by Linda George
He immediately understood what she wanted him to do. He took off his shoes, pulled out the other pillows, then sat on the other side of the bed, mirroring her position. “I didn’t know… I wasn’t sure…”
“There’s a lot we don’t know about each other. Things I’ve wondered about, that I need to know. Tell me about your family and your childhood.”
His face brightened and he sighed, relaxing into the subject with obvious comfort. “My parents were born in Peru. I have three brothers and two sisters. Three of them still live in Cusco. The other two live in Lima. One is a bookkeeper for a big company. She was always good with numbers. The other owns a clothing store. My father died four years ago. We still miss him every day. My mother lives in the house where we grew up, very near my house in Cusco. I bought the house after I became a guide. Many times I’d get home late, and my mother would always wake up and want to cook something for me. I felt it best that I live on my own, so I wouldn’t be a burden to her.”
While he spoke, Lynn realized that everything she’d assumed about him was true. He’d been raised in a loving family, with siblings who took care of each other, just as their parents had taken care of them. Education was considered important in their family. His mother had been pleased when he’d chosen to study the history of their country so he could share his love of Peru, and especially of Cusco, with others. She’d protested when he’d moved to his own house, and insisted he come home whenever he had a break between tours.
“How many times have you hiked the Inca Trail?”
“More than 400.”
“How many times have you been to Machu Picchu?”
“Many more than that.”
They talked back and forth for an hour about the tours he loved best, how he found something new to see on each tour, and how each group of turistas brought a different view of his country—and theirs. Lynn also mentioned her relationship with Bill and they talked about why it hadn’t worked between them.
“I needed more in my life! Bill was content to watch football and fishing instead of actually going to the games or catching fish from a boat!”
Alex told her, “I was in love once. We were engaged to be married, but it didn’t work out.”
“I’m sorry.”
“She said she wanted to leave Peru and live in the United States. A company had supposedly offered her a job, and she told me she couldn’t turn it down. It was the chance of a lifetime, she said. So, I had to let her go. But, in the end, she didn’t leave Cusco. She married a friend of mine.”
He looked away suddenly, and she saw distress in his eyes. She reached for him and pulled him toward her. He wasted no time kissing her. Their embrace felt wonderful and became perfect as they moved closer together.
“I know you could never leave the country you love so much,” she whispered.
“It is my home. Being a guide is what I was meant to do in this life.”
“So you could never consider living anywhere else. I understand.”
His answer was a kiss that went on and on, his hands roaming over her arms and back while she caressed his face, his neck, and ran her fingers up through his thick, curly hair. Lynn felt his tears and her own on her cheeks.
“That’s why we needed to talk, Querida. It hurts me to think that you might leave Peru in only a few days and I might never see you, or hold you again. Even when I thought I was going to be married and she left me, it wasn’t anything like this. I’m so afraid I’m going to lose you.”
Lynn wished she could tell him he had nothing to fear, that she’d already decided to stay in Cusco, to find out if they truly were meant to be together. But with her mother missing, how could she be sure of what lay ahead? She wanted to stay, but that decision lay beyond her reach. “Alex, I need to tell you why I can’t decide right now.”
He kissed the tears on her cheeks, then kissed her lips gently, lightly, with extreme care, as though he were kissing a rare gem.
“My mother has disappeared.”
His eyes widened. “Disappeared? What happened to her?”
“My father has no idea. She left in her car, and now he’s looking for her. A few weeks ago, she went out to lunch, but then couldn’t find her way home. She ended up in another city! So, if she’s driving, there’s no telling which direction she went, where she’d intended to go, or where she ended up.”
“I’m so sorry. I never would’ve—”
“It’s all right. You didn’t know. When my father finds her—and he will find her—I could have some hard decisions to make. It will depend on what the doctor finds out about why she’s behaving so oddly. But while I’m here in Peru—with you—my only decision is to tell you the truth, to keep asking questions—and answering any questions you have—so when the time comes, we can decide what’s best—for both of us.”
He pulled her against him again. “Te amo, Querida. I love you.”
“I know,” she said. “I can tell. There are many things I love about you, too.”
He kissed her again, then whispered, “I hoped you would want to stay here with me, tonight. That we could be closer, so we can tell if we’re meant to be together. But now I think that would not be the best thing for us to do. Not while your mother is in danger and you are so worried about her.”
Lynn tried not to think about her mother being in danger. She was just going somewhere and hadn’t told her father or anyone else where she was going. But Alex was right. Tonight was not the right time. She loved him for understanding.
“When we are together for the first time, I don’t want you to think about anything except being with me, Querida.”
Lynn kissed him again. “By tomorrow, I’m hoping I’ll know where my mother has gone. She’s always been a strong-willed woman, and this may simply be one of those times when she decided to go somewhere and didn’t tell Dad about it. He calls them her ‘surprises.’ But somehow I don’t think that’s what’s happened this time. I have to know, though, before I can make any decisions about my own life. Thank you for understanding.”
Lynn eased down beside him, with her head on his chest and her arm across him. He kissed her, caressed her, then they lay there a long time, just holding each other.
