Chapter One
“Well, folks, we have safely landed at our destination. It is eight o’clock, we hope that you enjoyed the flight and we also hope that you continue to fly with West Jet. Thank you and have a Merry Christmas.”
Three flight attendants stood at the front of the plane with large smiles on their faces, likely glad that their long night had ended. They waved at people, thanked them or wished them a Merry Christmas on their way off of the plane.
A group of jet-lagged and frustrated people pushed through the small exit, down a seemingly never-ending hallway, and over to the baggage claim. It was a busy time of year, as everyone was visiting their families for the holidays.
Marianna, seventeen years old, was a part of that group of people. Marianna Sofía Gonzalez had been visiting her grandmother in España for a few weeks before Christmas as she had done every year. Getting her grandmother to get on a plane was quite a task, as she was often ill and unwilling to travel too far past her front door.
It had felt like an eternity since Marianna had been home to España, and although she had remained in the house with her grandmother the majority of the time, she enjoyed the view, the atmosphere and the culture of the area.
As Marianna made her way to her luggage, she checked her watch around her wrist. Her mother would already be waiting for her outside. She would be so excited to hear about her trip, and Marianna couldn´t wait to see her mother, wrap her arms around her and smell her beautiful hair.
Marianna grabbed her two designer luggage bags and made her way through the pushy and impatient people. Marianna did not hurry; she was in no rush. She enjoyed taking her time and appreciating the moment. Oftentimes, Marianna had come to realize, that rushing got you to your destination no faster than taking your time. People bumped arms with her, making it next to impossible for her to walk, and then barely mumbled their apologies. Although trying to remain in a good mood, glad to be home and still feeling the happiness that España enveloped her with, Marianna tried not to curse at the passersby under her breath.
As Marianna walked outside into the chilling night air, she sat her luggage down against a wall and looked from left to right for her mother’s car.
It was red so she wasn’t concerned about not being able to find her. Usually her mother circled the area a few times until picking her up, courteously not wanting to take up any parking spots so people would have available room to load their luggage.
Her mother was always very considerate like that.
Marianna checked her watch again. She tried to think of the best case scenario, that her mother was just delayed from putting her makeup on, doing her hair, or that she had been held up in the drive-thru lane at the Tim Hortons. They were all plausible reasons. It wouldn´t have been the first time. Marianna had not brought her cell phone with her so she could not even call her mother to see where she was, and she didn’t have any Canadian coin on her to use the payphone.
Marianna rubbed at her upper arms with her hands and bounced up and down slightly to warm herself up.
Almost a half an hour passed and Marianna had spent the entire time watching cars enter and leave the parking lot. Every now and then a red car would pull in, only to Marianna’s dismay to find that it wasn’t her mother. Eventually, Marianna gave up, losing what little patience she had left, and hauled her luggage back into the airport to use a telephone. She walked up to the service desk and blew on her cold, red hands.
“Hello,” the lady behind the counter said with a friendly but tired smile.
“Hola, hola. I just got off of a flight and mi madre was supposed to pick me up, and she’s not here. May I use your phone to call her, please?” Marianna asked politely.
“Certainly,” the lady slid a phone her way across the counter.
Marianna dialled the number and turned her back to the woman so that she was facing the crowd.
The phone rang and rang and rang. The answering machine finally picked up.
Marianna waited for the answering machine message to end, and said, “Mama, I hope that you’re on your way to pick me up from the airport,” she paused, “I hope you remembered.” And she hung up.
She thanked the lady and went to sit on a bench near the doors so she could still see out into the parking lot. Another half hour went by and Marianna began to grow even more impatient. She sighed and walked back over to the lady to ask for the phone again.
This time, she phoned for a cab.
When the cab came, Marianna informed him that when they got to her house, he would have to wait for her to run inside to get money to pay him. Reluctantly, the cab driver agreed.
When the cab pulled into the driveway, she left her luggage in the cab to assure him that she would come back.
Marianna ran in the house and into the living room. “Mama!” She called.
Nobody answered.
Marianna hurried to the kitchen and grabbed the jar off of the top of the fridge. She dug in it for money and hurried back out to the cab. Marianna apologized to the cab driver, paid him with a substantial tip and grabbed her luggage out of the trunk. As she wandered back into the house, she dropped her luggage at the door.
The house was almost completely silent, and utterly dark. Unusual.
Marianna searched the quiet house. No mother, no father, no brother. Where was everyone? She continued walking, this time venturing up the stairs and into her mother’s room.
