by Christina OW
“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” She slapped her forehead with her palm repeatedly.
She noticed too late what effect his mother’s callousness was doing to him. He was well into his second glass of whiskey by then. She should have known Ruiz wasn’t being rude when he tried several times to cut their day short, but how was she supposed to understand why he wouldn’t want to spend time with his mother, she spent every minute she could spare with her own. Melody couldn’t understand Clarissa and how cold she was towards Ruiz. Even the stories she told about her ‘thoughtless son’ sounded exaggerated to make herself seem as the victim of an uncontrollable child. Being a mother and having a wonderful mother, she just couldn’t understand how that could be.
“Melody, sit. You’re making me dizzy,” Jackie grumbled from the couch.
“I can’t! If Ruiz leaves me after today, I wouldn’t blame him,” she lamented. How could he not leave her, she would leave her. How could she just sit there and listen to Clarissa tear into Ruiz? She could see the hurt in his eyes and yet she did nothing! Some wife she was.
“He won’t leave you, he loves you.”
“How could he not?” she sobbed. “I’m a terrible wife. First I marry another man, then I let his mother bash him and do nothing to stop her how could he not leave me for not having his back?” She dropped onto the couch next to Jackie and sobbed into her hands. “My mother would be ashamed of me!”
Jackie patted her back. “There, there. Don’t be too hard on yourself. I would reason the shock had you tongue tied, it sure as hell did me. Which makes me wonder, why is it that woman is here?”
Melody drew her face away from her hands to stare at Jackie. “What else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t let her pay for a room when we have three free ones here! That’s just—”
Jackie groaned rolling her eyes. “Rude, I know. God I never thought I would be tired of hearing a word spoke, but I would be too happy if I never hear that one again. As insufferable as that woman is you did the right thing giving her a room, she is your mother-in-law, but that’s not what I was referring too.”
“What then?”
“Ruiz kept asking her what she was doing here as if he suspected her motives, which makes me suspicious too. It’s clear she isn’t here to inquire on the welfare of her son and his family so that means she’s here for—”
“Money,” Melody sighed miserably. “Of course she’s here for money what else? She did try to steal Reno’s inheritance and since that didn’t work she’s here to hit her son up for money.”
“I thought you said Ruiz already settled her?”
She snorted. “Did you see the number of bags that were delivered here? I wouldn’t be surprised if she was broke already. Ruiz told me not to tell her, but I wonder if she already knows who I am?”
Jackie whistled. “You better hope not, or she’s going to be a permanent guest here.”
The door knob jiggled several times then the door shook like someone was trying to push it open. Melody got scared for a moment that it was Antonio come to demand for the flash drive she was supposed to retrieve for him when a voice she knew by heart cursed then ranted in Spanish. Ruiz rarely spoke his native language and apparently he did so when he was drunk. He had to be drunk not to remember he needed his keycard to open the door. She rushed to the door and yanked it open and Ruiz followed it in, falling at her feet with a curse.
“Damn door, I’m going to fire whoever built it!” he slurred as he struggled to get on his feet.
Melody squatted, placing his arm over her shoulder before she pulled him up with her. It took a few tries but she managed to get him on his feet. Well barely on his feet because he leaned heavily on her.
“Ruiz, help me out here or we are both going to kiss the ground!” she grumbled when he dropped his head on top of hers and weighed her down more.
“Tu quién es?” he mumbled rubbing his cheek on her hair like a content cat.
“Who am I? I’m your wife and you’re going to crush me to death with your weight if you don’t help!” she whizzed as she struggled to hoist his heavy mass straight on his feet.
“Wife?” he dragged his head down pushing her hair into her face. “Ah, wife, you don’t have a face.”
She screamed inside her mouth then freed one hand for just a moment to brush her hair back before grabbing hold of him again. “There, I have a face now.”
He brought his face close to hers, his eyes narrowed as if he was critically examining her before he leaned back and squeezed his eyes shut and opened them in several major blinks. “Melody?”
“Ding! Ding! We have a winner. Now walk with me.” She pulled him forward, but only his upper body moved while his legs remained stuck to the ground.
“Melody, my Melody?”
She pulled him, dragging his feet forward half a step. “Yes Ruiz now would you please walk? Just put one foot in front of the other.”
He pushed away from her, falling against the door. “Traidor! I’m not going anywhere with you! You betrayed me; you’re not my wife. You are that toad’s wife!” he sneered, wavering on his feet.
She reached for his hands, but he drew them away holding them above his head and far out of her reach. “Ruiz, we’ll discuss that in the morning, when you’re sober. Unless you want your mother to come out of her room and see you like this, you’ll let me help you to your room.”
“No! I can get there just fine myself!”
“Oh for goodness sake! Don’t try to reason with him at his state. Grab his coat and drag him there if you have too!”
Melody glared at Jackie. “It would be easier if you help!”
She shook her head. “I do babies, not drunk husbands.” She chuckled. “It’s surprising how clear his speech is. If it wasn’t for the staggering I wouldn’t be able to tell his sloshed out of his mind.”
