Chapter 47: Double Sunrise

Christmas 1983

For those who are fortunate enough to have both a significant other and strong family ties, the holiday season usually means spending time with two different families. That's not always the case, however.

For Inez and me, it meant visiting with my family, her family ... and her family away from home. That's right, three families in all.

We spent Christmas Eve with Inez's adopted family in New Jersey, the Andrades. It was a small get-together, just Señor and Señora Andrade, Mayra and Lisette, Inez and myself, plus of course Dennis.

Earlier in the day, Dennis and I had a long discussion about Mayra's dad. Señor Andrade, of course, thought that both of us were the salt of the earth, and we both liked him a lot. He had no problems whatsoever with Dennis dating his daughter, nor with me dating his favorite niece. But when it came to relationships themselves, and how they worked ... he was rather old world, to say the least.

"Mayra told me that it's best if we don't even hold hands when he's around," laughed Dennis. "Luckily, her mom is different. But her dad ... man, when it comes to dating and stuff, he's a traditionalist in every sense of the word. He was telling us one night at dinner how in his younger days in Puerto Rico, he wasn't allowed to go on a date without a chaperone until he was twenty-one. Twenty-one! And he even told us it was a shame how the younger generation has gotten away from things like that."

"You're sure he wasn't just kidding around?"

"Mayra swore he wasn't."

"Inez has told me a few stories, too," I offered. "But at least she and I are able to get together without setting foot in his house. It's different for you."

"True," Dennis laughed ruefully. "But in every other respect, he's a great guy."

"I agree."

Thankfully, no discussions of this nature were pursued on this Christmas Eve. After dinner, which was prepared in mouth-watering fashion by Señora Andrade, gifts were exchanged. Inez and I held off on our gifts for each other; we planned to exchange those in private the next morning.

There was one little tradition which was broken for good that evening. Up till now, I'd always referred to the parents of Mayra and Lisette as Señor and Señora Andrade, just like the rest of the gang. But now that I was being treated as a family member, those designations seemed just a wee bit formal. So, from that point on, I began to call them Tio Raul and Tia Rosie, just as Inez did. Eventually, I'd default to just their given names, Raul and Rosie.

It was after midnight when the gathering broke up. Mayra walked with Dennis out to his car, and they stole the briefest of kisses while Inez and I ran interference and held Raul's attention. Honorable and chivalrous young man that I was, I assured Raul that I would drop his niece off at her apartment. And I did just that.

What I didn't tell him was that I had no intention of leaving after I dropped her off.

Evie had left earlier in the day; she, of course, would be sharing Christmas with her mom. That afforded Inez and me the opportunity to spend the night before Christmas together in an empty apartment, just the two of us. And we didn't do a whole lot of sleeping. After one particularly torrid lovemaking session in the wee hours, we both drifted off to sleep. At around seven-thirty in the morning, shortly after sunup, I woke to find a wide awake Inez lying next to me, with a sweet smile on her face, watching me awaken.

"I wish I had some mistletoe right about now," she said dreamily.

"It would be the most useless sprig of mistletoe in creation. Mistletoe or no mistletoe, I'm kissing you." I gave her a deep, lingering kiss. "Merry Christmas, angel."

Reaching under the blanket, she produced a small wrapped package, and handed it to me. "Merry Christmas, honey. I couldn't wait to give this to you."

I opened the package to reveal a personalized leather wallet with my name engraved on it. My current wallet was old and ratty, so this was a thoughtful, practical present.

Before I could thank her, Inez placed an envelope right in front of me. For just a second, I looked at her quizzically, before realizing that this was the second part of her gift. The envelope contained a beautiful card. As I opened the card, two rectangular pieces of very thin cardboard fell out. I picked them up, glanced at them, and quickly realized what they were.

"Plane tickets," I said incredulously.

"Look at the travel dates, and the destination."

"March. The third week of March. That's spring break for us," I said out loud. "Flying into Tampa, flying out of Miami ... why Tampa?"

"Because that's also right in the middle of baseball spring training. I thought you might want to watch a preseason Phillies game. After that, we'll spend the rest of the week at my parents' place. You know I'm planning to go to Florida during spring break anyhow. I thought we could go together, with a little baseball-related side trip. Obviously, game tickets aren't available yet, and I'll look into getting those later."

