Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate, and Happy Holidays to everyone in general! Something everyone's been waiting for, I think...
Thank you for beta'ing, MsSchneeheide!
Warning: Some abuse
After his stint in prison, Diablo is twenty-five and married to a woman named Keighlyn, who would tell him and all her friends-especially Tiffany-wild stories such as her being invited to be on Oprah in Chicago and win everything in the Christmas show. It isn't until Oprah quits, that everyone stops believing her. She breeds rabbits and sells Arbonne until she no longer has the energy to take care of herself. She's also pregnant as a result of rape. She bottles her pain inside and laughs a lot, but Diablo knows it's fake. He has told her about Blanca before, and she wants to meet her. By the time Keighlyn's in labor, she looks extremely sick and too frail to push out her baby. Diablo knows she isn't going to make it, but he doesn't want to give up hope. He wheels her to the maternity ward and orders the doctors to help her. She'll need a C section, she's so weak. After the doctors pull the baby out of her, she's a little drugged from the anesthesia. After they stitch her up, he looks at his wife with tears in his eyes.
"Diablo," she says in a raspy whisper. "I...I want you...to promise me...something..."
"Sure, anything, Keigh," he says and then kisses her hands that he's holding.
"Take care of our son...name him...Laronne...and find that girl...heal her...love her...like you loved...me..."
Diablo squeezes Keighlyn's hands. "I will. Te amo."
"Good...bye...my...angel..." she says very quietly. Diablo puts his hands over her eyes and shuts them while trembling with sobs.
He didn't love her enough, he thinks. He also failed in protecting Blanca. Couldn't he just save at least somebody?
A nurse hands him the newborn baby. The dark-skinned boy isn't even his, but Diablo will love him all the same. He cuddles Laronne to his chest while crying on the seat next to Keighlyn-or her corpse, unfortunately.
"Hey, little man, I'm your daddy. Your mommy's up in heaven."
Laronne is still wailing at the top of his lungs, but he soon calms down when Diablo feeds him a bottle. He then takes care of the paperwork and bureaucracy. "Aw, buddy...I guess it's time to go home now. Let's get moving." He kisses the top of Laronne's head. "You and me against the world, sport."
Blanca finally gives birth to a baby girl when she's twenty-seven and she's long learned to protect her belly from Dean's blows. Their second daughter, Raiza Adilene Rosalia Juarez, comes into the world when their oldest is twelve. Blanca's trapped in her abusive marriage for a total of eight years, but she's been tangled in a loveless relationship since she was almost sixteen.
Now thirty-one and growing sick and tired of the beatings and the other things her children had to witness, she's had plenty of time to come up with a foolproof plan to escape. She's never tried before since he'll get suspicious.
"Blanca, I want to you make sure that the steaks are medium-rare for my friends and I, and remember to vacuum the floors again. I'm not having my house be a complete pigsty!"
"Yes, Dean," Blanca replies.
"Now, I have something to give you before I leave." Dean presents Blanca with a box. She sighs as he slips a gold bracelet around her wrist. He kisses the black-and-blue bruise. "I'm so sorry."
It's the same routine. She knows it inside and out. He'd give her a wound, he'd apologize, she'd forgive him, then she'd give him a new excuse to take his anger out on her.
"It's okay. You're stressed out from your job, that's all. I understand." Blanca rubs his shoulders gently.
"You'd do anything for me, huh?" Dean lifts her hair from her neck and gives her a hickey. She moans like he wants her to and promises herself that if he ever hits her again, today will be the last day of it.
"Mm-hm." She shivers when she feels his breath behind her. His hands slip up her shirt and he grabs her breasts roughly. She bites her lip and tries not to wince.
"You have such a sexy body."
"Thank you."
He presses her to the counter and gestures to the lump in his pants. She knows what she has to do. She kneels down and unzips his pants carefully. She pulls out his erection and closes her mouth over it. He gags her and then releases inside her mouth. Once she stands up and adjusts his pants, he starts bellowing in her face.
"You can't fucking do anything right, you whore! Woman, I shouldn't have to tell you what to do! You should know what I expect from you!" He pushes her into a chair and she falls backwards. She reaches around the floor for something, anything, to defend herself with, but she has nothing. He just keeps kicking her. She doesn't scream, doesn't cry, she knows if she does anything but act natural, he'll be suspicious.
He leaves her and the door slams shut.
It's over. She's finished being abused, finished with the kids having to hear their dad hurt their mom daily, and finished feeling worthless. The girls come downstairs cautiously.
"He hit you again, didn't he, Mom?" her sixteen-year-old asks in a grave tone.
