“I will keep you here until you’re old enough to be on your own, and then I’ll send you back into the world to fend for yourself. You’ll have what you need to survive but nothing more. I’m having you transferred back
to the public school. The other students at the private school would ostracize you, anyway. Their parents wouldn’t permit any of them to have anything to do with you, and by now, all of the teachers at the private school know about you and would certainly look at you differently. Every one of them would feel he or she had been duped to believe you were a sweet, innocent, bright star and would be embarrassed.
“And don’t expect Fani Cordova to help you in any way,” she quickly added. “Her parents are quite upset about her friendship with you as it is. So I’m doing you a big favor by taking you out of the private school.
“You’ll go on the bus and be with your own common stock, where you belong. I’m reestablishing your chores here at the house. You’ll earn your keep again. Mrs. Rosario has already been instructed to give you a list of your duties. You’ll begin immediately. I’ll permit you to remain in the room. I can keep a closer eye on you that way. The phone has been removed, however, and I’ve taken back some of the clothing, jewelry, and cosmetics I gave you. You won’t be needing any of it, since I forbid you to do anything off these grounds but attend school. The less you are seen in public, the better it will be for Sophia and me and even my idiot son.
“Do you have anything to say?” she asked. I felt like someone about to be executed asked to utter her final words.
I took a deep breath. I wanted to say much. I wanted to tell her again that Edward and Jesse were innocent. I wanted to explain why I had helped Ignacio, how he had been trapped, and how his family had suffered, but I could see no warmth in her eyes. The revenge she had sought and perhaps been prevented from achieving before was now hers, and she was basking in the pleasure. Surely, in her mind, she had reached beyond the grave and given my mother great pain.
I shook my head.
“Good. Go up to your room, get the car keys, and bring them to me immediately. Then stay out of my sight. You’re to take your meals with the help from now on, by the way. Comprende?”
I looked up sharply. From her lips, Spanish had become profanity.
“Sí,” I said.
“I hope you realize how lucky you are to be my niece. Any other girl who had done what you did would be looking at jail time. I think I deserve to hear a thank you. Well?”
“Thank you, Tía Isabela,” I said, without a speck of emotion.
“Go on and do what I told you to do,” she said, and turned away.
I rose and went quickly up the stairway. Edward was in his room, getting things together. I paused at his open doorway, and he looked out at me with an expression of helplessness that made me press my lips together to stop myself from bursting into tears.
Before I reached my room, Sophia stepped out of hers. The moment that I had so dreaded was here. She gloated and smiled and then threw her head back and laughed.
“I know you did this,” I said. “I know you stole the note that was in my purse.”
“Of course I did, you stupido. You thought you were so superior. You were in control of everyone, my brother, my mother, even me. Now you’re no better than you were the day you arrived. You’re just a poor slob of a Mexican. I really have to thank you for giving me the opportunity to show my mother who her real daughter is and who isn’t.”
“Oh, you’re your mother’s daughter,” I said. “I never doubted it.”
“You did this?” we both heard. I turned. Edward had come to his doorway and had listened to our conversation. “You caused all this trouble?” he asked, stepping toward Sophia.
“I saved us,” she claimed.
“Saved us? You’re lower than I ever imagined.”
“You’re still taking her side? Even after the way she used you?”
He looked at me. “That’s between us,” he told her. “What she did she did for someone else, to help others, but what you did was purely and simply selfish and cruel. You hurt me and Jesse as much as you hurt anyone. I don’t want to think of you as my sister any longer. I can’t imagine you married to anyone, but I pity him. I pity all your friends, but I don’t pity you, Sophia. You make me sick to my stomach,” he concluded, turned, and walked back to his room.
“Go to hell yourself!” she screamed at him. “I don’t care what you say or do, either.”
She glared at me, went into her room, and slammed the door shut.
I got the keys to my car and hurried downstairs with them. Tía Isabela was talking with Señora Rosario. She turned, took the keys from me, and turned her back to me. Before I reached the stairway, she called to me, however.
“Get changed,” she said. “Mrs. Rosario has work for you to do, bathrooms to clean and floors to wash.”
I did not look back. I went up the stairs quickly. Edward, carrying his bags, stepped out of his room.
“Please don’t hate me, Edward,” I said, and rushed past him.
During the remaining days of the spring vacation, I realized Sophia was right to make her hateful prediction. I had returned to the poor Mexican girl I was when I had first arrived. Once again, I worked beside Inez, cleaning toilets and sinks, washing floors, doing laundry, serving food, and polishing furniture. Whenever she could make more work for me, Sophia did it. She left things lying about, deliberately made things dirty, or messed up rooms. I avoided her as much as I could, but she found ways to hover around me or nearby, making her comments, laughing.