Chapter Twenty-Seven

Before telling her story, Maricruz waited until the nurse came in and pushed the button to quiet the beeping and then attached a new bag to the IV. 

Maricruz began, “Well, I know you’ve never been very religious, Lyle, but I have to tell you that we all owe Father Carl big time.  He should be nominated for sainthood after all the miracles he worked today.”

“Miracles, huh?” Lyle asked, skeptically.

“He went with me and Amanda to the police station," Maricruz said.  "And they had me and Amanda sit in a waiting room with the hardest plastic chairs ever while Father Carl went in and met with Chief Schmidt.  I think I told you once that the chief is a member of our parish.  I think he was even baptized there when he was a baby.  He always runs the Lenten Friday fish fries and I’m pretty sure he’s still the chair of the Parish Council.”  Maricruz began folding the pink blanket as she continued.  “They were in there for like an hour and then the chief came out and asked Amanda to join them.  Amanda was about to freak out but I convinced her it would all be okay.  Then she was in there for like an hour too.  I ended up falling asleep out there.  My back is going to be killing me for days.”

“So what ended up happening?” Lyle asked, bringing Maricruz back on track.

“I guess the chief made a few phone calls and verified what Amanda had said about her father dying in prison and her mom OD’ing.  He also verified that she’d been picked up a couple times around the country for prostitution but that someone had always paid the fine for her.  I guess the chief bitched her out pretty hard for not calling the police, especially in Pueblo.  He said he’d do what he could to help her out with the Pueblo PD and the Pueblo County Sheriff.”

Lyle groaned.  “I’ll never forgive myself for picking up that damn gun out of the snow.  I should have just left it out there, or better yet I should have wiped it down and put it back in the glove box.  And I sure as hell never should have pulled it down from on top of your fridge and carried it down to the restaurant.  What the hell was I thinking?”

“You were thinking about keeping your promise to Amanda."  Maricruz patted his hand.  "Was it the best thing to do?  I’m not going to lie, Babe, it was pretty stupid, but you just wanted to protect her.  Even though you’ve only known her for less than two days you’re probably the closest thing to a father she’s ever had.  Don’t beat yourself up about it.  Besides, you'll hear more about the gun here in a minute”

“I know,” he said, “But—”

“Just listen to the rest of the story, Lyle.”

Lyle closed his mouth and let Maricruz continue.

“Finally, they sent Amanda back out and called me in.  The chief asked me what happened and I told him the truth.  I told him about what I did to the truck and that I kicked DB three times for grabbing my ass and calling me a wetback.”  She smiled.  “And I told the chief I’d do it again, which didn’t make Father Carl all that happy, but it was the truth.  The chief said DB’s truck was being impounded anyway and that because of all the evidence they found in it that matched up with Amanda’s story, that it would probably end up being sold at auction.  He said he wouldn’t file any charges against me for the vandalism but that he was putting me on unofficial probation, that he’d be checking up on me.  He also said that if DB had been anyone else I’d probably be brought up on assault charges but that dead pedophile pimps don’t tend to bring charges against people so he’d pretend it never happened, although he then joked that they should start bringing me in on interrogations.”

“So you’re off the hook?” Lyle asked in disbelief.

Maricruz nodded.  “Thanks to Father Carl and Chief Schmidt—and the fact that DB was the scum of the earth—yes, I’m off the hook.”

“But what about Amanda?  I mean, she stole a car, and we had the gun from the stolen car.”

“Okay, Lyle, I don’t want you to be mad about what I’m about to say, because it ended up saving both Amanda and you from going to jail.”

Lyle pursed his lips.  He hated when people started a sentence by saying, “I don’t want you to be mad about this.”

“Promise me you won’t be mad,” Maricruz said.

Lyle reluctantly agreed.

