Chapter Seventeen

"Your English is pretty good," Mia observed as they went on to do some window shopping. "You do have a slight Spanish accent."

Ana met her gaze. Hearing this from Mia was another eye-opener; contrary to what she'd believed all her life her native language was Spanish, not English. She'd held on to that belief for so long, it was hard to let go of such a notion. Accepting it meant that she had to re-classify herself as a foreigner which knocked down her confidence. "My mom spoke to me in English all the time; she never spoke Spanish at home," she paused. "As a matter of fact, she spoke to my grandparents in English and they answered her in Spanish. It was a little funny sometimes listening to them," she explained with a tiny smile.

"Huh," Mia let out a long sigh. "Spanish is so hard! I took it in high school, those rolling R's just about killed me."

"So you think people can tell right away I'm a foreigner just by hearing me speak?" She asked, hating the vulnerability in her own voice.

Mia shrugged one shoulder and gave the matter some thought. "Why don't you try it and strike up a conversation with someone and see."

"Excuse me, miss, I couldn't help but overhear you say you like men who drink coffee," an attractive man clad in dark leather jacket and shades approached them as they stopped in front of Starbucks. "I'm Matt..." He held out his hand. "And right now you might be the only thing hotter thing hotter than this almond milk latte."

Both Mia and Ana whipped their heads to look at the man in unison. The man shifted his gaze between them but it was clear that he was speaking to Mia.

"As far as pick-up lines go, that's pretty bad." Mia threw her head back and laughed with a confidence that was shocking to Ana. She gave the man a long look, checking him out but still did not shake his hand. "For starters, that's not even what I said."

Matt appeared unfazed. "I'm sorry but I don't believe I caught your name?"

"Probably because I didn't give it," Mia quickly replied, locking arms with Ana as they walked away. "Corny but cute, isn't he?" she whispered to Ana. She turned her head and briefly caught a glimpse Matt following closely behind but continued walking.

"Playing hard to get huh?" Matt stopped in the middle of a long passageway with people whizzing by at a fast speed.

Mia turned around. "Got a pen?" She smiled. "744-8865," she said without waiting for his response.

Ana turned back just in time to see Matt's triumphant smile as they walked away. "Did you just give him your phone number?" The question was rhetorical; she was in shock that Mia would give her number to a complete stranger.

After that, Mia took Ana to Claire's boutique. The store was packed with overwhelming amounts of fashion jewelry and accessories.

Ana looked around for the longest time. Her eyes tried to take it all in but it was impossible. Zeroing in on the hair clips available for sale, there were too many equally desirable items and it was not clear what she should base her criteria on when making a choice. Indeed, Everywhere she turned, she found herself with far too many choices. She looked around helplessly. Would she always feel like this, so hopelessly overwhelmed?

While she looked around, trying to make up her mind, Mia engaged in a back and forth texting session which brought a permanent smile to her face.

"Is it Christian?"

"No. It's Matt. I'm meeting him later tonight for a drink."

Ana was shocked. Mia had met him five minutes ago. "Are you serious?"

"Didn't you think he's cute?" Mia wondered, still smiling.

They left the mall shortly after ordering take out at a Chinese restaurant. Ana was certain the food would be too cold to eat when they got home. Back in Cuba, they didn't own a microwave, they cooked their food from scratch and re-heated everything on the stove.

"I would love to stay for dinner with you and Christian, but I'm afraid I'm too hungry to wait," Mia said while serving a generous helping of chow mein and grilled chicken teriyaki. "Besides, I have to meet Matt in an hour."

Ana shook her head in disbelief. She supposed she would need to get used to the American way regarding meals; the serving, eating rituals and the whole enchilada. There was a casualness about it that she found disconcerting. Back home, meals were more of a social affair, something that you enjoy with other people. And here was Mia, stuffing her face, her mind clearly onto the next thing on her agenda.

"But Mia, you really don't know this guy...think about it, you don't know a single person that can vouch for him."

Mia shrugged one shoulder. "I'm just going on a date, I'm not marrying the guy!" She threw her head back and let out a merry laugh.

Later

"Mia is not exactly known for her good sense," Christian later told Ana with an apologetic look. "She was a rebellious teenager...who got into all sorts of trouble. She hung out with the wrong crowd," Christian paused. It was hard sharing this with Ana, in a way it felt like she was bad mouthing her sister but at the same time, embellishing the truth would be the same as lying.

They were sitting at the kitchen island enjoying their meal just the two of them. Ana held her fork in midair in expectation. She had the feeling that whatever Christian was about to share was difficult for him. She just hoped Mia hadn't fallen prey to drugs or alcohol.

