Chapter 16

Tempe Arizona. Sylvia Marquez sat at the kitchen table, her mind in turmoil. Normally, her husband, Hector, would get home from work before she did. However, today he was working late and she got home first. As a result, she had collected the mail from the lockbox for their house.

In her hand was a heavy piece of fine, ivory colored stationary, with delicate script.

“The Honor of your presence is requested as we will be united in wedded bliss.”

“How can this be?” she wondered. “After all this time, is this a cruel joke?”

“Please come and share this day, as we celebrate our love.” the invitation continued. A date and location were listed, followed by additional details.

“Where exactly is this place, Lodi?” An old song stirred in her memory.

The invitation was signed ‘Rosalinda Guadalupe Marquez & Brandi Sophia Winters’.

Included in the invitation was a hand written letter from her daughter, pleading for forgiveness and understanding, so that the family would travel to her new home and participate in the day. To come and meet her intended and her family. Learn about her new life in Lodi and all that it entailed. There was a picture of the couple, looking very much in love.

Sylvia had to think long and hard to recall when the last time was that she had seen Rosalinda looking so happy.

She heard the front door close as her husband entered the house.

“Hello! I’m home! Where are you?”

“In the kitchen. We need to talk. Now.”

As all men in the history of marital relationships knew, that phrase was never a positive one. Sitting at the table, Hector Marquez looked at his wife as she held several pieces of mail.

“This came today,” she handed him the invitation.

After reading the contents, he looked up. “No.”

“What do you mean, ‘no’? This is the first contact we’ve had from her since she left and that’s all you have to say? How many times have I prayed to hear from her, crying, because I don’t know if she’s safe or not? And all you say is ‘no’? What’s wrong with you?”

“I knew she was alive. She called a few days after she ran off. I told her she was dead to us. That we no longer accepted her as a member of the family because of her desires for other women. It’s not natural! She needed to learn to be a proper woman. A wife and mother. That was why I arraigned for that marriage. To correct that foolishness! And months later? When that supposed priest called? To see if we could all talk through things and be reunited? Impossible! I told him that we wanted nothing to do with her!”

“You. Did. What????” The open handed slap stuck with such force that Hector was almost knocked from his chair. “How could you? That is our daughter! Our child! I can’t believe you hid that from me!”

“I did it because it was for the best!” He could feel the heat rising on his cheek where his wife had struck. “Her silly and wrong ideas about not being able to love a man and be his wife? Nonsense! A strong man would teach her what is right and drive those ideas out of her head. She would be taken to her marital bed and shown how to please her husband and have children as a result.”