ASCENSION (20 page)

Giuseppe took a bottle of Slivovitz from the cooler and poured two glasses.
One for
Alfonzo, the other for himself.
“Here, try this,”
he
said pushing the glass at
his cousin and
in return
received a stern reprimand from
Emille
.

“Move
Gio
.
If you want to
replenish my stash bring
good
German beer
!
”

Alfonz
o downed the clear liquid in one shot. The plum sweet flavor went down strong
and smooth.
He
wanted to numb the pain
of his wife’s rejection
.
His eyes gravitated to
Emi
lles
’
perky bosom
and he
said aloud,
“Hit me again.”

Emille
ignored the men
as they drank
and concentrated on the
muscular
tanned flesh
. T
he needle gently inked across it and a rich dark red color surfaced
for the flames
.
H
is
pectoral
muscle flex
ed
and
she
smiled
. Yes, this was certain to be one of her
best work
s
ever
!

CHAPTER FIFTE
EN

D
ays rushed by
and folded into each other like pages of a book.
Selange busied herself
, working tirelessly to ensure the final preparations
for
next month’s
awards ceremony
went off without a hitch.
She
reviewed the list of attendees
, doing a RSVP check then a
walk through
at the Waldorf to confirm the
seating
plan. Recipients and their families near the front,
donors, sponsors and everyone else in the other seats.

At
Alfonzo’s
New York
office
she swiveled in his chair clutching the phone to her ear as her assistant
Cam gave updates on the
schedules before sending a draft via e-mail for her to look over. This took a few minutes and once done she sent her approval for the final printing.

Alfonzo
called every day but she refused to speak to him.
Eventually, she
’d have to
but she needed more time to sort
out her feelings.
A
nyway,
he was somewhere in Europe on
an
other
important
business trip. If he w
as
truly
concerned about them
then why
wasn’t he here?

Sal enjoy
ed
the impromptu visit with Nana
and his cousins. She went
there every day for
dinner
and to
tuck him in
. She’d watch him sleep and smile. Gosh, he resembled his dad so much it was crazy. One night she slept in
Abuela’s
basement and man, the memories raced at her. It’s where she consummated her love for Alfonzo, yeah, he was the first and the experience exceeded her wildest expectations –but
being there also made her think about him and that’s not what she wanted. She needed a neutral place, one without sexual memories and so she
stayed
in the back room
s
of
his
office. The suite was comfortable, luxurious in fact with a
private bath, comfortable sofa bed, thin screen TV and
a stainless steel refrigerator
she
stocked with food.

She pulled the blanket over her legs and leaned into the sofa watching the night settle over the city. The noises of
fifth avenue
traveled through the invisible seams of the building and she frowned. In Puerto Rico the night came with quiet and a soft rustling of the wind to lull her to sleep. Here, the familiar noises of the past also came with
it
a
harsh
reminder of
life’s
tragedy. She clasped her knees to her chest and
rest
her head there feeling alone and bereft. The lottery money was set up in trust for her son and a portion was used to fund the
Brown-Diaz Scholarship
for
high school seniors with stellar academic records
who could not afford the rising tuition. The charity helped her swim through the dark moments such as these
.
A tear fell, then another until she cried unabashed.

Her cell rang and she answered sniffing, “Hello?”

“
Babe, what’s wrong?”
A
lfonzo’s voice asked.

She sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve. She didn’t want him to know she cried or was upset. She slumped against the thick pillow blinking the tears away, “I’m fine.”

“You’re crying. What happened?”

“Nothing.”
He caught her at a vulnerable moment.
A weak point in which he used to enter.

His voice held remorse, “I’m sorry. I acted like an ass.
Babe, please meet me at home
so
we talk. Can you do that?”

“Why do you insist on having me followed Alfonzo answer that first?”

He didn’t deny it. “I’ll explain
everything,
I swear I’ll tell you everything if you meet home.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the airport in
Italy. I’ll be home by tomorrow.”

She took a deep breath, “
Don’t do this
.”

“Selange, I miss you.”

“We’ll talk Alfonzo
but I can’t do it now
.”

“Okay
, remember the poem you recited by Crane?
”

“Yes.”

“I’m the man reaching for the ball of gold in the sky but finding it here on earth. Please…please don’t give up on me…I need you.”

