“She planned to.”
“But she didn’t.”
“Not that I know of. She was supposed to meet relatives here in Colorado who would help her get registered at school. She was supposed to live with them.”
“Let me guess. The relatives never surfaced.”
“Right. She was naïve, no doubt. But at least she was away from her past.”
“Oh?”
“Her father and brother were heads of a big drug ring in Nogales. She’d suffered from their abuse for years. She’d finally escaped about three months before she showed up in our trailer park, looking for relatives she couldn’t find. She’d made her way here by working odd jobs as much as she could, getting paid in cash. One of the families, Thompson was their name, at Echo Gardens took her in. She kept their house and did other house cleaning jobs. When they sold their trailer a few months later and moved on, they didn’t take her with them.”
“So she didn’t go to school, and her visa expired a year later.”
“And there were no relatives?” Annie said.
“None that she ever found.”
“Once her visa expired, she was here illegally. She needed work, and she couldn’t go back to Nogales, face her brother and father, and return to the abuse. She told my mother things—things she wouldn’t repeat to my father or me. My mother just cried and said we had to protect Lilia no matter what.”
“I see,” Dallas said, “so that’s how you ended up marrying her?”
“Like I said, my parents were really fond of her. They couldn’t let her be deported. I was the only option.”
“What about Tom?” Annie asked.
“Tom was already married. They got divorced two years later.”
Rafe paused, but neither Dallas nor Annie spoke.
“She needed to be able to work. She needed a green card. By marrying a U.S. citizen, she was able to get one.”
“I see,” Dallas said again. “This may be none of my business, but did you have any feelings for her at all?”
“I was fond of her. She was kind of like a big sister to me.”
“No feelings of love?”
“Sure, I loved her. But not in a sexual way.”
Dallas let out a slow breath. “I’m not judging you, but you realize you broke the law, right?”
Rafe nodded. “I know it seems ridiculous. It does to me too. But at the time, I was twenty years old. I swore I’d never marry, never want kids. It was a stupid decision.”
“It wasn’t stupid to want to protect an innocent woman,” Annie said.
“No. I have no regrets about helping Lilia. Neither my parents nor I liked the idea of breaking the law, though.”
“I guess I can understand that.” Dallas stood. “So what do you need me for?”
“Simple,” Rafe said. “I want a divorce.”
* * *
Mrs. Franklin John Longhorn.
She gulped as her esophagus threatened to reverse. The sound of it nauseated her.