"You ... are incredible," I told her, at a loss for words. Wrapping her up in my arms, I continued, "What an amazing gift. And for me, the best Christmas gift I'll get this year is the one I've got my arms around right now."

We got to talking excitedly about the trip, which after all, would be our second trip to Florida in a three-month period. Even though we'd be leaving for the first Florida visit in a few short days, our enthusiasm for this March vacation wasn't diminished in the least. "We'll have to figure out a way to travel to Miami after the game," Inez pointed out. "We can probably take the bus. Or we can even rent a car. At that time, I'll have just turned twenty-one."

Suddenly remembering an important matter, I moved to get up from the bed. "I need to go out to my car and get something," I grinned. I got dressed, putting on my shoes and coat, and headed out. It was a crisp, chilly Christmas morning. I retrieved two wrapped medium-sized boxes, and one smaller one, from the trunk of my car. I brought them back inside, placing them on the bed next to my curious girlfriend, as I laid down next to her again.

Inez offered up a bright smile. "Which one do you want me to open first?"

"Start with the two bigger ones." They contained the more practical of the two gifts I'd chosen: a couple of pairs of shoes for her to wear during our shows, the low-heeled variety. I'd enlisted Eileen's help here. Wearing high heels during our gigs, which were increasing both in frequency and length, had done a number on my sweetie's feet, and I'd given her many a post-gig foot massage.

"I guess this means I won't be rubbing down your feet any more," I told her, tongue in cheek.

"You can rub my feet anyway. Anytime you like," she grinned, giving me a kiss. "Thanks, sweetie. I love the shoes." Then, she unwrapped the smaller gift. Inside it was a white cardboard jewelry box.

I'd actually made a solo trip to New York for the sole purpose of acquiring this gift. Dave had told me about a place in Manhattan that specialized in custom-made jewelry. I'd looked at their stock, done a little improvising, and come up with something that I felt was quite appropriate.

Inez opened the box, and removed what rested inside. It was a silver locket with a lightning bolt inscribed on the front. On the back, I'd had the words "Our Miracle" inscribed in script lettering. Inside, I'd placed a cutout from a picture that her aunt had taken the day of her cousin's wedding, the day we'd gotten together, of the two of us standing side by side. As she looked it over, her eyes grew round and large; she brought her hand up to her mouth, almost as if in disbelief.

"What a beautiful, meaningful gift," she told me, a healthy dose of emotion present in her voice. "I love it. Can you put it on for me?" Putting the chain around her neck, I hooked the two ends together in the back. She took the locket in her hand and kissed it. Then, she kissed me, hard, deep, and long.

"It's perfect, and so special," she went on, her eyes a little moist. "No one but you and I will ever know its significance. Well, Evie will, but that's okay." That induced laughter from both of us.

After our early morning gift exchange, it was breakfast time. "I'm gonna make us the kind of breakfast my mom always made for me when I was younger," declared Inez, as she prepared generous portions of rice, beans and fried plantains. Meanwhile, I whipped up some bacon and scrambled eggs. We sat down at the table, and enjoyed a leisurely meal together.

"I'm stuffed," I proclaimed, after we'd both eaten our fill.

"I hope you left room for your mom's Christmas dinner," Inez laughed.

It was early afternoon when we arrived at my house. Eileen and Dave were already there. After wishing all a Merry Christmas, Inez and I sat down with my sister and her boyfriend. Everyone was ready to exchange gifts, but there was a hold-up. You see, my brother was on the phone, and by all accounts, had spent the last half hour yacking it up with someone.

"Guess who he's talking to?" Eileen said with a smile.

"Don't tell me ... that Heather again?" I offered. At that, both my sister and my girlfriend started laughing.

"No, silly," Eileen finally said. "He's talking to Lisette."

At that, I looked over at Inez, who had a knowing grin on her face. "I think you know something you haven't told me."

"I haven't had a chance to tell you yet," replied Inez. "I had a little talk with Lisette last night when we were at my uncle's place. She talks to Seamus just about every day. What's really cute about it is that they still seem to be nothing more than friends. Lisette told me that Seamus confides in her about a lot of things."

"Hmm," Dave threw in. "He's definitely an O'Malley. Sly, cunning, playing the friendship card for all its worth." Eileen, Inez and I all lost it.

Once again, I turned to Inez. "Is Lisette okay with this arrangement?" I was wondering if I needed to have a talk with my brother.

