“That’s what you’re paying me to find out. The supervisor told me the days Alejo is usually at the laundromat, so I’ll be finding out what he had to do with Lucette.”
“When is he at the laundromat?” I demand to know, my hand in a fist.
“Pinhead, don’t even think about confronting this guy!!!” Ratchet furiously declares.
“But—”
“Do you want to find Lucette or beat up some guy you have no idea about?”
“But—”
“Kid, do you want to find your wife or not?”
“Yes!” I blurt, deflated.
“Okay, then. Let me do my job.”
I sigh. “Okay.”
Chapter 37
Lucette/Araceli:
I impatiently wait to hear from Alfredo. I’m well aware that he may be so upset with me that he doesn’t want to respond to my letter.
All I can do is wait.
Danila told me that when she handed him the letter, his face seemed very surprised when she said it was from me. He then told her he’d read it in private, disappointing her. She wanted to see his face as he read it and report back to me.
Let me repeat, all I can do is wait.
In the meantime I get a pleasant call from Alejo. He calls me to see how I’m doing. “Good,” I say and I mean it. With the circumstances being what they are, I’d say I’m doing pretty well. Even with this situation with Alfredo at least I’m far away from Justin.
I’m so very grateful to Alejo. You can’t imagine! I’m thankful every day for when I stepped into that laundromat and Alejo, noticing my black eye, started talking to me about the battered women’s shelter he worked for. I wasn’t ready to leave Justin yet, but then the miscarriage happened and I got the letter from the judge.
Dr. Phil’s magic words rang in my ears—no guy ever has the right to lay a hand on a gal in anger, and that a day comes when you can right what’s wrong in your life.
Fortunately Alejo gave me his card to contact him if I changed my mind. I realized that Justin was going to kill me at the rate he was going! I could tell by the wild, fiery expression on his face the day he caused me to fall on the stairs that I had reached the end of my road. I had never seen him that crazy with raging fury.
Lucky Lucette wasn’t at all lucky anymore. I have to make my own luck, I murmured to myself as I took out Alejo’s card from the special hiding place I kept it in. Back when I was with my parents I had gotten suitcases with special hidden compartments because my parents were paranoid about unscrupulous airline employees. We used to take a lot of trips.
I had kept those suitcases and that’s where I’d hide what I needed to hide from Justin since he’d frequently go through my stuff, especially my purse. He’d count every cent I had and would insist on knowing what I was spending to the last penny. You just can’t imagine the stress I’d go through if I happened to have misplaced or even lost a sole quarter.
It was in one of those special suitcases that I hid Alejo’s card and also the letter from the judge saying Justin and I weren’t married after all. I had been trembling when I had called Alejo to ask for help. He was nothing but kind. The first time he approached me at the laundromat I just about freaked. If Justin got wind of a guy coming up to me, he’d go ballistic! He wouldn’t listen to reason! He’d say I was flirting with the guy!
The thing was that Justin would just show up out of the blue where I was at to spy on me. For all I knew, he’d be popping in any minute. The only thing I was grateful for was that the washing machines I had chosen were in a discreet corner and couldn’t be seen from the many windows at the front of the laundromat. In other words, if Justin was spying on me from the outside, he wouldn’t be able to see me talking to the stranger but still, what if he came in?!!!
I quickly told Alejo to please not speak to me or be anywhere near me. But Alejo seemed to guess at why I was freaking out. He eyed the door and told me that if any person stepped into the laundromat, he’d pretend he was checking up on his laundry drying in dryers close to the machines I had chosen instead of talking to me. I told him that I still didn’t want to risk it.
“I understand,” he murmured kindly. “Let me just tell you that you don’t have to live like this. Live in fear all the time. You need to get away from that person who gave you the black eye—”
“I fell down,” I rushed.
