Sideways

Chapter 37 A Call To Arms

Thursday, July 6th

Pepa

Josephina "Pepa" Diaz has always considered herself a patient woman. She let her dearly departed Paco work up the courage to ask her out instead of taking charge of the situation. She sat by and waited for her favorite nephew to figure himself and some things out without pointing out what was right in front of him.

But right now, as she listens to her brother, Ramon, rant and rave about how his life is falling apart... she's at her wit's end. She would like nothing more than to reach through the screen of the iPad and shake him, maybe slap him around a little for being blind to the things that happened in his home.

She understands he's in a bit of a nightmarish situation; she really does. To be married to someone for as long as he has been married to Helena and find out about the abuse that she subjected their children to cannot be easy. She is trying to be supportive; she really is. But it's taking everything in her, all her self-control, not to book flights for her and her mother back to El Paso and lead a lynch mob after her sister-in-law.

"Josie, are you listening to me?" Ramon asks, his childhood nickname for his sister slipping out.

"DO NOT EVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN!" Pepa snaps at the screen. Ramon huffs out an apology. "Ramon, I cannot tell you what to do. But I think what you need to do is very clear, patea a la perra a la acera" she says very pointedly, crossing her arms and staring at him.

"I know, Pepa. I know. But it is not as simple as kicking her to the curb as you say." Ramon huffs, pacing back and forth on the iPad screen. "I made a few calls yesterday. I set up a consultation with the couple's therapist. We have an appointment with her for next Friday. Helena does not want to go. I told her in no uncertain terms that she has no choice in the matter."

"You think a therapist is going to fix years of abuse? She's not the one who should be seeking help for the trauma she was forced to endure. Your children are. Come on now, Ramon." Pepa snaps, losing all her patience with her brother.

"No, I know it will not. But I need to understand, Pepa. Regardless of what happens between her and me, she needs help. Her behavior with Eddie and the girls is unacceptable. She hurt Eddie. She hit him, and I don't mean a quick smack on the behind. Even that is not acceptable. It was not discipline; it was abuse. My son, Pepa. My Eddie. She hurt my boy, and I... didn't see it. He changed; I saw him change. I thought it was him growing into who he was. There is nothing wrong with being quiet or shy, but to know she did that to him. That I let this happen... I don't know how to begin to make it right."

She shook her head again and huffed before continuing. "Ramon... you cannot change the past, so you make the right choices going forward. What happens now between you and Eddie is on you. He let you come back. He didn't have to. Fight for him now. Show him."

Ramon nods, "What if? I don't want to lose him. What if what I do isn't enough?"

"Like father like son." Pepa snaps.

"What does that mean, Pepa?"

"Eddie has said for years that he has felt he wasn't "enough." She raises her hands and air quotes around the word. "That he could never do enough to meet your expectations."

"I... I... I never meant to..."

"You need to spend time with your son, Ramon. For once in your life, get to know your son for the man he is and not who you want or expect him to be. Only you can do this, and it cannot just be for Eddie. It needs to be for you, too."

"Eddie said that to me." Ramon says, and Pepa's head tilts curiously. "When he came home for my retirement party, and we fought. He told me about therapy and trying to do better. I assumed it was for Christopher. But he said it was for him, too."