The Fallen (Angelic Redemption) (20 page)

Heidi had said Maximo would know what to do, but
the boy remained silent in the backseat. When Joaquin inquired about anything
from his wellbeing to where they should go next, Maximo only shrugged, his eyes
focused on the horizon. The boy never asked about the unconscious Heidi or
about the women from the prison. He just seemed to know the answers. Whatever
those answers were, the boy’s face didn’t give Joaquin much hope.

Joaquin stopped at a dump of a motel, not unlike
the one where Heidi first came into his life. Upon their arrival, Joaquin did
all he could to stop the bleeding from Heidi’s stomach wound, but it was
useless. Only a hospital could save her and a hospital would leave her exposed.
Her fate appeared hopeless, but Joaquin refused to accept that she would leave
him. As the day turned to night, he prayed for a miracle he didn’t truly
believe would come.

Once sitting in a chair near the door, he tried
to focus on the danger outside and not on the woman dying feet from him. The
woman he loved and who gave him hope and a reason to live. She was dying and Joaquin
was helpless to save her, just as he always knew he would be.

Even Maximo seemed to know Heidi’s fate. The boy
hadn’t wanted to eat, hadn’t wanted to talk, only wanted to be near Heidi. Even
in the darkness of the room, Joaquin could feel Heidi slipping away. He finally
left his post near the door and joined them in bed.

Gently embracing Heidi, Joaquin feared every
touch would hasten her death. Her ragged breathing tormented him and he again
felt the darkness speak to him, soothing him with ways to put the poor woman
out of her misery. Pushing away such awful thoughts, Joaquin closed his eyes
and prayed for more time with Heidi.

With all his panic and having gone without
sleeping in a bed for ten years, Joaquin thought he might have trouble relaxing.
Wrapping his arm over Heidi and Maximo, he prayed for God’s mercy and fell
asleep in moments.

When he awoke, it felt like days had passed, but
the room was still dark and Maximo remained asleep. Heidi though was watching
him. Even in the darkness, he could tell she was smiling.

“I thought the monster got you,” she whispered,
touching his face with her warm fingers.

“God wouldn’t let it win.”

Heidi smiled wider, moving closer. He could feel
the stickiness of dried blood on her clothes. He also felt a warm body with
more strength than when they arrived.

“Everything will be okay,” Heidi said, nuzzling
her face against his chest. “You believe that, don’t you?”

Joaquin did believe it as he pulled the blanket
higher, covering Maximo’s bare shoulder.

“I feel God here with us,” he whispered, fearful
to jinx their good luck.

Heidi kissed him softly, her lips lingering a
moment before she dozed off with a smile on her exquisite face. Joaquin pulled
her closer, smiling as the sense of danger left him. Within a few minutes,
Heidi’s soft breathing lured him back to sleep. As he began to doze, he felt
his body descend into a strange dream.

The Caribbean breeze tickled at his unshaven
face as Joaquin took a deep breath of the clean air. This paradise was no
resort or place for tourists. It was a place too perfect to exist.

Gazing into the tide, Joaquin spotted a tall
woman whose auburn hair fluttered in the cool breeze. She smiled at him as she
passed by and something about her reminded Joaquin of his Heidi. The woman
waved down the beach at an Asian woman who waved back, oblivious to Joaquin. A
fierce breeze forced Joaquin to shield his eyes. When he opened them again, the
women were gone.

Water grasped at his toes as the tide moved
inward and he realized the day was almost gone.

“You are correct about this paradise, my
friend,” a man said from behind him.

Joaquin turned to find a white man standing a few
feet from him, wearing only denim shorts. The man’s bronze skin shined in the dying
light, but his eyes were dark and conflicted.

“No place on Earth is as perfect as my prison.
You should visit someday. Bring a friend. My sister will show you the way, but
don’t stay long. Perfection is like an infection. You will like this infection,
my friend. You will like it until you like nothing else.”

Joaquin
awoke to the feeling of his head stuffed with cotton. Moments passed with a lot
of blinking and eye rubbing before his mind focused on the activity around him.

A small table sat in front of the television
where a damp haired Maximo ate crackers and watched cartoons. Turning his head
towards the bathroom, Joaquin finally noticed the sounds of running water.

“She need shower,” Maximo explained even before
Joaquin spoke. “You were tired.”

Joaquin stumbled out of bed and pulled back the
curtains.

“You will marry her today,” Maximo said and
Joaquin thought his words were a question, but the boy didn’t wait for a
response. “We should buy a dress. Women who marry have dresses.”

“I have to get her back to the US,” Joaquin mumbled, sipping bottle water.

“No. She won’t go. She will stay here with us.”

“We can’t stay in Mexico. It’s not safe. We
should leave.”

“You are American like Mama?”

Joaquin eyed the boy a moment, curious about his
sudden designation of Heidi as his mother. “No, but I’m not Mexican. I have
travel documents. We can leave.”

“I have no documents.”

“I will get you some.”

Maximo shoved a few crackers in his mouth.
“What’s in America?”

“Her family.”

“We are her family now.”

Joaquin nodded, sensing this statement was true.
While the boy watched a barely visible cartoon on the failing television,
Joaquin waited for Heidi to appear from the shower.

On cue, the water stopped. Moments later, she
emerged, dressed in the last of the shirts and shorts Joaquin bought for her at
the resort town.

“You’re awake,” she said, grinning. “Sleeping in
a bed is kinda addictive, isn’t it?”

Joaquin studied her wounds and found they had
either begun to heal or had disappeared completely, including the terrible
stomach wound. Kissing her forehead, he wondered if Heidi was invincible too.

“I should clean up,” he said. “Then we can go out
for a nice meal. The kid seems hungry.”

Turning off the television, Maximo walked to them
with his hand out. “Give us money and we will buy a dress.”

