Where the Streets Have No Name

Chapter 32

Carmen's parents, Elvira and Hector Moreno, arrived at SeaTac five days after they got the call from their daughter, beating the Cullens by a two day margin. Edward dutifully drove Carmen to the airport to pick them up and suffered silently through the wrathful glares Elvira threw his way as he chauffeured them to their hotel.

Elvira Moreno didn't even try to hide her dislike for the boy who, as she saw it, was solely responsible for soiling her daughter's impeccable virtue and derailing her future prospects.

To Edward's 'It's nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Moreno' she brandished a curt 'I wish I could return the sentiment'.

Carmen fixed Edward with a pleading look of apology and made the best attempt she could muster to defend him.

"Mama, please. Don't..."

Mrs. Moreno cursed under her breath, which sounded like Spanish to Edward, but didn't hurl any other insults at him during the drive.

Hector Moreno kept to himself mostly, though he did accept Edward's outstretched hand with an indifferent 'Humph'.

Edward had hoped he would get a break once the visitors were deposited at their hotel, but Elvira insisted that they were not tired. She wanted to have it all out with her daughter face to face about her upcoming nuptial.

He tried to excuse himself and allow the Morenos some privacy to vent and rant which might prove tricky in his presence. Carmen, however, had other ideas. She grasped his hands in an iron grip and made a unilateral decision that Edward ought to be a part of it.

Edward relented. Though within minutes it became apparent that his role in the family conference was to be the designated dart board that all the sharp and pointed remarks were aimed at. Fortunately, Elvira switched to Spanish soon after, effectively losing Edward in the process with only hand gestures and dramatic eye movement toward his direction, indicating that he was still very much in the center of the blame game.

He didn't want to offend his soon-to-be family, and felt it would be best to let Carmen take the lead in explaining the scenario that had led to the decision of their hastily scheduled wedding. He was ready to take a few punches for the cause. After all, Carmen was their baby girl; any parent would be upset under the circumstances. However, he noticed with alarm how distraught Carmen was becoming under the onslaught of her mother's relentless verbal attack, and wondered whether it might be prudent to intervene.

Just as he was about to clear his throat and request Elvira that she let up on Carmen as the added stress couldn't be good for her, an exasperated Carmen stood up.

"Cómo puedes tener tan poco corazón, Mama?" she said, then turned to her father who had been completely silent during the exchange. "Papa?" she spoke pleadingly, as if to seek his approval.

Hector Moreno stared back at her impassively. Then snapped at her with surprising malice and said, "Tú siempre has sido una decepción para mí."

Edward didn't know what was being said, but he saw the effect it had on Carmen. She covered her tear-streaked face with her hand and ran out of the hotel room, leaving Edward to face the music alone.

*Cómo puedes tener tan poco corazón, Mama? (How can you be so heartless, Mama?)
*Tú siempre has sido una decepción para mí. (You've always been a disappointment to me.)

Thank you Lulabelle98, HeidiJoVT, and Dinx.

Thank you BlueSkies0825 for stellar translation work.

Thank you dag21 for catching my error! Clearly copy/paste cannot me trusted!:)