Chapter 14
The next morning, before leaving for breakfast, Sharon nudged Lynn. “I hate to wake you, but you’ll want some food before we get started on today’s trek.
“Umm. Thanks. I hope I didn’t wake you when I came in last night.”
“Just enough to check the time and wonder why you’d gotten back so early.”
“We talked for a long time.”
“And—”
“That’s all. Just talked.”
“Oh.” She turned toward the door.
“He was worried about my mother. Because I’m worried about my mother. Have you checked e-mail this morning?”
“I’m taking the laptop with me. We can check in the restaurant while we’re stuffing ourselves with mass quantities of Peruvian eggs.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be there as soon as I can walk without stumbling.”
“I’ll save you a chair next to Alex.”
Lynn gave her a smile she hoped would convey thanks and instructions not to ask any more questions.
In the restaurant, Lynn went straight to get Coca tea. Even though all the hiking they’d done had increased her stamina, it was still difficult to breathe at times at these altitudes. She spied the group sitting along one side of the restaurant, which had huge windows on three sides overlooking amazing gardens. Sharon and Alex were sitting together with an empty chair at the end of the table.
Lynn filled her plate then joined them. “Good morning, everyone! If Sharon hadn’t awakened me this morning, I could’ve slept until noon.”
Several agreed they could’ve slept longer, too.
Vicki told her, “There’s no way I’m missing the Pisac Market today. We’ve had so little time to shop, this could be my only chance to stock up on gifts for ev
eryone!”
Alex told her, “There is a market in Aguas Calientes, too. That’s the Machu Picchu Pueblo, on the Urubamba River. I promise you’ll have at least twenty minutes there tomorrow after we get off the train.”
Dorothy laughed. “You sound like Tony. He thinks twenty minutes is plenty of time to shop, no matter where you happen to be.”
“Brad too,” Vicki added.
“Not for me,” Barb said. “I hope we’ll have at least an hour at one or both of the markets. We had to run through the one in Cusco! I barely had time to buy one of those incredible wooden spoons and take a picture of a dozen different varieties of potatoes. I’m going to print that photo and frame it. Gorgeous colors! I wish now I’d bought a dozen of those spoons.”
Sheila raised her cup. “Here’s to mega-shopping today! Even if we have to skip one set of ruins!” She gave Alex a questioning glance.
Alex nodded and smiled. “Okay, ladies. I’ll see what I can do to make sure that you actually do drop from your shopping.”
Lynn felt his hand on her knee under the table and reached to squeeze his fingers. He gave her such an incredible smile, she wanted to forget breakfast and haul him back up all those steps to his room.
Sharon had finished eating and moved to an empty table nearby with the laptop. She logged onto to the free wireless and into e-mail. “Do you want to check yours, Lynn?”
“Yes, please.”
“Will do.”
“Anything?” Lynn asked her after a few minutes.
“Yes. There’s a post from your father. They found your mother.”
Happy sighs of relief traveled around the table.
“Actually, your mother called home—from Weatherford, Texas.”
“Weatherford?”
“Just outside Fort Worth on the Interstate. Your father says she realized she had no idea where she was, found his cell number in her purse, and called him. That was last night. He left immediately with Sam—”
“Their neighbor.”
“—who will drive your mother’s car back to Santa Fe after they’ve all gotten some sleep. They checked into a hotel. She’s all right, but doesn’t remember leaving home or any of the drive. She’s seeing a neurologist as soon as they get home.”
Lynn listened in shock, with her hands clasped in front of her. She released a deep breath. “At least she’s okay. She must have driven all night, without even knowing she was doing it.”
Alex seemed to forget the others were there. He stood and pulled her to her feet and hugged her. “She’s all right, Querida. She’s going to be all right.”
Lynn hugged him, then dabbed at her eyes with her napkin.
Alex saw the bus arrive out front and went to check with Rudolfo. Lynn sat down to finish her tea while Sharon turned off the laptop. The others went to the lobby.
“I should’ve checked e-mail in the room,” Sharon said, “so you could’ve heard the post without an audience.”
“It doesn’t matter. We would’ve told them anyway.”
Sharon hugged her friend. “It’s going to turn out she ate some wonky clams or oysters. Once they work their way through her system, she’ll be her usual bossy self again, without all the weird stuff.”
“I hope you’re right. Did you answer that post from Dad?”
“I told him how relieved we all are, and that you’ll email him tonight.”
“Thanks.” She pulled a small tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush from her purse. “I’ll be back in a minute. There’s no way I’m climbing all those steps again.”
In the bathroom, she brushed her teeth then splashed her face with water to wake up a little and to wash away some of the tension of the past two days. There was still the question of what the neurologist might find after the tests. They’d be in Machu Picchu by then.
Back in the lobby, a woman sat beside a fairly large display of beautiful tote bags and purses. Lynn wandered over to look at them. “How much are the big ones?”
“Forty-five soles.”
Lynn pulled some money out of her purse. “I’ll take two—the red and the blue.”
“Grácias, señorita.”