He groaned. “This is the third time I’ve seen you in here with terrible bruises. I’m pretty sure that someone gave them to you and they’re not due to you being clumsy. Let me just tell you that there’s help for you.” He pulled out his card. “I work at a battered women’s shelter. It’s an awesome place full of caring people. Do something for yourself before it’s too late. You know what I’m talking about, right?”
“That he might kill me,” I murmured, my voice shaky.
“Right,” he muttered. “You’re too valuable to be someone’s punching bag.”
Alejo had moved away from me then, but not before he made certain I took his card while he said, “You can contact us any time night or day. We’re there for you.”
I had sat in my corner and discretely rubbed the hot tears from my eyes. Could it be that someone really understood what I was going through? I remembered what the lady at the grocery store parking lot had told me about leaving the monster. She had understood what I was going through too. Maybe there were some compassionate and caring people in this world.
I’d think about Alejo’s words quite a bit. I’d take out his card when Justin wasn’t around and stare at it while wanting to dial the number so bad. But I was sooo afraid. A tornado would form in my brain and I would tell myself that Justin had promised to find me wherever I was if one day we couldn’t be together. There was no getting away from him!
Well actually, maybe one.
The casket.
I’m ashamed to say that there were times I’d really consider that casket. I’d consider what it would be like to not live under such awful conditions. To not live at all.
But after almost dying in the hospital, I realized I really didn’t want to die. It was true that I didn’t want to live like this, but I didn’t want to take my last breath either.
Wasn’t it enough that my baby had died? Thanks to Justin I had had a miscarriage.
A few weeks later, I called Alejo. I didn’t think he’d remember me but he did. He immediately had me speak to a counselor. The rest is history.
Asking for help from the battered women’s shelter is the best decision I’ve ever made. I never realized how truly mega-horrifying my situation was until I got away from it. While I was with Justin it was like a cloud of denial had grown in my head. I mean, I knew I was in a terrible situation for sure, but I had almost forgotten freedom and the good things in life, so I became a zombie of sorts barely existing with my trampled soul on the floor of my existence.
When I tasted freedom again, it was like my soul had jumped off the ground. Everything I smelled, tasted, and experienced became so much more amazing.
Yeah, I’m lucky Lucette again but not by chance. I got away from the monster. I made my own luck.
Justin:
“That Alejo guy finally went to the laundromat,” Ratchet tells me nonchalantly, having just dropped by my apartment.
“Did you talk to him?!” I ask anxiously, my heart pounding. “Does he know where my lovely Lucette is?”
Ratchet groans. “Hold your horses, kid. I haven’t talked to him yet.”
“Why not?!” I snap furiously. “He may be the only person standing between me and my wife!”
“Who’s the detective, you or me?!” he snarls.
“You,” I murmur.
Ratchet grunts. “You’d better believe it.”
“So what’s the plan?” I question anxiously.
“I followed Alejo to get a feel for him.”
“And?” The freak is taking way too long in telling me about Alejo. My anxiety is about to choke me!
??
?Alejo works at one of those women’s shelters,” he mentions nonchalantly.
“Women’s shelters?”
“You know, one of those places broads go to when their men slap them around a bit.”
I’m puzzled. “So who cares where he works at?”
Ratchet eyes me as if I’m stupid. “Isn’t it obvious, pinhead?”
“What’s obvious?”
“Lucette must’ve asked for the shelter’s help,” he proclaims, eyeing me carefully with a weird look.
“What?”
“She wanted help from the shelter. That must be why the laundromat supervisor said Alejo gave her a card.”
I’m appalled at what the freak is suggesting. “Why would Lucette be involved in one of those places? We had a very happy marriage. You must be barking up the wrong tree with this Alejo guy.”
Ratchet frowns loudly. “I don’t think so. I’ll be investigating more into this.”
“I hope you’re not wasting your time,” I blurt, angry undertones in my voice.
“Kid,” Ratchet snarls, “just let me do my job.”
Chapter 38
Lucette/Araceli:
Alfredo calls me. My heart is beating really fast. What will he say to me?