Ireri Marianna Gonzalez sat on her king-sized bed in sweat pants and a tank top. She was cross-legged with used tissues in heaps around her, a pile of pictures at her side. She sobbed quietly as she cut the pictures with a pair of scissors.
“Mama?” Marianna asked, stepping forward with puckered brows. As she crept closer, she saw that her mother was cutting her father out of a stack of pictures. Then, her eyes jumped up to an open bottle of 1952 Dom Perignon at her bedside. Her mother had been saving it for Marianna’s birthday.
Her mother did not look up as Marianna entered the room. Instead, she continued to sob.
“You knew that I was coming home, today, Mama. Why didn’t you pick me up from the airport? Why didn’t you answer the phone when I called?” She demanded, “Mama?”
“What do you want, Marianna?” Ireri hollered, frustrated and impatient.
Marianna put her hand over her heart. “Mama? What’s wrong? Why are you drinking? What is going on here?”
Ireri ignored her daughter and sobbed, continuing to cut the pictures. She paused and grabbed the bottle of Don Perigon to take a long swig.
“Why are you cutting Papa out of the pictures?” Marianna came closer and sat down on the bed beside her mother. She put her arm on her shoulder. “Mama?”
Her mother stood up in a fit, pictures and tissues falling to the floor and making a mess. She glared at Marianna with fury. “What do you want, Marianna? I don’t have time for this mierde!”
Marianna watched her, horrified, with wide eyes.
Ireri collapsed to the floor, cradling her head in her hands and wailing as she rocked back and forth.
“Mama!” Marianna insisted, dropping to her knees beside her mother. “ⅰDime! Tell me, what is wrong?”
Her mother stood up again, becoming angrier and angrier, crying harder. “Leave me alone, Marianna! Leave me alone!”
“Tell me what happened!” Marianna demanded, becoming impatient.
“He left!”
The room fell silent, and Marianna didn’t know what to say.
“He left us, Marianna. Él sale!”
“Who did, Mama? Who left?”
“Tú papa. He left with another woman. Some hoochie. Some goddamn hoochie he did a contracting job for. Quilon left with him. They’re gone! They just left! Up and left! Gone!”
Marianna gawked at her, unsure of what to say at first. “What-what did you do, Mama?” Marianna meant her question in the kindest way, although she knew that it was not something she should have said to a woman in this position. She immediately regretted placing the blame.
Ireri’s eyes met Marianna’s. Her eyes went from angry to furious as she grabbed Marianna by her upper arm and practically threw her out the door. “Get out!” She demanded, “Get out of here!”
Marianna fell to the floor and her mother’s door slammed behind her. Marianna stared at the closed door. Behind it, she heard her mother scream out loud in frustration while continuing to cry.
The next day at school, Marianna parked her car in the student parking lot, close to the doors like she always did. She usually left especially early just to get that spot. She grabbed her book bag out of her Navigator and wandered slowly towards the door. She hugged her bag to her chest and watched her feet as she walked, feeling sad and lonely.
As Marianna entered the school, everyone’s eyes fell on her. People who stood at their lockers and people who were walking past her in the hallway all stared at her as she passed by. Marianna could feel everyone’s eyes burning through her skin as she tried to walk as fast as she could in her new shoes she had bought from España.
“Marianna,” someone said.
Marianna ignored the voice and tried hurrying faster.
“Marianna!” They called louder. Her best friend, Carmen ran up beside her, lugging along her enormous purse, “Why are you running?”
“I don’t run,” Marianna claimed simply, slowing down slightly. “Why is everyone looking at me? What´s going on?” Marianna felt more and more insecure with every step that she took.
“Everyone’s heard, Marianna. Everyone knows,” Carmen told her with a matter-of-fact look on her face.
Marianna looked up, “Everyone knows what?” She asked.
“About your papa. Everyone heard the news while you were gone.”
Suddenly, Marianna did not want to be there anymore. She wished that she had followed her gut and stayed home in her bed where she could ponder her family disaster. Marianna finally got to her locker upstairs and threw her stuff inside. She slammed the door and collapsed to the floor. “This is humiliating! I am practically the last person to find out. Everyone knew about this before me!”
Carmen sat down beside her sympathetically, “That’s what happens when everyone knows who you are, Marianna. You´re popular. It´s like a compliment.”