Blanca sits up slowly and stares at her daughters. Her youngest walks over to her. "Mama, I'll kiss your owies." Raiza pecks Blanca's cheeks and forehead and hugs her.
"Pack your things, babies," she orders in a soft, wavering voice. "We're getting out of here before he returns. I've had enough." Blanca slowly gets up and holds Raiza. Her eldest daughter, Maritza, goes up ahead of them and the three of them begin to gather their stuff. They put their belongings into three suitcases and Blanca calls a cab to pick them up. She puts on sunglasses to cover her black eye, concealer to hide the bruises on her forehead and cheeks, and after cleaning the cut on her mouth, she applies red lipstick. She rushes the driver and looks around worriedly for any sign of Dean. They have leftover chilaquiles for on the road, and a cab picks them up five minutes before Dean comes back. When his car passes them, all three of them duck their heads. It's a close call.
"Where to?" the driver asks her.
"The Sky Harbor International Airport."
"Where are we going?" Maritza wants to know.
Blanca thinks up a great idea. She and her best friend Karla lived someplace far away when she was younger, and she wants to find her again. She wants to rekindle their friendship and pick up where they left off. She wants to cry in Karla's arms and apologize and tell her she was right, she told Blanca so. There's a one in a million chance she will ever see Karla again, but it can't hurt to try. The same goes for her mom and that handsome Satan worshipper from so long ago-what was his name again? Oh right…Diablo. He'd always been sweet on her and seemed to care about her deeply. She smiles to herself softly. Dario Zuniga. While stuck with Dean, she would always replay memories of Diablo in her head. The devil, simply an angel who fell from heaven. She wishes to reconnect with them, too.
"Queens," she says quietly. "We're going to Queens, New York."
"Where's that?" Raiza asks and crinkles her brow cutely.
"It's on the other side of the country. It's seven here in Arizona, but it's nine over there."
"How long would it take us to get there?" Maritza wonders aloud. The cab parks at the curb of the airport. Blanca shushes her girls as they get their things out of the cab and the trunk. She doesn't want to give out any more information, as the driver could be pals with Dean. Everyone's friends with Dean.
"About four and a half hours," Blanca replies a while later. "I'll rent an apartment, get a job, and then we can start our new and better lives."
"What if Papá comes back?" Raiza worries. "We're all gone."
"He'll know we're missing. The house is a mess, Mamá. God knows if you left the water running while doing the dishes," Maritza adds.
"Girls, we can't think about him right now. The most important thing is getting out of here as fast as possible before his mind even registers that we've run away." Blanca hands their tickets to the agent, gives him their bags, and heads towards their gate. It's only then that she realizes her hands are shaking. She has to keep her feet moving so she doesn't fall to the floor.
"Mom...your ring," Maritza reminds her before they sit down at their gate.
"Gracias, bebé." Blanca twists the silver band off her finger and looks at it scornfully. "I'll throw this awful piece of trash right in the garbage." She tosses it in the basket without a second glance, and it's like being let out of a prison cell. She sells her expensive bracelet and their cell phones from him to get household items for their apartment. She's stolen Dean's money to save up so she could rent an apartment in Queens.
They talk about random things to get their minds off Dean.
"So, I really want an etruscan onyx GranCabrio," Maritza says with a small chuckle.
"That would be nice for all of us to have," Blanca comments. "We'll just have to learn to drive first."
"Not me. I'm four and too little for a car. I like pink, not black," Raiza pipes up. She takes her Esmeralda doll out of her backpack and brushes her hair. "When I grow up, I'm gonna be a princess like my dolly! I'm gonna dress in all purple."
"Esmeralda was a gypsy, not a princess..." Blanca smiles. "You'll be a sweet little princesa, though."
"I want to be a photographer and vlogger when I'm older," Maritza says thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll fall in love with a celebrity. Or some Wall Street dude. Perhaps he'll take me in a helicopter as a date…"
"I thought you hated men," Blanca says.
"Ew! Boys have cooties!" Raiza holds her nose.
This makes Maritza and Blanca laugh.
"Flores, party of three," the announcer says, and they board the airplane. Blanca clutches her green card in her hand and kisses it for good luck. A few minutes later, they're off, with Raiza in between Blanca and Maritza. They all go to sleep, and when they wake up, they're in Queens, New York.
Blanca carries a tired Raiza off the flight and Maritza helps her get their suitcases. They take a cab to a cheap studio apartment. It's a fixer-upper, and Blanca has no problem renovating it, as she's a master at decorating houses. Apartments are no different. They have their place, and they're happy. All they need to do is fill it with furniture, pretty pillows, warm blankets, food, water, more clothes, and cute wall hangings to make their new home look nice. For now, since it's so late and they're ready to drop, Blanca gets them takeout at Storky's and they plan to eat it on the way home. Luckily, they'd also packed sleeping bags and pillows, so dozing on the floor won't be so uncomfortable.
