Falling With Grace

I clenched my jaw and sat her on her bed, falling into her wordy trap. “I don’t know, Mamá.” Pulling her nightgown off the back of her closet, I sighed.

“Then, as much as I love the girl, she needs to leave.”

“Nadia? You want Nadia to leave?”

Turning, I laid the nightgown beside her bed and pulled out her slippers.

“No,mi hijo, Grace.”

A sickness breezed through me.

“She’s a distraction to you and everything you’ve set out to accomplish.”

“Not yet.” A hard lump settled in my chest. “I can’t.”

“I saw her leave your room, dressed in your robe.” Her lips pursed closed. “I know what that means.”

“She’s helping me.”

She nodded her head. “Does Nadia not satisfy you?”

I tipped my head back and ran my hand down my face. “I’m not having this discussion with you, Mamá.”

She patted the bed beside her,and I closed my eyes for a fraction while inhaling, my shoulders slumping before sitting.

Dios mio.

Thirty-six or five, it didn’t matter—if she wanted to lecture me, then I’d better listen.

“Do you want to marry Nadia?”

“Do you want me to marry her?”

Wasn’t it her idea for me to marry someone and have kids?

“I want you to be happy.”

I smirked. “I will be. Once Andrés is dead.”

She sighed, her shoulders sagging as she patted my hand. “Mi hijo, don’t let yourself be blinded by revenge.”

Andrés deserved to die the most brutal death I could imagine.

He killed Pa.

But he wasn’t the only person I thought of. Grace’s face was the image burned in my mind. Day in and day out.

Her soft flesh, her quiet whimpers beneath me. I longed for her lips so much that I’d refused to kiss Nadia.

And her smile—when she did smile—could brighten the death of a man about to die.

I placed my other hand on Mama’s hand. “I’ll get Alba to help you.”

“Get rid of her, and you’ll understand what I mean.”

If I were to rid myself of Grace, it’d only darken my path, and I’d never focus on anything else but her.

What’s happening to me?