Chapter 19- The Beginning

TAMI SEEMED nervous as they both descended the grand stairs that led to the huge living room she recognized from the day they left for Puerto Rico.

She hadn’t been around the house since her arrival, so this was both odd and exciting for her. Tami also appreciated how the floors sparkled and shone to the point where she could see herself in it, and the grand chandelier hung marvelously from the very high ceiling.

Even though this was the second time seeing the magnificent living room, she was still stuck in awe. She suddenly got excited to get a full tour of the house. It was huge, but that oddly made her want to do it even more.

"Did you design this yourself?" Tami asked as Raphael slowly led her towards the kitchen area.

He chuckled once but shook his head. "This house has been around since I was a child. I came and saw it like this."

The thought suddenly came back to Tami that Raphael didn’t grow up here, but had only recently made his home here in The Bahamas.

"Right." She chuckled a little in embarrassment “It's beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it. You can get more familiar with the rest of it soon. And the pool..." he trailed teasingly as her eyes lit up. Raphael knew that this would've done it. He remembered smiling all those times when he saw an Instagram post with her at the beach or at a pool. In fact, that consisted of most of her profile. He knew she loved swimming.

Hell, just yesterday she was willing to swim across the ocean.

"You have a pool? Well duh Tami. Of course he has a pool." She scolded herself for pointing out the obvious.

"I have two," he corrected. "One indoor and one outside."

She stared blankly at him for a while. "I'm going to have to get used to your wealth now. Don’t I?"

Raphael wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him for a while. He smiled down at her before gently placing a kiss to the tip of her nose. "I suggest you do, yes."

Tami beamed brightly at him before nodding. "It will take a while."

"We have forever for you to get used to it." The words left his mouth before he could stop them and he tensed. He remembered that this could well be temporary, since Tami could decide later that she doesn’t see a future with him.

Nonetheless, the new but familiar feeling of her lips pressed against his lips, and just like that, his tension was gone.

"We do," she whispered once she pulled away, and it took everything out of him not to tell her that he loved her right there and then. Because he was sure he did.

Tami laced her fingers in his and pulled him blindly down the hall, but he eventually had to redirect them, since she had no clue where she was going.

The magnificent scent of coffee and breakfast became more evident as they moved closer.

Mrs. Garcia's back was turned when they entered the large kitchen hand in hand. It was the most beautiful. It looked like the ones you only see in cooking TV shows. The natural light was most calming, and the big open windows gave the perfect view of the open seas.

"Wait till you see the view from the dining room," Raphael mumbled in her ear when he beheld her expression. She suddenly grew eager to leave breakfast and have an immediate tour of the grand, beautiful house, but the sound of Raphael’s voice caught Mrs. Garcia's attention, making her spin to face the young couple.

Tami immediately recognized her from a few days ago when they were leaving for Puerto Rico. But seeing her up close was different. It was obvious that she was a woman of years, yet she didn't seem old and brittle. Her silky hair was pulled back in a sleek bun, with a few strands of gray decorating it.

She was quite short and had a womanly body, with a purple apron wrapped around her waist. But what was most evident, was the radiant smile on her face as they met eyes. It was obvious that she was a kind woman, and by the looks of it, Raphael was quite fond of her too. Tami noticed that much the minute they walked in.

"Hi there," Tami greeted, remembering that Raphael wanted them to meet. Surely, if he wanted her to meet the woman, she wasn’t just any other helper.

Mrs. Garcia smiled even brighter at Tami after viewing their intertwined fingers. She knew Raphael wasn’t the kind of man to open up to anyone, so the fact that he had this woman with her, made the old woman joyous.

"Hi there, hermosa," she replied swiftly as she grabbed her hands to shake. Mrs. Garcia wasn’t the best at her English, but she could understand the bare minimum.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tami." Tami wanted to be as sweet as possible, as she noticed how Raphael watched the exchange proudly.

Mrs. Garcia returned the gesture wholeheartedly, but the more she looked at Tami, she noticed how familiar she looked. Nonetheless, she turned to the stove quickly when she remembered her omelets, and quickly ushered them to sit at the island while she served them.

Raphael gently exchanged any other relevant information that they might've needed to know about each other, skillfully switching from English to Spanish when he so needed. Now that Mrs. Garcia knew about Tami, they could communicate as they pleased, and the former instructions to Mrs. Garcia to stay away from the wing of the building where Tami was staying had been lifted, since she'd eventually have to go there to do the necessary house chores.

Tami wasn’t sure how much she liked the idea of someone else doing her cleaning for her. In her eyes, Mrs. Garcia looked like a woman who should be retired somewhere on another Caribbean Island, sipping on coconut water and enjoying the sun.

Nonetheless, Raphael had quietly assured her that she need not to worry about it. And even Mrs. Garcia dismissed her queries. She was happy to have a young female she could talk to, despite their language block, and maybe even mentor a bit as she did Raphael.

But it was obvious to Tami that Mrs. Garcia was distracted whenever they would have any sort of conversation. She would stare at Tami for extended seconds, and her speech would be slurred as if her mind wasn’t in the conversation whenever she talked. It took no genius to realize that the woman had seen Tami on the news or in the papers, and was simply trying to pin the face to the moment of realization. That could be the only reason why Raphael locked her in the room, and took all her meals there. He didn’t want Mrs. Garcia to know just yet.

