by Linda George
He reached for her hand and kissed her fingers, just as he’d done before.
She didn’t feel the least bit like blushing.
By the time Lynn had eaten half a dozen more shrimp and sampled the other tapas, her head had cleared nicely. As tempted as she was to order another strawberry Sour, she declined Sergio’s offer to bring her a third and had more shrimp instead.
Some people across the room decided it was time to dance. They stayed near their tables, but were in sight of everyone at the booth.
Alex got up and danced next to their table. Vicki, Cathi, and Barb joined him. The others cheered. When Alex held his hand out to Lynn, inviting her to dance, too, she laughed and shook her head. “Not tonight!” So, he invited Dorothy and the others to join him, but only Sharon got up. Lynn loved watching them, and wished she were more coordinated. In college she’d enjoyed dancing. She hadn’t danced since… It took her a minute to remember the last time. It was before she’d met Bill. He hated dancing. But she hadn’t!
Lynn finished her Pisco Sour and got up to join them. Alex laughed when he saw her trying to imitate their movements—and failing. But she had a great time and no one seemed to worry that she wasn’t that great at whatever dance they were doing.
Alex took her hand and twirled her around, then pulled her closer, then away. When the music ended, he hugged her, then the others. She could hardly catch her breath!
Andrew took the opportunity to excuse himself because he had a meeting scheduled early tomorrow. “At ten. That’s as early as I do anything in Cusco!”
Everyone thanked him for including the Museo on their itinerary and for assigning Alex as their guide. Andrew beamed with pleasure. “Everyone loves Alex!” He bid them all good night.
They agreed they’d better get back to the hotel. Alex assured them, “I promise you’ll enjoy the tour tomorrow, and we don’t have to leave the hotel until 8:30.”
Sharon groaned. “Why didn’t you tell us that sooner?”
Lynn told her, “Because he’s a good guide. He wasn’t about to let us leave early when we were all having such a good time.”
“Es la verdád.”
They made their way upstairs, through the front room, which showed no signs of people leaving, and outside into the crisp air. Lynn shivered and pulled her sweater around her shoulders, with Alex’s help. They let the others go ahead of them.
“Are you warm enough?”
“It isn’t far to the hotel. I’ll be fine.” She shivered again.
Alex put his arm around her and pulled her closer. “I promised to see you safe and warm back to the hotel.”
“Yes, you did.” She loved the warmth coming from him, and the warmth in his expression while they walked across the plaza then down the street to the hotel entrance.
“I guess the two ladies who were camped out here earlier gave up waiting for us to buy something,” she said.
“They haven’t given up. They’ll be here first thing in the morning. Don’t forget that they expect you to bargain with them on the price.”
“I’ll remember that.”
By the time she and Alex went inside, the others had already gone to their rooms.
“The courtyard is empty,” Alex said quietly.
“I like the music they’re playing in the lobby. It’s almost like the music is coming from the fountain.”
“Would you dance with me again?”
Lynn stopped suddenly. “Dance? I don’t have the energy to dance the way we did at the Museo. As you saw, I’m not very good at dancing.”
“You don’t have to be.” He took her in his arms and guided her slowly, expertly around the courtyard.
Her head began to whirl again, but not from the Pisco. She relaxed against him and rested her head on his shoulder. He pulled her even closer.
When the music ended, Alex slowed and stopped, then waited for her to look at him.
She knew what to expect.
His lips touched hers ever so gently, softly, again and again, until she leaned toward him and kissed him just as softly.
“I had a wonderful time tonight.”
He leaned back. “I hope you sleep well, Querida.” He led her toward the stairs and they went to the second floor, then around toward Lynn’s room.
The door was inside an alcove. Lynn stepped in, then turned around. “Alex, I need to tell you—”
Before she could finish, he kissed her again, with more urgency and passion this time. She kissed him with the same passion, not wanting him to leave. How long had it been since she’d been kissed like this? Too long. In fact, she couldn’t remember ever being kissed like this.
