Missy's Gentle Giant (2 page)

Ben glanced up at the darkening
sky.  Before long it would be night.  He couldn’t leave a little girl
like her stranded on the road.  A grin grew on his face.  No hot
blooded Italian would do something like that.  “Look Miss, I’m going to Harlingen
and will be glad to give you a lift that far.”  He waited a moment for
some response.  “Look I’m—I don’t usually pick anyone up, but since you’re
stuck out here in the middle of nowhere—”

“What am I going to do now?”
 She wheeled around suddenly facing Ben, took a deep breath, and
smiled.  “My name is Melissa and I’m going to McAllen.  I know it’s
imposing but would you mind terribly giving me a ride to the next gas station,
so I can call for someone to get me?”  Her face grew crimson.  “I
wouldn’t ask, but I don’t care to be stuck out here alone.”

Shock waves shot through Ben and
hit his stomach with a punch.  She was deaf!  “Yes, I would mind,
dammit!”  He groaned, rose and stomped toward the truck as waves of an
unknown emotion whirled through him.  “Bring what you need, dammit!” 
He stopped, took a deep breath and turned to her.  “Look I’m sorry—I said
it wrong.”  Alligator tears welled in her eyes.  “I’ll stop at the
next gas station and see they pick up your car, but I’ll take you into McAllen
myself.  Okay?  I—I can’t dump you at some damn gas station. 
Okay?”  His imploring eyes met hers.

“Okay.”  She bit her lip and
willed her tears to stay away until she could turn from him.

“Do you have anything you need to
take?”

“A suitcase.”  A tear rolled
down her cheek, and she quickly turned away in shame.  Ben lunged forward,
touched her shoulder and turned her around.

“Got some dust in your eyes,
huh?”  He smiled warmly and brushed her cheek.

She nodded and grinned weakly.

“I’ll get your stuff.” 
Reaching in the car, he pulled out the keys, rolled up windows pulled out the
suitcase and locked it.  “Come on Melissa, I’ll take you to McAllen.” 
He walked up the side of the truck with her.  She trembled all over.

Climbing up, he opened the door,
threw her suitcase in the back and reached for her.  With absolutely no
effort he lifted her tiny body into his arms and put her on the seat.  Trying
to breathe again, he swallowed hard and glanced down at the ground while she
quickly scooted over to the right side of the cab.  She looked out the
right window and shook like a leaf.  Ben climbed inside, started up and
pulled out onto the highway.

They drove in silence for about
fifteen minutes, until he spotted a gas station with half a dozen shacks around
it and pulled in.  He turned off the engine and waited for her to look up.

“Would you like a coke?”

“Thank you.”

“I’m going to call and have someone
pick up your car.  Where do you want it sent?”

“Just have them take it to Sanchez
Trucking Service in McAllen.  My brother Gonzalo will take care of it.”

“San—”  Ben swallowed
hard.  “Got it.”  He staggered into the gas station on rubbery
knees.  Melissa Sanchez?  Missy Sanchez?  Gonzalo’s kid sister. 
Missy and his pen pal in Iraq?  No way!  NO WAY!  Hell, he’d
even talked to her on the phone when they got back to the states and this girl
was—no way!  She must be another sister—maybe married to one of them. 
It was impossible for her to be Missy; she was only sixteen—a little kid for
cripes sake.  Ben was still in a state of shock when he came back to the
truck.  He climbed in, handed Melissa her coke and stared at her. 
Sixteen plus four equals—twenty.

“Thank you.”  She smiled and
showed her dimples.  Missy hadn’t shown dimples in her pictures.  Had
she?  She was a skinny little kid with a long braid down her back. 
Dark hair and almond colored eyes.  Beautiful now.  “Melissa, how old
are you?”

“Twenty.”  She smiled. 
“And you?”

“Twenty-eight.”  Sixteen plus
four equals twenty—and ‘when you grow up Missy, I’ll marry you.’  Had he
really written something like that?  Ben glanced down at his shaking hands
and then out the window to his left.

“My oldest brother is
twenty-eight.”

His eyes shifted back to her.

“Yeah?  You come from a large
family with lots of kids?”

“Yep.  Do you?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

There was a long silence.

“Excuse me, but since you know my
name, could you tell me yours?”

“It—it’s Ben.”  He blinked. 
Damn, she WAS his Missy!

“Ben’s a nice name.  I like
it.”

There was another long silence
while Ben tried to get a grip on himself.

“Do we have to return the bottles?”

“Huh?”  He looked at her
dimples rather than her eyes.

