Chapter 7: Maria

I had taken off work for two weeks. Grieving, hell no, playing with my boys! I heard a car drive up and I went to the window to see who was here. I was not expecting company. It was that black Lincoln town car. Oh shit what is this about! The doorbell rang and I opened it to find Maria standing there with Louis carrying two suitcases.

“I hear you are looking for a live in nanny? Well cancel the ad. You just found one”.

My mouth was open and I could not find words.

“Don’t just stand there go help Louis with my other bags.

I followed Louis to the car and we brought in four more suitcases.

When I shut the door after shaking Louis’s hand and him winking at me I found Maria in the den playing with the twins. They were rolling on the floor laughing, wrestling and pulling on her long hair. “Have these boy eaten lunch yet?” No

“Well you take over and I’ll go find them something.”

That was how my life with Maria started. She moved into my bedroom that first night. The next morning she put everything that Sue had in the house, clothes, pictures, make-up, everything in plastic garbage bags and called Goodwill. They sent a truck and hauled it away. While the boys were down for their nap we sat at the table. I was trying to talk but the words were stuck in my throat.

“Go on Robert let’s get it over with ask me whatever you want to know.”

“How?”

“Fair question. Well by the time your wife got there that morning Jamal was in Mexico. We snatched him the night before as he walked in his house after finishing his shift at the warehouse. We made sure his prints were on the gun before he left. When Sue got there at about 9.30 that morning I was the only one there. I told her you had decided to not accept her deal and that I would be raising her kids. For her not to worry I would take good care of them and you. Then I put three rounds in her chest. She went quickly. Oh I almost forgot, I told her you could have my ass any time you wanted it and that you would never have to worry about me giving you sloppy seconds.”

I grinned at that. But Wow! This woman pulled the trigger!

“Do you know where the investigation is now? And what about Jose?”

“The police are looking for Jamal as the murderer. The feds are trying to distance themselves from him. First because he is wanted for the murder of your wife and second because the Judge ruled that video of Jose and Jamal at the shooting range to be authentic. It showed Jamal laying his pistol down and Jose putting in the magazine. Jose then fires ten rounds and comments on what a nice gun Jamal had just bought. When Jose is packing up his pistol Jamal puts his pistol in a plastic bag. That was the gun that Jamal killed the corner boy with. He got Jose’s prints on it and saved it for when he needed a get out of jail free card. They are looking for him for that murder also. Jose is at home with our father.”

“Our father”, she is Jose’s sister!

“What happened to Jamal?”

“I was not there for that party. But I hear he is buried in the desert south of El Paso.”

“I need to know one more thing. This is more of a personal question but very important.”

“Go ahead I will not lie to you.”

“The problem with Sue was the size, you know, of my dick. If that is going to be a problem let’s end this between us now. Sue broke my heart and I ended up hating her.”

“You gringos have a saying I like. It goes something like this, ‘It is not the size of the magician’s wand, but the magic in it.’ Believe me Robert you have more than enough magic for me.”

We were married three months later. She wanted to honeymoon in Cancun Mexico so I let her make all the arrangements. It turned out “Father” owns one of the resorts there. I noticed that she never had asked me for a dime. Not money for groceries, the light bill the pool service nothing. Also the plane tickets after the wedding just seemed to appear. I asked about taking the twins and she said not on the honeymoon. She arranged a nanny. She was a nice older Mexican lady. I found out later that she was Maria’s nanny when she was a child and still took care of her. Louis was the lady’s husband and Maria’s bodyguard. They lived with us after we returned home. My boys call Maria “Mommy” and think she is their birth mother. The old lady is referred to as “Abey” short for “Abuela”. Our kids are bi-lingual of course and we never told them the story of their real mother.

Life goes on.

Author’s Note---After writing this story I thought that maybe things could have gone differently. Robert is a genius, remember? What if Sue was not a slut? And Jamal? What if he was a really nice guy? So I decided to write it over, this time with a slightly different take on the main characters. Read “The Old Boy Friend, Take 2”.