“It turns out, Lyle, that Amanda wasn’t completely truthful about everything.  She told you one lie.  That gun she pointed at you from the window of the car, that shot out the windows, and that you ended up carrying into the restaurant—she didn’t find that gun in the stolen car.  She had it with her already when she was hiding in the bushes in front of the hotel.  She’d taken that gun from DB’s truck before she ran, but when she first met you out in the car she made up the story about finding it in the Crown Victoria’s glove box because she didn’t know you well enough to trust you yet.  She’d already admitted to you that she’d stolen a car from one person.  She didn’t want to tell you she’d stolen a gun from someone else too.  By the time she came to trust you, so much had happened she’d forgotten she even told you the lie about the gun being in the glove box.”

Lyle sighed loudly.  “So now she’s going to have to face charges for stealing the car and stealing the gun?”

“No, Lyle,” Maricruz said.  “Think about it.  It turns out that DB had the gun legally registered and everything.  So as far as the records show, you and Amanda never had that gun.  I mean, there was no way DB was going to call the police and report it stolen.  So DB registered that gun, kept that gun in his truck, and then DB shot Rick with that gun, and then that’s the gun he was holding when he pointed it at the police when they killed him.  The Chief said as far as he’s concerned your fingerprints and Amanda’s fingerprints on it could have just as easily come as a part of the struggle in the restaurant.”

“Oh my God,” Lyle said, letting his head drop back onto the pillow.  “Whew.  That’s the best lie anybody’s ever told.  I thought I was going to end up serving some time.  What about the car though?  There’s no way Amanda can get out of that one.”

“Don’t be so sure, Lyle.  I’m starting to think there might be something bigger at work here, like somebody was looking out for us.”

“What do you mean?” Lyle asked.

“Well, Amanda had to be taken over to the Pueblo Police Department to be questioned about the Crown Victoria.  Chief Schmidt took Father Carl and me with them.  He said since she was a minor he could probably convince the chief in Pueblo to allow us to be with her as child advocates.  He warned us that we were living on the edge by not having an attorney with us, but Father Carl assured him that if it went too far he’d call the attorney for the diocese. 

Chief Schmidt had called ahead and filled them in on Amanda’s situation.  They, like all of us, had never heard anything that terrible.  So when we got there, they told us that Mr. Singleton, the owner of the car, was there and that he wanted to talk to us. 

They took us into the interview room where Mr. Singleton was sitting.  He was an older man, probably in his early seventies.  He looked really nice, like a genuinely kind person.”  She continued on describing him as thin and wearing a sweater and jeans, as well as wire-rimmed glasses.  She said that, because there was a ring of silver stubble on his scalp that surrounded the bald skin in the middle, Mr. Singleton kind of reminded her of her Uncle Diego who had died a few years earlier of a heart attack.  She continued, “Mr. Singleton sat across from Amanda, Father Carl, and me, and the two police chiefs stood together against the wall.” 

  

As a nurse came in to check Lyle’s vitals, Maricruz kept telling her story.  “He told us about how he was a retired social worker from up in the Cheyenne area in Wyoming.  His job was to work with some of the Indian tribes up there to try to stop teen pregnancy, drugs and drinking, runaways, and suicides.  He said that Amanda’s story reminded him of a lot of the young women he’d worked with that he couldn’t help but that ended up in prison or dead.  He said he carried all of those girls with him. 

“After Mr. Singleton was done talking, the chief from Pueblo stepped up and said, ‘Mr. Singleton has decided, against my advice, not to press any charges.’

“Then Mr. Singleton looked up at the chief and said, ‘Press charges?  Why would I press charges against someone who borrowed my car?’  Everybody knew, of course, that Mr. Singleton was lying, but there’s nothing they could do about it, and if there was I don’t think they would have done it.  He said, ‘She can’t be charged with stealing a car if she didn’t steal it.  When I called the police last night I was just a confused old man, who forgot that I had loaned it to her.’  

"Father Carl promised Mr. Singleton that some of the church’s charity money would pay for new windows for the car.  It was really pretty funny.  I mean, Mr. Singleton’s story was so ridiculous but nobody wanted Amanda arrested and after what they found in DB’s truck, nobody blamed her for running from him or for ‘borrowing’ Mr. Singleton’s car.  And nobody shed a tear that DB ended up in the morgue rather than in a jail cell, although Father Carl did pray over him while he was lying there on the restaurant floor while you were passed out.”

