“I’m arranging for Drew to go and stay on the Rez, with my family.” Tse’s eyes rise in challenge as if I’m going to object. “He’ll be able to go to school there, so he can continue his education.”
“Same one as Tse went to,” Drew butts in. They’ve obviously been speaking about it. Drew doesn’t look worried, more interested it seems.
“I don’t know about that,” I start, then stop, realising there’s no other option. How can I argue with the man who’s proposing to care for my brother for me?But a Navajo reservation? “Will there…?” I want to ask if there would be issues, a white kid on a Native American reservation. My question fades as I don’t want to insult Tse.
“Yeah.” Again, it’s Drew who answers, knowing me well and reading my mind. “Tse’s told me what to expect. He’s not sugar-coated it, Ma. But it’s better than getting Social Services involved, or being homeless.”
“Look at it as a life experience,” Tse gives a quick smile to my brother who I realise seems to have grown up. His considered nod showing that. Then Tse looks at me. “Your neighbours tried to break into the trailer. They’ve heard you’ve been detained and expect you to be deported. If I hadn’t been there…”
“Tse was great, Ma.”
Tse brushes his comment away as though he’d done nothing at all. But when he speaks next, all my fears come back to me. “Seems your kindly neighbours think Drew’s illegal.” He presses his lips together, and now the reason for his suggestion becomes clear. “Don’t want him mixed up in trouble. So I thought the best idea was to get him away. Spoken to my mom and she’s looking forward to havin’ him stay. Navajo like to adopt strays.” His quick smile at Drew softens his words, then he focuses on me again. “Carissa Beacham couldn’t give me any idea how long you’d be here.”
She couldn’t tell me either. “No news on a court case yet. But others I’ve spoken to have been waiting months.”
Tse looks down at his hands with those long slim fingers I remember admiring before, in another lifetime it seems. We’re all ignoring the elephant in the room, that apart from this facility, I might never set foot on American soil again.
“I’ll arrange to have some funds put into your facility account. You can make phone calls, send letters.” Tse seems to know more about how this works than I do. “It might make your life easier.”
“Thank you.” I’m in no position to refuse. “Tse, thank you for everything. You don’t know me; I don’t know you. Yet you’re helping me, helping Drew.” For some reason, I trust him. Then, I suppose, I’ve no one else even pretending to be in my corner.
Now it’s Tse’s strong warm hand that covers my own shaking one, and a quick grin flits over his face. “What else would I do for my fiancée?”
“Yeah, about that…” I’ve got to put a stop to this now. Him saying I’m his fiancée makes me think things I shouldn’t be thinking. Not when the likelihood is that I’ll soon be thousands of miles away.
“Listen, Mariana,” he hisses. “You’ve got an American fiancé waiting for you, okay? Don’t tell anyone any different. Every little thing might help.”
My eyes widen. Here I am, a girl who’s kept so far under the radar I’ve never dared have a boyfriend before. Now this handsome man is telling me he’s my fiancé, and we’ve not even kissed. Let alone knowing anything about each other, except for a few basics.
Tse stares at me. When he sees I’m not going to voice an objection, he chuckles softly, lightening the mood. “I have threatened Drew with bodily injury, though, if he starts calling me Pa.”
Chapter 12
Mouse
Drew keeps it together until we’re in the truck that I borrowed from the Satan’s Devils compound, and we’ve put a couple of miles between us and the detention centre. Then there’s a loud sniff, followed by a couple of sobs, then more which just keep coming. Allowing him some dignity, I concentrate on the road ahead.
It hadn’t taken me long to decide the safest place to take him. With nosy neighbours threatening to call the cops, I wanted him well away from that trailer park. Sure, he’s got his birth certificate, and with my skills I can help him easily prove he was born in the States, but why put the boy through all that? Taking him out of his school and spiriting him away to the Rez, where no one would dream of looking for him, would be better. A phone call to my mother and it was arranged, it seems both she and Gramma wouldn’t object to someone filling their empty nest, even just for a short time. Long term I’ve no idea what to do with him. But I’ve decided he’s my responsibility. I can’t abandon him, or make any permanent plans until we know what’s going on with Mariana. I like the kid. And giving his sister peace of mind is the least I could do.
As Florence is between Tucson and the Rez, it makes sense to go straight there after visiting Mariana. Drummer wants me back at the compound, and I need to give some time to helping my brothers make sense of the shit that they, and by association I, am in. So I’m wasting no time, taking Drew there today.Hoping that as the miles go by beneath us, he’ll have time to pull himself together after seeing his sister, and start looking forward to what lies ahead.
While giving him time to process, I let my mind think about Mariana. I hadn’t told her, but one of the security cameras revealed dividends. A clear view of her car properly stopped at a red light, the Ford ploughing straight into it. I’d shown it to Carissa, the lawyer, who’d taken it to the cops.
The assholes hadn’t even arrested Jenkins, and had shrugged when Carissa suggested it had cleared her name, said the tape was too blurry to make out.
Pack of lies, but the truth is, Mariana’s case is in the hands of the immigration authorities now. Her proof of innocence, or otherwise, has no bearing. The cops have washed their hands of her. The evidence I’d discovered would at the most mean she’s deported without a criminal record, but it’s apparently no argument against her being detained. Whether ICE picks you up or detains you is a lottery, Carissa had explained, and once they’d set their sights on you, it’s almost impossible to secure a release.
But the lawyer is still working on it. Trying to get her hearing before a judge brought forward. If they leave it too long her DACA protection will run out, and who knows whether she’ll be able to renew it? Even recipients on the outside, Carissa has confided, aren’t registering again, fearing that giving the authorities updated details just makes it easier for them to be picked up off the street.
The only thing I can do is give Todd Jenkins my own form of retribution. Whatever Mariana says, I’ll be delivering some punishment. He can’t get away scot-free. If I get my way, he won’t be getting any insurance money.
Drew’s still sniffling, wiping his nose on his sleeve. Parental responsibility doesn’t go so far as me calling him out on it, so Ithink about the reasons why Mariana can’t go back to Colombia instead.
Those letters.Yeah, personal letters, but I’d read them, chills causing the hair on my arms to stand on end.
Dear Mariana
I arrived safely, but your father is as I remember him. In fact, he’s worse. He’s a powerful man now, he calls himself General and rules a corrupt empire. Do not on any account get in contact with him. Whatever happens, whether you hear from me again or not.
