“Hasta luego!” Joan and Lissa called as the two women drove off.
When the car was gone, Javier helped Lissa and Joan load the boys into the minivan, each of them into their own car seat, and stowed in the strollers in the back. They left the city center and headed back towards the house in L’Eixample.
The boys were quiet, as they often were when in their car seat, and Lissa took advantage of the peace to call their mother. She left a message explaining why Joan would be staying over at the house and that they looked forward to seeing her the following morning.
With Javier’s help, they carried the groggy boys inside. It took almost an hour to get them changed, fed and back to sleep in their cribs.
“Did you ever hear from Julio?” Joan asked after they’d gone into the kitchen and made some tea.
“He texted me and said that he wasn’t going to make it home,” she said. Joan could tell that her sister wasn’t happy was this news, but was trying to act like it was no big deal.
“Are you going to be all right?” Joan asked.
“Of course, I’m going to be fine. Last minute issues with the project, no doubt. He’ll meet us at the country house tomorrow. Nothing to be concerned about.” she added. Joan knew the deep furrow between her sister’s beautiful brows was proof that Lissa was very worried indeed, but she didn’t want to belabor the point.
“Well, sis, you better go to bed,” Joan said as she washed their cups and laid them upside down on a drying mat. “I’ll be in the guest room downstairs, so if the boys wake up I’ll take care of them. You’re the bride and it’s going to be a long day tomorrow, you’re gonna need all the beauty sleep you can get.”
“Thanks a lot, sis,” Lissa said, sardonically, but yawned and nodded, turning towards the steps.
Joan faked a yawn of her own, but sleep was the farthest thing from her mind. She had things to accomplish before morning.
Chapter Thirteen
JOAN WASHED HER FACE and changed into a black turtleneck jeans. She threw on her camouflage beige and brown military jacket, laced up her Doc Martin boots, slicked her hair back into a tight ponytail and pulled her black wool beanie down past her ears. She looked in the mirror and realized was dressed for cat burglarizing, although she had no intention of stealing anything.
It wouldn’t be stealing if Antonio still had her sister’s thousand dollars - it would be liberating.
As soon as she came out of her room she hesitated, doubt stabbing at her. Could she face him and not be seduced by him? She needed to be back before anyone knew she was gone.
Not willing to move ahead with her plan or go back to her room and give up on the idea, Joan decided to check on the triplets.
They were all fast asleep except for Marco, who was standing in the crib. He reached out for her the moment he saw her.
“Hi Marco. Can’t sleep?” she asked as she scooped him up and took him to the rocking chair.
Marco smiled and pulled at her hair, then started to doze off. Joan knew that it would take a few minutes of rocking to get him to sleep so she pulled out her cell phone. She’d meant to call a cab and have it meet her around the corner. She’d go over to Antonio’s hotel, knock on his door and try and get the money, then come straight back.
With Marco in her arms she realized that she couldn’t do anything so foolish. How could she risk another interaction with Antonio after the way she’d reacted before? What if he tried to seduce her back into his bed? She shook away the thought. She was done with Antonio Ferraro as a lover. That ship had sailed, when he walked out on her in the middle of the night, taking her money with him.
Even if she could resist his seduction, was it safe to go there by herself? Maybe she could ask someone to go with her. But, who?
She could call Javier, the family driver, but he was loyal to Julio. Surely it would get back to Lissa, and how would she react?
No, there had to be another way.
She rocked the chair harder. Marco was fidgeting, not falling asleep - his eyes were wide open and fixed on hers. “What do you think I should do, Marco?” she whispered.
He tried to grab her phone.
“You want me to call someone?”
He used two hands, stretching to try and grab the phone.
“Okay, but who?” Joan asked she swiped the phone on. Butterflies took flight in her stomach. There were several text messages waiting for her. Were they from Antonio? Was he trying to explain what happened? Maybe it was all a big misunderstanding.
She felt a pain in her stomach when she saw that the messages were from her new AA friend. It reminded her that she’d invited Raul to be her plus one on a whim to get back at Antonio. She couldn’t remember why. He’d sent four messages. Why so many?
She imagined what they night say - he’d gotten the wrong idea about how she felt about him and was already planning their future wedding. Shit. “Darn it, Marco, how could I have been so stupid?”
