Chapter Thirty Eight
“Oh no, let’s not pressure Maria, let’s just go behind her back and violate her privacy! You can’t keep doing background checks on everyone you meet!” she yelled, her rage making its way up to the surface.
“Force of habit.” she walked to the desk and pulled open his draw, “What are you doing?”
“The file you stuffed in here last time I was here, it’s about me isn’t it?” She brought out the black file and held it up. When he didn’t answer, she opened it and looked through it. She felt like she was going to get sick, looking at how much of her he had in that black file. Everything about her was in there, even Michael’s baby pictures, what disgusted her most was her two page medical report. She wasn’t sure what she felt strongest, anger or shame.
She always felt humiliated when she had to go to the hospital to get her bones reset, get the wounds stitched up, or bandaged, or burns that were to extreme to be treated. Whatever Edna couldn’t fix, she had to go to the hospital. The pity stares always made her skin crawl, they felt worse than the wounds she was getting treated for, and now Dave knew and she felt ten times more embarrassed.
Dave moved closer to the desk and stood across from her, “Maria, I needed to know what you were running from so that I could protect you.”
“You know about Ricky?” Not daring to lift her eyes to meet his.
“Enough to dance on his grave, if he had one!”
Maria looked at him, blinking back the tears that hadn’t already spilled over, he didn’t know Ricky was alive and it was going to stay that way. She wasn’t going to chance Michael finding out, “Well that part of my life is over and I would really appreciate it if you don’t bring it up again, especially around Michael.” She wiped her eyes and cheeks dry with the back of her hand as she walked away from him.
“What did he do to you to make you so closed off?” He asked, following her.
The question brought back the nightmare her life once was. The images of Ricky, her unconscious son, her blood, the sounds of her bones breaking with each blow, her cries, please and his angry voice rang in her ears. She could feel his hands on her and it made her shake in fear.
Dave saw her eyes darken with fear and dread, she wrapped her hands around her shaking body tight. Dave didn’t need her to say anything, the sight of her was answer enough. He could see she was reliving the abuse she went through, and it broke Dave’s heart. He wanted to take all the pain away and shield her from the torment she was going through. Instinctively he rushed to her and held her tight against him.
“Get off me!” Maria screamed, struggling to get out of his hold. She hadn’t seen Dave, all she could see was Ricky’s disfigured face twisted in a half sadistic smile, “Ricky, no please!” she punched and kicked him, struggling to get out of his tight grip on her.
“Maria, it’s me Dave!” Dave shook her, ignoring the pain from her beating, “Maria!” he yelled louder.
She stiffened, his voice bringing her out of her trance. She hugged him, crying in relief. She hadn’t felt that kind of fear in a long time, the new joy in her life had managed to keep most of them at bay, but his prying into her life opened the flood gates and they all came rushing back, suffocating her. Dave held her tight, he wanted to wrap himself around her and just keep her safe.
Izzy’s shrilly laugh made her pull away. She picked her up and sat on the couch holding her tight, she wanted to soak up some of the joy Izzy always had in abundance. She wanted to forget the pain and the nightmares again, close the box Dave had opened.
Dave took off his tie and opened the top buttons of his white shirt. He touched the sting on his neck where Maria had scratched him. The scratches weren’t so bad, but they drew out some blood. He sat down next to her to relieve the ache in his legs, his chest felt tight where she’d punched him. For a tiny girl she hit very hard.
Maria looked at him wide eyed. He had long scratch marks along his neck and there was blood on his collar. He had a pained look on his face as he massaged his chest. Maria stood up with Izzy and walked across the room where the toys were and placed her down, “Play with your toys sweetie I’ll be right back.” she smiled down at her, then put a few Legos in her tiny hands. Satisfied that Izzy was distracted enough, she rushed to the bathroom and came back out with a first aid box.
“I didn’t know I had that.” Dave said amazed, unbuttoning his shirt down further.
“You have a lot of things. I’ll give you a grand tour of your office later.” she joked dubbing the scratches. Dave cringed away and hissed in pain, “I’m so sorry.” Maria said guiltily.
“Don’t worry about it. You hit like a boy.” Dave said with a laugh.
“Just because I’m small doesn’t mean I’m weak.” she went to the mini fridge and got some ice. She looked around the room trying to find a cloth to wrap them in.
Dave took off his stained shirt and offered it to her, “Use this.”
Maria looked at him, appreciating his physic. He wasn’t very muscular or broad compared to Ricky, he was perfect, but Dave held his own and his wide chest was appealing to her.
Dave saw how differently she looked at him, and he liked it. He grinned sheepishly at the attention, glad she found him attractive, “Maria,” he called out to her, breaking her daze.
She took his shirt and wrapped the ice in it, then carefully placed it on the spot he was rubbing, which was beginning to change shades, “You bruise easily.” She felt her throat dry out being very close to him while he was half nude. She was attracted to him more than she thought.
“No, you just hit harder than most men I know, you should teach Michael how to fight.”