Sharon and Sheila arrived about that time and bought several more. The young woman beamed with pleasure at their compliments—and their purchases.
Lynn heard Alex calling from the front door. “Time to go!”
They hurried to the bus and stowed their tote bags on the back seats. Lynn had a feeling all those bags would be filled with purchases from the Pisac Market, and from the Aguas Calientes market, as well.
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El Diá de la Independéncia! The Sacred Valley was packed with people, coming for the festival! They left the hotel and encountered masses of cars, trucks, and tour buses on the main highway. Then, the bus had to stop. They sat there for a long time. Alex spoke to people walking along the edge of the road, then told everyone, “One lane on the bridge is out. Traffic is stacked up on both sides. It’ll be a while, I’m afraid.”
Vehicles moved slowly the other direction, but their bus couldn’t move at all. They realized why their lane had stalled. Line-jumpers!
“Look at these people!” Sharon pointed toward cars coming around their bus, inching between them and the traffic in the far lane, then jumping in front of the long line that had been waiting more than half an hour!
“Why aren’t the police here to direct traffic?” Alex wanted to know. He and Rudolfo talked back and forth, then Alex left the bus and walked toward the bridge.
“What can he do?” Barb asked.
Lynn couldn’t see Alex ahead of them. Barb was right. What could he do?
“Look!” Sharon said, pointing at a tour bus coming toward them, so close to a bus in the opposite lane, there was no way it could get between that bus and the line-jumpers. “They’re going to scrape!”
Everyone moved to the left side of the bus to watch what seemed to be an unavoidable accident!
Rudolfo watched without any sign of worry. Then, Lynn saw why. The driver of the bus in the far lane reached out through the window and pushed with both hands against the passing bus, which had slowed to a crawl. Walking his hands along the side of the other bus, the driver kept it from touching his bus until it was completely past. Then, the driver sat back, as though the incident hadn’t been a big deal!
Lynn was first to laugh. Before long, they were all laughing. Then, Rudolfo put the bus into gear and began inching forward. They were moving at last!
When they reached the bridge, Lynn spied Alex off to the left side, forcing the line-jumpers to back into a side street! He’d stopped them from jumping in front of the long line! Police officers arrived and Alex gestured, explaining what had happened. Then he jogged back to the bus.
Everyone greeted him with cheers! His only response was a shy grin and a quick shrug.
They’d lost a lot of time, but there wasn’t a lot on their schedule for the day. Their destination was the town of Pisac, the Pisac Ruins, followed by shopping at the Pisac Market. Thankfully, they didn’t encounter any more traffic jams on the way.
Inca Pisac, as the ruins were called, lay at the entrance to the Sacred Valley and were separated into four groups—Pisaqa, Intihuatana, Q’allaqasa, and Kinchiracay. “The Intihuatana group includes the Temple of the Sun, fountains, altars, and volcanic rock that was carved into an Inti,” Alex told them, “just as you’ll see the Inti Stone at Machu Picchu. Both were used to be able to tell one season from another, according to the position of the sun.”
Once again, they saw terraces on the hillsides, still used to grow food.
“How do they water their crops?” Dorothy asked.
“They don’t have to water them. There is ground water all the way to the top of the mountain,” Alex said. “The biggest jobs are building the terraces, then planting them.”
They drove back into Pisac, where Alex told them they had an hour to shop at the market before returning to the hotel to rest for the remainder of th
e afternoon.
“The Pisac Market is known for excellent clothing, blankets, mittens, and fabric. They also have jewelry, pottery, and other handmade things. The biggest crowds come to the market on Sunday, so there will be crowds today, especially with the festival going on.”
Lynn wandered from aisle to aisle, amused that Sharon and the others kept Alex busy answering questions about which items were truly Alpaca, and which were imitation. They even asked which tshirts he liked best.
Finally, the ladies wandered off in different directions, and Alex glanced down the aisles, searching for Lynn. He’d prayed last night that she would get good news today about her mother so she could postpone her flight home for at least two weeks. He knew, if she stayed, there was a chance she might not want to go back to her country for a long time. She was a good daughter to care so much for her mother and father.
There she was. He came up behind her and put his hands on her waist. As expected, she turned around and put her arms around his neck and kissed him.
“I’ve been waiting all day to have a minute alone with you.”
“Mmmm,” he replied, kissing her neck, loving the fragrance of her hair and her perfume, which reminded him of lemons. “What is that wonderful perfume you wear?”
“Citrus soap.”
He laughed. “Then I will have to get you some citrus perfume to enhance it. You smell wonderful.”
She took a step back and dug in a large shopping bag for a moment. “I bought something for you.” She pulled out a small box and handed it to him. “So you won’t forget me when I have to go home.”
He opened the box. Inside was a necklace made of small rough stones alternated with irregular chunks of turquoise on a piece of rawhide tied in the back in a knot. “Querida, this is beautiful. You spent too much money on me.”
“Not at all. When I saw it, it reminded me of you. You’re polished in some ways, rough in others—a work in progress. The only thing missing from your life is someone to share it with.”