They enjoy looking at the beautiful sights as the cab travels through the areas in New York. It all still looks the same, at night, at least. Twinkling lights around the streets signal that it's dark and time for bed.
The cab stops at their apartment and they get off. The girls are silent while they walk to it with bags in hand. Blanca opens it and lets her daughters inside. They prepare themselves to go to sleep with their toiletries they'd taken, and then Blanca and Maritza lay out their sleeping bags and pillows. Then, they set up a makeshift bed for little Raiza inside the largest suitcase they had bought with them and lay her on soft clothes. They don't want her to be grumpy in the morning from tossing and turning all night.
The next day, they buy everything they need and Blanca has a U-Haul bring in a pull-out couch, but that's it. She has no idea how she had succeeded so well in enrolling her daughters in school, a decent public school, at that. Maritza hates shopping for new clothes at thrift shops since most of them are hideous. Blanca feels so bad, but that's all she can get so she doesn't have to worry about high prices. She can barely afford the cutest outfits Maritza manages to find and everything else like textbooks and school IDs, but she does it.
The store owner stares at her in her gray sweater and dull orange skirt. Her hair's matted from the flight, and she has yet to brush it. She puts all of her items in a shopping cart and wheels it to the cash register. She takes out her credit card and he tries to scan it, but it's denied.
"You should have brought cash with you," he says as she sifts through her purse.
"I spent it all on the apartment," she mumbles in a low voice so he can't hear her. She looks at him suggestively. "I could do something for you if you do me a favor in return."
"What is that?"
"Come a little closer," she whispers and curls her index finger toward herself. She licks her own lips and starts to unbutton her sweater. It reveals a white camisole, and he comes around the register. "You know, if you let me get this stuff for free, I could totally suck you off."
The owner's eyes widen. "I'm sorry, ma'am...I can't let you do this..."
"Yet your boner disagrees with you," Blanca says and pinches the tent in his pants.
"Fuck..."
"Yeah, buddy, you're playing my game now."
"You're lucky this is a small store, or I would be arrested," he groans. She pulls his pants down and tries not to gag when she swallows his seed. She flicks her tongue in and out for a while until he finishes jacking off.
After she takes everything with her, she rinses out her mouth. Maritza shifts Raiza on her hip and takes two dollars and seventy-five cents out of her jeans pocket. "For the bus back to our place."
"Got it."
"Ew, Mamá, I cannot believe you just-"
"My credit card didn't work."
The bus pulls up in front of them and they step onto it. Blanca drops the money into the driver's hand and then goes to the very back. It's cozy in the back, and the girls follow her. It's the night before school starts, and Blanca is going to set out to find a job, hopefully a caregiver for old people, like she was before-she despises it, but she's used to it and does it very well-or an advocate for people trying to gain legal entrance into the country like she's forever dreamed of being. She's always had a fighting spirit. She can go with being a chef or waitress, too. Her first priority, though, is to keep the kids in school without anyone finding out they're going to be on welfare.
They sit on the worn out couch they'd bought at a garage sale. She holds up a single cellphone. "This is for us to share, but only in case of emergencies."
"What if I make friends and I want to call them for a homework assignment explanation?" Maritza asks.
"That counts as an emergency. Anything else like talking can be done when you're in school."
"Got it."
Blanca lays out Raiza's outfit for school the next morning while Maritza chooses her own. She notices their blank looks. "What's up, girls?" she asks in a concerned voice.
"What if they don't like me?" Raiza blurts out.
"Oh, I'm sure they will!" Maritza assures her. "My question was, what are you gonna do when we're in school?"
"I'll look for job openings in the area. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You girls should get yourselves cleaned up from the flight. I even bought some lotion and soap so we can make our faces glow. That's gonna be after the shower, though. Who's first?"
"Me!" Raiza shouts.
"No! You'll use up all the hot water!" Maritza hollers and runs to catch her baby sister. They crash into each other and Maritza accidentally knocks Raiza over, which makes the little girl cry.
Blanca stops opening the miniature refrigerator that she has pizza from Pizza Hut and water, stored in. The food has gone cold. She rushes to Raiza's side and gives Maritza a reproving look.
"Be careful of your sister!"
"Lo siento, Mamá."
"Mama, it hurts!"
"Where, baby?"
Raiza points to her knee and Blanca kisses the spot. "All better?"
"Yep!"
The shower water turns on. "Come on, Raiza, we can share."
