He’s trying to find out your address. Mariana, I believe he has connections outside Colombia as well as within, men he can call on in the States. Whatever he does, I’m not going to be telling him where you are.
Keep safe, watch Drew for me. I can’t tell you how much I love you and miss you. Kisses to you both. Stay safe.
Your loving mother
Dear Mariana,
Your father is getting worse. He was violent toward me last night. I only just managed to get out to post this letter.
He’s desperate to find you. He still doesn’t know where you are, and I’ll go to my grave keeping it a secret.
Love and kisses to you and Drew
Your loving mother
Dear Mariana,
I’m writing this crying. My darling, I’m so sorry. He raped me last night, saw the caesarean scar from when I had Drew. He was going to kill me thinking I’d been unfaithful, I had to tell him he had a son.
He wants his son, Mariana. I wouldn’t tell him where you are. I lied, gave a fake address in California. He may be able to check that out, if so, I doubt next time he’ll hold back. He was so mad I kept Drew quiet. He wants you too, wants to use you to make a marriage that will benefit him.
Pray for me, Mariana. I’m praying for you and Drew. Know that I’ll love you always.
Your loving mother.
The last letter is dated eight years ago, presumably just before her mother died. I need to get these letters to the lawyer, perhaps the thinly veiled threats about using Mariana as a pawn in a union she’d be forced into would help her case. It’s all that I can hold on to.
The image of her in that detention centre, how pale she looked, how sunken her eyes were, plays on me as I drive. I drum my fingers against the steering wheel. I’ve visited brothers inside before, but they were doing their time for a crime they might have denied, but had committed. Mariana has done nothing wrong. What do they expect? A four-year-old kid to refuse to cross the border? It’s the unfairness that gets to me. She should not be incarcerated. She should be here, with me. With her brother. Free to live the life she’d been brought up to expect.
“Can we stop, Tse?”
Turning, I notice Drew shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Intuiting the reason, I realise I could do with a break myself. Pulling off into a rest service area, I get out, stretch my long legs, cramped with the drive, then follow Drew into the bathroom. Coming out, I point toward the restaurant with a jerk of my head.
His eyes, tearless now but still red and puffy, light up. We go in, order, then sit to eat our burgers.
“Would you marry Ma?” Drew asks.
What the…?“I said we were engaged to see if that would carry any weight.”
“But if you were married, you could sponsor her for a green card, couldn’t you?”
“Drew, unless she’s released, how are we going to get married?” I can’t see ICE letting her marry an American citizen before she’s deported. I haven’t worried about having to do anything more than letting it hang as an intention, in case it could help.
“What if she’s deported? Could you follow her, marry her, then bring her back?”
“Once she’s deported, Drew, she might not be allowed to return. Married or not.” His words make me consider the idea.Would I go that far? Marry a girl I barely know?While my cock thinks having her in my bed every night is a very attractive idea, it’s the days I’m worried about. Sure, what I’ve seen of her I like, but fuck, I’ve only seen her twice. And once was her wearing orange.
While I go quiet, Drew fills the gap. “I’m leaving with her,” he says, determined. “She’s my sister, she’s not going anywhere alone.”
He hasn’t seen his mother’s letters.I’m certain. Otherwise he would know the danger she’s in, and would have mentioned it. Instead his concern is about her being alone in a strange place. I’m not going to enlighten him; the boy doesn’t deserve more worry on his plate. “Drew, there’s a lot of water to flow under the bridge before we come to any decision like that.”
Looking up, he seems older than his age when he presses again, “Will you at least think about marrying her, Tse? Once she’s legal, you could get divorced.”
“Whoa.” I hold my hand up. “What you’re suggesting is exactly what the authorities think happens.If, and it’s a very bigif,ifI marry your sister it wouldn’t have an expiration date.” Not the way it works in my world. You don’t make someone your old lady unless it’s for keeps. Brothers would never agree to it.
I finish my plate, he clears his, then again catches my eye. “Wouldn’t mind you being my brother, Tse. It would be cool.”
I’m just about to blurt out I wouldn’t mind being his, when I manage to stop myself.Hey. My fake relationship with Mariana is to help her.Don’t want ideas of anything permanent to sneak up on me. For a start, she’d probably have a few objections of her own.
