Page 5 of The Guardian

Gabriela stepped up to face him. Tears filled her eyes. “I was only teasing you, my sweet son. It was a game, si? No one will ever mistreat you here.”

Alex paused to stare at her. “How do I know that this is true?”

Gabriela leaned in and grasped his cheeks to look into his eyes. “Because I waited fourteen years just to see you again. You and your sister. No one here would dare to mistreat either of you.”

“What about that mean looking man?” he queried suspiciously. “The one who hates Uncle Carlos?”

Gabriela nodded. “Si, they have history between them, but we are all family. And as family, we work things out. We do not call for violence.”

“That is not true,” Hope spoke up from beside her brother. “There were two men who came for us, they said they were our uncles. Alvaro and Miguel. They were very bad men. They threatened Maya. They had guns, they…” She shook her head as her small voice drifted away.

Gabriela looked over at Carlos.

He let out a sigh and nodded.

“Then it was two other hombres who shot them,” Alex added. “I heard what Rain and Henry said. Those were your cousins and they shot his cousins.” He motioned at Carlos.

This had to be hard for poor Gabriela and Carlos. To be faced with this awful truth. These two young teens had already seen the worst that people could be and those people were family members.

Gabriela swiped a tear away from her cheek and told Alex, “Look mio, there are bad people everywhere. And someday I will tell you and your sister why all of that happened. But from now on, you will not have to be around bad people.”

“What about that mean looking man we saw on the steps?” Alex asked.

“Do you mean me?”

We all looked up to see the man Alex had referred to.

Hope tugged Alex back to where I stood. She looked fearful but she still tried to protect her brother.

Mr. Mancini slowly shook his head and told both teens, “We do not hurt each other here.”

Alex looked from him to Carlos. “You looked like you were very angry at Uncle Carlos. So, you promise not to hurt him?”

Mr. Mancini actually smiled at the teen boy. “You are very brave, Alex.”

The teen shrugged. “No, senor…I am very afraid, but I will protect my family.”

Gabriela took his hand then reached over and took Hope’s hand. “You are safe here. This will be your home and no one will hurt you. Or Uncle Carlos. Let’s go to the kitchen and see what kind of cookies we can find.” She tugged them along.

The twins went along with her as they looked back at me.

I followed them. They had been under my wing for three years now and I refused to leave them. At least until I knew they were safe here. It did seem like Gabriela had this whole situation handled. Mr. Mancini had a strong presence, like scary strong. But she handled him like he was not a lion but the kitten of a lion. I hid my smile at this conclusion. Looking from the teens to the man who walked next to me. Henry kept up with us and I felt confused as to why he was doing that.

He smiled at me when our gazes met.

What a warm smile he had. I’d noticed his friendly manner a few times on the trip through Mexico and on the plane over to New Orleans. I assumed that since we arrived here, he was protecting the twins while Mr. Rain was protecting Carlos. This whole thing had been a bit scary I admit. Especially after we arrived here. Up until then, it had been a very fun trip for the teens and even for me.

Then when we got out of the car, we saw Mr. Mancini and all the men who gathered like we were a war party. That had been when the tension grew and the twins had picked up on that too. They were highly intelligent and not much got by them. They grew up with those two old women. And those two were not nice people. I disliked them very much and almost declined the position, until I met the kids. They pleaded with their eyes for me to accept the job as their nanny. Then when we were alone, they confirmed it. Begging me to stay.

They had already started learning English before I ever came along, so when I taught them to read, write and speak it, they picked up on it fast. What they didn’t know was English had been my main language and Spanish was perhaps my third.

“Ms. Maya?” Henry spoke quietly from beside me.

Looking up, I saw we were in the kitchen entryway. I glanced over at Henry.

He nodded at me and motioned to the very large, very impressive kitchen.

Yes, I got distracted. All of this was a bit nerve wracking. I did feel glad that the kids seemed to be more comfortable though. Giving him a grateful smile, I stepped ahead of him.