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Aisha smiled at the peals of laughter and whispered expressions of disbelief as the children inspected their money. They would never have seen anything like it, and she was pretty sure it had been subsidised by Gabi’s own purse. She loved her more for that.
The children stood, one after the other, led by Marta, and hugged Gabi.
“How about we get some drinks?” Gabi said.
Some children said yes, others were already in deep discussion about what they were going to do with the money. Gabi stood and walked at Aisha’s side into the building.
Aisha shut the door behind them and leaned against it. She stroked Gabi’s cheek. “I’m so sorry I hurt you,” she said. She couldn’t hold back the tears and trembled as she sobbed.
“Do you want to marry him?” Gabi asked.
Aisha shook her head even before Gabi had finished the question. “I told you I’m not going to marry any man.”
“I just wanted to check, because—”
“Because he sprang it on me to control me. It’s what happens, and I’m sorry he did that. He knows I’m not going to marry him. I’ve tried to talk to Mama, but she doesn’t want to listen. I want to be with you.”
Gabi kissed her.
“I have tried so many times to get to you since, but—”
Gabi pressed her finger to Aisha’s lips and stopped her speaking. “It’s okay. I didn’t believe you wanted to marry him. I stropped for a while, because there was so much going on with you, with Nana, and Juan. I tried to get to you. I watched you with him in the field but couldn’t face your mama. I saw you dancing on Saturday, but he was too close.” She stroked Aisha’s hair and cupped her cheek as she stared at her. “I love you. I’ve missed you.”
Aisha leaned into Gabi, and Gabi wrapped her arms around her. Everything was perfect, and anything was possible. Why then did she have this unnerving feeling in her gut? “Where will we go? What will we do?”
Gabi held her tightly. The fast beat of Gabi’s heart, her warmth against Aisha’s cheek, and the woody scent of Gabi’s perfume was like silk to her skin on a summer’s day. Still, the unnerving feeling persisted.
“You know English elms come from England?” Gabi asked.
Aisha laughed. “I had guessed, yes.”
“I think you’d like Devon, and the countryside, and the farm, though it’s wet and cold. We could grow stuff.”
Aisha eased back and pressed her finger to Gabi’s lips. “I don’t need things to be the same as here. I want them to be different.”
Gabi smiled. “Good. I’m not the best gardener.”
“I like the idea of going to England and seeing your home. And I want to travel the world with you. I want to sing, and dance, and sell jewellery. I want to help young children know that they have choices, that they can have ambition and achieve their dreams, and show them not to be afraid of what has gone before but to take it and become stronger because of it. But most of all, I want to be with you. Forever.”
“And ever,” Gabi said.
Aisha frowned. “I don’t have a passport.”
Gabi laughed. “We can stay in Spain until we get you one.”
Aisha smiled. Gabi kissed her, and it was gentle, and soft, and sweet, and she felt the essence of what it meant to be alive return. She kissed Gabi back and wondered if the elms in England were as green as they were around the Alhambra. The somersaults in her stomach tossed around her fears and her wants, and she imagined it would be like that until they settled somewhere, until she was free of the hold her family had on her.
She thought of Old María, and Marta, and Nana, and the many others who she’d never known who had led her to this moment. Without them, and without Lorca’s promise of love, words that she’d committed to her heart, she might not have the strength to walk away.
“We can’t stay here,” Aisha said.
Gabi held her. “I know.”
Aisha nodded.
“What about your family?”
Aisha bit her lip. “I want to leave with their blessing, if I can.”
