My parents were both Catholic, my mother, more so than my father. When she died along with my oldest sister, he raised my five remaining sisters and me to be Catholic as well. These days, my faith has quite a few asterisk marks next to it, one for each lapse, or subjective interpretation of mine.
I’m sure Mother Agnes would consider this a sin. As tough as she is, I can handle her admonishment.
There are only two individuals I fear: God and my father. Not necessarily in that order.
My dad’s wrath if he found out what I’m doing wouldn’t even be based in religion. But my punishment would surely be of biblical proportions. Never mind the fact that I’m a full-ass-grown adult.
“It’s for your own protection, mija.”
Considering the fact that our family has a mortality rate that would put the Kennedys’ to the test, he has a point. My mother and oldest sister, Lorraine, died in a car crash before I was even one year old, though there were always whispers about it not really being an accident.
Layla, the third youngest and smartest, and definitely my favorite, was found shot to death after having been kidnapped by my father’s mysterious enemies.
Dad has never explained in detail who these enemies are exactly. These same people took the next youngest, Lucinda, just before my father had me sent here. Being the closest in age to me, that one hit the hardest, and my fingers are still crossed that she won’t suffer the same fate as Layla.
Thankfully, all the others, Lucetta, Lana, and Luisa, are alive and well, for the most part.
Thus, I’m pretty sure Dad is now relying on me to take over the family business one day. He never remarried after my mother died, even though I suspect he would have preferred a son to hand the reins over to. Or maybe he is just wary of my knack for defying the rules.
But what does he expect when he treats me like some coddled princess trapped in a tower, or worse, a prisoner? Even the “freedom” of college hasn’t allowed me to explore life in any way. In a few months, I’ll head back to that very Catholic, very conservative, overly strict, all-female college my father insisted I go to, close enough to home so that he could still keep an eye on me. Of course he’d send me to a convent of all places to hide out. It isn’t just his rules that I bend to the point of breaking. The Catholic Church and I have never seen eye to eye on exactly what constitutes a sin.
For example, swimming naked less than three hundred yards away from a convent. But is it really wrong if there’s no one around to see me? After all, Adam and Eve were naked at first, just the way God intended it. Besides, here and now, there’s no Adam to be shameful in the presence of.
I laugh before diving into the water, letting it wash away all thoughts of good and evil. The lagoon is wide and deep, and I dive until the sun no longer penetrates and the water is cooler. When my lungs begin to protest, I quickly kick my way up, flying past the surface with one loud gasp.
This is where I belong, surrounded by water, free to explore every new and undiscovered cave or nook. Back home in the Hollywood Hills, I at least had free use of the pool and took every opportunity to use it—not that I ever swam there in this state. This is much more preferable. It almost makes being sent here worth it. The way the warm water feels against my skin, unobstructed by any clothing is pure heaven, though I suspect it would be blasphemy to say such a thing. All the more so since I discovered how much more enjoyable it is when I shave every bit of hair from my body.
It’s a welcome respite from being surrounded by stone and darkness, quiet and solemn reflection while I toil away at one routine task after another with the sisters of Santa María de Atlántica Convento. I’m sure I’d have gone crazy by now if not for these every-so-often detours from the daily drudgery.
I shouldn’t feel this way about the convent that is basically protecting me from danger, but I didn’t realize it would be so stifling. Sometimes I even wish I’d been kidnapped like my sister, Lucinda. At least that would be some excitement in my life. I instantly dismiss the thought with a guilty frown. I can only imagine what my father’s enemies are doing to her, if she’s even still alive.
I put that thought out of my mind and swim all the way to the other side of the lagoon to float on my back. As the sun beats down on me, I close my eyes.
The sound of a motor has me blinking them open again. I wrinkle my brow and rise up to tread water, turning around to face the small crack in the crater of rocky cliffs that surround this lagoon.
There shouldn’t be any boats coming through here. The way that it’s situated, I doubt anyone could even see the small opening from the Mediterranean on the other side. The convent has a small port closer to the convent for boats to dock. That’s where anything we need gets delivered, and from where the vinegar and grape seed oil the convent specializes in is sent.
When I see the motorboat enter the lagoon, my eyes go wide, mostly because there’s a young man at the helm.
Oh dear God, they’ve found me.
Chapter Three Leira
My heart seizes with panic.
Is this really one of the men of my father’s enemy? He looks so young. How the hell did they find me here in the lagoon of all places, let alone the island itself? Suddenly, the idea of being kidnapped, especially in my current state, doesn’t sound so thrilling.
I quickly dive under the water and swim to one of
