by Price, Sarah
“Earlier, sí.”
In fact, Alejandro had spent the better part of the day there, overseeing the equipment setup and ensuring that everything was fully operational. With the gap between the South American tour and the European tour, there were new stagehands on the crew, and Alejandro wasn’t about to take any chances. Four nights in Madrid needed to run smoothly to ensure the crew knew what they were doing, especially since they had to dismantle, travel, and set it up again in Barcelona for Tuesday. Alejandro was a businessman and not about to risk failure at any step of the tour.
“So I’m doing a club run tonight. Joining me?” Enrique smiled.
Enrique’s reputation had eclipsed Alejandro’s. Not so long ago, the two of them had traveled together, performing around the world and leaving shattered hearts along the way. They spent one day in a country before flying to another with memories of hazy nights and pretty women who were willing partners in just about anything imaginable and even things that weren’t.
But Alejandro had given up those days.
Alejandro shrugged. “Not my scene anymore, man.”
Enrique rolled his eyes. “Your old lady isn’t even here! Come on, Alejandro. Just like the good ol’ days.”
But Alejandro remained firm. After all, running the club scene with players like Enrique was exactly how Isadora came to be. For a brief second, the image of his daughter’s face flashed in his memory. He wondered how she was adapting to her new life. But as soon as he thought of her, he shoved the image into the back corners of his mind. She was fine with Amanda, better off than in his own care or in an orphanage.
“Nah, I got some beats I’m working on for a new song,” he said, gesturing toward his laptop. “Some of the guys are coming over to work on them with me.”
Enrique let his head fall against the back of the sofa as he groaned.
“Got a morning meeting and then a run-through with the new girls,” Alejandro said. The truth was that he was meeting with Movistar, one of the largest brands in Spain for telecommunications. They were finalizing an endorsement contract that would be rolled out in fourteen Spanish-speaking countries. With his appeal to the younger audiences, Movistar was chomping at the bit to sign him for an advertising and promotion campaign. If the money was right, Alejandro would be happy to sign just about anything. “Need to be in top form,” he added.
“The great Viper!” Enrique slapped his hand against his leg. “I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it myself. Chained at the ankle.”
“You talk too much,” Alejandro said, only half joking as he moved across the room to the bar. He poured himself a drink and glanced at Enrique, silently asking if he, too, wanted something. “You know this life, Enrique. If you aren’t working, you’re dying.”
“Clubbing is working!” Enrique insisted. “Hanging with the locals, dancing with the Spanish beauties. ¡Ay, mi madre!” He moved his free hand as if shaking water from it. “Have you seen these women? Each one is more beautiful than the next! It’s my duty to integrate myself into their society.” He reached up and accepted the glass that Alejandro handed him. “You, of course, haven’t noticed any of them, no?” he added in a mocking tone.
“I noticed,” Alejandro admitted. Unlike the South American women who dripped sexuality, the Spanish women exuded sophistication. “I’m just not interested.”
Enrique shook his head. “I don’t get it, man. Here I was thinking it would be like old times, even those last weeks of the South American tour. But if you’re gonna be into the work scene, why didn’t you just bring her?”
Alejandro stiffened, unwilling to share his personal woes with anyone, even Enrique. He had learned years ago that personal issues needed to be kept private, shared with no one. If he did, it would create a surefire leak to the press. And any hint of gossip would spread like wildfire. Some entertainers used that to their advantage, like Justin Bell and Celinda. Their on-again, off-again relationship was constantly in the media, with fans speculating whether the latest breakup was the final one or if the glamorous Hollywood couple would get back together once again.
That was not for Alejandro. Not now, anyway.
When it came to Amanda, he preferred maintaining his privacy. No one needed to know anything about his decisions or his reasons.
“You don’t know what you’re missing out on, Viper,” Enrique said. “These women are . . .” He made a howling noise. “Hot!”
Alejandro made a face. “You can get that anywhere.”
“And I do!” Enrique laughed.
