Missy's Gentle Giant (7 page)

She held up the card sent with the
roses.  “
Missy, four years ago I made a promise
. 
White is
for weddings.  Love Ben.”

“What does this mean?” 
Gonzalo held it up.  “Charger—he said when I grew up he’d marry me.”

“He what?  How?” Gonzalo
jumped up.

“In one of his letters.”  Missy
reached in her nightstand and pulled out a package of letters.  She shook
as she pulled the one on top out of an envelope and handed it to Gonzalo.

“Missy I had no idea—if I’d known—”
Gonzalo forgot to say Melissa.

“Missy died; three years now she
died.”  She shook all over.

“Damn!”  Gonzalo pulled her
into his arms, then pulled back so she could see him talk.  “Melissa—oh
baby—no one died—you were just hurt—nothing’s changed—we still—all of us—oh
baby we still love you the same.”

“No you don’t.  I’m different
now.”

“No.”  He hugged her, then
pulled back and looked at her.  “You’re still Missy my baby sister whether
you want to believe it or not.  I still love you like I did before. 
Everyone loves you like before.”

“Charger—he—expected someone
different.  And I was waiting for him before I got hurt.  I used to
dream, to plan—now—”  Feeling nothing but shame, Missy’s eyes shot toward
the floor.  “Oh Gonzalo, I loved him—I always loved him.  What am I
going to do?  He thinks I’m still—Gonzalo you have to tell him what
happened.”

Gonzalo pulled away to look at
her.  “No, there’s no reason for us to tell anyone.”

“No?  Eduardo knows what
happened.  Do you think not?  I can see in his eyes how he
knows—knows he’d be able to throw it up to me later.  I don’t want to
marry him or anyone.”

“Melissa, Pop won’t make you marry
Eduardo.  None of us likes him, so don’t worry about him.  I’ll tell
Pop to run him off if you want.”

“Good.  And the next time you
talk to Charger, you’ll tell him the truth and run him off too!”  She
glared at her oldest brother.  “I’m not a baby you know.”  She
crumpled the card, dropped it and tossed the roses across the room as she
jumped up.  “All of you make me sick!”  She turned, suddenly furious.

“We make you—”

“Sick, sick, sick!  Trying to
protect me!  I’ve got so many damn brothers worrying and watching over me;
it’s impossible.” 

“Melissa—”

“Next time you talk to Charger,
tell him the damn truth!  Tell him I’m not the same, Missy’s dead, Melissa
is deaf and can’t hear a damn thing.  I’m not worth bringing all the way home,
he needs to stay away and not come back anymore—I hate him!  I’ll always
hate him!”  She kicked the roses strewn on the floor and turned to
Gonzalo.  “Tell him I never want to see him again!”

“Melissa—” Gonzalo waved his hands
in desperation.

She pounced upon him with tears
streaming down her face.  “Will you tell him?”

“If it’s what you want, but Mel—”

“Yes, exactly what I want.” 
She stomped with satisfaction.  “To hell with him and everyone else!” 
She folded her arms against her chest.  “Tell him I’m too busy to think
about him, or Eduardo, because I’m going to go to college and learn how to
teach others like me.  Tell him I don’t need him or anyone—not even you.”

“No one?”  Gonzalo was amazed
by her sudden change.

“No one, dammit!  I can take
care of myself.  There’s nothing wrong with me.”  She shoved her head
up high.  “I can think like everyone else.  Now, since we have some
money, there’s no reason why I can’t go to college and become a teacher.” 
She glared.  “Is there?”

“No Melissa, no reason.”

“Good then when you talk to
Charger, you tell him I don’t need him or Ben or Eduardo either.  I can
manage perfectly without them.”  Her eyes flashed.  “Do you have some
problem?”

“Huh?”  His mouth dropped
open.

“Are you going to sit on my bed all
night or are you going to let me get some sleep?”

“Oh.”  Gonzalo jumped up in a
daze.  “Yeah sure, I’m sorry, I was just going.”

“Thanks for listening.”  Missy
smiled a huge smile.  “And don’t forget—tell Ben.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell him.” 
Gonzalo went downstairs with total confusion on his face.

“Everything all right, son?”

“I don’t know.”  Gonzalo
glanced at his parents.  “Missy’s upset.  She told me to tell you to
run him off.”  Gonzalo pointed at Eduardo.  “She’s tired of him coming
to see her.”

“Oh?”  Eduardo jumped up.

“Well now—”  Mr. Sanchez
smiled.  “Maybe you’d best go.”

