Chapter 76

Carlos felt his whole world had been shattered when his mother told him the truth of his origin.

Don Alonzo de la Cruz, the man who he believed was his father, was not his father.

His real father was long dead in a car accident. The man had not even seen Carlos. Gerardo was his name.

Esme was not his sister.

He was not the true heir of the hacienda.

His life was meaningless now.

When those things he used in defining himself fell apart, he lost all sense of purpose and meaning. The way he would move about in the world would be different now.

Now, he was a nobody.

Nobody loves a nobody.

He gave himself a sad smile. If only Villalobos had known the truth, he would have encouraged Aurelia to be with Esme.

And what was wrong about Esme being with Aurelia? He wondered as he took a large gulp of from the bottle of tequila on the centre table in his apartment.

Aurelia did not like him that way.

He did not like her that way.

Esme liked Aurelia that way.

Aurelia liked Esme that way.

It only made sense that people who liked each other should be together. What concern was it of anyone if people were in love?

And they looked so good together in love. Carlos grinned at this last thought.

What was he now that he was no longer a de la Cruz? A simple Carlos. A little, simple Carlito. He giggled some more.

Soon, Esme would be on her way. He had to call her. There was no need hurting her. He was not a de la Cruz. He was a powerless Carlos. Who was he to get angry at all? Dumb, dumb Carlos! He thought to himself.

He looked at the almost empty bottle of tequila standing in his line of vision. He felt he had to stop drinking. It would be better to have a little of his wits around him when Esme came around.

Would she still think of him as her brother? He doubted.

They were not blood.

Only blood is family.

Family is blood.

He giggled at his incoherent thoughts as they went on and on.

Some disjointed; others incoherent.

They kept coming to him.

Until he heard a knock on the door.

He glanced at the wall clock above the large television. It was seven nineteen. Or was it seven twenty? Had the long hand of the clock touched “4” yet? He stared at it some more trying to understand what he was seeing.

But the knock on the door got louder, thereby shaking him out of his thoughts.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he slurred. In an unsteady manner, he got up from the soft, comfy sofa. “I’m coming.”

The knocking sound stopped. “Esme, is that you?” he asked before getting to the door. “Esme!” he called out.

“Yes, Carlos!”

“Ohhhhh, Esme. Esmeralda,” he said in a singsong-y tune as he turned the key in the lock. “Esme, Esme, Esme.”

He opened the door, and there was his sister looking at him. He used to think Esme was too tall for a girl. How were they standing at the same height?

“Carlos, are you drunk?” She had a disgusted look on her face.

He ran his palm through his tousled hair. Then he broke out in a grin. “You’d be drunk if you were me. Call me Little Carlos.” He waved her in.

She scoffed and walked into the room. “You’re almost done with a bottle of tequila?”

He heard her asked, and imagined she had seen the bottle. He turned about and walked towards her. “You can join me.”

“I’d rather not,” she said frostily. “Why have you invited me here?” She looked him from head to toe. He could see displeasure in her eyes.

“Please, sit.” He plopped into the couch like a sack of potatoes. When he noticed she was not sitting, he looked up at her. “You have to sit to hear what I have to say. You might even join me.”

Esme sat.

“Good girl.” He chuckled when he noticed her flinch.

“What is going on, Carlos?”

“I’m sorry for being a bad brother to you,” he said. “Well, I don’t know if you know this, but I’m not your brother.”

“Yes, I already know.”

Lucidity hit Carlos. He sat straighter, looking visibly shaken. “Have you always known?”

“My father told me everything on Sunday.”

“Interesting. I see.” He leaned back into the sofa.

“Is this why you called me here, Carlos?”

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for not being a good person to you.” Carlos turned his head from where he was reclining to look at Esme. “I’ve come to realise my stupidity all these years. I guess a part of me always knew I was not his son, and so I was jealous of you. I was jealous of the way he would spend time with you. I hated you for that. I’m sorry.”

“Is that what you called me here for?”

“There is more.” He cleared his throat. “Yes, I have been stealing from the companies. I felt I deserved more. Greed is a bad thing, and I let it get to me. Maybe it was out of spite, too. I was acting out in my own way. Yes, I told Villalobos about you two. I was mad at you, you know. How were you able to get Aurelia to fall in love with you? The part of my brain that is always angry about how you have gotten all of our father’s attention made me angry, and angrier. I was thinking getting married would make him love me more. I mean, I thought he would see me as a responsible man.

“I wanted Aurelia for myself. She is so fine, you know. And it hurt me. I’m sorry. And to get back at you, I told Villalobos. I did not tell Father, because I knew he would not mind. Villalobos kept her locked away. And on Tuesday, after he had talked with Father, he made me trick Aurelia into going out. And on the road, the people from the convent took her away.”

He stopped to look at Esme.

Her mouth dangled open.

“I’m sorry,” he said and sat up. “I really am. And anything you decide to do to me is fine.”

“We are getting her out of that convent,” Esme said in a firm voice.

“How?” he cried. “They will not release her.”

“They will. We will exchange her for more than whatever it is her father has offered her.” Esme stood up at that. She took several quick paces through the sitting room.

“What?”

“Yes. You have to trust my guts on this one.”

“But how do you know this?”

“Gypsy intuition.”

“You and Father say this a lot.”

“And we are always right.”

“When we were younger, I tried to get the gypsy intuition. When I asked Mother about it, she told me it was just a gift, and that I did not have it, but then I had other gifts.”

“I see.”

“Now it makes sense. You and Father would have that thing. Maybe if I was one of you...”

Esme turned to face him. “Carlos, I’m willing to forgive you, pretend that I didn’t know you were stealing, if you help me get Aurelia out of that convent.”

“Anything you ask me to do, Esme.” Carlos looked up at her with contrition in his eyes. “Can I still call you my sister?”

“We’ll talk about that later with the parents. For now, we are carrying out a rescue operation. We are getting Aurelia out of that convent this night. We will return to the hacienda. And she’ll try to get rested while the four of us talk about our messed up family ties. When I heard it myself, I felt so fucking confused.”

“But I’m high. I can barely drive.”

“Carlos, you have to sober up. And no, I’m driving. I can’t trust our lives in your hands.”

“I’m sorry once more.”

“Then act like you are indeed sorry and help me get my girl back.”

Carlos grinned at that. “Calling her your girl looks good on you, Esme.”

Esme blushed and grinned.

“Ahhhhh... Esme is in love, Esme is in love,” he sang, while a goofy smile lit up his face.

“Oh, stop it!” Esme said with faux anger. “Let’s get moving. Every second counts. We can talk about other things on the way. Saving Aurelia is all that matters to me right now.”

“Yes, captain,” he said as he stood up. “Let me wash my mouth and try to look decent.”

“We don’t have that much time, Carlos.”

“Okay, okay. Let me just wash my mouth. I can’t be talking to the people of God with alcohol on my breath. Do you want me to scandalise them?”

“People of God my ass! They are willing to keep someone a prisoner for money.”

“And they said they were going to cleanse the homosexuality out of her.”

“For all I care, they are over there fucking each other and all that.”

Carlos stood, “You don’t know that, Esme.” He grinned at her. “Please, can we hug this out?”

“A hug? When have we ever hugged?”

“I know,” he stretched his arms out and walked into Esme’s personal space. He embraced her, squeezing her closer. Even when she did not reciprocate his hug, he did not mind.

A few seconds lingered before Esme gently pushed him away. “Carlos, we have a mission. Go and brush your teeth and wash your face. Time’s a-wasting.”

“I’m sorry” he mouthed, before turning around to walk to his bathroom.