Marianna glared at Carmen as she sat her Louis Vuitton purse on her lap and sighed deeply. “I don’t understand, Carmen. I just don’t get why he would do this to Mama. They were fine when I left for España. I mean, I think they are fine.”
Carmen shrugged. “Things happen. People’s feelings change.”
“Not the response I was hoping for Carmen. You could try being a little bit more sympathetic!”
“I am sorry, Marianna. I know this must be hard for you.”
“Quilon even left with him, Carmen. I don´t even have my big brother to ask what happened. I am all alone.”
“No,” she said, “you´ve got me.”
Marianna looked down the hallway thoughtlessly with a sigh, and saw her older brother, Quilon, coming her way. She stood up abruptly and met him half-way. “Quilon!” She called, waving her hand in the air hoping that he would see her and not turn away.
Quilon had his hands stuffed in his pockets, his bag slung over his shoulder. “Hola, Marianna, how was your trip?”
“How do you think it was? I got home to find that you and Papa weren’t there! What happened? What the hell happened?”
Quilon looked from side to side. “Hush, Marianna!” He silenced her, “I’ll talk to you later about this. This is not the time nor the place,”
“No, Quilon, we’ll talk about this now. I need to know what is going on!”
“Marianna, this is not your business to be getting into. Get out of here.” He urged her, shoving her shoulder.
“What are you hiding, Quilon? Everybody already knows!” Marianna tossed her hands in the air frantically, doing a spin as if displaying herself to the entire hallway. She turned back to face her brother, “Our whole life is on display, the big, fat secret is out!”
“Of course they know,” he hissed quietly, “Mama went crazy when Papa told her, and she was practically screaming it off the rooftops. She has a few bolts loose,”
“How dare you talk about Mama like that! I am concerned, Quilon. Why would Papa just leave without a word?”
Quilon shut his locker after tossing his stuff inside and he walked away, giving her a half-hearted wave over his shoulder.
“Ugh!” Marianna cried out, “Why has everyone gone loco while I was away?”
Carmen came to her side as the bell rang, “Come on, Marianna; let’s get to class before the teacher sends out a search party for us.”
Inside of Marianna’s math class, the students weren’t much different from the students in the halls. It seemed like everyone in that class knew what had happened and the rumour just kept on spreading. People even had the nerve to whisper about it right in front of her.
Marianna sat quietly, her eyes fixed on the desk in front of her.
The teacher, Mrs. Mackey, came in holding her protruding belly. “Good morning, class,” she said, as happy as ever. Mrs. Mackey was always very happy-go-lucky and fun. Marianna quite liked her.
A few people mumbled their good morning to her.
“Whoa! Is it hot in here or is it just me?” She chimed. “I swear to Jesus, this baby is getting heavier and heavier by the second.” She chuckled, lightly tapping her belly with her hands. “I’m ready for this puppy to pop out any second!”
Carmen groaned in disgust, leaning toward Marianna, “Like I needed that image in my head!”
“So, on that topic, in a few weeks you’ll be getting a new teacher in my absence. He’s new to the school board so you’ve probably never met him before. I´m pretty sure he is new to the area, as well. He’s a very nice man and he’s very good at what he does. His name is Mr. De Luca and he’ll be with you for the remainder of the semester. I think you´ll all like him.”
And so the lesson went on, with Marianna completely oblivious of her surroundings. All she could think about was her mother. That morning before leaving for school Marianna had checked on her, and she had been passed out on the couch with more heaps of tissues surrounding her. She worried about her mother, and worried about her father. After the things she had heard about her father, she didn´t know how she felt about him, or whether or not she should call him.
At lunch, Marianna tried to avoid the cafeteria. Carmen had already tried to persuade her to go in, but Marianna refused. She didn’t want to be around everyone, especially when everyone was aware that her father had become a town whore. Her papa had gone loco and run off with some woman who had torn apart her family. It was practically on the front page of the newspaper, and Marianna refused to become a spectacle.
So, Marianna took her simple lunch consisting of an apple and a cheese sandwich with a bottle of water. There was very little left for food in the house, and Marianna had to work with what was left – some questionable bread, some old cheese and a half-rotten apple.
Marianna walked through the halls, trying to find a quiet place that she could eat on her own. She refused to go into the bathroom and eat on the toilet. She was not that desperate, and she didn´t like public bathrooms. So, she decided that she would go to the guidance counsellor’s office and eat in there. Nobody ever went there, and she sometimes enjoyed the company of the secretary.
As Marianna sat down at the table, the secretary looked at her, “Hi, Marianna. How are you, this morning?”