“Araceli, do you mean everything you say in the letter?” he asks quietly.
“Yes, of course,” I murmur.
“You haven’t changed your mind since writing in?—you know, remorse.”
“Of course not,” I burst. I’m a little frustrated he’s questioning me, but at the same time I can’t blame him, can I?
I can hear him taking in a huge whiff of air. “Then we have a lot to talk about.”
“I’d like nothing more,” I burst.
We arrange to meet on Saturday morning. It’s barely Tuesday, so there are a few days to go before we get together. He wants us to go to a private place, so we agree to see each other at a park he loves. There’s a secluded desert area there with a bench that few people know about.
I breathe a heavy sigh of relief that Alfredo is even willing to talk to me.
Justin:
“I found her,” Ratchet simply says. He’s dropped by my apartment like he usually does, without calling first.
“What?” I don’t think I heard right.
“Clean your ears, kid!” Ratchet snaps. “I said I found Lucette!”
I’m so overwhelmed that it’s good that I’m sitting on the sofa or for sure I would’ve hit the floor.
“Found her?” I murmur, still not quite believing what I’m hearing.
Ratchet slaps me upside my head, but I hardly feel it. His assertion of finding my lovely Lucette is still rolling in my head. “Snap out of it, kid! I hacked into the shelter’s computer, and I found Lucette, so go and get her!”
“Where is she?” I murmur.
“El Paso,” he informs me nonchalantly.
“El Paso, Texas?”
“She’s with a family there by the name of Sanchez and is using the name of Araceli.”
“Araceli?”
Ratchet groans loudly. “Kid, must you repeat everything I say?”
“I’m just freaking out right now.”
“Well stop it! Be a man and get yourself together.”
“Okay,” I mutter, realizing he’s right. “Are you sure it’s her?”
“I flew into El Paso and took some pictures of her.” His hand goes to his side pocket of his camouflage cargo pants. “See for yourself.”
I take the pictures he hands to me and burst with fury. The girl in the picture definitely isn’t Lucette! The freak is totally incompetent! “This isn’t her!” I snap, nostrils flaring.
Ratchet snorts loudly. “What’s wrong with you, kid?! Don’t you recognize your own wife?”
“The girl in the picture looks nothing like my lovely Lucette! This chick is much bigger, her hair is much darker, and the gestures on her face just don’t belong to my Lucette!”
Ratchet groans. “Stupid kid!” he mutters. “Pinhead, you’re really trying my patience. Of course Lucette changed her appearance, so you wouldn’t recognize her!”
“Changed her appearance?” I utter.
Ratchet nods fiercely. “It’s common practice for people hiding from others to change their appearance.”
“Why would my lovely Lucette try to hide from me?” I question, hurt.
Ratchet snorts again as if he can’t believe the question. “Oh I don’t know, kid,” he guffaws. “Maybe it’s about your foul temper.”
“What?” What’s this freak talking about?
“Slap your wife around a bit, do you?”
I’m appalled by his suggestion. “Of course not.”
“So your wife leaves everything and changes her look and name for no reason?”
“I already told you that Lucette left because the miscarriage must’ve scrambled her brains.”
“Sure, kid,” he bursts sarcastically, “and I’m Mother Teresa.”
“She’s a bit confused that’s all,” I insist. “After she sees me she’ll realize how much she needs and loves me.”
He eyes me carefully and frowns. “I suggest, kid, that if you don’t want your wife running away from you again you should talk to her without fists. You know, kid, hitting a girl is pretty cowardly. Didn’t your dad ever teach you that? I’m almost sorry I found her for you, but you paid me lots of money and besides you seemed pretty desperate.”
“You just don’t understand anything about us!” I snap.
“Whatever,” he mutters. “I found her so you’d better pay me the rest of the money!”
I stare at the pictures. The girl in them doesn’t seem at all like my lovely Lucette.
Not at all!!!
