Alex was growing up listening to them fighting, or alone with her father when her mother was away. Eric took wonderful care of her, with Elena’s help. The housekeeper was like a loving grandmother to the child. She strongly disapproved of Carmen, and spoke to her harshly in Spanish. She spoke Spanish to Alex as well, as did Carmen. Alex was fully bilingual by the time she was three, and an adorable, loving child. She adored her father and loved her mother, but she also knew that she couldn’t rely on her mother. She could always count on him.
Eric took Alex to school in the morning, and Elena picked her up after school, even when Carmen was in town, while she went shopping, got her nails done, or spent hours on the phone with her friends in Florida. It was as though she wasn’t really there when she was in Boston with them. Alex tried to do little things for her mother, to make her happy, so they wouldn’t fight as much, but it never changed anything. Sometimes Alex thought that if she tried to be really, really good, her mother wouldn’t get so mad at them, but she did anyway. It was obvious even to Alex that her mother hated being there.
The fight that had driven Alex to hide under her pillows was no different from all the others, but it took a long time for the arguing to stop, and finally she heard the familiar door slam that meant it was over for now. She had seen her mother pack a suitcase that afternoon, and could guess where she was going. And a few minutes later, her father came up the stairs and opened the door to her room. It was still painted pale blue, and she knew why. Her father had told her that he had been foolish enough to want a little boy before she was born, and had no idea then how lucky he was to have a little girl instead.
He had started taking her to baseball games with him when she was five, and taught her about the players and the rules of the game. She knew more about baseball than most boys did, and he had been pitching balls to her in the backyard for years. He bragged to his friends that she was a good little hitter, had great hand-eye coordination, could hit a ball harder than any kid, and had an amazing pitching arm.
Eric always read to her at night before she went to sleep. He was addicted to spy stories and crime thrillers, and he encouraged Alex to read in her spare time. They’d been through all the classic stories for children her age, Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, the Winnie-the-Pooh books when she was younger, and Anne of Green Gables. He had recently started her on Nancy Drew books, although she was a little young for them, but she loved them. Reading was her escape from the tension between her parents and her mother’s bad moods. Books were her friends.
She was already on her second Nancy Drew book, and her father read her a chapter every night. She loved the mysteries Nancy solved, and how keenly observant she was.
“Ready for some Nancy Drew?” he asked with a smile as he walked into the room and Alex emerged from under her pillows with tousled hair and wide eyes, and nodded.
“Did she go away?” Alex asked in a constricted voice.
“She’ll be back in a few days,” he said reassuringly. Alex knew that was true, although she always worried that one day she might not come home. Her mother was a difficult person, she got angry a lot, and she didn’t like reading stories or playing games, but she was still her mother, and sometimes she put nail polish on Alex’s toes, which she liked a lot. Once her mother had put gold polish on her, and she had taken off her socks and showed her friends at school.
Eric took out the book from the bookcase in Alex’s room, and they settled onto her bed next to each other, against the pillows. They had started with The Hidden Staircase, and he told Alex they were written a long time ago, but were still very good. They were reading The Secret at Shadow Ranch now, which Alex was really enjoying. She loved the way her father read them to her, with lots of drama in his voice. He made the story sound really exciting.
He put an arm around her as they sat on the bed, and they read two chapters before she had to go to sleep. She had school the next day. As he finished reading, Alex looked up at him with her big green eyes.
“Do you think she’ll call from Miami?”
“I’m not sure,” he said honestly. Carmen was hard to predict, and sometimes she seemed to forget them entirely. Most often she did.
“Was she really mad when she left?” Alex asked softly, worried. He nodded, trying not to look upset about it, but she knew he was. It was like living on the side of a volcano, and hard on them both.
“Do you want to go to spring training with me?” he asked, to distract her. It was fun going on trips with him, and he had taken her to the Red Sox’s spring training once before. She nodded and smiled at him.
She changed into her pajamas, brushed her teeth, got into bed, and he tucked her in, kissed her, turned off the light, and then stood in the doorway for a minute.
“Everything’s going to be all right, Alex. It always is. Mommy will be happy when she comes home.” But not for long, Alex knew only too well. “Sleep tight, I love you,” he said, as he did every night.
“I love you too, Daddy,” she said, and closed her eyes, thinking of Nancy Drew and the mystery she was trying to solve in the book they’d read that night. Nancy Drew was so smart, and always figured everything out, as if she had magical powers. Alex wished she had those same powers to know when her mother would come back. Maybe by the time they finished reading the book.
Chapter 2
Eric and Alex followed their usual routine the next day. Carmen’s departure for Miami the night before didn’t change much for them. She never got up in the morning, and Eric always let her sleep late. He cooked Alex’s breakfast of oatmeal, toast, and bacon, and on the weekends he made pancakes or eggs. Elena left dinner for them when she went home at night. Carmen had never tried to learn to cook. Her repertoire included a few Cuban dishes that were too spicy for Alex, and Eric didn’t like them either.
He made Alex’s lunch and put it in her Wonder Woman lunch box with a snack. Pattie, their neighbor, was picking her up after school, and Alex was going to their house to play. They had four children, two older and two younger than Alex, and Pattie often brought Alex home with them. Alex liked going to their house, there was always something to do. Her own house was so quiet until her dad got home. He picked her up at Pattie’s on the way, and then they went back to their house to eat the dinner Elena had left for them. They had a whole system worked out, and Carmen’s absences didn’t alter anything, except that Alex was subdued when her mother was away. She was always worried about when she would come back.
“How is she?” Eric asked Pattie in an undertone, when he got to their house to pick her up that night. The two boys were chasing each other, and he could hear the TV blaring in the playroom downstairs while Pattie cooked dinner. Her husband was a lawyer and worked late a lot of nights. She was a nice woman and Eric was grateful for her help.