“So you’re telling me we’re all off the hook, then?”  Lyle couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“It sure looks like it, Babe.”  Maricruz smiled at him before reaching out and holding his hand.  “Father Carl says we have guardian angels.”

Lyle laughed.  “I’m starting to think Father Carl might be right.” 

“After they let us go," Maricruz said, "the chief dropped me off here at the hospital and then took Father Carl and Amanda back to Rocky Ford.  My parents already had Benny so Amanda went there and Father Carl went back to the rectory.  My parents are supposed to bring the kids over later to see you.”

“You mean your dad’s coming here?” Lyle asked nervously.

Maricruz nodded.  “We have to deal with him eventually, you know.  In the mean time, you think there’s room for two of us up there on the bed?  I can’t stand another minute in this stupid chair.”

“There’s always room for two,” Lyle answered with a smile as he scooted over, careful not to pull his IV tubes.  Maricruz squeezed herself in beside him and fell back to sleep within just a few minutes.

***

Maricruz spent most of her time over the next twenty-four hours at the hospital with Lyle, as did Benny and Amanda.  After Lyle was discharged from the hospital, she and Lyle still spent many hours there, taking turns with Jacqueline and their two boys, Kyle and Steven, holding vigil with Rick, whose vitals were slowly beginning to stabilize.  Over those days Maricruz and Lyle got to know Rick’s family quite well, sharing stories and meals in the hospital cafeteria.  Benny even spent a few afternoons there unknowingly having checkers tournaments with his older half-brothers. 

One night on their drive home to Rocky Ford, Maricruz admitted to Lyle, “I really can’t believe how much I like her.  I just wish there was a way we could tell her about Benny without it ripping her apart.”

“It’s not our place, Mari.  You know that,” Lyle said as he drove her gold four-door Chevy Celebrity, holding onto the steering wheel with two hands and not taking his eyes off the road.  He couldn’t wait until he could afford a new truck.

“I just kind of feel like we’re becoming friends, Lyle, but I can’t really be her friend if I keep this secret from her.”

“And you think if you tell her you had an affair with her husband ten years ago she’ll still want to be your friend?” 

“At least she’d know the truth,” Maricruz said.  The rest of the drive was in silence, a silence that resulted in her deciding that she couldn’t keep the secret anymore.  Jacqueline deserved to know.

The next day Maricruz couldn’t think about anything else.  Several times she started to say something, but couldn’t make herself do it.  Finally, not long before she and Lyle were planning to head back to Rocky Ford, Lyle took Benny, Amanda, Kyle, and Steven down to the cafeteria as an excuse to get himself some ice cream.  Maricruz knew it was now or never.  Rick was in a deep sleep and only Jacqueline and Maricruz were in the room.

Finally Maricruz opened her mouth.  “Jacqueline, there’s something that’s tearing me up inside, something I need to tell you.  This is going to be very hard for you to hear, but I feel like you and I have become friends, and Rick means so much to Lyle that we’re going to be a part of each other’s lives for a long time, at least I hope we are.  If it wasn’t for Rick, Lyle would still be a drunk, and if it wasn’t for Rick Amanda would probably be dead.  Rick is a good, good man who loves you so much but—”

Jacqueline, who was looking intently in Maricruz’s eyes, interrupted her.  “Maricruz, you don’t have to say anything.”

“Yes, Jacqueline, I do.  It was about—”

“I know, Maricruz.  I know about you and Rick, and I even know about Benny.  I’ve known for years, but I’ve never told anybody.  Rick doesn’t even know that I know.”

Maricruz waited for some kind of wrath to erupt from Jacqueline the way she knew it would explode from her.  But when it didn’t Maricruz asked, “How?  How did you know?”