They heard movement inside the room.
“I have to go,” she whispered.
“Until tomorrow…”
Chapter 10
Lynn expected to have a headache the next morning, but she didn’t. In fact, she’d slept better than she had since they’d arrived in Peru. Sharon was already in the shower. Lynn stretched, ran her fingers through her hair, then eased out of bed. The floor was cold. She hurried to pull on some warm socks. Sharon emerged from the bathroom rubbing her hair with a towel.
“Good morning, sunshine!”
“You seem perky this morning.”
“Slept like a baby. Looks like you did, too.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Nothing. You just look rested, that’s all.” She grabbed her clothes and sat down on the bed to put them on.
Lynn went to the bathroom and got into the shower. The hot water felt heavenly. When she came out of the bathroom, Sharon was leaving the room.
“Breakfast! The restaurant is at the back of the hotel. Go through the arched doorway below our room, in the center. Curve to the left.”
“I didn’t know you’d been there.”
“I haven’t. I got instructions last night at the front desk before coming upstairs.” Just before she closed the door, she added, “You aren’t a bad dancer at all. Especially with the right partner.”
Lynn started to say something but Sharon closed the door. Which dancing did she mean? She guessed it didn’t matter. As Sharon had said, she saw everything that happened to her friend.
She got to the restaurant before BJ and Barb, but the rest of the ladies were there. Lynn headed straight for the buffet and a cup of Coca tea. There were several things on their itinerary today that would require walking, and the first destination lay at 13,000 feet! She’d definitely need the energy from the tea. She put her cup on the table then helped herself to the buffet. She’d just sat down when Alex came in. As expected, he searched the room for her. Her table was full, though, so he sat with Sheila, Vicki, and Cathi, who’d saved a place for him.
“Buenos días, Señor Vereau.” Cathi pulled his chair out for him.
“Buenos días.” He went to get some tea and breakfast. He piled his plate high with fruit, vegetables, and eggs, then added some bread, butter, and packets of jelly. Back at the table, he held up one of the packets. “Have you tried this yet?”
They looked at the label. “Is that a Peruvian fruit?” Barb asked.
“Yes. Aguaymento. They’re also called golden berries. Muy delicioso. I brought extras.” He pulled some from his jacket pocket and placed them on the table. Then, he turned around, touched Lynn’s arm, and when she turned around, he handed her several of the packets for their table.
“Grácias, Señor,” she told him with a smile.
Alex started a conversation with the ladies at his table while Lynn shared the golden berries with the others at her table. He was right. The Aguaymento preserves were delicioso.
After breakfast, they returned to their rooms to gather what they needed for the day’s touring. Sharon asked Lynn if she was going to check e-mail this morning.
“I guess I should.” While Sharon brushed her teeth, Lynn went online. Her list of posts was rather long, since she hadn’t checked in a while. Then she saw a post with an address she hadn’t exp
ected to see. Her mother’s.
Sharon came out. “Anything interesting?”
Lynn finished reading the post, signed off, then closed her laptop. Her throat had closed as she read. Sharon saw her expression.
“What’s happened?”
“My mother says she can’t trust my father anymore and has…filed for divorce.”
“But she can’t do that! What kind of a lawyer—”
“She and Dad have had the same lawyer for years. He’d never go through with it if he knew what was causing her to panic like this, and he would’ve called Dad the minute he hung up with Mom.”
“You need to talk to your dad.”
“Yes, and soon.”
They went downstairs to use the telephone to call Santa Fe. Alex was in the lobby.
“What’s wrong?”
Lynn should’ve known he’d recognize the panic in her expression. “I have to call my father.”
Alex reached into his pocket and handed her his cell phone.
Lynn dug in her purse and offered him a wad of bills to pay for the call.
“No, Querida. It is my honor to help you reach your father.”
“But the call will be expensive.”
“Tonight, at dinner, you can buy me a Pisco Sour.”
