The Holiday Secret

By Neva Squires-Rodriguez

When Evaliz's parents send her to New York to visit her sister, Tatiana for the holidays, she has no idea what the weekend has in store for her. After a devastating conversation with her boyfriend she is doubtful that her visit with her sister, who she's always been jealous of will be any better. After Tatiana reveals a shocking secret, Evaliz wonders how her life will ever be the same.

Will Evaliz finally realize that the most important thing she could have wanted for Christmas was something she had the entire time?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vanilla Heart Publishing
• Release date: Oct 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536532364

Book preview

Dedication

I’ve watched so many of my friends struggle with difficult health issues this year.  I recognize their strength in fighting each day of their personal battles and am praying that they find something to be thankful for this holiday season.  This one is for you guys-you know who you are.  I’m hoping 2017 brings better days for you.

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Chapter One

I remember growing up, the only thing I wanted for Christmas was an Easy Bake oven. Year after year, I begged my parents for one and year after year, my sister Tatiana and I opened new sweaters or school clothes instead of the toys that we had begged my father and mother for. To make up for our disappointment my mother always snuck a baggie under our pillows with handmade jewelry to make us feel better after my father left for work. For me, this never helped the situation. My sister, who resembled my mother, was always given the shinier and prettier jewelry. I received bits and scraps of whatever pieces my mother had left over from her projects.

I remember Tatiana waking up and sitting up on the side of her bed as she admired the jewelry and my mother caressing her long black hair and, of course, feeling jealous of the bond they shared. I was always jealous of my mother and her relationship, but never once dared tell her anything about what I was feeling. I knew my mother didn’t do it on purpose and I knew how badly it would hurt her if she ever thought she was making either of us jealous. Besides, I knew Christmas was a time for celebration and for being around what little family we had in the United States – only the four of us.

My father always told both Tatiana and I that Christmas was glorified by our nation’s traditions and that everyone who celebrated with extravagant gifts had forgotten the true meaning of Christmas, and while I cried and whined about not getting the toy I wanted, Tatiana was accepting and always seemed happy with whatever he chose to give us. I hated her for it.

Why get us anything then, Pa? I remember asking him.

So that you can have something to open and to learn to be thankful for. He grumbled as he eyed my mother who always stood across the room quietly without saying a word. If I get you gloves and a hat, I expect to see a smile on your face and a thank you come out of your mouth. Entiendes?

I always cried and ran to my room while my sister stayed in the room with my parents and drank Ponche Navideno, which was kind of like a Mexican Fruit punch with chunks of fruit hibiscus tea, giving me another reason to be upset with her as she spent time with my Mom and Dad. We were the only ones of the Vasquez family that lived in the United States, so often Christmas was the one time my father would allow my mother to call their home town to talk with family members, yet another thing that I always missed out on because of my stubbornness.

Twenty years later I was husbandless and the only thing I wanted for Christmas was for Tito, my boyfriend for the past eight years to get down on one knee and propose to me under the big Christmas tree downtown. Based on my father’s guidance from years ago, I would settle for Tito to propose during the commercial break during the Super Bowl, so long as I had someone