Melody grabbed his jacket and pulled him forward. He put up a fight until he missed his step and fell forward right into Melody. She steadied herself, not an easy feat under Ruiz’s weight, and then turned around so that he was leaning on her back.
“Okay, just one step at a time. It’s just a few feet to your room,” she heaved as she moved praying she won’t land on her face with his enormous weight on her.
“Why? Why did you betray me with him?”
The pain in his voice made her stop. He was hurting and it was all her fault. “Ruiz, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“But you did. Let me go.” He tried to pull away but she held onto his jacket.
“That will never happen. I love you too much to do so.”
The room fell silent and she stood there close to collapsing waiting to see what his response to that would be. She guessed it wouldn’t be good considering how many times she said it before she hurt him.
“I don’t believe you.” His voice solemn. “Let me go, I can get to my room on my own.”
“Ruiz—”
“Do it, honey. He’s sobered enough to walk the few feet there,” Jackie said sympathetically.
Reluctantly Melody let him go and though he staggered a bit, he made it to his room without a glance back, closing his door with a resounding thud.
Melody was left there again, staring at the closed door and wondering if it meant something, something she couldn’t bear to imagine. She felt Jackie’s arms wrap around her from behind and she covered them with her own.
“Nanny…” she wept.
“Shh, don’t cry. We’ll fix this in the morning. Come on, let’s go to bed.”
Melody followed Jackie as she led her to her room. She tucked Melody into bed before she went to her own room promising everything would be better in the morning. But Melody wasn’t deluded enough to believe that. The sun rising would have no impact on her relationship with Ruiz. It would be just another day of being ignored only made worse with Clarissa’s presence. Unable to sleep, she checked on Esme who slept with little care in the world, turned on the baby monitor and carried the receiver as she quietly sl
ipped out of the room and headed straight to Ruiz across from hers, separated by the living room. She stood at the door for one unsure moment before she let herself in.
Ruiz was face down on the bed, fully clothed including his shoes. She smiled at how ridiculous he looked. One day, when they were on good terms again, she would remind him of this night and mercilessly make fun of him. One day. She placed the baby monitor receiver on the other side of the bed, far from him, then went to where he was and began to undress him. First she pulled off his boots then she climbed on to the bed and rolled him to his back so that she could get the belt. She undid it, along with his pants zipper and yanked his jeans down his legs and left him with just his boxers. Thank God they weren’t tight or the joggling from the pulling would have woken him and she would have a lot to explain. When that was done, she moved to the head of the bed, placed his head on her lap and began pulling his jacket off. That was a task that broke a sweat, but his button down shirt was easier to remove. She took a moment to admire his washboard abs and hard pecs. It was just a few days ago she was laying on his chest, touching and kissing him to her heart’s content. Now, she wasn’t even sure she had the right to look at him.
She rolled him just enough to pull the bed covers down then covered him, tacking him in like she would Esme. She sat there and watched him for a few minutes, debating whether or not to leave. After all, she had no right to be there and if he woke up and found her there, he wouldn’t hesitate to kick her out. But that was worth a risk just to feel him next to her again. Decided, she climbed into bed next to him keeping her distance at first before she gave in to her need for contact and tacked herself into his side, placing his arm over her waist. She watched his face to see if being this close would wake him, but he kept sleeping, his chest rising and falling with each deep breath. She placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes hoping against all hope that Jackie was right that tomorrow would bring a new and better day.
* * * *
Ruiz cursed himself as he strolled to his makeshift office. He should never have gotten sloshed, especially if he wanted enough done so that he could leave this place. Losing a day would only increase his sentence to misery by a day, especially now that his mother had apparently moved in. When he woke up and found her having breakfast in the dining area he’d almost lost his head—what was left of it anyway. He told her in no uncertain terms he wanted her gone by the time he came back and she responded by declaring that she was a guest of Melody Sinclair. That set off enough bells, that she knew Melody’s maiden name. He just hoped Melody didn’t volunteer that information because if she did, they were never getting rid of the woman.
He left her there, hoping that Jackie would be able to handle her as he went to track down Melody and have her boot her guest out before their lives got more complicated than it already was. What he didn’t expect was to find her in his office with Jon Luc bent over the desk as they discussed.
“What are you doing here?”
They both looked up at him. Jon Luc sniggered shaking his head and Melody just smiled tenderly at him.
“Good morning,” she said moving to the breakfast cart and picking a glass of water and a saucer before she walked to him. “Here you go.”
With a raised brow he asked, “What’s this?”
“Arsenic,” she responded with a smile. “It will kill the headache.”
Jon Luc laughed behind them and Ruiz couldn’t help the smile that commanded his lips. He took the pills on the saucer and washed them down with water.
“Thanks,” he said handing her back the glass.
“You’re welcome.” She turned away from him and returned them to the cart. She poured what smelled like strong black coffee into a cup and returned to him. “This will kill your usual grumpiness.”
He took the cup from her. “Ha ha, very funny. What were you two talking about?”
“Oh, nothing much.” She began walking back to the desk. “Just looking over the general managers applications, figures for the new furniture, my nonexistent second husband and fake second marriage.”