Blanca smiles and hands Raiza to Maritza. "Gracias, darling."
"De nada."
"This water can't decide between being a desert and snow!" Maritza complains and Raiza screeches every few seconds.
"Take a fast shower," Blanca advises them. After just a day of this, her head is pounding. She doesn't like the living conditions either, but it's better than being around him. She takes out the pizza and heats it up. When their shower sounds like it's over, she brings out two pairs of pajamas from the cart and tosses them into the bathroom.
"Don't look at me!" Maritza snaps.
Blanca rolls her eyes. "I can't even see you. Just dry yourself and your sister and then get jammied up. Pizza will be ready soon."
"Yay, pizza!" Raiza says excitedly.
"Microwaved dinners ain't that bad," Maritza agrees.
Blanca doesn't want to say it, but she's getting frustrated with the microwave. It keeps stopping every thirty seconds, no matter how high she sets it. She'll have to speak to the landlord about that. It takes her one hour just to make a supposedly simple meal for three.
Her face softens when she sees her children all ready and freshly showered. "I'll take a shower when you girls are in bed."
"Cool. Looks good, Mom." Maritza smiles broadly. She helps Blanca cut the pizza into three equal parts. They sit at the small table and make sure not to move. The creaking of the floors and the table makes them very cautious.
Raiza takes a few bites of her pizza. "Yummy!"
"I'm glad you like it, girls."
After dinner, Blanca takes the cushions off the pull-out couch and sets up the bed. It's a rather large couch, so it'll fit all three of them, and then some. Raiza tries to jump on the bed, but is disappointed that the springs aren't bouncy. She plops down and lets out a loud cry of pain.
Maritza chews on her lip. "Well, now you know not to do that again."
"I guess that's why they gave away such an expensive couch," Blanca comments. "I hope it's more comfortable than the floor."
"Me too." Maritza crawls up on the bed and curls up on one side of it. She lays her head down on a small, lumpy pillow and covers herself up with the two thin sheets and the thick comforter. "It is, a little...we might have neck kinks in the morning. Let's roll over from time to time."
"Okay," Raiza says agreeably. "Nighty-night, Mamá!"
"Buenos noches, sweetie pies." Blanca embraces both of them and gives them kisses. The scene before her makes her want to cry. Maritza's holding Raiza as they sleep, and Blanca snuggles next to them. She wraps her arms around the both of them and feels Maritza squeeze her hands.
Good night
Their sleep is peaceful, despite the winds howling outside and the bed being stiff. They only wake up once in the middle of the night, because Raiza has a nightmare. Then, Blanca silently cries to herself as she thinks of him pulling her up by her hair and tossing her across the room for breaking a dish because he scared her.
The next morning, they wake up without the sun's bright rays shining on them. Blanca's used to getting up at the crack of dawn, since he made her get up that early every single morning, to make him breakfast and lunch before work. She stretches and yawns. It's nice not having a heavy hand on her, for once.
"Good morning, babies," she half sings. "Wake up, my little ones..."
"Mo-om..." Maritza says groggily.
"It's too dark!" Raiza adds.
"You chicas gotta get ready for school, y tengo que preparar nuestro desayuno y tus almuerzos...you girls can have five dollars each for lunch."
and I gotta make our breakfast and your lunches
The girls know a little bit of their mother's first language, but they mostly speak English with Blanca and to each other since she was never allowed to teach them much Spanish. She thinks maybe Maritza educated Raiza on some phrases and sentences, but that's about it. She's happy that Maritza has chosen Spanish as one of her elective courses, both back in Arizona and here in New York.
They rub their eyes open. Blanca gives them their clothes and when they get dressed, they eat cereal, strawberries, and bananas for breakfast. She studies the kindergarten and high school handbooks since she finally has time to look at them.
Maritza brushes her hair out after she eats, and Blanca combs Raiza's hair after Maritza's done with the brush. She makes Maritza a French braid and since Raiza's hair is too short to be in anything, she just styles it with small pieces of hair sticking out everywhere. She smoothes down the top with a pink headband.
At ten to eight, the girls put their backpacks on and walk out the door with Blanca. They brave the cold and board their first bus at seven-fifty-seven in the morning. Their second bus picks them up at eight-twelve. Classes start at eight-forty for Raiza at Parson's Preschool and nine for Maritza at Martin Van Buren High. They're ten minutes early.
"Adiós, girls, I love you! Have a great first day of school," Blanca says after showering them with hugs and kisses. She waves them off. They step off the bus, and Blanca watches them through the glass window. She leans her cheek against it and closes her eyes.
Thank you for reading and reviewing, VeraRose19 and MsSchneeheide!