Shaking his head, Alejandro rolled his eyes. “You just don’t get it, chico. There’s something deeper out there. I have that with Amanda.”
“Say all men when they first get married,” Enrique quipped. “Look, man, you can’t stay with one woman in this business! No one can.”
“I intend to.”
“Then she won’t. Trust me.”
Had anyone else made such a comment, Alejandro would have quickly escorted that person out of the room. With Enrique, however, he knew better than to take him seriously. No one could doubt Amanda’s fidelity to him.
The irony, of course, was that Alejandro wanted to give her the space to decide—on her own—whether she had made a mistake in marrying him. With Harvey Alderfer in the picture, there was the chance she might suddenly realize that she had. And from the looks of the tabloid photos, it might not take long for that awareness to hit her.
Enrique glanced down at his cell phone. “Hey, I heard a rumor about Celinda Ruiz. Is she meeting up with us?”
Alejandro nodded. “Geoffrey will let me know next week. Hopefully, she can join us for a few shows.”
With a mischievous grin and a sparkle in his dark eyes, Enrique growled playfully. “Now that’s one I’d stay home for . . . at least for a few nights.”
“She’s ten years younger than you!”
Enrique gestured toward Alejandro, a playful reminder that the age difference between Amanda and Alejandro was even greater than that. “And your point is . . . ?”
“I’d be careful there, Enrique. Don’t forget that between Celinda and Justin, their fan bases would slay you if you start toying with her. Set your sights elsewhere, or you’ll get public backlash, chico.”
“Ay, Viper! Giving me fatherly advice?” He shook his hand as if trying to shake off a bug.
“Not fatherly. Just professional, man.”
“Sí, sí, such a professional now.” The way he laughed made Alejandro glance over at him, a scowl on his face. He didn’t need any reminders that Enrique’s fame had helped Viper rise to the top of the charts. The few songs they sang together had broken Viper into mainstream music stations. But Alejandro knew that Viper remained on the top of the charts—for hip-hop as well as pop—because of his songs and collaborations with other artists, not to mention his business prowess.
“You talk too much,” Alejandro said in a low voice, warning Enrique that he was crossing a line. “Don’t you got somewhere to be, Enrique? I got work to do and you’re going to kill my vibe.”
Enrique jumped up from the chair and headed to the door. “You change your mind, you let me know, brother! This little chico can always find a woman for a friend.”
“Get outta here!”
It wasn’t until Enrique left, eager to hit the Madrid clubs with his entourage, that Alejandro stood at the window of the hotel, staring out into the night. With his drink in hand, he wondered what Amanda was doing at that very moment. So many times he’d thought about contacting her. He wanted to text her, to call her, even to send someone to fetch her. But as soon as he thought about doing so, he remembered South America and he remembered Isadora. Amanda had made a choice, a choice to leave him and return to America so that she could be a mother to his child. When Alejandro had seen her that day in Lancaster, and realized that Amanda needed to remain on the farm, to be near her family and to have religion back in her life, he had known that leaving her there was the right thing to do.
He felt empty inside, his heart devoid of any emotion. He was tempted to succumb to the darkness of depression.
But he refused.
By throwing himself into his work, he managed to temporarily forget his heartache and the pain of abandoning Amanda. The next six weeks would be busy with recording his new songs and meeting with European companies that wanted him to become their brand ambassador. And, as always, he had interviews for radio and television, as well as with print reporters. It was enough to keep him busy and focused on his professional future, the perfect distraction from his private life.
Chapter Four
In the morning, just as the sun was rising, Amanda slipped out of bed and hurried to the kitchen to brew some fresh coffee. She needed it this morning, for she had barely slept the previous night. In her mind, she saw the photos with her standing close to Harvey, often looking up at him with a questioning look upon her face. If Alejandro had, indeed, seen the pictures, he surely would think that there was an attraction between them. That was, after all, what the media was suggesting.
And hadn’t that been what Alejandro had suggested when he left?