"My sister got arrested once for shoplifting. She said she didn't want to do it but fell prey to peer pressure. My folks were devastated, still, they gave her chance after chance to clean up her act but she kept making a series of wrong choices...a good for nothing boyfriend who wanted to sit on his ass all day. Part of the reason they moved to Europe was to get her away from the creep," he furrowed his brow. "I sure hope that wasn't him at the mall. What's this guy's name again?"

"His name is Matt...but I don't think she's met him before."

"Maybe that's what they wanted you to think."

Ana stared at Christian wide-eyed. She supposed that was possible. Okay. So Mia had a history of shoplifting. She opened her mouth to speak but Christian beat her to it.

"Anyway, enough about Mia," Christian gave her a small smile. "Did you enjoy your little shopping trip?"

"I did," Ana smiled back. After they got home, they'd spent nearly an hour talking, unpacking their purchases and applying makeup. "I got a new purse...and some makeup too." Her smile widened. "Thank you, Christian."

He nodded. She looked gorgeous this evening; she was wearing one of her new outfits and her makeup looked flawless. His face grew suddenly serious. "I hope it made up for what happened earlier in the day with Elena Lincoln," he paused to gauge her reaction. She nodded in acknowledgment and held his gaze expectantly. "You don't have to worry about her again. I took care of the situation, she will never bother you again," he said resolutely. He had personally spoken to her parole officer who was so angry at the woman for not adhering to her parole conditions he was sending her straight back to prison.

"Mia mentioned a few things about this woman...this Elena Lincoln."

Christian noted they were both done eating and stood up to load the dishes in the dishwasher. "Yes, I will tell you the whole story. But let's finish this and then relax in the living room."

They moved around in the kitchen, their shoulders often touching. Even though it took all his self-restraint to keep himself from taking her in his arms and kissing her, he knew this conversation was long overdue.

But right as they were sitting down to have that long discussion, the phone rang. It was Mia.

...

"Hey, sis! You ditched us!"

"I'm sorry, Chris. I'll be back home in a couple of hours tops, promise!"

Christian raised a brow. It seemed like his little sis was thinking of Escala as her permanent home now. He didn't know how he felt about that. Part of him really was liking having the whole place to himself and Ana.

"Ana is a bit strange."

Christian raised a brow and stepped away from Ana to look out the window. "What do you mean, strange?"

"Well, you would think that after living in a sort of hellhole, she would...I don't know. Trying to make up for it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"She didn't want to get much...even when she wasn't the one paying. I just think that's weird, that's all."

….

After hanging up with his sister, Christian came to sit beside Ana on the couch.

"That was Mia." He noted that she was looking at him strangely. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I just thought that you would say something to her about this man Matt."

Christian took a deep breath. He felt she was being critical; but that was Ana, never afraid to speak her mind. There was something to be said about that. "I don't see how anything could have said would have mattered. Mia is an adult, responsible for her own choices."

"Yeah. But you're her brother," Ana replied pointedly. She'd always found the American dating scene-from what she'd seen on TV- hard to understand.

"Yeah," he cocked his head. "Again, she's responsible for her own choices."

"But you could have advised her," she pointed out.

"It's none of my darn business," Christian replied, annoyed.

"So...you don't care?" Ana wondered, genuinely puzzled.

"No, of course I care," he retorted. "I guess our family has never been very close. As a matter of fact, we've been somewhat estranged for the last six years," he paused. His gaze dropped to the FEDEX box on the table. He'd picked it up from the doorman when he first arrived home tonight. It must be Ana's new i-phone. He opened it up and showed it to Ana who didn't seem all that interested.

"What happened, Christian?" Ana prompted him, putting the phone back on the table. This gift from her father was not something she cared for.

"Ten years ago when I was fifteen, something happened, something so shameful that my folks decided the best thing was to lay low. They sold their property and moved to Paris to get away from the scandal...and from me too, I suppose," he said with a pained expression.

Ana nodded lightly. She remembered him saying that Escala had been their home and that his mother had done all the interior decorating.

Ana shook her head. His family had turned their back on him. She couldn't even begin to imagine. Wait, she could. Yes, her own father had turned his back on her.

"Back then I became rebellious, defiant. I wanted to drop out of school. I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and drinking. When I was fifteen, my folks thought it was a good idea for me to go to Elena Lincoln's house and do odd jobs around the house." He paused. This was the hardest part. "She was into something called BDSM," he handed her his phone so she could read what it was all about for herself.

It took Ana a while to read the article he'd given her since she didn't know how to scroll down the page and he had to go over some basics of using a mobile device.