She nodded and accepted the phone. She went out to the courtyard to make the call.
Sharon watched her anxiously.
“It’s something bad, isn’t it?” Alex asked her.
“Did she tell you about her mother?”
He nodded.
“I should let Lynn tell you. Hopefully, her father can straighten things out.”
Alex watched Lynn wander through the courtyard, obviously distraught while she talked to her father, gesturing with her left hand in a way that displayed obvious tension and worry. More than anything, he wanted to help her through this tragedy. He had to remind himself that it would not be appropriate for him to go to her while she was on the phone.
Sharon touched his arm. “She’s going to need help getting through this.”
“I know. I will do everything I can…whatever I can do…”
Sharon hugged him. “Thanks.”
Lynn stood there a moment before coming back inside and handing the phone back to Alex.
“Thank you.” She turned to Sharon. “My father had no idea. He’s calling their lawyer now. Thankfully, Dad had already told him about Mom’s odd behavior.”
Alex frowned. “May I ask what your mother has done?”
Lynn squeezed his arm. “She told me in an email she was filing for divorce from my father. But their lawyer knows about her illness. Dad will let me know this evening by e-mail what they decide to do. Thanks for letting me use your phone. I hope it’s okay with you…I told Dad he could call me back at your number.”
“Of course. Do you want to keep the phone with you?”
She shook her head. “Right now I just want to try and believe that everything will be okay. Where are we going this morning?”
“We’re going to some ruins, then to the Cusco Cathedral, which was built between 1560 and 1664, during the Renaissance. It is shaped like a cross, as many cathedrals are, and contains beautiful gold and wooden decorations.”
“It sounds beautiful.”
“While we are there, I will say a prayer for you and your parents that everything will work out for the best for all of you.”
Lynn felt tears coming. She was too emotional to speak, so she just nodded and smiled.
The morning passed in a blur for Lynn. The cathedral was as beautiful as Alex had suggested, and he had kept his promise. While the group wandered from alcove to alcove, he took Lynn’s hand and led her to a quiet place at the end of the corridor. With his head bowed, he murmured his prayer while holding her hand. Her tears couldn’t be stopped this time.
When he finished the prayer, he held her for a moment, then suggested they get back to the group. “Don’t worry, Querida. It will be okay.”
She hoped he was right.
After leaving the cathedral, they went to Coricancha, the most important temple in the Inca Empire.
At the temple, so different from the cathedral, Lynn focused on learning as much as she could about the Inca, to distract herself from what she’d find out this evening from her father. Alex did a great job of describing and explaining what made Coricancha such a special place for the Inca.
“The name Coricancha came from the Quechua word, Quri Qancha, which means ‘Golden Courtyard.’ Originally, it was called Inti Qancha, which means Temple of the Sun. Inti was the Inca sun god. The floors and walls were covered with sheets of gold, and in the courtyard were golden statues.”
Lynn tried to imagine the splendor of the temple after it was first built. Truly, the Inca had revered the sun as a god. Covering everything with gold was a perfect way to embellish the sun’s rays and reflect them into the city around the temple.
Alex’s voice dropped when he told them, “When the Spanish arrived, they marveled at the temple, but felt it was pagan, since it was built to what they considered a false god. They removed the gold and tore the temple down. The Church of Santo Domingo was built on this site, using the stones from the destroyed temple. Parts of the temple, though, could not be destroyed, because the Inca stonework was so fine. The stones could not be separated. They remain in the foundation of the temple, and the church.”
Vicki shook her head. “I can’t believe they’d destroy such a beautiful structure, simply because they didn’t understand the Inca religion.”
Lynn saw the conflict in Alex’s face at Vicki’s remarks. He’d told them he was a descendant of the Inca, yet he was Catholic. Surely, there must be conflict between those two cultures. What she’d seen in his eyes vanished, though, when he led them to another part of the ruins to show them where earthquakes had shaken and damaged the church, leaving the Inca stonework firmly in place.
