Clutch Hit by Faith O'Shea (most popular ebook readers txt) 📗

“I was too young, playing in the junior league, to have thought of it. We kept waiting for a new president, one that wasn’t a Castro, but it would seem we waited for nothing.”

A new president had taken control of the island last April, but she knew Mateo had already put plans in place for his exit. He wasn’t waiting around to see if there would be an improvement in their policies.

“Well, you’re here now, and with Allie willing to sponsor your mother, I’m hoping there won’t be a problem, but we have to move quickly. My resource in Havana says there’s something currently going on between our governments, and there’s talk that all visa processing in Havana will be suspended due to the conflict, so I want to facilitate this as soon as possible. If it does stop, we might be able to get her out through Nicaragua which has opened its doors. We’ll find a way. I promise.”

“I will not subject her to a midnight boat trip.”

“I don’t think it will come to that if we move on the visa right away, but we need to be prepared. Why didn’t you take her with you when you left?”

“I did not know how it would go or what I would find when I got there. I did not want to put her at risk.”

Allie knew he’d arrived in Cancun with little money and could survive on his own if he had to. If she hadn’t been there…

“If I had known I’d meet Alicia the day I landed, I would have, but we can’t foresee such miracles.”

Jelani began to ask questions, and Allie listened, learning more about Mateo than was wise.

She’d known his father left them when he was young, but hearing the stories about his childhood, the lack, the poverty, the determination to succeed, moved her. She’d had it good in comparison. Maybe her mother moved in and out of the house at will, but she’d never abandoned her kids, was always a solid presence in their lives.

Interrupting her thoughts, Mateo said, “My mother hated living there and I knew it. If I had been a better son, I would have moved her away years ago.”

Jelani was the one who countered, “If you had gone ahead with this plan years ago, you might have ended up in the same kind of boat as the others. You arrived safely, and with Allie’s help you’ll get your mother out and here. Where do you intend for her to live? With you?”

With pen in hand and legal notepad ready, she was ready to jot down his answers that Allie assumed would be needed for the application.

“Yes, at first but I know she will want a place of her own when she’s ready. She is very independent and expects me to be so. She says no man should live with his mother.”

Allie smiled at that. Mariposa sounded like a smart woman.

Jelani was surprised. “That goes against type doesn’t it? Hispanic men always dote and their mothers allow it.”

He shrugged, gave her a sheepish smile. It was one she’d never seen from him before. He was not a sheepish man.

“Maybe I dote a bit but when my father left, he took his mother with him, not his wife. Mami has lectured me that is not the way it should work.”

“She’s right.”

The self-consciousness was gone and back in its place was the confident man.

“She is, yes. I will take responsibility for my familia. It is a sacred trust and I will love and protect them until death.”

Jelani looked at her, her eyes holding steady. “Those are the kind of men I like. You’re a lucky woman.”

Luck had nothing to do with it. The baseball gods had been with her the day she walked into the cantina, guiding her to one of the more talented of players. The man beneath it all was saying the right things. Didn’t they all? To get what they wanted? Or until they didn’t need it anymore? Until they got bored or tired or just for the hell of it?

Jelani had found her mate, after years of waiting for his arrival. She’d had a child who was cherished by both mother and father. It could happen.

But could it happen for her?

When she glanced over to Mateo, his eyes met hers as if looking for agreement. For the first time since the old break-up, she felt a niggle of need and want surface. Not for just sex. That had been there since the day she’d met him. But for something more. Something she was petrified to reach out for.

When Jelani had gotten what she could to complete the application, she donned a contemplative expression.

“I think I’m going to fly down and apply for this in person. It might do some good if you came with me, Allie.”

“What?”

She flashed a horrified look at the lawyer. She hadn’t intended to get any more involved than she had. She’d married the man for God’s sake, then agreed to sponsor his mother. Now she was being asked to travel to Cuba to expediate it. No. Not something she was going to do. No.

“I can’t possibly spare the time. Not now.”

“I’d only be going for a couple of days. If I’m lucky, I might only need one. I don’t want them to shut us down before we get this done. You’re her sponsor, married to her son. It might make a difference, and I think Mateo deserves all of our energies on this.”

When Allie turned to face him, there was a somber expression in his eyes.

“I would go if I could, in your stead, but I am not allowed back in.”

Not for eight years. She forced that thought out.

“I have a wake and funeral to go to over the next two days. Next week I’m already scheduled to check in—”

“We can go Thursday after it’s over, be back Saturday. I’ll set up an appointment at the consulate for Friday.