The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina (62)

Rey inhaled deeply and turned around in his seat. “Take in the inspiration, Marimar.”

She shot him a glare. She hadn’t written a single thing since she dropped out of college and stayed in Four Rivers. He knew that, and still encouraged it.

“Silvia told me you have a very creative family. You with your art and her sons with their music career. All of my brothers and sisters just became civil engineers like my father. By the time I came along, no one cared what I did, so I became a kindergarten teacher.”

“Are your parents still alive?” Rey asked. “Grandma literally never mentioned them until the day she died.”

“No, they both passed a couple of years ago. I wish my mother were here. She used to tell me so many stories about Orquídea. It’s a shame they never saw each other after Orquídea ran away.”

“Uh, excuse me?” Rey nearly choked on his laugh. “Are we talking about the same person?”

“She ran away?” Tatinelly said softly. Hadn’t Tati and Marimar done the same?

Ana Cruz met her eyes in the rearview mirror. “There’s so much about your grandmother, my sister, that you didn’t know. That I don’t know. I will tell you what I can.”

Guayaquil unfolded before them. The city was loud with air stinking of exhaust, not unlike Midtown traffic. The roads were all stacked on top of each other, creating underpasses. Some of them were lined with bright murals depicting the indigenous, African, and Spanish history that shaped the country. There were murals that called for peace and freedom. Some that said, “?Primero Ecuador!” They passed rows of beautiful houses with red tiled roofs and manicured gardens, froyo stalls and sunrise joggers around parks. Then, a few streets over, there was a prostitute in high heels, her dress bunched over her thighs as she bore down to urinate on the sidewalk. A few turns later, new stairs were being paved and modern apartment buildings erected.

Ana Cruz made a hard loop and drove up to a security check point at the base of a hill. She waved at the round guard drinking his coffee, and then maneuvered the minivan up a street so steep they slid back every time she switched gears.

When they finally arrived, Marimar looked over the house with caution. Orquídea had run from the Buenasuertes and here they all were, unloading their suitcases.

The Buenasuerte house was two stories tall. The roofs were in the Spanish design, with red clay tiles and a cream cement wall that appeared freshly painted. The lip of the walls around the house were covered in sharp spikes. Ana Cruz told them that’s how they kept thieves away. But in order to cover the gruesome appearance of the spikes, they’d tried to make vines and thin pink flowers grow like a curtain over them. The garage door opened onto a small courtyard. There was an angel statue and a tree with drooping branches. Marimar wondered if the others were thinking of Orquídea, too.

“Did Orquídea live here?” Rey asked.

Ana Cruz shook her head and dug in her purse for her keys. “No, that old house is in La Atarazana where we grew up. It’s sad what’s happening to that neighborhood, but that’s the way of things. I’m happy you get to see it before they demolish it.”

“Demolish?” Marimar repeated.

“They’re building new condominiums and extending the boardwalk. The whole neighborhood used to be full of Montoyas but after my father sold our plot of land to the city, a lot of people followed.”

“What about your brothers and sisters?” Rey asked. “They were delightful.”

Marimar elbowed him and was glad Ana Cruz didn’t mind his sarcasm.

“Some moved to Hamburg. My sister Olga moved to Buenos Aires. Some people just seem to go.”

Some people are forced to go, Marimar thought but didn’t say.

Ana Cruz turned the key to several locks and offered Marimar a kind smile. As she stepped aside to let them enter she said, “This is my home. I have no reason to leave.”

Lots of people had homes. Orquídea had a home with her mother once, too. Marimar wondered why some people left and others didn’t. Is it just that you stay until someone forces you out? Until it becomes uninhabitable? Until it gets demolished to make room for others? There were people all over the world who probably would have wanted to stay home, but they couldn’t. Something about Ana Cruz’s answer, as honest and simple as it was, bothered her. Orquídea had run away. Knowing that, it put a previous conversation with her grandmother into perspective.

She’d asked Orquídea once. “Why did you leave Ecuador?”

“I didn’t belong there anymore,” Orquídea said dismissively.

“So where do you belong?”

Orquídea had sucked her teeth and said, “You ask too many questions, Marimar!”

Marimar had flashed a devious smile, the one she reserved for when she did and said things she wasn’t supposed to. “I just want to know.”

“I belong wherever my bones will lie! Wherever my bones will lie.”





19

DOWN BY THE RIVER




Tatinelly hadn’t slept in weeks. Not since the shadow of that man appeared out of the corner of her eye and she was the only one who seemed to be able to notice he was there. He stood at the end of her street, in the park where Rhiannon liked to swing. Once, she’d seen him on the roof of her neighbor’s home across the way. That was the only time that he had stared up at the sky instead of directly at her. Each time, Mike had talked her down from her fear. Anyone could stand on a street, in a park. That didn’t mean anything.