Next, they visited an archaeological museum with artifacts found at Coricancha, including mummies, idols that were sacred to the Inca, and even pieces of cloth and textiles. An incredible museum!
<><><><>
Next stop was lunch at the Incanto restaurant. Rudolfo parked the bus on a side street, as close to the Plaza de Armas as he could, then they walked, which felt great. They weaved their way through thick crowds of people, talking, laughing, and singing along with the band playing in the center of the Plaza. Lynn couldn’t see the musicians for the people, but she could definitely hear them playing. The restaurant was about halfway down the street on one side of the Plaza de Armas. They ducked through the door, then climbed the stairs to the next floor.
On the way up, they passed Inca stone walls, fitted together without mortar, and smoothed to perfection. Lynn had heard about the Inca’s remarkable skills with stonework, but she’d never imagined the stones would be so perfectly shaped and arranged. The huge stones used to build the Giza pyramids also fit together incredibly well. But the Inca walls were smooth and so finely carved that they clearly were superior in workmanship to those at Giza. Inca walls were truly works of art.
Inside the restaurant, tables lined a wall of windows overlooking the Plaza de Armas, where the parade had just begun. Waiters escorted them to the tables.
Alex came in behind the group and immediately spotted Lynn, sitting at the table to his right, which was already full. Barb, Vicki, and Sheila sat with her. At the next table were BJ and Dorothy, with Sharon and Cathi at the table behind them.
Sharon called to him. “Alex! We saved you a place!” She pointed toward the chair across from her, which faced back toward the group.
“Thank you, ladies. It will be my pleasure.”
Sharon gave him an almost apologetic smile. “You can see the whole group from here, and when you tell us about what’s going on in the Plaza, we’ll all be able to hear you.”
“Of course. Thank you.”
Everyone ordered while sampling baskets of bread already on the table. Appetizers incl
uded garbanzo bean puree, pumpkin soup, and bruschetta over olive bread. Mediterranean Trout proved to be the favorite entrée. While enjoying the appetizers, Alex pointed out the various parts of the parade, and the statue in the center of the Plaza, of King Pachacutec, the Inca leader who had lived in Cusco, and who built Machu Picchu.
Lynn noticed that Alex pronounced the name of the King differently from what she’d always heard and seen in books. Instead of Pachacuti, Alex said Pachacutec, which Lynn had always liked better. It sounded more distinguished and royal!
The waiter brought her pumpkin crema and she realized she could fix it at home using winter squash, potatoes, celery, and cream. What a delicious soup it was, especially with the bread!.
She listened to Alex’s descriptions of the parade and made herself look out the window at the crowded Plaza below, and not directly at him. She didn’t want to interrupt his teaching, and she certainly didn’t want anyone to see the way he’d been looking at her. Or, she realized suddenly, how she’d been looking at him.
When the trout arrived, Alex sat down to enjoy his lunch too. Conversation dominated each table, with waiters standing by to refill glasses and make sure everyone was pleased with the food.
At last! Lynn felt this day had been worth the entire trip, just to be in the midst of the Inca capital city. She could hardly believe she was here! She and the others at her table exclaimed over everything they saw in the Plaza—bands, military groups, marchers, floats, and people in native costumes. Those who had gathered for the spectacle cheered, laughed, danced, and ate foods sold by vendors. The only way it could’ve been any more perfect would’ve been sitting with Alex, seeing the pride and excitement in his eyes over this special occasion—with his hand in hers.
She risked glancing at him, but he was deep in conversation with Sharon and Cathi, who clearly enjoyed monopolizing his time. They had their guide’s full attention, and that was exactly as it should be.
<><><><>
Time to move on. They had another stop to make before returning to the hotel for dinner and some rest. Then, tonight, they’d be going to the planetarium above Cusco. A full day.
On their way to the bus, Alex hung back until he could walk with Lynn. “Did you enjoy your lunch?”