His forehead furrowed. “Why are you asking this?”
“I don’t know. Besides my mom warning me not to be like her, she never wants to talk about it. I’m just supposed to trust her that doing anything close to what she did is an automatic disaster. And maybe it’s true, maybe they did really love each other back then, but whatever they were, I can’t see any of it, and all I worry about is that I’m going to end up just like them. That fear is currently sabotaging one of the best things in my life, and I can’t get past this.”
Now that she’d started, she couldn’t hold any of it back. If she wanted to be a real partner with her uncle, it should be built on honesty. “Also, I’m sorry. I was never going to Tahoe to gamble. Instead, it was just to get away and meet…dates. But I was worried that everyone would judge me so I let everyone believe I liked to gamble. You’re the only one in the family who knows the truth and I don’t want you to lose respect for me but…” She couldn’t finish. The avalanche of words blubbered from Natalie, along with tears. She realized this could make her uncle regret everything, not because she believed she did anything wrong, but because it made her look like a mess, which was not good business partner material.
Her uncle’s arms went around her, pulling her to his chest gently. She was so exhausted, so emotionally drained, Enrique was the only thing keeping her from heaping to the floor. “Natalie. Eres mi familia. That doesn’t change ever. Comprendes?”
She nodded.
“Talk to me.”
She took a breath and told her uncle everything. There was no point in hiding anything about Mason, about her worry about becoming her parents. He listened to all of it in silence.
“This is really what you think? All marriages will become unhappy? You will become your mother?”
Natalie didn’t have the heart to call her uncle on his own marriage, to ask if he was still in love, because either he’d say no and she’d feel horrible for her aunt or he’d say yes, and she wasn’t sure if he was honest. Their marriage was a quiet one, so she didn’t know what was true. Instead, she nodded her agreement.
Her uncle sighed, leaning his tall body against the office wall behind him. “The story of your parents is not what you think. What you have with Daniel’s kid is not the same and let me tell you why. You are not your mamá or your papá. Like you, they were young, but they were much younger than you are now and did not think about their decisions. You think about everything. Why do you think I’ve always wanted you for Pony Expresso? You’re smart. You don’t like to be rash.
“Most importantly, you are not in a relationship for the same reasons as your parents. The essence of their story is true. They eloped after knowing each other for a week, surprising all of us. But maybe a bit of the story is left out because it’s not so good.”
Natalie held her breath. “But you know the truth?”
“Of course. I am his brother. I was there. The marriage happened because of jealousy, and your mamá didn’t see it because she was too in love. When they met at that party, your father had recently broken up with a girl named Christina. But he realized he made a mistake. He loved Christina, wanted to be with her forever, thought he could win her back. She was also at the party and already had a new novio, and had no interest in your father anymore. This made Miguel angry and he thought, if he could make her jealous then maybe she’d come back. When that didn’t work, he wanted to punish her for choosing someone else.”
“What in the telenovela hell? He got with Mom in order to make another woman jealous?”
Her uncle shrugged. “Yeah. But Rosa didn’t find out about Christina until after the wedding. She became angry. She’s still angry. Understandably, she wanted to punish him.”
“How angry could she have been? My parents have three kids.”
“I can’t speak on that. Sometimes things just happen and, you know, she became pregnant with you soon after the wedding. The family and the church forbid them to divorce and so here we are.”
“But they’re miserable. Why should they continue to be miserable?”
“Could they get divorce if they really want to? Sure. But part of me thinks they use it as an excuse because they want to punish the other. They’re used to being miserable. They don’t know how to move past it. As weird as it is, maybe they’re scared not to be miserable. But that is not you and Mason. I saw it at the party. You want to make each other happy, not miserable. He sees that you don’t want to be an old shoe and he gives you the car. This is what love looks like; this is how I love your tía. It isn’t big declarations and bouquets of roses, although she deserves that too. You think because you’re smart you see how things are, but you don’t see everything.”
Perhaps Enrique was right. Natalie didn’t always see everything, or she chose not to. The latter was worse because she used it to make decisions she shouldn’t have made, hurting both Mason and herself. She wanted to cry all over again. As much as she tried to avoid it, she’d allowed herself to become as stuck as her parents but in a completely different way. Choosing to be miserable because she was used to it rather than take a scary risk.
“I’m sorry for lying and I understand if you don’t want me for a business partner.”
“Natalie, I want you to be a part of this business if you want it. Do you?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Then it is not just my business, it isourbusiness. And, like we do in our family, when there is reason to celebrate, we have a fiesta.”
Despite having good news on a professional front, Natalie didn’t feel much like celebrating. She probably wouldn’t until she figured out how to fix her personal life.
