The Senator's Hispanic Bride (8 page)

They visited community centers and schools where they met with students, teachers and parents to discuss change and improvement, and they visited homeless shelters and soup kitchens, serving food to the less fortunate. They spent time with small business owners to find out what could be done to make their businesses stronger, and they went to town hall meetings to hear from the communities. They went to corporate lunches and spoke with businessmen and visited industrial areas to speak with crafters and laborers. They spent time with ecological groups, getting their hands dirty cleaning up the garbage in the city, and they spent time in government-funded facilities like libraries and museums to see what was being offered to the public. They took public transportation everywhere so that they were seen all the time and could talk to people. They worked tirelessly to make sure that Michael and Isabella were seen everywhere by everyone, and that everyone knew that they were interested in making a difference.

Glenn was constantly behind them, pushing them, advising them, guiding them and redirecting them when needed. He would get on their nerves, but they knew that Michael needed him, and so they listened to him. He was constantly booking interviews for them with radio and newspaper reporters, television show personalities and newscasters. The public and the media loved Michael and Isabella, and ate them up.

Their wedding was a frequent topic of conversation and it became a public focal point of interest, which made the planning a little more difficult for them as so many people were becoming wrapped up in their plans. The other thing that was a constant topic of discussion was Isabella’s Puerto Rican heritage. She felt as though it wouldn’t come up nearly as much if Glenn wasn’t constantly touting it and talking about it, but anytime he talked about her or gave an answer about her, he related it to her ethnicity, and because he did that, everyone else that Michael and Isabella spoke with also brought it up.

It had become a trending topic for them, and coupled with the wedding, Isabella felt like they were being stereotyped and pigeonholed into those subjects. She was feeling more and more often that the public was missing the broader picture, that Michael was determined to help the community. She spoke with him about it one day after an interview for a local news station. They were in the car on the way to dinner and she felt as though it was high time to bring it up. Glenn had gone his own way for his evening meal, so they were finally alone together.

“Michael, I feel like we aren’t making much headway with your campaign. I know Glenn is trying to help, but listen, all we talked about in that last interview was the wedding and my Puerto Rican heritage. We didn’t talk hardly at all about the platforms that are important to you and the things you want to change. Everyone seems so wrapped up in the most beautiful man in Manhattan marrying the brown girl, that nothing else we are talking about seems to matter to them, and that’s just not right. It has to change. People have to know what you feel passionately about, so they’ll have the confidence they need to vote for you when the time comes. We don’t want them voting because we’re their favorite celebrities and we’re popular.”

Michael thought about what she was saying and nodded his head. “You’re right. They have really been focusing on those things instead of asking about all the other things we have planned. The smaller groups we talk to seem to listen, but they still bring up the wedding and your ethnicity. But at least we get some of the message across to them about what we want to do. How are we going to fix that?” he asked, rubbing his chin.

Isabella thought carefully. “None of the media people we talk to ever want to hear about it from us, they only want to know how far we have gotten with the wedding plans. What if we do something like our own event, and have the press there to cover it, but have the whole focus of it on the topics that you are most ready to work on. Like a career fair at a school where people can go from table to table, looking at the different subjects and learning about them as they go. We set up this event and put up tables with each subject that is most important to us at the tables, and then we have the tables staffed with people who are in line with what you want to do. We invite the press and then we keep to the corners, so they have to talk about what’s at the event, and when we are in front of cameras, all we talk about are the topics featured at the event. That way, not only will the press get a different angle on us, but it would also be a great event for citizens to come and learn about what we are doing. What do you think?”

Michael was grinning. “I think it’s brilliant! I love the idea. We’d need to set it up soon, we’re getting close to our wedding date but I think with a weeks’ notice, we could have it up and going. I’ll talk to Glenn and see what he can do about finding a place to have it!” He felt excitement growing in him as they talked about it. “Isabella, that’s such a brilliant move to make! Thank you!”

She smiled at him and took his hand. “We could have one at the restaurant with the family, and then we could have a few more around town, and that would enable more people to come to it from different areas, and more people could find out about what you really want to do, rather than what kind of cake we are going to cut at the wedding reception!” She laughed and he grasped her hand.

“Yes! The restaurant is a great idea! We’ll do that. I’ll put Glenn and Jean on it right away. Thank you so much!” He kissed her firmly and then smiled at her. “You’re my good luck charm. I’m so lucky and glad to have you with me.” He kissed her again. “I love you, Isabella.”

She kissed him back. “I love you, too.”