Marco cocked his head, giving her a curious look. It wasn’t an expression Joan had ever seen before. Despite herself, she couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re right, Marco, I need to be brave. The least I can do is read what he wrote. You want me to read it to you?”
Marco’s face lit up.
“Okay, just let me read it first and make sure it’s okay for baby ears.” Joan poked her finger into his belly, marveling at how much less chubby Marco was compared to his two brothers. Marco smiled. He liked having his belly poked.
While she tickled his belly with one hand she scanned the message. It didn’t look like any kind of dating talk or flirting - mostly thank you stuff - so she started to read aloud in a voice low enough not to wake up Marco’s sleeping brothers.
“Dear Joan,” she began, and then to explain things to Marco she added. “This is from a new friend of your Auntie Joan’s. I’m helping him to meet your papa for business. He wanted to come with me to your parent’s wedding. He’s just texting to thank me.”
Marco didn’t look happy.
Maybe it was gas.
She started over. “Thanks again for the invite. I can’t wait to meet Julio Torres in person. I owe you!”
Joan put down her phone and leaned back in the rocking chair.
“Well, that was nicer than I expected. What do you think, Marco?”
At that moment, Marco decided to straighten out his legs and body as stiff as a board.
“What are you doing?” Joan asked, laughing a little.
He relaxed, then reached for the phone, again. “Are you telling me I should ask him for a favor? What favor?”
Joan was just kidding around with Marco, but she had a flash of an idea. If Raul came with her to visit Antonio, there would be zero risk that she’d be tempted back into Antonio’s bed. Also, since he was a fellow AA member, no matter how things went with Antonio he’d help her keep her away from a drink. She might as well take him up on his offer of a favor now, it wasn’t like she’d have the opportunity once they moved to the country house for the honeymoon, or to Milan, or once she was back in New York. It was a win-win, he wouldn’t have owed her anything for the ticket or introduction.
Joan chewed on the idea. What if was looking for a relationship? Would he get the wrong idea?
No, not if she made it clear as soon as she got him on the phone.
She looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost eleven o’clock, getting late. What if he was already in bed?
If she told him she wasn’t interested in dating, he might not be willing to honor the favor tonight. Also, what if he wasn’t trying to have a relationship? Maybe he only wanted to meet Julio and nothing more - it would be embarrassing if she presumed otherwise and was wrong.
She checked the date time stamp on the text, then hit reply.
“This is good news, Marco,” she said. “He sent this text less than thirty minutes ago, so I bet he’s still up.
What do you think? Should I call him?”
Marco looked honestly
confused. “Should I call Raul?”
He shook his head violently and let out a whimper.
Joan’s eyes widened. “Marco, honey, what’s wrong? Are your ears hurting?”
She propped him up so she could get a better view of his ears under the light and looked inside. She moved her fingers close to his ears and pressed gently, watching his face for signs of pain.
Marco’s eyes were narrowed and he didn’t look happy, but there were no obvious indicators of a looming ear infection.
“Well, I think you’re going to be all right, little man,” she said, relieved, thinking how Lissa would react if the triplets all got sick just before the wedding.
Ear infections were bad at any time. She checked the other ear and it looked okay as well. She rose from the rocking chair, carrying Marco with her. “I should put you back to bed, sweetie, I need to get going.”
After putting Marco down, she went back to her chair and dialed Raul’s number.
“Hello?”
“Raul? It’s Joan Edwards.”
There was a pause.
“Joan, I’m so happy to hear from you. Did you get my text?”
“I did, that’s why I’m calling.”
“Oh?”
“Listen, about that favor you said you owed me. Any chance you can help me out right now?”
She gave him the basic run down of what she needed - someone to act as protection while she had a talk with someone downtown. He readily agreed and said he’d be out to pick her up in twenty minutes.
Joan thanked him, hung up the phone and realized Marco was standing in his crib again, yanking on the rails.
“Anton-no no—-”
Joan blinked. Had Marco just said something?
“Marco? Oh my God, Marco, are you talking? Say it again.”
This was so exciting. The first of the triplets to speak! She should wake up Lissa, this was a milestone.
“Anton- no no—”
“Are you trying to say, Auntie?”
“Anton no no Joan no no—”
“Oh my God, are you—are you trying to say Auntie Joan?”
A blush of pride washed over her as she stared at Marco in awe.