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Valeria anxiously watched the street from her sixth-floor apartment as she rocked Ramon's cradle with her foot. When she saw Franco hurrying down the block, she involuntarily cried out in wordless relief. Within minutes, he'd hurried up the rickety stairs and was knocking on the door.
She hurried forward, brushing aside her thin, brown hair as she opened the door. Valeria hurled herself into his arms, and they closed around her. "How is Miguel?"
"Mama says no change." His tone was curt.
"Please don't go tonight, Franco."
He stiffened and pulled away from her, eyeing her with wide black orbs, filled with surprise at her request. "You would have me let Josue go unpunished? I would lose face."
"I have a really bad feeling about tonight. Someone's going to die."
Franco snorted as he sat down at the kitchen table, shoving aside her textbooks and knocking her homework onto the floor.
"Yeah-Josue."
Valeria knelt on the floor and picked up the scattered papers before slipping them inside her binder. Franco's disinterest in her schooling bothered her, but it wasn't her priority tonight. She scooted forward and wrapped her arms around his legs. "I'm begging you not to go."
"Don't do this. I need your support, baby."
"And I need you alive! Ramon needs his father. Please don't go." Valeria's heart sank as she saw the determined expression on her face. "If you love me, you won't go."
His anger was tangible. "I ain't going to put you above my brother."
Standing up, Valeria paced away from him, moving erratically. "Don't try to make this about Miguel. It's all about you-your anger, your hurt pride, and your need to maintain appearances."
He stood up so quickly the chair crashed against the floor, waking Ramon, who began to cry loudly. As Valeria hurried toward the baby's cradle, Franco was walking to the door. "I don't need this shit. First the padre, now you." He opened the door and slammed it behind him.
As Valeria comforted their son, she longed for Franco to comfort her. He'd grown so distant lately, completely consumed with driving Josue away from his territory. Although Josue had begun the war by blowing up Franco's cherry '57 Chevy, Valeria knew Franco perpetuated it by his retaliatory strikes in Josue's neighborhood.
Ramon had just fallen asleep again when there was another knock at the door. Valeria gently laid him in the cradle before hurrying to the door, praying Franco was returning to tell her he'd changed his mind.
©2003 StoriesByEmail.com
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