+01:14:31 (6:33pm)

“Would you like some more tea, abuelita?” Morena offered as she held up the pink toy teapot to her great-grandmother.

“Gracias, mijita. You’re so polite!” Lupe praised as she held up her toy cup so her great-granddaughter could pour the imaginary tea. She took a sip and gave a satisfied sigh. “Bien rico!”

“What does that mean?”

“¿Tu mama nunca te enseñaba español?” Lupe admonished.

“Ummm...” Morena trailed off with no clue on how to reply.

“Never mind. Starting next time I am going to teach you Spanish,” Lupe clarified.

“Okay!” Morena smiled wide, and then turned to her stuffed turtle. “You hear that, Sheldon? Abuelita is gonna teach me Spanish.”

She leaned in closer and nodded her head in understanding and then turned back to her grandmother. “Sheldon want’s to know if you can you teach him too.”

“Of course.”

“Yeah! Then we’ll know what dad and Tío are always talking about.”

“What do you mean?”

Morena pointed over at the kitchen table, where Mateo and her great-uncle Diego were sitting. They were both leaned in close, talking barely above a whisper.

“It’s probably better that you don’t know, mijita. It’s boring grown-up stuff, and I want you to enjoy being a kid for as long as you can. Besides, it’s way more fun with abuelita right?”

“Yeah! They’re boring!” Morena laughed. “Come on let’s go play hide and seek!”

“Okay! Let me to get up. I’m not young like you anymore!” Lupe explained as she pushed herself out of the armchair.

Lupe gave a lingering glance at the men as they passed by the kitchen into the hallway, which her brother Diego returned.

“So we’ve confirmed the coyote will be here to take you back tomorrow night,” Diego relayed in Spanish, returning his attention to his nephew Mateo. “I just wish to thank you for everything you’ve done for the family. I know that because of our business your own family has become...disrupted.”

“This is my true family, Tío,” Mateo affirmed, pointing to his tattoo. “At least I was able to get Morena before her b***h of a mother could call the cops or take off with her.”

“Are you sure she won’t call the cops on you now?” Diego inquired, looking at the door as if police were suddenly about to burst through it.

“Never. She knows what I would do if she tried. Besides, you know as well as I do that we have people in the police who will tell us of any news.”

“Warning us of raids is one thing, but people act differently when it comes to children. Just look at yourself, for example,” Diego noted.

Mateo remained silent as he conceded the point. He would never have left that note for Isabel if her daughter had not been so adamant that her mother be with them at their home back in Michoacán.

“Just be careful is all I am saying,” Diego advised.

“I will, Tío.”

They gave each other a slight nod of understanding, and then they heard a light rap on the wall.

“Mijo, we’re going to be late for mass,” Lupe called out in English from the kitchen doorway.

“Okay,” Mateo affirmed. The men stood up and went to join her at the front door.

“Where are we going?” Morena asked.

“We’re going to mass,” Lupe answered as she knelt down to tie her great-granddaughter’s shoe.

“What’s mass?”

“¡Ay, que tu madre!” Lupe grumbled as she stood back up.

“Is my mom going to be there?!” Morena chirped, catching on to the one word in Spanish she understood.

Mateo glared at his own mother for bringing her up.

“No, sorry mija,” Mateo lied. “Your abuelita and I are going to church while you and Tío are going to go out to eat. And if you behave until I get there, I’ll by you ice cream too.”

“Yeah!” Morena cheered.

She then opened the door and pulled on her great-uncle’s arm.

“Come on! Let’s go get ice cream!”

“¡Ya! Go wait by the car with abuelita and then we’ll leave in a minute,” Mateo commanded.

“Fine...” Morena trailed off, disappointed, dropping her great-uncle’s arm. But just as quickly she started to pull on her great-grandmother’s arm with a smile. “Come on, let’s play!”

Lupe gave the men an exasperated smile as she was carried off.

“She sure is cute,” Diego complimented in Spanish.

“Yes, she is,” Mateo replied in kind.

“Are you sure you want me to go through with it if something happens?”

Mateo looked at his daughter, and then looked his uncle dead in the eye.

“Yes.”