“I just wondered why we’re sitting
here.  Do we have to return the bottles?”

“Oh no, sorry—”  Ben held out
his coke.  “Hold this while I get started.”  Quickly he put the truck
into motion.  Melissa shifted in the seat so her legs were drawn up and
she faced him with a smile.  The coke rested on her beautiful knee. 
Ben tried to keep his eyes away from it.

“This sure is a nice truck. 
Is it new?”

“Yeah.”  Ben remembered she
couldn’t hear and turned his head to face her.  “Yeah, it’s new. 
Cost quite a bundle.”

“I know, my brother’s always
robbing Peter to pay Paul.  Repairs cost a lot too.”

“Robbing Peter to pay Paul?” 
He smiled.

“You know, trying to figure out who
has to be paid first, who can wait, then borrowing here to pay there and back
again.  It’s a family business, and lately we’ve run into some snags.”

“Snags?”

“Two of our trucks were
confiscated.”  Melissa bit her lip.

“How come?”

“Oh, oh I—I’m sorry, I’m not
supposed to talk about it.”  Her eyes shifted away.

Ben reached out, touched Melissa’s
hand lightly with a finger, and she looked up.

“It’s okay.  I understand
families have personal worries sometimes.”

“Thanks.”  She smiled.

“Where were you coming from?”

“I was in school in Austin.”

“College?”  She’d written
years ago about wanting to teach.

“No, it’s a diff—special school to
help me learn a trade.”

“And did you learn one?”

“Secre—office work.  I’ll be
able to do bookkeeping and things.”  She looked away.

Ben touched her hand again, and she
looked at him.  “Is it what you wanted to learn?”

She glanced down at his giant hand covering
hers, started shaking and pulled her hand away.   “No I wanted to go
to college and—but—”  She shifted to look out her window.  “My
brothers need help in the office.”

Ben knew the conversation had
ended.  Here he was working for the DEA who confiscated their damn trucks
not, as she thought, the ordinary truck driver on a normal run, and he’d
promised her in a letter four years ago he’d marry her.  How the hell
could he promise her something so stupid?  He felt like a heel, the lowest
thing on earth and spent the rest of the drive into McAllen telling himself
just how rotten he was.  Hell, he was here to find out who was pushing
coke in her family’s business.  Oh well, as pretty as she was, she
probably had lots of boy friends and forgot his promise.  He ought to be
kicked from here to China though, for taking this job.

“Well we’re in McAllen.” 
Melissa smiled brightly when they stopped for a light.  “You can just let
me off anywhere around here.”

Ben glanced up at her.  “No,
I’m taking you home.”

“I wouldn’t advise it.”  Her
bright smile faded.

“Where do you live?”  He
glared.

“Turn left at the next
light.”  She stiffened and sat back.

“Okay, I’ve turned, now
where?”  Ben tried to catch her eyes, but she looked away and said
nothing.  He reached out and touched her shoulder until she looked up,
shaking again.  “Melissa, dammit, where next?”

“Look, I’m just trying to save your
hide.”

Ben pulled into the right lane, saw
a wide place and pulled off the road.  He reached up and grabbed Melissa’s
shoulders.  “Now what the hell are you talking about?”

“I have a father and nine
brothers.  I’m the only girl.”  Her eyes glistened. 

“So?”

“I shouldn’t have taken a ride with
you.”

“What the hell are you talking
about?”

“Don’t you know anything about
Mexican customs?”

“Should I?  What’s wrong with
me taking you home?”

“I don’t know what they’ll do if
they see you—if the neighbors see you.”  She glanced at her hands and then
up again.

“What in the world would they do?”

“My father and brothers have this
wild need to make sure I stay home until I’m eighty.”  Her cheeks colored,
and Ben felt a smile coming up from within his insides.  “If they see you
and think something happ—”  Totally embarrassed now, she turned her head
away again.

He reached out, grabbed her chin and
forced her to look at him.  “What will they do?”

“Well, they’ll probably beat you
up.”  Shaking again she looked down at her hands. 

He pulled her chin up until their
eyes met and smiled.  “I’ve got a lot of fight in me.  Are they
bigger than me?”  His eyes gleamed.

“I don’t think anyone could be
bigger than you.”  She swallowed hard, and her cheeks colored again. 
“But if the neighbors see us—”

“What if the neighbors see us?”

“If they start gossiping—” 
She tried to pull away and her shaking increased.

“If they gossip?”

“After my family beats you up,
they—”

“Tell me.”

