Turning A New Leaf

Seventy

Nina's sleep was interrupted by a frantic knocking on the front door and then her window. She was not someone who opened the door late at night and was hesitant to so much as peek out of the blinds.

She was glad she made the choice to look. Fernando's wife, Angelina, was in the front yard, frantic. Nina slid open her window, "I'll be right there!" she called.

Slipping her feet into a pair of house shoes, she scurried to the front door, nearly knocking Marisol over in the process.

"What happened?" Marisol asked, flinging open the door.

Angelina was in tears, "Someone shot up our house," she sobbed, "I don't even know where Fernando is, he took off two nights ago."

Nina's heart dropped, "Are you alright? Are the kids okay?" she wanted to know.

Angelina nodded, "Yes, they're scared but they're alright," she looked to her Suburban, waving, "They're in the car."

Nina and Marisol helped her unload the kids, ushering them inside. The girls were completely petrified, clinging to one another while ten-year-old Victor made comments about "Next time I'm going to shoot back."

Once they were able to settle the kids in the spare bedroom, Marisol made them tea.

"I'm done," Angelina wiped her eyes with a long acrylic nail, "I can't live like this anymore. He does all this dirt and puts our family at risk yet he's not even around to protect us because he is too busy with some woman."

"You're sure he is with another woman right now?" Marisol asked, setting a cup of tea down in front of Angelina.

Angelina looked amused, "Let's see, the only times he doesn't answer the phone is if he's in jail or with a woman, he's not in jail so ..... Oh, and he had to go to Seattle for business, supposedly? But conveniently there was some white woman he was messaging on Facebook who just so happens to live in Seattle, so you tell me.

"There is a lot, and I mean, a lot that he's done that I've ignored, all his affairs, the in and out of jail but waking up to our home being shot up, no."

Marisol stirred sugar into her tea, "He dropped his car off here a few days ago, saying it wasn't running well, is that true?"

Angelina gave her a look that said "Bitch, please".
"Have you ever known him to not fix that stupid car the day something goes wrong?"

"What are you going to do?" Nina asked.

"I'm taking to the kids to my sister's house in Sunnyside and filing for divorce," she replied cooly.

"You don't want to give him another chance?" Marisol asked.

"I'm done giving him chances, he is thirty-one years old. If he wanted to change, he would have by now, he doesn't give a fuck about me or the kids. All Fernando cares about is Fernando."

****

Nina was unable to fall back asleep, instead, she lay in bed praying for her brother and his family. Angelina had every reason to want to leave him but didn't understand that she and those kids were the only things keeping him semi-grounded. Without them, he would have nothing to keep him going. As hard as it was for anyone to believe, he loved his family more than anything even if his actions said otherwise.

She pulled out her phone, messaging Krist to let him know someone had done a drive-by on Fernando's home. Being that it was almost four in the morning, she wasn't expecting a reply right away. However, Krist immediately responded, wanting to know if anyone was hurt and to let her know he was with Atira who had just been admitted to the Family Birth Center as she was in active labor.

Nina felt guilty burdening him with the news of the drive-by and wished Atira an easy delivery that resulted in a healthy baby.

Typing those words had hurt, not because she wished any ill will on Atira or her child but because it was a painful reminder of her son, Krist Antonio, of what should have been.

Nina clasped the locket around her neck, bringing it to her lips and kissing it lightly. Although Nina was religious and believed everything that happened was God's will but the death of Krist Antonio had made her question her faith. There wasn't a single lesson she could learn from losing her baby.

When he had been born, her mother stood at her bedside, stroking her hair as she wept. "God has his reasons, mija," she murmured. Nina had been outraged, she wanted one good reason, just one, and nobody could give her one.

****

It seemed like the moment she had fallen asleep, she was awakened by arguing in the living room. The clock read 11:22 AM. Groggy, Nina rolled out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

Fernando had shown up after receiving word that not only had his home had been shot up but that his wife was taking the kids and leaving him.

"I told you, things are going to change," Fernando pleaded, "You know shit doesn't happen overnight."

Angelina shook her head, "How many years have you been telling me this, Nando? I can't do this anymore. I can't deal with the cheating, the drugs. We are too damn old for you to be out in the street living like you do and if that's what you want to do, you can do that alone."

Fernando clenched his jaw, "How you gonna do me like this?"

Angelina looked as though she were about to flip her lid. "How am I gonna do you like that?" She laughed dryly, "After all you done to me? All those bitches you laid up with? All them fucking kids, Fernando?" She stepped towards him, "At some point, I can only take so much. I ignored all of that but you put your kids and me at risk now, I ain't living my life scares that somebody is gonna shoot my fucking house up, that somebody is gonna kill my kids because they got a problem with you."

Fernando wiped his eyes, he was crying, "Aye, Imma take care of this, you ain't got to worry about nobody."

Angelina's golden brown eyes were dark, almost hateful, "You deal with it however you think you need to but I'm not going to be here."

She called for the kids, they'd been playing outback and from the looks of things, had heard their parents fighting.

"Go load up in the car, we are going to go pick up your stuff and go see Auntie Alma for a few days."

The girls solemnly nodded, giving hugs to Nina and Marisol before quietly heading to the front door. Victor was angry, screaming at his mother that he wanted to stay with his dad.

Fernando calmly told Victor to do as he was told and go with his mom, "I'll be up to see you, ok? Dad needs to handle business, I ain't leaving you."

Victor's chin quivered, "OK."

"Aye, don't be crying," Fernando told him, placing his hands on his shoulders, "Be tough for your sisters."

Victor followed his mother and sisters out to their Suburban, giving Fernando his bravest face. Nina was livid with her brother for putting his children in that situation.

She looked to him, tempted to lay into him for everything he'd put his family through but the heartbroken face told her he knew he had fucked up.