shut.
She opened the door; it was Ryan this time.
''Ryan,'' she said, now on the verge of tears.
''Gillian, what's wrong?''
''Just hold me,'' she said, laying her head on this chest.
Ryan wrapped his arms around her and held her as she cried.
...
''Here you go,'' the landlord said, opening the door for ''Carmen''.
''Thank you for being so understanding,'' she told him as he handed her the key.
''Oh, it's no problem,'' he said.
''I just really need to settle down and figure out what has happened to me and all. Are you sure you know nothing about a plane crash that happened about six years ago?''
''Like I told you, I just moved her from California about a year and a half ago, but you know, across the courtyard from you, a young woman just moved in today and she mentioned that she had just moved back here recently, and that she'd been away for about five years or so. Maybe you could go over there and introduce yourself and maybe she might know something about it.''
''Thanks, I might do that later.''
''Good night.''
''Bye.''
She closed the door behind her and looked around the room. She sat down on the couch and took out her journal.
Well, I finally got myself a real place to stay, but the money Garlan gave me to come here will soon run out, I better find me a job. The landlord here was so nice to me when I explained to him what I'm going through.
I keep thinking about that day in the park when I met that little girl. Maddie was her name. She looked like such a sweet girl and she was so matter of fact about her mother's death.
Garlan and I had talked about the possibility of me having left a family back home, wherever that was. Maddie said I looked like her mother. And that woman at the hotel called me ''Maria''. If these both truly point to me, my name is Maria and I have a daughter who was just a baby when the plane crashed.
Later tonight I will go see the woman across the courtyard and see what she knows about the plane crash. Maybe I can finally solve this once and for all.
She put down the journal and walked to the window. She glanced across at the apartment across from her. A young man stood at the door talking with a young woman with shoulder length blonde hair. She could tell by the way the stood and laughed that they were good friends. They hugged each other and said their good-byes before he left.
''What happened, Gillian?'' Ryan asked, wiping away her tears.
''He was here,'' she sobbed.
''Who?''
''Ray was here.''
''The guy you'd been living with?''
She nodded.
''Why, what did he want?''
''He wanted money, and I told him I have nothing and he got mad with me.''
''Did he hurt you?'' he said, holding her head in his hands.
She nodded, as he noticed the red, puffy mark Ray's hand had left on her cheek. He held her close again.
''Gillian, I want you to move in with me.''
''Ryan, no, I can't,'' she said, thinking she couldn't tell him about Katalin, not yet.
''You can't be here, he knows you're here and he could come back and hurt you again.''
''And the first place he'd look for me if I wasn't here would be with you.''
''He knows about us?''
''Of course he does, I met him soon after we got divorced and he took me in. Oh, Ryan, he was so good to me at first, for about the first year he was everything I needed. He was always buying me things and treating me to dinners and vacations, but then he lost his job and he turned into a total different person.''
''Baby, it's okay, everything's okay now,'' he said, holding her as she trembled.
''Here goes nothing,'' ''Carmen'' said as she walked across the courtyard.
She took a deep breath as she rang the doorbell.
''Coming,'' she heard from within the apartment a few seconds before Kelsey came to the door.
''Um, hi, I just moved in across from you and the landlord said you'd lived here a few years back and I was wondering if you could help me out with something,'' she told Kelsey.
Kelsey's eyes got wide and her jaw dropped open and she stared for a moment before saying, ''You're the woman who was at BJ's that I saw, Bobby told me that it couldn't be you, but it has to be. Maria, you're alive.''