Delia's Gift (Delia 3)

He sh

ook his head and walked to the window.

“Señor?”

“I did everything in my power to make things easier for you, didn’t I? I stood up for you against your aunt. I provided you with the best possible care.” He spun around. “I put you in my wife’s suite, my wife’s bed!”

I started to cry. “Señor Bovio, the doctor—”

“Is as disappointed in you as I am,” he quickly said, and returned to my bedside.

I looked down rather than up at him. His eyes were blazing with so much anger I thought they would burn my face.

“Why, señor?” I asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

“Why? Why? Dr. Denardo is a good doctor. I told you he was one of the best. He was so surprised at your condition that he had to get to the bottom of it, Delia. He insisted that the lab do the work, and I’m surprised you were so foolish as to think he wouldn’t.”

I looked up. “What are you saying, Señor Bovio? I don’t know what you mean, and you are frightening me.”

“You should be frightened. Your blood had evidence of what you teenagers,” he said, making the word “teenagers” sound like profanity, “call Ecstasy.”

“No, señor. No, no.”

“There wasn’t much, I’ll admit, but enough to show you had used it. Did you use it every night, every other night?”

“Never, señor. This is not true.”

“You can’t argue with scientific results, Delia. Were you not worried about our baby?”

I shook my head, my tears literally flying off every which way.

“Was this how you avoided being bored? You complained a great deal about it to Mrs. Newell. She told me she was ready to quit us, that you were so disobedient she couldn’t deal with you anymore.”

“That’s not fair, not true. None of this is true, Señor Bovio.”

“I should take no pity on you, Delia. You nearly killed my Adan twice,” he said.

I felt all of the blood in my face rush out when he said that. My head felt ten times as heavy. The room started to spin. I struggled to remain conscious. I couldn’t keep myself in a sitting position and fell back against my pillow, shaking my head.

“No, señor. It’s not so. No…”

He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “You can come back to the hacienda to recuperate. I will do all I promised. I will get you what you need to go to a school, and you will go and live your own life, the life your fate decides for you. I don’t want you returning to the hospital to see Adan while he is here struggling to live. Mrs. Newell will take care of you and see that you grow strong and healthy again. If you disobey her this time, I’ll send you packing.”

“These are all lies, Señor Bovio.”

“Don’t try my patience anymore, Delia. There’s no point in your continuing to deny what you’ve done. Besides the laboratory results, I have Fani’s confession.”

“What? Fani? What confession?” I asked, looking up at him.

“She admits it’s possible you took some of that drug when you were at her house for your secret meeting with Edward. Edward is not very stable these days. She says she couldn’t deny that you brought drugs back to my hacienda.”

I felt my lungs harden, my mouth get too dry for my tongue to move and form words. “I don’t believe she said such a thing.”

“You can continue to be friends with her. I don’t care what you do with yourself now.”

“Friends with her? She is lying if she said that.”

“Yes, everyone is lying but you, Delia. The doctor and the laboratory are lying. I’m afraid your aunt Isabela was right about you, right about what I should and shouldn’t have done. Maybe you should seriously consider returning to Mexico. It would be easier to keep your deceptions unknown, and you could start again. But not with my Adan.”