“They might make you marry me, and
you’d be sorry!  There, I said it, now just let me have my suitcase and
I’ll walk from here.”  Instantly Ben released her with a surprised
expression.  Still shaking she looked down and reached for the door
handle.

Suddenly furious, Ben stopped
her.  Both his hands shot up and grabbed her shoulders to pull her around
to face him.  “Either you give me the damn directions to your house or
I’ll take you to a damn motel, call Sanchez Trucking Service and tell them they
can get you there.”

“You wouldn’t!”  She went pale
and tears jumped into her eyes spilling onto her cheeks.  Her teeth
chattered.

“Wanna’ make a bet?”  What did
he just say?  “Now give me the damned directions!”

“G—g—go down four blocks, t—turn
right and g—go two more blocks, t—turn left and it’s the th—third house on the
right.”

“Thank you!”  He let her chin
go and turned back to the wheel.  What the hell was wrong with him? 
Hell nine brothers and a father could beat him dead!  And force him to
marry the little mite sitting as close to the right door as she could
get?  Never!  What the hell was wrong with him anyhow?  He’d
scared the hell out of her.  She shook all over, and alligator tears
rolled down her cheeks.  What the hell had come over him?  On an
impulse when he reached the last turn, he reached for the horn and let it
blast.  Melissa jumped.  Ben pulled up in front of the white frame
house.  Was he daft?

Damn what a poor
neighborhood.  How in the hell could Gonzalo’s family live in such a
little house?  Hell, his parents had ten rooms each to themselves plus all
the quarters for the hired help.  If Gonzalo was dealing in coke, he must
be stashing the take somewhere else.  Ben shook his head in disbelief,
opened the door and climbed out.  Again he reached for the horn and let it
scream to the neighbors while he helped Melissa from the truck.  Only his
fury kept him from grinning when he saw her wide eyes of shock.  Yeah, she
did hear it.  He was sure of it now.  Out of the corner of his eye,
he saw a young boy about sixteen come to the door.

“Amá!  Melissa’s here in a big
truck!”  The boy disappeared, but moments later was followed a heavy set
woman as she stepped off the porch.

Ben reached for the suitcase and
purposely hit the horn again while he pulled it out.  Melissa went totally
pale, glanced around and swallowed hard.  She did hear it!  Damn he
wanted everyone on the damn block to see them!  How could they be so narrow
minded?  Force him to marry her as if they’d done something wrong? 
And hell, if they were going to beat him up, he might as well have some fun
with it.

Ben lowered Melissa from the
truck.  She saw her mother and ran to her.  “Oh Mama, my car broke
down and he brought me into town, but when I asked him to let me walk to the
house he wouldn’t.”  Melissa buried her head against her mother.

Fury hit him, and Ben dropped the
suitcase with a loud thud on the sidewalk.  “My name is BEN SPINELLI and
I’m an ITALIAN, Mrs. Sanchez!”  He glared angrily.  “ITALIANS do not
drop RESPECTABLE GIRLS off and leave them to walk home!  ITALIANS drop
CHEAP GIRLS off to walk because they’re ashamed to be seen with them! 
ITALIANS take RESPECTABLE girls home and make sure their parents meet them—him—so
they know who their daughter’s with.”  Ben took several deep breaths
trying to cool his temper.  He looked around for her brothers.  What
the hell was he doing?  “Now you’ve met me and Missy’s safe.  Tell
her brothers and her father if they want to discuss this further, they can find
me, BEN SPINELLI, at the first damn motel up the road.  I’ll be ready for
them.”  Ben turned on his heals and started for his truck.

He stopped and turned back to Mrs.
Sanchez.  “Tell Missy—oh to hell with it—forget it.”  He waved and
climbed in his truck.  He didn’t see the smile on Mrs. Sanchez’s face as
he drove off blasting the horn one more time just for the hell of it! 
Damn, he was losing his mind.  What the hell made him do such a stupid
thing?  Practically invited all her brothers and father to come and kill
him!

Oh, his father would love it! 
His dad could add it to the list of stupid choices Ben had made rather than
take over the damn chain of stores his father owned.  Angrily Ben pulled
into the first motel he saw and registered.

A few moments later, he dropped the
keys to the room on a nightstand and rubbed the back of his neck.  He was
supposed to find out which one of her family was pushing coke!  Great way
to start things off.  Feeling very tired, he dropped on the bed.  He
ached from being cramped up and sitting, and as usual the bed was too damn
short.  Worse, his brain was useless.  After pulling off his clothes,
he lay back, rolled over on his stomach, pulled himself up on the too short bed
from the left top corner to right bottom corner so he could stretch out and
fell into a dreamless sleep.