Ruiz wasn’t sure if he heard right, but the smiles on both their faces told him he probably did. “Would you repeat that please—the last part.”
“Antonio Otorin and I never married. It was all fake, like the night I supposedly slept with him. I should have known that leech would do anything to get what he wanted!” she hissed in response.
Ruiz turned to Jon Luc. “Explain?”
Jon Luc stepped around the desk to come stand next to Ruiz. “Just like she said. I couldn’t find any documentation pertaining to Melody and Antonio’s marriage. The ceremony, the judge who performed it, it was all fake. How he managed to pull that off in a court house has me stunned.”
Ruiz’s head span. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the news or his hangover. He drank the coffee deeply then stopped and took a moment to see if his head had stopped spinning. It had, but he still completely confused so he drank the rest down just to be sure his mind wasn’t alcohol impaired.
He placed the cup down on the desk and looked at Jon Luc. “I’m moving a bit slow today so would you please say that again.”
Jon Luc laughed. “Okay, pay attention. Melody’s second marriage was faked from beginning to end. Pay real attention to this part, Antonio Otorin doesn’t exist, anywhere. I even had my friend at Interpol help and they couldn’t find a record of him anywhere. I mentioned that he could be Italian and there must be some travel details of him and they couldn’t find anything on that either. You were right from the very beginning. Something isn’t right with that guy.”
Ruiz stood there and let everything Jon Luc said sink into his mind. Antonio Otorin wasn’t who he said he was, so who the hell was he and what did he want with Melody?
“Ruiz, maybe you should sit down.”
He looked down at his left and saw Melody standing there, his hand in hers, staring up at him with worry in her eyes. Yeah, she had something to worry about but it wasn’t him.
He shook his head. “I’d rather remain standing, I think better standing.”
She nodded clearly still worried. “Okay. Do you want more coffee?”
“You invited my mother to stay?” he blurted out and it shocked the others just like it did him that he’d changed the subject. He didn’t mean to, that’s just what he was thinking about when they dropped this massive bomb on him.
“Well, ahm, she’s your mother. I didn’t invite her I just told her she should have some breakfast before she left. I didn’t think she’d translate that to please move in.”
He nodded, rubbing his hand over his face with his free hand. “Yeah, she does that. Just don’t invite her to lunch or dinner. In fact, go tell her she needs to leave before she gets a chance to do what she really came here for.”
“Sure, ah Ruiz, didn’t you understand what Jon Luc just said?”
He chuckled exhaustedly. “I understood alright. I’m just trying to wrap my whiskey soaked brain around it.”
“Did you understand what I said before then?”
He turned to her. “Melody, I am in no condition to play guessing games. You’ll have to spell it out for me.”
She let go of his hand and stepped back averting her eyes. That was a clear sign of more trouble to come. Ruiz chuckled bitterly and moved to his seat next to the desk. “Maybe I should sit down.” After he was sited he looked at her, watched her as she nervously wrung her fingers and chewed on her bottom lip. He steeled himself and said, “Lay it on me.”
“That day, that I ah, that I came in with Antonio to the suite, remember that day?”
Ruiz didn’t bother responding. How could he forget the day she came in bloodied and bruised with her second husband right behind her, proud to take responsibility for it? So he just stared at her and waited.
“You see, that’s the day he told me he and I—me and him, we ah, we never…you know.”
“Slept together?” he finished for her, counting to one
hundred in his head.
“Yeah, that. So you see he isn’t—”
“The guy you slept with that night?” he growled. “You mean to tell me you have no idea who knocked you up?”
“I know!” she yelled.
“Then who was it?” he yelled back shooting up on his feet.
“You are!”
* * * *
Melody leaned against the closed door and took a deep breath. That didn’t go as she had expected. Nothing that day had gone as she had expected. Jackie’s croak about a new day being better was just that, croak!
“You’re back already?”
She turned to Jackie’s voice. She was walking towards her with Esme held to her shoulder. Esme…Melody smiled and laughed. The day was about to turn to shit!
“Melody, what’s wrong, why are you laughing like a mad woman?”
“He knows,” she responded moving to the living room and dropping on the couch.
“Who knows what?” Jackie asked coming behind her.
“Ruiz knows that Esme is his.”
Jackie squealed bouncing on the couch like a teenage girl who just got juicy gossip. “So, why isn’t he here hugging and kissing his daughter?”
Melody snorted. “Beats me. Maybe he’s just shocked. I know I am.”
Jackie nodded. “That’s understandable. Besides, men process things different that women. What exactly did he say when you told him?”
“Go tell my mother she needs to leave,” Melody quoted word for word.
Jackie stared at her stunned. “Go tell my mother she needs to leave. That was his big answer to Esme is your daughter?”
Melody sunk on the couch until she lay flat on her back. “It didn’t exactly go like that.”
“Then how did it go,” Jackie half yelled impatiently.
“Well,” Melody turned her head to face her. “This morning I woke up believing that if I went to work with Ruiz he couldn’t ignore me anymore and he’d be forced to speak to me. When I got to the office, Jon Luc was there and he had amazing news for me. Antonio and I were never married.”