Still, something began to formulate in her mind. Alejandro was a master of manipulating the media. Hadn’t that been the very reason that, last summer, he’d returned to Lancaster to fetch her? His goal had been to give the media what they wanted so that they would lose interest in the story and Amanda could return to Lancaster on her own, in peace and, most important, without the paparazzi following her. Only it hadn’t happened that way.
Not only did the media refuse to lose interest, but Alejandro and Amanda had fallen in love.
During their brief courtship, he had continued working the media, including kneeling before her at an award ceremony after presenting her with an engagement ring. When it came to the face he showed the public, everything was a show and each show had sold-out tickets.
Somewhere between midnight and dawn when she arose, Amanda began wondering if his leaving her behind was part of the performance. From the moment that idea crossed her mind, she could no longer sleep. She remembered what Celinda had told her about some of her breakups with Justin and about not believing the tabloids or gossip channels. Sometimes, Celinda had told her, the celebrities manipulated the media as much as the media manipulated the stories.
Suddenly, Amanda knew exactly what she needed to do: fly to Europe.
She was already on her third cup of coffee when Isadora padded down the stairs and ran across the floor to Amanda. Throwing her arms around Amanda’s waist, Isadora buried her face in her lap.
“Did you sleep well last night, Izzie?”
“Ja. I dream of the kitten.”
“Dreamt. You dreamt of the kitten,” Amanda gently corrected her.
“I dreamt.”
Amanda smiled and rubbed Isadora’s back. “Good girl. Now, how about some breakfast before we go walk down the lane a spell?”
Amanda brought a chair to the counter so that Isadora could stand on it and help her with the cooking. Of course, Isadora’s version of helping was not always very helpful at all. But Amanda encouraged her, showing her how to whisk the eggs and put the bread on the rack for toasting on the stove top. Despite almost a third of the eggs splattering on the counter and floor, Amanda managed to salvage enough to make enough scrambled eggs for the two of them.
When they sat at the table to eat, Amanda shut her eyes and said a quick prayer, Isadora bowing her head as she mimicked her.
“Now, Izzie,” Amanda started slowly, “I must tell you something. Can you listen to me while you eat?”
Isadora nodded her head as she tried to scoop up some eggs with a fork.
“Mammi needs to go on a trip,” Amanda said. “I need to go see Papi.”
The eggs fell back on the plate as Isadora stared at her with wide eyes.
“You’ll stay here with Anna and Jonas.” She looked at Isadora, hoping that she wasn’t upset. She tried to soften her voice as she explained why Isadora would be left behind. “The kitten would miss you so much if you went with me, and the trip is long and not something you’d find terribly exciting, I fear. Besides, Harvey will need your help with milking those cows.”
“And squirt the cats?”
Amanda laughed. “Ja, and squirting milk at the cats.”
Isadora seemed to consider this, her face scrunched up as she thought. “You come back?”
“Of course!” It broke Amanda’s heart that Isadora asked such a question. That was the one fear Amanda had when, the previous night, she’d decided that she needed to find Alejandro. With so much turmoil in Isadora’s short life, Amanda did not want to add more. “I love you so much, Izzie. And I will always come back!”
Satisfied, Isadora nodded her head. “Go help Papi,” she said in her soft, childish voice with its heavy Brazilian accent.
“Danke, Izzie,” Amanda said as she leaned over and kissed the side of her head. “He needs me so.”
After breakfast, Amanda quickly cleaned the dishes before they went outside for their morning walk. They walked down the driveway, Amanda holding her hand and pointing out the different birds that flew overhead. When they saw a blue jay, Isadora made Amanda stop so that they could watch it until it flew away.
“You like the blue jay, then?”
Isadora nodded. “Blue.”
Amanda smiled. Blue had become Isadora’s favorite color. She wanted only blue dresses and slept under a blue crocheted blanket that she had found in a dresser in Lizzie’s room. “Oh, ja, blue is pretty.”
As they walked back down the lane, Amanda spotted Anna already in the garden. With a long hoe in her hand, Anna sifted through the dirt, ridding it of any weeds.