***

A week later, they were setting up their platform fair at her family’s restaurant, La Cocina Criolla, and all the members of the family were thrilled to be helping them. All except one. Isabella’s sister, Marisol, was back in the kitchen, ignoring all the goings on and setup work being done for the event. Isabella went to find her and when she saw her slicing and dicing away in the prep room, she knew that her sister wasn’t happy and was holding it all inside.

“Mari,” she said softly, walking up to her sister, “we’re getting ready for the event out there. We could use the help, if you want to give us a hand.” She knew Marisol didn’t like Michael because she didn’t trust him, and she had always been clear about that. Isabella felt like asking her sister to become involved in anything that she did for Michael, including the wedding, was asking for a big favor.

“I’m working in here. We still have a restaurant to run,” Marisol said without looking up.

Isabella stood beside her, took a knife and began to help her cut the fruit she was working on. She didn’t say anything to her sister, she just kept cutting away and Marisol was silent for a minute, watching her out of the corner of her eye.

“You don’t have to help me, Isabella, I know you have things going on that you need to take care of. I can do this without your help. Go work on the event,” Marisol said with a softer tone.

Isabella smiled. “You’re my sister. I’ll help you if I want to.”

Marisol rolled her eyes and kept dicing fruit. “I just don’t want to be out there, that’s all. I don’t want to see him or help him with anything.”

Isabella kept slicing. “I know that.”

Marisol sighed in frustration. “It’s not that I don’t want to help you, or be there for you. I’m giving you as much help on this as I can. It’s just that I don’t like what you are doing with him because I don’t trust him. I think he’s using you and I can’t stand that.” She stopped cutting and turned to look at her sister. “I love you, Isabella, you are my baby sister. I want the best for you. I just feel like he isn’t the best thing for you.”

Isabella sighed and looked up at her sister. “I know that, too. Marisol, what is it that you don’t trust? He’s tried to do everything that he can to show you he is trustworthy. Everyone else in the family loves him. Even the boys. Do you think he has fooled all of them and you are the only one who can really see him for what he is? Do you think I’m blind, too?”

Marisol shook her head. “I think you are blinded by love. I think the family sees who he has shown them. I don’t think anyone else is looking beyond that. That’s the difference. I read all the papers and watch the news. I see the interviews that you do. He’s always talking about you being Puerto Rican. Always! He almost never talks about you when that doesn’t come up. How can you not see that?” She looked dismayed.

Isabella pursed her lips for a moment and touched her sister’s arm. “We do know that. It’s one of the reasons that we are doing this event. We’re trying to draw attention away from the wedding and my ethnicity. That’s the whole point of this, to show the media what he really wants to take care of when he gets to the senate. There is so much that he wants to take care of and no one has been talking with him about it, so we decided to do this event.”

Marisol sighed in frustration. “Right, and it’s being held at a Puerto Rican restaurant. Way to take the focus away from the ethnicity, Isabella. I’m sorry, but all you’re doing is drawing more attention to it!”

Isabella squeezed her sister’s arm gently. “Having the event here was my idea, not his.”

Marisol turned toward her cutting board again and went back to work cutting. “That’s not the only reason I don’t like him. He dated you for three months and then proposed to you? Something isn’t right about that. He’s in too much of a hurry. Now he’s pushing the wedding, he wants to get married six weeks after he proposed. No one gets married that fast and has a wedding the size of the wedding you’re having. Your wedding is huge. You have tons of people coming and you don’t even know most of them. You didn’t even know most of the people at your engagement party. It wasn’t a celebration of the two of you getting engaged as much as it was a political and business function. Your wedding to him is going to be just the same. It’s just going to be another political event done for publicity and I can’t stand to see that.”

Isabella frowned and reached her hand out to Marisol to turn her so that she faced her sister. “I know it happened fast, and I can understand how you feel. I felt the same way and I talked to him about it. We are having the wedding quickly because he has the election coming up and the wedding and the election are too much to do all at once, so we want to get the wedding done first, so we can focus on the election. It’s also true that we are getting married sooner because my ethnicity will help secure the Latin American votes. We know that, it’s a fact, but it doesn’t happen to have anything to do with why we are getting married. We’re getting married because we love each other, and it just works out as an extra perk that we’ll be able to get the Latin American vote if we have the wedding before the election rather than after it. That’s all. I already know that. He’s not trying to be sneaky with me.” Isabella smiled warmly at her sister.

Marisol shook her head. “I still don’t trust him. I know you love him and I can see that you’re happy, but something about this just doesn’t feel right to me, and I don’t want to help him with anything. I’m glad you understand. I hope you know I am contributing as much as I can. I love you, Isabella.

