‘Yes, well, it was the usual fun and laughter, then the others left and Carlos wanted to wait to see Annie.’ She turned to him. ‘Isn’t that right?’
‘It is,’ he said earnestly to Skye.
‘I’m not sure what happened, but I seem to recall that one of the earrings I was wearing got caught up in the lace curtains on the window as I leant out to close it slightly to keep out the midges. Carlos came up to me and tried to untangle it, and to see what he was doing, he had to move his head very close to mine.’ She sighed heavily. It was a sound filled with regret, Skye realised.
Carlos nodded. ‘It was then that Annie arrived back. We didn’t hear her until the situation made me then Sandra laugh.’ He frowned. ‘It was the embarrassment of having to be so close to each other, I think. I felt awkward and clumsy not to be able to release the curtain from her earring.’
‘Yes, and I was embarrassed to have caused the situation in the first place.’
Wanting to know more from Annie’s side, Skye asked, ‘What did Mum do?’
‘That’s the thing,’ Carlos said. ‘Nothing. As far as I recall, one of us realised she was standing there just after Sandra managed to remove her earring.’
‘That’s right. We turned and Annie was standing there. I saw something was wrong but it never occurred to me until afterwards that it could be the earring incident that caused it. I asked her if everything was all right.’ She swallowed. ‘I think I probably suspected she might be pregnant but was worried how she would react if I did ask her. Now I wish I had done, especially after what happened.’
Carlos looked so sad that Skye wished she could hug him. Not before finding out everything though, she decided. ‘Then what happened?’
‘Nothing,’ Carlos said. ‘We had a few drinks. Sandra went to bed and left Annie and I alone together for a short while. I recall her saying how tired she was and that she needed to go to her bed. So I left.’ He didn’t speak for a moment. ‘The following day while Sandra and I were working our shifts, Annie left. That night was the last time I saw or heard from her.’
‘Me, too,’ Sandra said miserably. ‘I did write several times, but the letters came back marked, “Return to Sender”. I tried to phone but was told by a woman I presumed was your gran that Annie no longer lived there. I had no other way of tracing her, so lost touch.’
It was all so sad, Skye mused. How different all their lives might have been if her mother had asked what was going on, or hadn’t walked in at that moment.
Sandra gasped when a car alarm began sounding outside. ‘Is that your car?’ she asked.
Bruno stood and peered out of the window. ‘It sounds like it. Sorry, if you’d excuse me for a minute?’
They watched him go.
‘So much unnecessary sadness for so many people and all because of a silly misunderstanding,’ Skye said, desperate to hear more about her mother’s story while she had the opportunity.
‘I agree,’ Carlos said. ‘So you see, Annie got the wrong idea. I was devastated for years after that. Still am, if I’m honest. I met my lovely wife and married and had the boys, but there was always something missing for me.’ Skye watched him look over his shoulder towards the door and assumed he was checking that Bruno hadn’t already returned. ‘I don’t mean to discount my life with my boys and my dear wife,’ he said, his voice low, ‘but I want to be honest.’
‘It’s fine, Dad,’ Bruno said from the doorway.
Skye realised he must have come back into the house and heard at least some of what Carlos had said.
‘Son, I?—’
‘It’s fine, Dad,’ Bruno repeated, resting a hand on his father’s shoulder. ‘I want to know everything about you and Annie.’ He looked over at Skye. ‘I sometimes wondered what it might be like to have a sister instead of just brothers and would have happily swapped both my brothers for one many times over the years.’
Unable to help herself and despite worrying that it might be inappropriate to do so, Skye laughed. For a second she presumed she might have offended the others at the table. Then Bruno laughed and the rest of them did too, breaking the tension in the room. It was a relief.
Carlos looked briefly at Sandra then turned to Skye. ‘I felt guilty about what had happened,’ he said, giving Sandra an apologetic smile. ‘Even though nothing untoward had happened between the two of us.’
‘No, it hadn’t,’ Sandra agreed sadly. ‘In fact I was tormented for years about how different all our lives might have been if Annie hadn’t walked in just at that moment.’
‘Or misconstrued why the pair of you were so close at that point,’ Skye said thoughtfully, wondering the same thing. She might have had her father in her life and not wasted twenty-plus years. Her mother would probably have been much happier having a steady partner in her life. She sighed. ‘Who knows, I could have grown up here.’
Carlos’s eyes lowered. ‘I would have loved that,’ he said wistfully. He looked at her again. ‘I feel guilty for so many things. Not only what happened with Annie, or you, even though that is my biggest regret.’ He looked at Sandra. ‘But because of Annie leaving as she did I felt I couldn’t continue my friendship with you.’
Sandra nodded. ‘Same here. I hadn’t even realised you were keeping your distance from me because I was determined to have nothing to do with you in case anyone did suspect that there was something secretive between us.’
‘It’s all so sad,’ Skye said miserably. ‘So many if onlys.’
Hearing this story was also enough emotion for one day and she was happy to let the matter drop. She had watched Carlos’s and Sandra’s faces intently as each spoke and relayed their part of the story and whether she was right to or not, she didn’t know, but she did believe both of them. She loved her mum deeply but knew her well enough to know she could misconstrue people’s actions, especially when she was in a sensitive mood, which was more often than not.
Typical too of her mum to act impulsively and want to run away from the situation, although she didn’t blame her for wanting to return to Gran and hear her words of comfort. It can’t have been easy to believe your boyfriend and best friend had betrayed you, especially when she was at her most vulnerable.