“But I—my uncle came to ask—”

“Looks like Melissa has her own
opinion and said no.”  Gonzalo smirked.

“Is this your answer to my nephew’s
proposal?”  Eduardo’s uncle rose.

“If it’s what my daughter
wants.  Guess you’d best leave.”  Mr. Sanchez grinned.

Everyone watched Eduardo and his
uncle leave in a huff.  “Care to tell us what all this was about?”

“Missy’s remembering things.  Doesn’t
want to marry him.  She doesn’t want to marry anyone.”  Gonzalo
shrugged.  “Said she wants to go to college.”  He raked tired fingers
through his hair.  “Look Pop, I have to check on something.”  Dazed,
Gonzalo left the house, got in his car and drove to the motel.  When he
got there, a message was on the phone.  Still in a daze he dialed the
number from the message.

“Did you get rid of Eduardo?”

“Yeah, you expected me to
call?”  Gonzalo shook his head.

“Yeah.  How’s Missy doing?”

“She’s doing terrible.”

“Is she unhappy about Eduardo?”

“No, but if I ever find you, you’re
dead meat!”

“She’s a little upset, huh?”

“Damn, Charger, you did too much
today.”

“What happened?”

“She told me to tell you she
doesn’t need you or anyone,”

“Good.  What else?”

“Good?  Charger—”

“What else man?  Lay it all on
me now.”

“Charger where the hell are you?”

“I want to know what happened, what
Missy said—”

“She said Missy’s dead.”

“Yeah, she told me too; now what
else?”

“She—she said to tell you she’s
deaf—”

“We both know it; what else is
new?”

“She said to tell you she hates
you.”

“Good.  She needs to release
her feelings.”

“Damn, Charger—if I ever find you—”

“To hell with you.  I can live
with her being deaf; what else?”

“Dammit to hell, she doesn’t feel
the same!  Look man, she was hurt and wants to forget it.  She said
she doesn’t need anyone including you or Eduardo.  She said she’s going to
college to become a teacher because she can still think.  She blew her top
because we baby her.”

“I want to know how she got hurt.”

“Charger—look I can’t—”

“I want to know what happened.”

“She was kidnapped and gone for two
weeks.”

“And when you found her, she
couldn’t hear?”  Ben swallowed hard while his blood ran cold.

“What?”

“I said, after you found her was she
deaf?”

“She was in very bad
shape—concussion—hospitalized a couple weeks—”

“Gonzalo, when they found her, she
was deaf?”

“Yeah.”  Gonzalo dropped in a
chair.  “You’re a persistent bastard.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

“Man, you made her cry all day.”

“Crying’s good for a person. 
Ask your mother.”

“You had no business ever saying
you’d marry her.  If I’d known—”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“She says she hates you and never
wants to see you again.”

“So she doesn’t want to see me?”

“Hell no.  She told me to tell
you.”

“Good.”

“Good?”

“Yeah, I’m coming in.”

“You’re what’?”

“Got a full truck I’m bringing
in.  Besides, you’re going to need help with all your orders and an extra
truck too.”

“Look Charger, about Missy—”

“Yeah, something else?  Or is
it you’ve got something against my courting your sister?”

“Against what?”

“I’m going to marry Missy.”

“Like hell!”

“She’ll come around.”

Gonzalo rubbed his forehead. 
“You need to stop talking about marriage.  I mean she’d cause you nothing
but trouble.”

Ben chuckled.  “Yeah, the way
you said she feels I figured as much.”  He took a deep breath.  “Her
deafness or being kidnapped doesn’t matter Gonzalo.  It’s not
important.  The minute I saw her stalled by her car, I knew it.”  Ben
took another deep breath.  “Look line up all your brothers and your father
to beat the hell out of me if you want; I’m coming in to see Missy.”

Gonzalo dropped the receiver to a
dial tone.  His life would never be normal again just because of his
teensy hung up sister and this giant.  A giant?  Oh God, what if he
threw all the customs aside and came with a damn ladder?  Missy wouldn’t
be able to cope with anything like it!  He jumped up, raced to his car and
hurried home.

After three in the morning Gonzalo
still sat in the living room wishing he could sleep.  First thing he’d do
in the morning is cool Ben’s heels as far as Missy was concerned.  So why
the hell was he up?  Because Ben had said he was coming in to see
Missy—not Melissa but Missy.  Somehow he must convince Ben his sister no
longer wanted Missy to exist.  But was this why he was still up? 
Hell no, he didn’t trust the guy.  Ben was liable to come with a ladder
and hurt Missy more than ever, and he was probably just using Missy to get into
the family because of the drug investigation.  Gonzalo planned how he’d
murder Ben.  His head jerked up when he heard a big rig’s engine
gunned.  No it couldn’t be him!

