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27.
“WE CAN HELP YOUget the documentation you need for Aisha,” Juan said.
Gabi nodded. “Thanks.”
“The hotel is booked for three weeks,” Nana said. “It’s not the best in Màlaga because it’s peak season, so it’s a little further out of the main city—”
“It’ll be perfect,” Gabi said. Her hands trembled, and she rubbed them together.
They drank herbal tea, and Nana smiled. The tea didn’t settle too well in Gabi’s fizzing stomach. Gabi stared into her grandpa’s eyes and saw her own in the shape and colour. She saw her dad’s too, and the resemblance implied a connection that she felt in the warmth in her heart. His kindness and compassion softened the tension.
“If I had been able to, I would have left with Estrella,” he said softly.
Nana held his hand. “I would have risked it,” she said.
She listened to his story, time moving too slowly, and caught up on the years between Nana’s leaving Spain and returning. How he’d married and had a family and how he’d always wondered about Nana. His wife had died some years ago. His daughter, Ana María, had left Spain to marry an American who had swept her off her feet. There was no lack of love in his expression as he talked, and he glowed with pride as he showed photos of his three grandchildren. The two teenage boys, one carrying a football, stood on one side of their father, and one younger girl, just out of nappies, held his hand on the other side. All wore the same broad smile and had the same straight white teeth. He’d not met them but had received a birthday card every year and a phone call from time to time. The man at Ana María’s side wasn’t like the men here. He was tall, and blond, and broad shouldered. Like his children, he looked happy.
“When is Aisha coming?” Juan asked.
His memory must be affected by the years because she’d told him twice already. “Before five.”
“Good, good. And you have a taxi booked.”
“Yes, tomorrow lunch time.”
Nana had insisted they get a taxi rather than navigate the railway and bus systems. It was going to be quicker and only marginally more expensive. Gabi’s stomach did a spin thinking about it all.
“I hope you’ll come back,” he said. “Aisha’s family are old fashioned, and I’m ashamed to say homosexuality isn’t tolerated within the Gypsy community. We like to think we are above all that when we are not. But things will change.”
Gabi scratched her palm with her thumb.
Juan smiled. “I am happy for you, Gabi. Aisha has a beautiful soul, and the love you share will get you through anything.” He smiled at Nana.
She left them together and walked across the road to Matías’s workshop. He was bent over something he was polishing. He slid it to one side and wiped his hands on a cloth.
“I’m glad you came back,” he said and smiled.
“Hi, uncle?” she said.
He laughed. “Yes, it seems so.”
“Secrets, eh?”
“They are big currency here.” He stood and offered her the seat at the table. “What will you make?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” She turned and stared at him. “Can I ask you a question?”
He blushed.
“You don’t have to answer it, if it’s too personal.”
He nodded.
“Your sister has a family, but you’ve got no pictures of them in your house. You’ve just got one of her. Why?”
He lifted his chin and pinched his lips together. “We fell out when she said she was leaving here, and we have never spoken since.” He cleared his throat. “I was young and arrogant, and I told her she was making a mistake. She was older than me, but I was fiercely protective of her. I felt responsible for her, but she left with Papa’s blessing, and for a long while, I didn’t understand why he would give her up so easily.”
He stared at her silently for a while, longer than was comfortable, and she imagined a debate going on in his head. “But you do now?”