"She seems to be. I really don't detect any romantic sparks. According to her, Seamus tells her about other girls he's interested in. You don't usually see friendships like this among fourteen-year-olds. It says a lot about both of them."

I made a mental note to touch on this later with my brother. I wasn't about to make a big deal about it, though. If both of them were cool with this setup, why press the issue?

The rest of Christmas Day was as wonderful as the first part had been. We exchanged gifts, and then sat down at the table as Mom served up an early Christmas dinner. After that, we all crowded around the piano. I went down into the basement and produced the old acoustic guitar that I'd originally borrowed from Eileen. I joined together with Inez and Eileen in singing and playing just about every Christmas song we knew. All too soon, Dave and Eileen bid us goodbye, as they would be spending the rest of the day with Dave's folks. Inez and I made a quick run over to Evie's place, and then we returned to my house, where we stuck around until well into the evening.

I couldn't have imagined a more perfect Christmas.

December 28, 1983

Miami, Florida

My girlfriend and I strolled hand in hand out through the airport exit, and into bright, warm sunshine, as I felt compelled to point out something.

"This certainly beats the last time I was here."

Indeed, the sense of contentment I felt at that moment was indescribable, as I breathed in the warm, somewhat dry air. Although I was wearing long pants, I could easily have opted for shorts, a sensation blessedly unfamiliar at this time of the year to someone born and raised in the mid-Atlantic.

The weather, however novel it was for me, was not the driving force behind my feeling of well-being. Beside me, Inez had an especially radiant glow on her face. Smiling broadly, she'd donned a pair of sunglasses which seemed to accentuate her bronze complexion. I had one piece of luggage in each hand, and set them both down as we reached the curb.

"They said they would be here right about now," said Inez, as she gazed into the oncoming traffic which snaked its way through the airport. "Oh, look!" she squealed, pointing at an approaching Toyota. "Here they come!"

The Toyota pulled up right in front of us, and two people immediately got out. My beloved ran forward and hugged her parents, in a manner which reflected the fact that she hadn't seen them in months. I took in this touching scene, and couldn't help but focus for just a second on the other timeline. But this was a joyous occasion, and I didn't want to dwell on that, so I banished those thoughts from my mind.

There was one introduction to be made. Of course, I'd met Inez's father, Javier, in the hospital after the accident. Looking quite fit, he stepped forward and shook my hand heartily. "Welcome, Pat," he said with a grin. "Last time we met, I wasn't in the best of shape." How nice that the accident was now viewed as something that could be joked about.

"I'm glad we're meeting again in much happier times," I replied truthfully.

Then, Inez introduced me to her mother. She didn't need to tell me that this woman was her mom. It was obvious.

Lupe Trujillo was perhaps an inch or two shorter than her daughter, and unlike Inez, wore her dark brown hair fairly short. But in every other respect – especially facially – the lineage was unmistakable. She had the same beautiful smile and the same twinkle in her eye that her daughter did. Inez had told me that in her younger days, Lupe had been a beauty contestant of some kind. Even now, in her mid-forties, she was a very attractive woman.

Lupe greeted me with a hug. "It's nice to attach a face to the voice I've heard over the phone," she told me. I'd spoken with her on the phone several times already. There was something that I just couldn't resist mentioning.

"It's easy to see where Inez gets her beauty," I told Lupe sincerely.

Upon hearing that, Inez began to giggle. "Mami, you'll learn very quickly that Pat has a knack for saying just the right thing."

It was about a twenty-minute drive from the airport to the Trujillo residence. Their house was a ranch-style dwelling in a middle-class neighborhood. Although Javier worked hard, his shipping business provided a decent living. I also knew that Lupe helped out with the business, and in fact, served as the primary front-desk receptionist.

The house had three bedrooms; one for Inez, one for her parents, and one spare. Of course, I'd be staying in the spare bedroom during this week-long visit.

The four of us sat down in the living room and chatted for a while. Javier was a soft-spoken and even-tempered man. His wife was much more talkative. I asked Lupe whether she had any lasting issues from the accident.

"The only thing that still bothers me is my right ankle," she replied. "I sprained it severely. It's strange, because all of the serious internal injuries healed up just fine, and something minor like a sprained ankle still bothers me. Some days, it's worse than others. Most of the time, I walk with a little limp, but it's not too bad. Thank God that's all I have to worry about, after a terrible accident like that. And Javier is just fine, too."