When Ben hit the far corner of the
block he gunned the engine and reached for the horn.  Grinning as
houselights all around clicked on, he honked again and slowly turned. 
Taking his time he rumbled down the block honking all the way.  He felt as
if the grin had grown permanently on his face.

Gonzalo jumped up and slapped his
hand against his forehead.  So much for all his planning!  He looked
up and saw his parents and brothers coming downstairs with sleepy eyes and open
mouths.

“What in the world?”

“It’s Charger.  I talked to
him a few hours ago, and he said he was coming to see Missy.  I thought he
meant tomorrow, and I could talk him into waiting.”  Damn!  Did he
want to wake all the neighbors?  Just as most of the Sanchez family walked
out the front door, Ben pulled to a stop and the horn blasted with full
force.  More lights all around them came on.

Missy sat bolt upright in bed along
with several others in the neighborhood.

“Man, do you have to make all the
noise?”  Gonzalo swung up to Ben’s door.

“Yep, want to wake Missy.”  He
grinned.  “Even if I have to wake everyone else.”

“What the hell—”

Ben raised his hand, blasted the
horn again, glaring at Gonzalo.  “I want to wake Missy—”

“But she can’t hear—”

“Oh, but she can!  The day I
drove up with her the first time, she heard the horn.  I saw her
jump.  He mashed on the horn again and more lights around the neighborhood
went on.

“But everyone will be mad as hell—”

“Yeah, I don’t care.”  Ben
grinned.  “I want them all to know I think Missy is the most beautiful
girl in the world.  I want them to know I’m claiming her as mine.” 
He pulled on the horn again, harder, longer this time, watched Gonzalo drop to
the ground totally frustrated, and opened his door.  “I brought a damn
ladder too, and if I need it, I’ll use it.”

“Italians are crazy.”

“Stereotyping?  So are
Mexicans.”

“Ben?”  Missy stood in the
doorway with surprise in her eyes.

“Yeah, I’m here.”  Ben’s eyes
filled with love as he lunged toward her.

“Well I’ll be a—”  Gonzalo
couldn’t close his mouth.  “Pop, Missy heard the truck!”

“Probably the dead in the cemetery
heard—Melissa heard it?”

“Unless one of you woke her. 
Charger said she could hear, it’s why—”  Gonzalo swung around.  “Did
one of you wake her, up?  The family was so over whelmed they didn’t see
Ben pull Missy into his arms, give her a bear hug and kiss her nose.  One
of the neighbors saw though and gasped.  Ben slowly dropped Missy back
onto the porch, stunned by the arousal she caused him to feel and mashed his
forehead against hers.  She was shaking.  Frantically he reached for
her hand and talked to her.  With his forehead mashed against hers, he
told her how she was the most beautiful girl in the world and he didn’t care if
she couldn’t hear or how she’d been kidnapped because he wanted her to be
his.  Missy cried softly, and he reached up to wipe away her tears.

By now the neighbors, furious about
the noise, slowly descended on the Sanchez family, who was caught up trying to
explain this crazy Italian.  Everything was quiet and fine near Missy and
Ben until he started telling her with his hand he wanted her to marry him—how
he wanted to take care of her and show her his love—how he’d promised her so
long ago he’d wait for her to grow up.

“NO!”  Missy cried out. 
“The promises were to Missy and she’s dead!”

“It doesn’t—”  Ben carried her
to light.  “Dammit, Melissa or Missy it doesn’t matter!”  He tried to
kiss her to show her, and she shook all over.

“Yes it does!”  Her eyes
filled with fear.  “I won’t listen to you!  I don’t want to marry
anyone!  I don’t—”  Ben didn’t believe her reaction, the pain on her
face, the fear in her eyes.  He expected her to be surprised or angry
because he knew about the kidnapping and her deafness, but fear?  Shaking
like a leaf?  Had he hurt her somehow?  He hadn’t meant to hurt her.

“What the hell are you doing to
Melissa?”  Gonzalo instantly turned on him.  Like it was a signal,
the Sanchez men lined up.

With pain in his eyes for hurting
her, Ben shook his head and released Missy.  Mrs. Sanchez grabbed her and
pulled her toward the house.  Something was very wrong here.  Angrily
Ben turned to face Gonzalo.  “I guess this is where I have to fight you,
huh?”  He glared with fire in his eyes.  The only one he really
wanted was Gonzalo.