After reading the article, Ana looked at Christian with a confused expression on her face. "She? This woman Elena was into maso- she broke off. She didn't know how to pronounce that word. She knew what it meant though since it had the same root word in Spanish.

"Masochism?" He finished gently.

She shook her head. This masochism? What does it have to do with you?"

Christian took a deep breath. He wished masochism was the worst part of the story; as it was, he was letting the misconception stand. "It was through Elena that I got involved in BDSM. My mother walked in on us one day. Even though we were in a consensual relationship I was only fifteen at the time."

It took a long time for Ana to wrap her head around that. "My God," she breathed. "What happened then?"

"My parents demanded I clean break from Elena but I refused. They wanted to press charges but I also refused to testify against Elena. They were furious at me, couldn't understand. They were forced to drop the charges and three years later they left for Europe and they took Mia with them."

"So how did Elena end up on probation?"

"That was later. Elena and I were in business together. I invested my entire inheritance in a group of night clubs under Elena's management. When the clubs went under, I lost everything financially," he paused. "The clubs were for practicing BDSM...what I didn't know at the time was that Elena was using them to bring illegal women into the country. These young women were being trafficked and sold to the highest bidder. It didn't happen all the time, but certainly too many times. When I discovered it, I turned her over to the authorities. That's why she hates me so much."

The silence that followed was worse than Christian could have possibly imagined. "Ana? Please say something. She was looking at him as though he was an alien creature that had been dropped from outer space. "I had nothing to do with the human trafficking component of the business...trust me, I was disgusted when I found out what was happening under my nose."

Ana took a series of deep breaths, thinking hard. This was all very bad; her mind kept coming back to one question only. "This BDSM...this is something that you like? That you practice?"

"I practiced. It was something that I practiced until the clubs were shut down. I swore to myself I would never come back to that," he said sincerely. She was avoiding his direct gaze and that bothered him. "The key here is practice. I USED to practice BDSM but NOT anymore."

Ana stood up. "I need some time to think about this," she murmured. "I never thought that you..."

He stood up and tried to bridge the distance between them but she stepped back. "Ana, listen! I'm not proud of my past...I wish now I'd never gotten involved with Elena or gone into business with her. I regret whatever harm came to those women deeply, more than you'll ever know."

Later

He found her lying in bed, thinking. He sat quietly beside her on the edge of the bed.

"What now?" She wondered, once again avoiding his gaze. "I'm not sure where do we go from here."

All of a sudden, all he wanted was to take her into his arms and make her his wife in every sense of the word.

"Ana, I want you," he murmured reaching to caress her cheek with the back of the hand. Her expression softened. "And I to have a relationship with you. You make me feel something...I feel a closeness to you that I've never had with anyone."

"The thing is...how could you feel close to someone you've been lying to?" Ana questioned throwing him out for a loop. "If we can't bring in our honest selves, there is something wrong with that relationship," she shook her head sadly. It was more than that, actually. What she'd read about the lifestyle was quite frightening and disturbing. Even though he kept saying he was no longer practicing, in her mind, it still defined him. She couldn't ignore that, could she?

"Lying?" Christian stared at her in disbelief. "I have NOT lied to you, Anastasia."

"Depends on your definition of lying? My definition says lying means concealing the truth. And you have kept this whole part of your life hidden from me...haven't you Christian?"

He tried putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me," she mumbled, afraid if he touched her she would break down into tears. Ay, Dios mio, por que? (Why, God, why?) She didn't understand how her world could come crumbling down just like that. Never in a million years would she have seen this coming.

RESPONSE TO REVIEWS:

JB: Glad you're enjoying the commentaries. I enjoy hearing your thoughts. Yes, I definitely feel like you in this respect. I do like looking at things from a different perspective. There have been many times that readers have surprised me with ideas I hadn't considered. I love that.

Pepe71: I love writing this Ana. It's a fairly new experience for me. She has a life of her own very distinct from mine. I'm hoping this is making her believable. I hope that I don't lose that along the way. So far, she's been talking to me and I'm listening.

FSOGFanfictionAddiction: Very well said. Glad you enjoyed the chapter.

Guest from South Carolina: Share with me the other possibilities you see for this story, LOL. Right now I can't see anything in their future beyond their INS interview. Thanks for your warm words.

JazzSinger: I'm glad this made you laugh as my purpose is to entertain and it also happens to make me happy. I'm still leaving what I wrote as I originally wrote it.

Munkeyfump20: You're right, if people don't like, they don't have to read :)

EVERYONE:

If you've ever been a foreigner in another country, please share your perspective as an outsider. There may be things I've barely touched on in this story that could be addressed and make for a better story. Thanks. Plus one idea usually leads to another and so on.