She remembered what had happened with a man who had been interested in her two years ago. Lia wished she could blot out her memories of that night. She had been very apprehensive, worried about what Manuel would think as he undressed her to make love to her.
It had been so hard to talk about her assault, about what had been done to her physical body, and she’d tried, but as he peeled off her clothes and saw the devastation across her body, he had stepped back from her.
Manuel had stood gazing at the scars, and Lia had felt as if a chasm was now separating them. He slowly shook his head, said, “I’m sorry,” and slowly walked out the door. She knew he would never return.
Lia had sat on the bed, fighting tears of humiliation, knowing her body had disgusted him. Luckily, she was unlikely to run into him again because he wasn’t a local. In fact, she never did see him again.
At least, Lia thought, I can be grateful for that.
Since then, she’d given up thinking in terms of relationships, surrendering to the reality of a life alone, without love, and without a partnership.
She instead shifted her focus to Delos, a place that welcomed her hard work and her love of children. At least Lia could do some good for them by giving them her love, care and attention. And those little ones were like bright flowers, radiant under her care.
She smiled. The children were curious little things. The first time Lia had stepped into the Home School Foundation building in La Fortuna, she had tried to gird herself for the children’s curiosity about her scars. But unlike men, the children were simply curious and wanted to touch them. Lia had seen their sympathy in their large, wide eyes as she crouched down, allowing them to touch her scar, to feel it, to see sadness come to their tiny faces that never lied about anything.
The children had long ago accepted her as she was, and adored her because she was there for them. Her scars were never an issue; in fact, these children had seen their own share of misfortune, and it bonded them more closely with this American angel who was here to teach, love, and support them.
Finally, Lia fell into a light, restless sleep. She never slept deeply after a nightmare, and knew she’d wake up early, feeling ragged, tired and stressed out. But just the act of getting a shower, clean clothes, washing her hair and getting ready to go to the school that sat five hundred feet away from her small home, made her heart sing.
Tomorrow, they were taking the children in three rented vans to the Venado Caves, not far away. Because Lia’s dad was a spelunker, she had grown up crawling into and discovering caves and loving them.
She had the two young women, Maria and Sophia, on hand to help with the children on field trips. And tomorrow, with all the children’s lunches packed and in the vans, they would go on a wonderful adventure.
Lia knew the children would be wide-eyed with wonder as she led them into the large, outer portion of the massive cave system buried beneath the jungle terrain. They would see so many wonderful, natural sights…just thinking about it gave her heart a lift.
Those happy thoughts were the last she had as she drifted off to sleep. The past three years of living here in Costa Rica had begun to heal her wounded body and spirit, and brought her good dreams, like the one she was having now. They were filled with vibrant colors and fragrances as she dreamed of walking into the mouth of the Venado caves. That simple act erased the horrifying past as she focused on the natural beauty of this incredible country. She might not have a close, wonderful relationship with a man, but spelunking fed something in her soul.
Still, her heart yearned for the right man to walk into her life. She had just about accepted that the odds of that happening were so low, there was no point thinking about it. After all, who would want a carved-up woman with a jagged scar on one side of her face? No one…
CHAPTER 2
“Hey, Jordan! Get off your sorry ass!” Butch kicked his buddy’s bunk, a broken down affair in a grungy room where they had their base of operation. “There’s a call for you from a General Culver. ASAP!”
Cav Jordan groaned, his head pounding with a splitting headache. Sonofabitch, he’d drunk too many damn pisco sours last night at that club in Las Flores here in Lima, Peru. Covering his pounding head, he cursed at Butch, his ex-SEAL buddy. “Tell ’em to call back in an hour. I’m in no shape to talk to anybody.” He glared up at a grinning Butch.
“May be a PSD, personal security detail, buddy…”
“Fuck it, I can’t think straight. I gotta get a shower and some coffee in me….”
Butch shrugged his big shoulders and grinned. “General Culver’s been good to us over the years, Cav. Are you sure you can’t mumble ‘yes’ and take his assignment?”