She shrugged, “Good. How are you, Mrs. Fowler?”
“I’m good, dear. My grandchildren are coming down to visit me from Nipigon for Christmas. It will be my first holiday with my entire family in years,” she told Marianna excitedly.
Marianna tried to force a smile. It would be her first holiday without her entire family.
On her way home, Marianna offered Carmen a ride. During the ride Carmen was completely ignorant to how much Marianna was hurting inside, so she talked about her upcoming assignment and how long it was going to take her.
“Well, see you tomorrow, Marianna.” Carmen smiled at her, sliding out of the car. “I hope your day looks up.”
Marianna said nothing as she continued on her way home. She was angry at her father, angry at her mother, and now angry at Carmen for being so unsympathetic.
Marianna Sofía Gonzalez, daughter of Don Jesus-Ernesto Gonzalez and Ireri Marianna Gonzalez, lived a few miles out of Niagara, on top of a secluded hill. Her father and mother were extremely wealthy people, her father through his business and her mother through inheritance. Their house was something worthy of being on television; the Gonzalez family had a beautiful indoor pool, a four-lot garage, enormous gates at the door and a high-tech security system. The Gonzalez family was extremely religious and very well-known in Niagara. In 1960, Marianna’s grandfather and Don’s father, Julio Jesus-Don Gonzalez had emigrated from Cuba and built himself a contracting business with his wife when she was pregnant with Marianna’s father. This had given the Gonzalez family a very good name very early in life.
Marianna’s mother, Ireri, on the other hand, came from a very different background. Ireri Marianna Gonzalez, born a Dominguez, daughter of Constance Maria Dominguez, had come to Canada when she was fifteen years old where she had met Don Jesus-Ernesto Gonzalez, her husband. Ireri’s life had been extremely bad in España and her mother had been forced to send her to Canada to live on her own. As Constance could not at the time afford to support her, she anticipated that Ireri would be capable of making a life for herself in Canada. Ireri continued to send her mother money to keep her life as comfortable as possible. Ireri had inherited money from her father’s parents, whom Ireri had never met. Every year, Ireri received a large sum of money from a bank account somewhere in Costa Rica where her father´s parents lived. Ireri knew little about her grandparents, and even less about her father, as he had left when she was just a child. Despite their very different backgrounds, Don Jesus and Ireri Marianna were immediately drawn together. Not long after meeting, the couple got married and had Quilon, and then Marianna only a short year later.
Marianna went into her house, leaving her bag at the door. She walked into the living room to see her mother sitting on the couch with the remote in her hand, although the television was not on.
“Mama?”
“Sí?”
“How was your day?”
She shrugged half-heartedly, “Would you like to take a drive?”
“To where, Mama?”
She stood up, “To the store.”
“Sure, Mama. Sure, I’ll go. Would you like me to drive?”
“No, no,” she shook her head, “I will drive. I will drive. We’ll take my car. My car.”
Marianna watched her mother strangely. She sounded confused, possibly dazed. She didn´t know how capable of driving she was, but complied as she did not want her mother to lose her temper as she had the night before.
As they were driving, neither of them said a word. The radio was very quiet, so Marianna couldn’t focus on it. She couldn’t help but notice that her mother had gone an opposite way than where the store was.
“Where are we going, Mama?”
“To the store.”
“But this isn’t-”
“We’re going to the store,” she said firmly. She kept her eyes locked on the road. Like a robot. Her tone warned Marianna not to question her further.
“Okay, Mama.”
They kept driving for what seemed like an eternity of bushes and country sights, and then her mother began to slow down as they reached a hill.
Marianna peered curiously out her window. They began to slow down drastically as they approached a rather small, white house just past a farm.
Her mother stopped the car completely in front of the driveway.
“Mama?” Marianna looked over at her mother, confused, and then back out the window to the strange house.
Ireri peered past her daughter and tears began to well up in her eyes. “Oh, Marianna,” she clamoured, “it´s true. I can´t believe it. It´s true.”
Marianna looked back over to the house. Suddenly, her eyes fell upon her father’s truck, parked in the driveway of this mysterious white house.
“Mama?” Marianna asked again, still confused. “I don´t understand.”
Ireri sighed, resting her head on the steering wheel and trying not to sob, “Oh, Marianna. Let’s go home. Let´s go home, I just cannot stand the thought.”
Marianna did not protest. She sat back in her seat and stayed quiet.