“Why? Do you think he’ll get bullied in school?” She asked anxiously.
“No he won’t,” he pushed her hair behind her shoulder forcing her to look up at him, “Every boy should know how to use his fist.”
“As long as he isn’t using it to hurt anyone.” she said softly.
“Getting beat up is a rite of passage.” He put his hand on her neck and caressed her cheek with his thumb.
“Excuse you?” Maria snapped at him pushing his hand away, “My son is never going to get beaten up, neither is he going to raise his hand against any one.” she added angrily.
Dave noticed the mistake he made with his choice of words, “Maria, I didn’t mean it that way, I just meant boys fight, which is normal.”
“I don’t care how you meant it.” she stood up and walked to his closet. She took out a blue shirt and threw it at him, “There is nothing normal about getting beat up.” she walked to the other side of the room and picked up Izzy, “I know how hard to hit because I’ve been used as a punching bag long enough to measure the amount of force needed for the worst hit, that isn’t normal.” She opened the door and walked out, leaving it wide open.
“Maria wait!” Dave chased after her, but stopped at the corridor when he realized he was half naked, “Damn it!” He turned to find Carol holding the blue shirt up for him.
“The firm has rules about nudity.” She joked, “Your office is like a tiny apartment. Clothes in the closet, first aid kits, and a mini fridge full of leftovers, the only thing missing is a bed.”
“The couch is a sofa bed. All Maria’s doing.”
Maria personally furnished the room because she wanted to make sure he was comfortable when he ended up sleeping in the office. Dave snatched the shirt from her and walked back to his office. His annoyance and temper rose when he found Todd standing in his office with a shy look on his face, “Let me guess, you screwed up the little work I gave you?”
“I was hoping to get you in a better mood.” Todd spoke, a little frightened.
“Better luck next time.” he walked to his desk buttoning his shirt, “Did you bring the files with you?”
“Yes.” he said, taking a seat, “You were in less of a bad mood when Paula or Maria, whatever her name is wasn’t around, in fact…” he stopped dead in the middle of his sentence when he noticed the lethal, cold, angry glare Dave was giving him, “How about we just go back to work?”
“That’s the most intelligent thing you’ve said all day.”
***
Maria cleared the tables at the cafe in a surly mood, she had been like that the whole afternoon. She felt silly for over reacting, but irate that Dave went digging in her past, which he had no right to. She thought after spending so much time together he trusted her, but she was sure he did it more out of curiosity than the need to feel secure. Dave liked mysteries, and her jumpy, scared, private self must have spiked his interest.
She was relieved that the truth was out, but she would have preferred to be the one to open that door on her own terms, but Dave just had to do things his way. His private investigator must have stood out like a sore thumb, there was no way he could have gone unnoticed.
Maria froze as the reality of what Dave had done dawned on her. She felt her chest tighten and her air waves close off as the fear wrapped around her tight. The PI stood out like a sore thumb, everyone in the town would have known he was there, asked questions and found out what he was looking for.
Maria felt like curling up on the floor and crying hysterically. Her whole world was crushing in on her again, and as much as she knew she wasn’t caged in like before, she couldn’t help but feel despair, knowing what would come if she didn’t run now. Michael would be devastated, he just started school and he wouldn’t be able to let go of the little family he had created. She would rather have him disappointed than dead.
She rushed into the kitchen and picked up the phone. She dialled Edna’s number and waited anxiously for her to pick up, when she didn’t, she called Jane, and felt a few knots in her body loosen when she heard her best friend’s voice.
“Hi Jane.” She faked joy so as not to alarm her friend, “How’s everyone doing?”
“Hi Maria, everyone’s good.” she responded happily.
“That’s nice.” she bit her lip impatiently, “How’s work?” adding more pleasantries before she got to what she really wanted to ask.
“You know how work is at JJ’s.” she sounded down before her voice picked up, “but I’m getting a new job soon.”
“That’s great.” Maria said, faking excitement. She felt like she was going to burst, “So anything new in Jacksonville?”
“No, not much.” and then her voice lowered, “Maria, Ricky hasn’t been around here since the day you left.”
“That’s great.” she felt nervous, suddenly wishing he had been in Jacksonville where people could see him and be sure he was there and not anywhere close to her, “But I really just wanted to know if there was anything different, keep up with the news at home.”
“There is a journalist here from some big newspaper. He’s writing some story about the town or something.”
Maria breathed a sigh of relief, grateful Dave’s man had the sensibility to have a cover story, but she was curious how her mother came to find out about him, “Jane, how’s my mom doing, she didn’t answer her phone when I called?”
Jane paused for a moment before she answered. Edna didn’t want her knowing that her father was back, she wanted to break that news to her daughter herself, “She’s fine. She took Denise out.”
She leaned against the wall and forced herself to relax, “Okay, it was nice talking to you, I really needed to hear a friendly voice.”
“Don’t worry, Ricky will never be able to find you.”
“I hope you are right.” Maria said with a nervous laugh. She knew what would happen, just imagining it scared her to death.