“I love you too, Mari. I appreciate all that you are doing. I’m glad to get whatever help you want to give me.”

Marisol reached out to her sister and pulled her into a big hug. “I hope I’m wrong and that it all works out for you.”

“It’ll work out,” Isabella said softly.

She left her sister in the kitchen and went back out to the front of the restaurant. Her family had really come through for them. The place looked amazing. Michael was welcoming several people who were coming through the door, shaking hands with people and talking with them about the various stations that were set up around the restaurant. The press that came to cover the event was impressed with all of the different platforms he had set up and with the Puerto Rican restaurant that it was being held in.

Countless people came in; some were voters, some were undecided and after seeing the information that Michael shared with them, they changed their minds and decided to back him in the election. The event lasted until late in the afternoon when they took it all down and got the restaurant set back up for dinner. Michael and Isabella stayed to help at the restaurant and to eat with the family. Michael even went into the kitchen with Isabella to help everyone cook dinner for the evening rush.

Orlando and Ricky were enormously proud of him for what he created in the kitchen that night. He worked hard at what he made and he was glad to spend the time with all of them, creating different kinds of food, laughing and talking, and learning a little more Spanish.

T

hey teased him and Pablo wrapped his arm around Michael’s shoulders and told him, “It’s okay, Michael, no one gets out of this family alive. If you’re being teased, it just means that you’re one of us, and that’s a good thing.”

Michael laughed and felt a bit relieved by that. Isabella showed him how to cook shrimp and chicken, and how to make a proper pina colada. He picked it all up quickly and loved learning from them. When it was time for the meal with the family, he was with the boys again, serving everyone, and he got to serve Mama and Papa that night, which was an enormous honor for him. He sat with them and truly felt the warmth and love of being part of the family and he knew that he never wanted to lose it. He watched Isabella with them and fell even more in love with her.

Chapter Six

A few days later, Isabella picked Marisol up and they went dress shopping for the wedding. Isabella was extremely excited to go find her dress, but Marisol was less so. They stopped for brunch in downtown Manhattan and then went shopping. They were partway through their day when Glenn called Isabella and checked in with her.

“Good morning, Isabella,” he said almost shortly. “How are you doing today?”

She was friendly with him. “I’m fine. I’m just out with my sister looking for a wedding dress.”

“That’s wonderful news. I’m glad to hear it,” Glenn said pleasantly. “Where are you shopping?” he asked with a cordial tone.

“Jezebel’s and Paris Couture,” she replied.

“Good. That’s good. Have you seen the news today?” he asked offhandedly. He often asked her questions about what she was doing, where she was going, where she was completing her wedding plans, and what she had done and seen in the news.

“No, I actually wanted to avoid it today and just make today about the wedding,” she admitted to him. “Did I miss anything?”

There was a slight silence on the phone as he paused for a moment before speaking. “No, not really. You didn’t miss anything. Just enjoy your day, ignore the presses and any calls, and you focus on your wedding and look for your dress. Have a good day, Isabella,” he said kindly.

“Thank you, Glenn, I will. You have a good day as well. I’ll talk to you soon.” She hung up and looked at Marisol who was giving her a skeptical look.

“What was that about?” she asked suspiciously.

Isabella waved her hand. “Oh, he checks in with me all the time. It’s just part of his job as the campaign manager. He was asking me if I had seen the news today. That’s all.”

Marisol rolled her eyes and they got to the business of dress shopping. The sales girls were all in a flutter of excitement when they discovered who it was that was shopping. They squealed with excitement and asked for photos and autographs, and Marisol waited until they were closed up in a dressing room before she looked at her sister and gawked.

“What is all of that about? What are all those girls doing freaking out about you?” She looked at her sister through strange eyes of wonder.

Isabella shrugged. “The wedding is kind of becoming a big social event and it’s in all the media. It’s really kind of ridiculous and silly, but there’s not really too much I can do about that. It is what it is. I just keep doing what I need to do and go over those bumps when they come up. I’m not thrilled with it, but that’s just how it’s been going. I have a feeling that it will only continue after the wedding and the election, if Michael wins.”

Marisol belly laughed at her and shook her head. “My little sister, a celebrity. Who would have thought it? Well, you are certainly beautiful enough to be one.” She kissed her sister on the cheek and they walked out to the mirrors in the main dressing room to look at the dress Isabella had tried on.

