Fani, who was with people I did not know, smiled and waved and nodded her approval. She finally excused herself to join me for a few moments.
“You look like you have arrived, Delia. I have to hand it to your aunt. She’s remade you, turned you into one of us. How’s sweet Sophia taking all this?”
“Badly,” I said and she laughed.
“Remember my warnings. Sophia doesn’t give up easily.”
When Adan returned this time, he looked at Fani and asked, “Well?”
“I love you, cousin,” she told him, and then, looking at me, she added, “but when it comes to men, Delia and I would rather put our faith in scorpions.”
He laughed, and Fani returned to her parents’ table.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“Fani refuses to be convinced about how much I like you, but she’ll come around and become a believer,” he said, kissing me softly on the cheek.
By the time we sat to start the dinner, my stomach was tied in such knots I didn’t think I could eat a morsel. I soon discovered that two of the empty chairs at the Bovio table were being held for the governor and his wife. When he entered the room, the band stopped, and the master of ceremonies introduced him. Everyone stood to applaud. He was just as he appeared on television. He spoke fluent Spanish, so when he finally reached our table and everyone was introduced, he turned to Adan and smiled at me when he said, “Menos mi esposa, ella es la mujer más bonita aquí.”
I didn’t think it was possible to blush any redder than I had already, but I felt the heat in my cheeks.
Adan leaned over to whisper, “He had to say except for his wife, but I could see it in his face. He thinks you’re the prettiest woman here.”
Mi tía Isabela was beaming. I had come to California hoping that somehow she would accept me as her flesh and blood and together we would find
ways to get beyond the ugliness of the past. Until this moment, nothing had ever given me hope of doing so, but I sensed that if she could exchange Sophia for me, she wouldn’t hesitate.
There were famous singers at the dinner to entertain. There was dancing to the twenty-six-piece orchestra and afterward some short speeches by other politicians praising Adan’s father. Before the evening was over, Adan told me his father’s campaign had raised nearly two and a half million dollars, with other pledges coming.
Sometime during the evening, while Adan was talking to other people and Tía Isabela was with Señor Bovio, I had time to think about something Tía Isabela had said. I had been defiant when she told me I would forget my life in Mexico, but sitting here among all these wealthy people, these glamorous celebrities and powerful politicians, it was nearly impossible to remember the dirt streets of my village, the tiny homes and poor laboring families. I had the strange feeling the old Delia was drowning in a sea of opulence and riches once beyond her imagination. The hacienda, my car, my new clothes, the jewelry I wore, all of it was far too bewitching. I even questioned the wisdom of sneaking off with Edward and Jesse to make the trip to my village.
Perhaps, I thought sadly, I was weaker than I had thought. Perhaps there truly was more of mi tía Isabela in me than I had believed.
“Why so long a face, Delia?” Adan asked, surprising me.
I quickly smiled. “Long face?”
“You look like you’re unhappy. Aren’t you having a good time?”
“Oh, yes.”
“I wish we could do something more tonight, but—”
“Oh, this is enough,” I said, perhaps too quickly. He laughed.
“I guess it is,” he said. He kissed me on the cheek and then got pulled away to meet another politician’s son. Fani joined me again to tell me how good an impression I had made on everyone I had spoken to.
“You’re a quick learner, Delia. You’re going to be a big success.”
“At what?”
“At getting what you want,” she said, smiling coyly. “Just like the rest of us.”
She left me with that remark. I wasn’t happy about it, though. It made it sound as if Sophia was right. We were like each other, all of us, using each other for selfish goals.
I was happy when Tía Isabela told me we would be leaving. Adan promised to call me the next day with plans for another dinner or maybe just to have something simple and go to a movie.
“Whatever you want,” he said, walking us out to our limousine.