Heidi smiled at Maximo then at Joaquin. “Can we?”

“I should go with you,” Joaquin said immediately.

“No, we are safe now. You shower and we shop.
Then we eat and get married. That’s how it will be.”

Joaquin retrieved cash from his bag. “Who needs
to think when the kid’s around?”

Heidi slipped on her bloodied tennis shoes then
kissed his cheek.

“You don’t have to do this, if you don’t want. Max
is excited and thinks he knows what’s going to happen, but you have a choice. I
promise not to be mad if you say no.”

Heidi watched him, her face calm, but her green
eyes were full of fear that he might reject her. Joaquin couldn’t understand
why she loved him or wanted him in any way, but loving her was no choice for
him at all. He needed her now and would do whatever necessary to keep her.

Caressing her freckled cheek with his thumb, he
leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “I want this. You want this. God wants
this. It seems silly to even discuss it.”

Heidi’s lips met his, but her affection was
tentative. “I don’t want you to feel forced into anything.”

Joaquin wished to find the right words to express
how lost he had been just days earlier. Or how he doubted he could live another
day if he lost her. He wanted to share these feeling with her, but he was not a
man comfortable with such sentiments said out loud. Instead he kissed her again
and hoped his need was apparent from his affections.

“We go now,” Maximo said, pulling at Heidi.

As Joaquin let go of her, he watched for signs
that she wasn’t reassured. Heidi smiled at him and this time her eyes were
filled with warmth, instead of uncertainty. She took the money from Joaquin and
followed Maximo to the door.

“We’ll be back soon,” she said.

Joaquin watched them stroll down the road and
away from the motel. Once they disappeared around a corner, he forced himself
to take a shower and trust they would return unscathed.

Standing under the surprisingly hot water,
Joaquin felt like he was washing off the filth of not only these last few days,
but from every day of his miserable life. Symbolism was not lost on Joaquin,
yet he wondered if it were ever truly possible to wash away the horrors he had
seen and caused. Whatever the answer, he emerged refreshed from the shower,
both physically and mentally.

Heidi and Maximo returned faster than he expected
with two bags in tow. Maximo immediately seized Joaquin, ready to show off
their prizes.

“We will wear white. We will match, you see?”
Maximo said. “Like a team.”

“Yes, very nice.”

“She can wear white, you know?” Maximo added,
eyeing the clothes in his bag. “You can’t, but we need to match. Like a team
matches.”

“I sense the term ‘too much information’ would be
lost on Max,” Heidi said, kissing the boy’s mess of hair. Eyeing Joaquin, she
smiled. “Are you feeling better?”

“God is with us. I see that now.”

“I told you it would get easier.”

Maximo ignored them, heading to the bathroom to
change.

“We’re keeping him,” Heidi said and her words
weren’t up for debate.

“He’s our family.”

Heidi smiled brightly. “Yes, you see it, don’t
you? How God has been pushing us along the whole way. Protecting and guiding us.
We saved my friends. We found each other and Max. God’s behind it and that’s
why everything is going to be okay.”

Joaquin nodded, taking Heidi’s hand. “We need a
ring.”

“That can wait. We have forever to find trinkets.
Right now, I just want to be with you and Max and follow God’s will.”

Maximo appeared from the bathroom, clapping at
his reflection.

“I look like an angel.”

Heidi and Joaquin laughed which only made the boy
clap louder.

“I’m next,” Heidi announced, disappearing into
the bathroom.

Maximo watched her go, smiling wildly. “I’ve
never been on a team before.”

“Me either,” Joaquin confessed.

“Mama had a team before, but now she is alone.
She’ll have us. She’ll be a good leader, yes?”

“The best,” Joaquin said, patting the boy’s head.

Maximo eyed him for a moment then gazed back at
his reflection.

“God is happy,” he said quietly, playing with the
collar on his shirt. “You made God happy.”

Joaquin frowned, unwilling to believe the boy’s
words. No matter how God felt, Joaquin knew he loved Heidi as she appeared in a
simple white dress.

“Ta da,” she said sheepishly while brushing her
hair.

Joaquin’s chest hurt as he accepted how this
woman belonged to him. Cupping her cheeks in his hands, he kissed her longer
and deeper than he intended. Heidi pushed him away after a minute.

“Not in front of the boy,” she admonished with a
grin. “You should change.”

Joaquin nodded, suddenly afraid to leave her
side. Fighting the urge to hide out in the motel room, he instead took his new
clothes and changed in the bathroom. He heard Heidi speaking to Maximo who
laughed and clapped in response. The boy was still laughing when Joaquin
appeared in his white shirt and slacks.

“We do look like a team,” Heidi said.

Joaquin grinned. “Or a boy band.”

“We go now,” Maximo said, finally losing interest
in his reflection.

“Yes,” Heidi said. “We’ll eat and then we’ll
marry. Any objections?”

As Maximo grabbed Heidi’s hand and pulled her
towards the door, Joaquin shoved any pertinent belongings into his duffle bag.
Even with all of the giggling from Heidi and Maximo, Joaquin couldn’t forget
the monster’s threat.

The three of them soon enjoyed a quiet lunch as
the only customers at a small restaurant. Heidi mostly picked at her food, only
enjoying a pickle while leaving the rest of her food for Maximo. The boy
finished his plate, Heidi’s food, and even stole a few bites from Joaquin’s,
all while careful not to stain his white outfit.

After they finished eating, Joaquin felt Heidi
studying him with an odd expression. Taking his hand, she looked him in the eyes
and spoke in English.

“When I was in college, I had the only real
boyfriend I’ve ever had and I really liked him. The thing about college is that
the whole atmosphere is about hooking up and being free with yourself, you
know?”

Joaquin nodded, watching her intently.