Isabella looked amazing, and she turned around in the mirror looking at every angle of her gown, wondering in amazement at what she was doing. It still surprised her at times to find herself where she was in her life. She was happy, and she loved it, but it was not at all where she thought she would be. Life is just like that, she thought to herself.

They were on the third dress and the sales girls were all still gushing and fluttering around them like crows to shiny metal when one of the sales girls suddenly rushed to the open doorway and held her hands up.

“I’m sorry miss, but there’s just no way that I can let you in to this dressing area. This whole room is in private use right now. You’ll have to go to another area of the store.”

The woman she was trying to hold back from entering spoke loudly and coolly. “That’s alright young lady, the bride-to-be and I are old friends. She and I have a lot to talk about.” The woman pushed right past the sales girl who did her level best to hold the woman back and Marisol and Isabella looked up to see a tall gorgeous blonde walking toward them. Marisol frowned and Isabella glared at her.

“Who is this?” Marisol asked with suspicion, seeing the look on her sister’s face. Isabella spoke in a low voice, but Kelsey was already close enough to hear them and speak to them.

“I’m the wife that almost was. Actually, I may yet be the wife that will be. That depends on how much of a doormat Isabella intends on being.” Kelsey reached them both and smiled her cold sharp smile.

Marisol narrowed her eyes at Kelsey and crossed her arms over her chest, giving her a burning look.

Isabella lowered her voice and glared at Kelsey. “What are you doing here?”

Kelsey smiled and rolled her shoulder in dismissal. “Oh, I just came to have a little girl talk with you and see what you are up to.”

“You and I don’t need to have any girl talk, Kelsey. Get out of here,” Isabella said firmly.

Kelsey giggled a little and smiled again. “Oh, I think we do.”

Isabella almost growled at her. “How did you even find me? How did you know where I was?”

Kelsey grinned and held up her cell phone. “Social media. You’re a celebrity darling. There are hashtags galore all over the Internet about you and everything you do. I would follow you more closely, but I have better things to do with my time, like having my floors shampooed. Except for this morning, of course.”

Isabella knew that she shouldn’t do it, but she had to. She bit at Kelsey’s bait. “Alright, Kelsey, what’s different about this morning?”

Kelsey stared at her and laughed right out loud, and Marisol took a step toward her and glared. “You really don’t know, do you? Ha!” She laughed again and then pulled a chair up and sat down in it.

“Don’t make yourself comfortable, Kelsey, you aren’t staying,” Isabella said sharply.

Kelsey shook her head slowly. “Oh no, I’m going to have the best seat in the city today. I wouldn’t miss this for the world. You really should keep yourself better informed.”

Isabella was swiftly growing irritated at the woman sitting before her, and sorely wished that she could tell her what she really thought of her. “What are you talking about, Kelsey?”

Kelsey clapped her hands together in glee for a moment and then reached down into her bag and pulled out a newspaper, handing it to Isabella. “Here you go, darling. Have a look. I can’t wait to see the fallout from this.”

Isabella took the newspaper from her and looked down at it. Kelsey grinned.

There, on the front page of the newspaper, was a photo of her and Michael at the function they had had at her family’s restaurant, and the headline read, “Michael Bradley marrying for the Latin American votes.” She stared at the words, hardly believing she was reading them. She was sure that they couldn’t be true, and she skimmed over the article, which said that his campaign manager Glenn Todd had planned the courtship and marriage right from the start in order to gain all of the Latin American votes in the state and sway the election enough to win it from the incumbent senator who had an archaic stance on immigration.

It further stated that the wedding was being made into a three ring circus publicity stunt to draw the attention of the public eye and create a celebrity couple out of the two, which she felt deep in her heart was exactly what had happened. She was livid. Tears stung her eyes and her heart almost stopped in her chest. She heard Marisol’s words echoing in her ears from weeks and weeks of warnings about just this thing. She tried to bite her lip. She absolutely refused to cry in front of Kelsey, who was sitting there just waiting for it, waiting for her to crumble and break.

She looked up from the paper and Kelsey had an expression that told her she was eating it up like chocolate cake. Marisol took the paper gently from her sister’s hands and read it as Isabella drew a deep breath and faced her nemesis.

“That’s all just trash. It’s a lie. You shouldn’t believe everything that you read in the papers.” She held her chin up and forced all the raging chaos of emotions in her to still and subside.