A lump formed in her throat
and her eyes were watery. “We’ll talk…
I just need some more time
.
”

“Hold on, listen to this.”

Her eyebrows furrowed, what was he doing now?

Then she heard music and strained for a second
to hear it
. Soon
the sound became clear and she recognized the once popular song
.
She closed her eyes listening to the heartbreaking lyrics.

‘
If you ever leave me baby,

Leave some morphine at the door,

It’ll take a whole lot of medication,

To realize what we used to have,

We don’t have it anymore,

There’s no religion that can save me,

No matter how long my knees are on the floor,

Oo
h
,
so
even
mind all the sacrifices I’m making,

To keep you
by my side and keeping you from
walking out the door,

‘Cause there’ll be no sunlight if I lose you baby,

There’ll be no clear skies if I lose you baby,

Just like the clouds my eyes will do the same…’

The tears were coming so damn fast and hard she hiccupped. She was sobbing her heart out as the song continued to play. Alfonzo used this song to bring her
crashing
to
her
knees. He
’d
weakened her and she couldn’t stop crying because she loved him and didn’t want to leave but she had to…he hurt her.

‘Everyday it’ll rain—
ain
-
ain-ain-ain
…’

“Babe,” his voice was
strong in her ear, “that’s how I’m feeling. Come home. I’ll do anything but just come home to me…or send me some morphine.”

She
hiccupped
tears, “I’m coming home.”

***

T
he next
morning Selange and Sal said their farewells to everyone at the airport.
Maria hugged her grandson tightly, “Be good and I’ll see you soon.” She stood and
h
ugged her daughter-in-law
then
cupped the young woman’s face and smiled. She truly enjoyed the unexpected
v
isit and hoped their long talk help
ed.

“You are
always welcome
,
daughter
.
”

Selange’s eyes smiled, “I know. I love you
Maria
.”

The woman’s heart squeezed. Alfonzo married well.
Selange was a remarkable y
oung woman,
“
My son loves you. I know because he would never have married you
.
Talk with him. Work it out.
”

Se
lange nodded,
“
I will.
Thank you for everything
.
”

They hugged
one last time
and soon Selange and Sal were on the plane going home.
In hours they were landing and shortly thereafter she walked through the terminal holding Sal’s hand tightly while pulling
their
luggage.

“I’m hungry,” he whined in his tired voice
as she searched the curb for
a
familiar face amongst the drivers
.

“We’ll get something in a minute sweetheart,” she assured
him
.

“Hey there,” a male voice said
from behind
.

She
swiveled
arou
nd
to find
Nico
standing there. S
he had not seen him in almost two years. He looked different. His dark locks were
dyed
blonde which
failed to
accentuate his strong Grecian features.
She smiled because it was good to see the man.
“
My God,
Nico!”

He
lift
the boy
atop
his broad shoulders
and Selange hugged him around the waist and even kissed him she was so happy.
He shook his head as she squeezed tight like a kid and thought, geez, maybe, she shouldn’t kiss him on the mouth like that,
it
felt
damn
good. Then he
chuckled
because he knew she was merely excited to see him.
“Now that’s a welcome.” He winked at Selange
and added, “I’m glad
to see you guys too
.”

Selange’s smile broadened, “
God, we missed you.” She looked at him, “
You look different
, though, the hair
.
”

With Selange clutching his waist, Sal atop his shoulders, he took hold of the handle of the oversize suitcase and started walking.
“
Nothing a little dye can’t fix. Heard someone’s hungry.
Whatever you two want is on me.”

“Yay!”
Sal bounced on his shoulders.

Selange felt so much better. Nico brought such joy when he came, seeing him
leave
was always hard. He was like Christmas, appearing once a year, and the gifts he brought were always peace
of spirit.

The small wheels rolled over the sidewalk as he led the way to the car
and
Sal giggled pointing at a plane soaring in the sky. “Look plane
.
Nico
!”

“Yeah, sport. Nice plane!”

CHA
PTER
SIXTEEN

“I
t’s
been a while kid
.
” Nico said as they reclined on the sofa catching up on
old times.
He had to admit Selange was lovelier tha
n ever.
The boy r
esembled Alfonzo with those blue eyes but he also inherited his mother’s beautiful curly hair
,
extremely long eyelashes
and dimples
.
Well, both parents had dimples, so he figured it was half and half.