“You should let me do that, Anna!” How many times had she told Anna to let her and Isadora deal with the garden? Amanda wondered, knowing the answer: too many.
With a broad smile, Anna set the hoe against the fence. “Oh, I don’t mind none,” she said, glancing up at the sky. “It’s cool enough yet. Besides, I’m pregnant, Amanda, not disabled.” When Amanda didn’t respond to her sister’s teasing comment, Anna looked at her and asked, “Is everything alright?”
Amanda stood in the grass and let Isadora lean against her legs. “I need to ask a favor of you, Anna,” she asked as Isadora placed her bare feet upon Amanda’s.
“Anything, Schwester.”
Taking a deep breath, Amanda met her sister’s concerned gaze. Oh, how she didn’t want to leave Pennsylvania, but she knew that there was only one way to resolve the problem with Alejandro. “I need to go to Alejandro,” she said at last, “and, as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think it would be good to bring Izzie.”
When Isadora looked up at the mention of her name, Amanda placed her hands on the child’s shoulders and began to lift her by her arms so that Isadora’s feet moved at the same time. Suddenly, giggling, Isadora paid more attention to what Amanda was doing than the adult conversation.
“Everything all right, then, Amanda?”
The concerned look on her sister’s face touched Amanda. After everything that the family had been through, so many changes in the past few years—and few of them positive—it was good to know the caring bond was still there. “Yes and no,” Amanda admitted. “It’s difficult to explain.”
Anna sighed. “I can believe that to be true. I don’t pretend to understand all of the Englische world that you are experiencing. But I take your leaving to mean that you will work things out with him, ja?”
Amanda nodded her head. “I’ll need to go to Miami first and then over to Europe.”
Anna made a face at the mention of Europe. “Oh, Amanda,” she said in a low voice. “Aren’t you scared, even just a little?”
The truth was that Amanda hadn’t given much thought to being afraid. Whether it was due to having so much on her mind or all of the travel she had already done with Alejandro, flying to Europe was
not nearly as daunting a thought to her as it probably was to her sister. In all likelihood, her sister would never fly in an airplane. No bishop in any g’may permitted baptized church members the freedom to travel by air.
“I reckon I’m more scared of not going, Anna,” Amanda said.
Her sister reached over and touched her arm, waiting until Amanda looked up and met her gaze. Anna smiled as if trying to alleviate any misgivings that Amanda felt. “Ja, vell, don’t worry none. We’ll all take right gut care of our Izzie. Right, Izzie? Lots of chocolate chip and sugar cookies for you!” Anna said as she leaned over and tickled Isadora under the chin. Both of them laughed, and Amanda felt a little better, knowing that her family’s love and willingness to care for her daughter was genuine and heartfelt.
As they walked back toward the house, Izzie spotted the orange kitten, and with a delighted squeal, she ran after it. Anna took the opportunity to ask, “How long will you be gone, then?”
“If everything goes well, five weeks.”
“And then?” Anna asked.
Amanda took a deep breath and looked around the farm. She took in the sight of birds fluttering by the bird feeder, fighting over food. In the distance, the cows mooed as they moseyed out of the dairy barn and into the big turnout fields.
“That’s the unknown, Anna,” Amanda admitted. “I just don’t have an answer to that question.” She watched as Isadora squatted on the ground, using a piece of baling twine to play with the kitten.
Once again, Anna tried to sound optimistic. “Just remember that God has a plan for all of us, and his plan will always be the right one.”
They continued walking in silence, Anna with her hand on her expanding abdomen and Amanda lost in her own thoughts. Whatever God’s plan was for her, it was becoming more difficult to know what exactly he wanted her to do. She knew that she needed to go to Alejandro, but she felt conflicted about leaving Isadora. Torn between the two people she loved so much, she had to make a decision that would be right for all of them. While leaving Isadora behind would certainly hurt Amanda, not going to Alejandro would hurt them both.