But now, he could easily tell her that Tami agreed to the trip here to soothe the old lady's thoughts. Still, Tami said nothing. It was obvious from the spectator's side of their conversation, that they had a deeper relationship than a maid and an employer. There were obviously years, moments and memories behind their interaction. Mostly like mother and son than anything else, so she left it to him to calm the woman's doubts.

There was a moment in their rapidly speaking Spanish conversation, where she seemed like she was scolding him, and he seemed like he was calmly trying to tell her to let it go. Tami made a mental note to inquire about it later, but for now, she let it be.

After breakfast and a few parting words from the sweet woman that she had already started to love, Tami and Raphael left to go to town.

She got eager again when they entered a familiar garage, and the glint in her eyes was enough to tell Raphael that she wanted to drive again. This time, they took a silver Lamborghini that, surprisingly, Raphael had never driven. He admitted that he barely drove himself anywhere, since he still preferred having a personal driver. But with the task of hiding Tami, he couldn’t afford to take Nick along with him until it was all cleared.

"What if I drive us both over the cliff?" Tami inhaled sharply when the car jerked forward swiftly at the lightest move of her foot on the gas. Raphael threw her a playful look.

"It wouldn’t be the first." He chuckled. "Go on, just take your time."

And that she did. She was barely going at 60 mph, yet it felt like they were going at a hundred. Raphael only gave her the chance to drive till the main road like what he did when they were coming back yesterday, since he couldn’t risk anyone recognizing her in town like Mrs. Garcia almost did.

He was disappointed to see the light fade from her eyes from the adrenaline rush she'd had when driving, but he thought she had enough for one morning.

"Here. Put these on." He handed her a pair of sunglasses, a scarf and a beanie, and Tami eyed them oddly as she took them.

"Uh, why?"

"Someone might recognize you," he reasoned, and she reluctantly agreed.

Tami wasn’t the woman to wear hats, but she liked how it oddly suited her. The view of herself in the rearview mirror gave her the sudden urge to take pictures as she used to, but she pouted when she remembered she couldn’t.

"Raphael?"

"Yes?"

"May I have a phone?" she asked, but cringed at the question. "I mean, I need a phone."

He chuckled, but took a while to think about it. "It might be risky..."

"I know, I know. Social media blah blah blah. I just want to take pictures, okay? I forgot how beautiful this island is."

"You can use mine," he provided, and even though he had his eyes fixed on the road, he could feel the heat of her glare in the side of his head. "Okay." He reluctantly gave in, hoping he wasn’t making a mistake.

"Really?" She chirped, and Raphael resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Women. Sneaky they are.

"Yes, Tami really. But it'll take a few days, okay? I'll have to hire someone to personalize it for you--for us."

"You mean restrict any sort of connection to the world while still making it functional like the laptop you gave me?" She remembered how outraged she'd been when she realized she couldn’t, in any way possible, contact the outside world from her laptop. She couldn’t even comment on YouTube videos. How did he manage to do it? She had no clue.

"Just to be safe." He didn’t deny it, but she was no longer upset. She simply appreciated that much as he drove through town.

It had changed a whole lot since she moved sixteen years ago, that was for sure. She remembered that she didn’t live too far from here either. Tami wondered if her old house was still there, and if the new family was loving it as much as she used to.

She wondered if her late dog's grave was now a garden, and if the mango tree in the backyard still had the swing she loved so much. She would surely take a trip there one day, she thought as she felt the car pulling over.

Gazing out the window, Tami noticed that they were beside a phone booth. "Can't this be tracked?" she questioned, seeing it as a big giveaway for investigating police.

"Don’t worry about it. Even if they should, It's miles away from home." She nodded slowly, accepting that much as she slowly exited the car.

All of a sudden, nerves racked her body--even guilt.

Was she really about to call her family, and tell them that they should stop looking and worrying, because she's okay and will be home soon. And when they ask why she left without telling them, was she prepared to lie to them and tell them that she was just being reckless?

They would never buy it. Her mother knew Tami wouldn’t do such a thing. Yet, that was the least of her worries. Will she be hurting them even more, by telling them that they worried and cried in vain, and then ghost them again for another month? And what? For the very man that took her in the first place?

Tami gulped as her hands shook. Her sweaty palm wrapped around the door of the booth as she imagined the sound of her mother's voice on the line. Will she cry? Will she shout? Will she demand that Tami should come home and end whatever 'rumspringa' she was on?

With a deep breath, Tami closed the door behind her and grabbed the phone. Her hands shook as her heart and mind fought against each other. Her conscience was fighting against her personal need to explore this stage of love with Raphael, but she knew what she had to do.

She took one last glance at Raphael on the other side of the glass, where he leaned against the car with his easy and encouraging smile on his lips. He had his arms crossed over his chest which gave the illusion of his biceps almost tearing the sleeves of his shirts to shreds. And gosh his eyes. His eyes shone so bright with admiration for her, that it was enough to have her dialing a number she knew by heart.

It rang a couple seconds before it stopped. And then, her whole world--her real world, came rushing back.

"Hello?"