Kelsey laughed and shook her head. “No, it isn’t. I talked to Glenn about it, and he confirmed it. Remember when I talked to you last time and I told you that Glenn told me to stay away from you and Michael until after the election? This is why. He told Michael to propose to you and marry you. Why do you think you’re getting married so quickly? It’s because of Glenn. Haven’t you been suspicious about why he is so determined to have this taken care of so quickly and why he keeps involving the press with it?”

Isabella felt herself shaking with rage. “You’re lying,” she said in a warning voice.

Kelsey just grinned. “You don’t believe me? Go ask Glenn and Michael. Maybe they’ll tell you the truth about this one. I would be surprised if they did, but it’s worth a shot. I would want to know the truth if I was you.”

Marisol looked up from the paper and narrowed her eyes at Kelsey again. “It says here that all of this is from a source close to the candidate. Who would that source be, Kelsey? Was it you?” 

Kelsey raised her eyebrows and pushed her lips out in surprise. “Oh! Look at that. Big sister is a smart girl.” She uncrossed her legs and stood up, looking down her nose at them both. “Yes, I was the source. Where else do you think this would come from? I know Michael and Glenn would never tell anyone else. Glenn only told me because he wants me to stay away from Michael, and I knew he was up to something, so I spent the night with him and coaxed it out of him. That man would give away every national secret for a hot night in the sack with me. He’s such a pushover. He confided his plan to me and I just thought it was so… newsworthy… that I couldn’t keep it to myself. I had to share it, and of course the editors promised to keep my name out of it, but I am considered a reliable source, having been engaged to the man myself, before.”

Isabella gasped and stared at her in horror. “You’re going to ruin his career! You’ll ruin the election! How could you do this to him?”

Kelsey clicked her tongue. “Oh, look at you… ever thoughtful and selfless. You should be more worried about what this is going to do to you. I’m sure it must be awful to find out that you’re being used for your skin color and heritage. It’s almost like being bought… like, being a prostitute, you know, selling yourself for the benefit of another. That’s just what you’re doing, and that is just what you are. Nothing more than a cheap, trashy, dirty little prostitute, and it’s time the public knew just-”

That was the end of what Kelsey thought, because Marisol reached her fist back three states and brought it forward with the force of a tank, planting it firmly on the side of Kelsey’s cover girl face. Kelsey went sailing backward, not having seen it coming, her arms flailing as she cried out and landed flat on her back. The wind was knocked out of her and she gasped and choked for air as a trickle of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth.

“Mari!” Isabella cried out, horrified. She clapped her hand over her mouth and stared at her sister with wide open eyes. “What have you done?”

Marisol looked down at Kelsey lying on the floor and shook her hand, working out the pain from the punch. “She had it coming, and you can’t do something like that, you have to think of your public image. I don’t have a public image, so there’s no recourse for me.”

Isabella laughed in surprise and tears rolled from her eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that to her since the engagement party! Thank you so much!” She hugged her sister tightly and Marisol smiled at her.

“Sister has always got your back,” she said softly.

The sales girls went flying around the room, bringing cool wet cloths and helping Kelsey to her feet. The manager of the boutique rushed up to Isabella and Marisol and started apologizing left and right.

“I saw the whole thing! I am so sorry she was let in here. I don’t know who she is, but she had no business coming in here and talking to you like that. She had no business being so awful to you! I’ll have her escorted out immediately!” The woman did just that: calling security and having a large burly guard drag Kelsey to the door and alert the police, telling them that Marisol was protecting her sister as Kelsey was threatening and attacking her. Kelsey argued and yelled about her side of the incident being different, but it hit the Internet so fast and had such negative repercussions that Kelsey had no room at all for her argument.

Isabella found her dress and left the shop under a cloud of newspaper reporters and photographers who were waiting outside for her, all of them shouting questions at her about the news that morning that she was only marrying Michael to help his campaign, and even more questions about Kelsey attacking her. The cell phone pictures that the shop girls posted showed Kelsey thrusting a newspaper at Isabella with a nasty look on her face and everyone sided with Marisol in defense of Isabella. Marisol was a social media celebrity by the end of the day.

When they climbed into the car as they left the shop, the driver asked them where they wanted to go, and Isabella asked that they drop Marisol and her dress off at the restaurant, and then she had the driver take her to Michael’s office.

She walked into the office and for once, Jean was not sitting at the front desk. She walked back to Michael’s office and saw that the door was partway open. She heard voices shouting and knew that one of them was Michael’s, one was Glenn’s, and there was a third one that she couldn’t place. She knew it wasn’t right to stop and listen. She knew she should walk in and make her presence known, but she heard them say her name, and it froze her in tracks. She waited beside the open door and listened in as they spoke.