We talked a little about how we'd spent Christmas. Javier and Lupe had taken a week off from work, something they did every year at this time, leaving the business in the hands of others. They'd just arrived back from Puerto Rico yesterday, which was another annual Christmas tradition of theirs. Several relatives, including Inez's grandmother, still lived there. Until Inez had gone away to college, she'd gone with them as well every year, and I knew she missed that little routine. We'd talked about it during the flight down.

Shortly thereafter, Inez's parents decided to leave the two of us alone. "I'll show you my room in a little bit," Inez smiled, "but there's something else I want you to see first. Be right back." She shot off in the direction of her room, and returned with an armful of photo albums. She handed me one of them; I opened it, and began to view pictures of my girlfriend as a baby, and also as a very young girl. There were handwritten captions under the photos, mostly in Inez's own handwriting.

"You and my mom need to get together and compare photo albums," I replied contentedly, flipping through the pages slowly, greatly enjoying this experience of viewing yet another facet of my girlfriend.

"Your mom already showed her albums to me," Inez laughed. "You think I haven't already seen those adorable baby pictures of yours?" She reached over and pinched my cheek.

I took in snapshots of her First Communion. There was a shot of her singing in front of a microphone – apparently in church – as an eight-year old. Later, I saw several pages of photos of an Inez in her mid-teens, all dolled up in something that appeared similar to a wedding dress.

"That was my quinceañera," she informed me. "It's a Latin American thing, a celebration of a girl's magical fifteenth birthday. Many families shell out big bucks for this, and throw a huge party. Not all Puerto Rican families have one, but my parents did it for me. You'll get to attend one next June, when Lisette turns fifteen. My aunt and uncle are planning to throw a party to end all parties."

As we approached the end of the photo show, I saw one shot of a just-slightly-younger Inez in a formal dress, clutching a bouquet. Standing beside her was a guy in a tuxedo.

"That must be your senior prom, right?" I grinned.

"Yes, it is. That's me and my date, Randy," she said with a slight grimace. "Yuck." I cracked up at her response, but wondered if there was a story there.

"Let me show you my room," she suggested as soon as I'd seen all of the pictures. "I wanted you to see it right away," she said, lowering her voice, "but I didn't want my parents to see us running off into my room the first chance we got."

"That was probably a good idea," I concurred. I kept the Ya think? quiet in my head.

Inez's room was small but tastefully furnished. The first thing that caught my eye was a poster of Carlos Santana, an obvious influence. There was a crucifix at the head of her bed, and several knick-knacks, many of them religious in origin, on top of her dresser. Sitting in one corner of the room was an acoustic guitar, which Inez picked up and began to strum.

"This is the first guitar I ever owned," she informed me proudly. "It's pretty well used at this point, but it has a lot of sentimental value to me."

Just then, the doorbell rang, and we heard Lupe answer it. We could hear a couple of enthusiastic voices sharing greetings. Inez grinned and took my hand. "Let's go outside. It's time for you to meet Mike and Jenny." Mike and Jenny Delgado, I knew, were siblings and Inez's first cousins; she'd talked about them often.

"Prima!" Mike exclaimed the moment he saw Inez. My girlfriend hugged them both tightly. Mike was a fairly tall, heavyset guy of twenty-four who, Inez had told me, worked at Javier's shipping office. In fact, with Javier and Lupe out on vacation, Mike was pretty much the man in charge. He'd just come from work.

Jenny was a petite brunette who was a sophomore at the University of Florida. She lived on campus up in Gainesville during the school year, but of course had made the five-hour trip home for the holidays.

Inez introduced me to them both. Right away, I took note of the Yankees cap which rested atop Mike's head.

"Not you, too?" I grinned. I wondered, just for a second, if he'd switch baseball allegiances when the Florida Marlins were created via expansion in 1993, or even when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays arrived on the scene a few years later. (Of course, they'd lose the "devil" part of their nickname several more years down the road, becoming merely the Rays.) Major league baseball in Florida, at this point, was limited to spring training. I made a mental note to discuss this later with my Yankee-loving girlfriend.

Mike, as it turned out, was a hell of a nice guy. He told me up front that his given name was Miguel, but everyone called him Mike. He and I struck up a long conversation about sports. This induced a smiling Inez to direct Jenny into the kitchen, where they helped Lupe get dinner ready.