Havana Jazz Club Read Online Free Page B

forever: maybe just a brief stint so she could earn her fortune and Celia could scratch the itch that had been bothering her for so long. Then they would return to her beloved island, and she would start her own family. She wanted her children to be born in Cuba, for them to run around the same streets she had grown up on and enjoy their grandparents’ love. She loved the island, she had been very happy there, surrounded by her own people. Spain was a remote and strange place that she knew almost nothing about, except that it was on the other side of the world.
    Dawn surprised the silent tears trickling down her cheeks and soaking the pillow. The first ray of sun made her husband’s blond hair sparkle, and she smiled, seized by love. He was her sun god, and she shimmered with light only under his influence. She needed him to feel alive. She needed his breath to be able to breathe. Without him at her side, without his heat, she felt she would perish, that she would wither away like the white ginger lilies that had adorned her bridal bouquet. Though she felt torn up inside and knew that a piece of her soul would always be left behind on her beloved island, she had no doubt that her destiny was to follow this man wherever he went.

CHAPTER 5
    In the days following the wedding, Orlando filled Billie in on the details of their departure for Spain. There were still a few issues to resolve, but he was in negotiations with someone who would facilitate their exit from the island. They would go to Miami first, and fly to Europe from there. The most important thing, Orlando repeated over and over again, was that they not tell anyone about their plans, not even her family. The smallest indiscretion could mean exile to an agricultural labor camp for an unspecified period of time, probably years—if they got released at all. They could even be sent to prison for trying to leave the country illegally.
    Billie was scared. She had heard of people who had taken to the sea on shoddy rafts. Some were never heard from again, the rafts of others appeared adrift and empty on the ocean, and still others were discovered by the coast guard and imprisoned.
    “They say lots of things, my love,” Orlando objected, downplaying her fears. “In many cases, it’s the government itself who spreads these rumors just to discourage people from trying to leave. But you know as well as I do that lots of people manage to get to the United States safe and sound. You’ve seen them, just like I have, when they come back to visit their families loaded down with gifts and a little moola for their relatives here. They stay in the best hotels, eat in the finest restaurants, and shop in the stores that we’re banned from. Who are the gusanos here? Them or us? I have no doubt about the answer, little mami, and I want to get out of this shit hole forever.”
    As Orlando raised his voice, excited by his own speech, Billie kept her eyes down, reduced to an intimidated silence. Orlando sat down next to her and smiled, trying to calm her fears. He wrapped his arms around her, kissed her sweetly, and continued in a less strident tone.
    “Don’t worry about a thing, my queen. I’m arranging everything so that we can leave safely without taking any risks. How could I put my beautiful esposa in danger?”
    Billie smiled without much conviction and nestled into his arms.
    “But we’re fine here,” she insisted. “You know how to arrange it so that we won’t have to do without. We can be happy in Cuba, the way we have been until now.”
    “Wouldn’t you like a better life for our children?” Orlando argued a little impatiently. “Do you want them to suffer the same deprivations we have since we were kids? You want them to live their whole lives on rice and beans?”
    “I was happy with what I had. My parents—”
    “Enough already, woman!” he exclaimed, now unable to contain his irritation. “If you don’t want to go because you’re afraid, I’ll go by