Jacqueline glanced down at Rick and then back at Maricruz.  “I found a letter he wrote to you about five years ago.  I was in his briefcase looking for a receipt he kept forgetting to give me when I found it.  He was at the gym so I had time to sit down and read it there at the kitchen table.  He hadn’t quite finished writing it yet, but what he’d written so far said he wished he could send more money to help with Benny and that he could never thank you enough for keeping your past relationship a secret.”

Maricruz was both in shock and relieved to hear this.

Jacqueline continued, “At first I was livid and heartbroken, wanting to confront him and take the boys and go back to Dayton again, but as I kept reading he said the reason he was so thankful to you is that he loved me so much and didn’t want to lose me and the boys, and had he known I was going to end our separation that he never would have done it.  I cried and cried but then I realized if I confronted him I’d be casting a stone I had no right to throw.  You see, Rick doesn’t know this, but when the boys and I were in Dayton during our separation, I ended up spending some time with an old friend from my college days, and even though I never meant for it to happen, we slept together a couple of times.  Ironically, that’s what made me realize how much I loved Rick.  It sounded like that was his experience with you.  I don’t mean that to hurt you in any way.”

“No,” Maricruz assured her.  “You’re exactly right.  Rick never loved me and I never loved him.  We were both just, you know, there.” 

“That’s what I came to understand,” Jacqueline said.  “But just like I wanted to protect the boys from my affair, I decided to protect them from his affair with you.  It was so hard to do, but I put the letter back in his briefcase, washed my face off and never said anything.  My therapist says it’s terribly unhealthy what I’ve been doing, keeping my own secret and acting like I don’t know Rick’s.  She keeps telling me that I have to sit down and talk with Rick about it all, get it all out in the open.  I kept telling myself I’d do it in a couple of years after the boys are out of the house, but now that I almost lost Rick I just want to get it all out in the open after he’s better.”

“I’ve never told Benny,” Maricruz confessed.  “He doesn’t know who his own father is.  I couldn’t tell him, though, until you knew.  You have to understand that there have been so many times over these years I’ve wanted to call you, but life was finally so good for the two of you I just couldn’t bring myself to ruin that.  I’m so sorry.  I won’t say anything to Benny until Rick is well enough for you to talk to him first.”

“I’ve wanted to call you too," Jacqueline said.  "And, you know, at first I was a little hurt when Rick decided to be Lyle’s sponsor.  I was afraid that he was doing it so he could be close to you.  Then I realized he was doing the opposite.  He was doing it to help you be happy and to give Benny the father he’d never had.  Seeing you and Lyle together I know there’s nothing left between you and Rick.  I can see why Rick decided to help Lyle, although I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Rick.  You and Lyle are so darn smitten with each other."  She smiled at Maricruz and then asked, "Are you going to marry him?”

Maricruz thought for a moment.  “You know, I always said I wouldn’t marry a man until I found one that would keep his promise to me no matter what.”

Before Maricruz could finish Kyle and Steven walked back in, complaining that the cafeteria had been closed.  Benny stood in the doorway, wearing a Denver Broncos sweat-suit and Lyle’s gray Stetson on his head.  Amanda had on a pair of jeans Maricruz’s cousin Tina had given here and the oversized Wyoming Cowboys sweatshirt Mr. Singleton had let her keep.  Lyle stood behind them in the doorway, wearing a black and gray flannel shirt, faded Wranglers, and black boots. 

“Come on, Mari,” Lyle said.  “We probably ought to get home so I can hit the hay.  I promised Mr. Stockett I’d start back to work tomorrow.”

Maricruz smiled as she stood and then turned to Jacqueline and said, “Yes, I am, as soon as possible, because, you know what, if the past few weeks have shown me anything, they’ve shown me that if what I need is someone who will keep his promises, then, well, that’s exactly who I’ve found."  

Maricruz and Jacqueline hugged and everyone said goodbye.  Maricruz, Lyle, Benny, and Amanda walked down the hallway to the elevator.  As they waited for it to come, Lyle put his arm around Maricruz and they stood silently, not needing to say anything, just enjoying the closeness.  When the elevator finally arrived, the doors opened and the four of them walked in… together.