Chapter 39
Lucette/Araceli:
Alfredo and I throw frequent glances at one another at school. It’s like our sight automatically goes to each other without any prompting. He gives me my space until we can have our private talk on Saturday.
I think he purposely doesn’t have us meet sooner because he wants me to be sure about things. He wants me to know exactly what I want in my heart.
He’s such a good guy, I tell myself. He’s nothing like the monster.
Justin:
I fought Ratchet for days about the girl in the picture not being Lucette. He finally said he had enough of me and demanded that I go to El Paso to see for myself but that once I proved it was her, I’d better pay him every cent I owed him.
The guy still scares me quite a bit, so I took a few days off from work and did as he told me to do.
I’m outside and across the street from the address he gave me. I’m sitting in a new car one of my friends had just bought and let me borrow. Lucette has never seen this car, and the windows are tinted. It’s early in the morning and I wait impatiently for this fake Lucette to step out. Ratchet had told me that she went to school, so I figure she must be coming out any minute now.
Three girls knock on the door of the house I’m spying on, and the girl in the picture steps out.
Stupid Ratchet! This girl looks nothing like my Lucette!
Of course it’s not her! I’ve wasted a trip to El Paso!
Chapter 40
Lucette/Araceli:
“Are you okay, Araceli?” Danila questions, her tone full of worry. Anelina and Emily also eye me with concern.
“I’m fine,” I quickly pop out even though I’m lying. “We’d better get going to school before we’re late.”
The Dynamic Trio had stopped by my home as they did every weekday to walk with me to school. It was only a few blocks away.
As soon as I had stepped out the door once Danila had knocked, a really weird sensation came over me as if I should run back inside. I guess what I was feeling on the inside showed on the outside which is why Danila had asked me if I was okay.
I sigh, hoping I’m not about to have a panic attack like I’d suddenly got when I first arrived at the Sanchez house. That’s why I had taken to
hiding under the bed at the time. It had really helped those panic attack explosions.
Silently, I start talking myself out of an emotional attack by telling myself about everything good in my life at the moment.
Justin is far, far away, I keep repeating in my mind.
The weird feeling doesn’t go away, but at least I’m not freaking out. I put all my concentration on the Dynamic Trio. As we walk to school, the girls are delightfully chatty as a usual.
Thank goodness for them!
Justin:
I’m pretty furious with the freak and about to drive off to get back to San Antonio when the supposed Lucette and her friends get closer to my car as they walk to school. They totally ignore me since the windows are tinted very dark and besides the four girls are chitchatting it all up. I rub my eyes!
I can’t believe it!
IT’S LUCETTE!!!
Ratchet was right!!!
I don’t need to tell you that my heart is pounding so hard that I’m scared it’s about to burst! Tears of sheer happiness stream down my face. I found my Lucette.
I found her!
I recognize her—even with all the changes she made to herself. I’ll have to talk to her about that. This disguise she has on has to be done away with. She needs to return to my lovely Lucette as soon as possible!
My heart won’t stop jumping for joy! I really want to run up to her and tell her that the nightmare of us being apart is over. I want her with me as soon as possible. I want to give her a million kisses.
I need to tell her how much I love her.
But . . .
I have to wait for the right time to approach her.
Ratchet had warned me about being careful not to make a scene, or I might end up in jail.
“But why would I be arrested for getting my wife back?!” I had snapped.
Ratchet grunted heavily. “Lucette doesn’t seem to want to be found, kid.”
“But she’s my wife!!!”
“Pinhead, it’s illegal to own a human being, even if you’re married to her!”
“Who said anything about owning a person?” I snickered. “I just want her to know how much I love her and forgive her for everything she’s done to me.”
He let out an exasperated sound. “There’s no talking to you! Do what you want, but don’t expect me to bail you out of jail!”
I had ended up ignoring what Ratchet had last told me because I didn’t believe the girl in the picture was Lucette.