Tarnished Beauty by Cecilia Samartin

Author:Cecilia Samartin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: 2008-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

15

LOUIS HAD BEEN STAYING over almost every night, and Carmen was giddy with happiness because of it. She was in such a good mood that occasionally she was moved to helping Jamilet with the evening meal. It was while peeling potatoes at the sink that she told her about Louis’s wife, who had gone back to Mexico to look after her sick mother, taking her three daughters with her. She doubled over the sink and lowered her voice so Louis, who’d been dozing on the couch, wouldn’t hear. “I hope she catches whatever disease the old lady has and dies herself,” she said, and a slow grin stretched across her face as she fully appreciated the possibility.

Jamilet took the potato from her aunt’s clenched fist. She’d been fingering it while chatting, and had made little progress. “What about Louis’s daughters? If their mother died, Louis would have to be both father and mother to them.”

Carmen’s grin twisted and fell. She quickly grabbed a nearby dish towel and began to dry her hands, pulling on each finger as though she were trying to remove a number of rings that were too small. “Oh God, I don’t know.” She tossed the dish towel back on the counter. “You always make things so goddamned serious, Jamilet. Is it so bad to dream a little?”

Jamilet shrugged. “I guess not.”

“I guess not,” Carmen mimicked in a high-pitched voice. “You got a way about you, girl,” she said, no longer bothering to moderate her voice for Louis’s sake. “You take the fun out of everything, you know that?”

“I’m sorry, Tía. I don’t mean to.”

The scowl eased off Carmen’s face. “I know you don’t,” she said with a sigh. “Your mother was just the same.” She retreated to her bedroom without another word. She and Louis were planning to go out dancing for the night, and Carmen would need an hour or more to get ready. Her hair took her the most time. She liked to wear it high for special occasions, and pull curls down around her face. This way, she said, she looked taller and thinner. Jamilet thought it looked as if she had a hairy volcano on her head, but Louis loved it and told her she looked like a movie star, and every time a different one.

As Jamilet proceeded to peel and chop the onion, she didn’t notice Louis get up from the couch and come into the kitchen. “I love it when your aunt’s happy like this,” he said leaning on the counter. “I feel like a young man again when she’s so happy. I don’t know what it is, but there’s no one who can make me feel like she does.”

Jamilet nodded and smiled. There was no arguing about Carmen’s ability to change the weather with her moods. For the last couple of weeks they’d been graced with sunny skies and light breezes, without a cloud in sight. And Louis’s presence made things all the better. With his easygoing manner and

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