Page 73 of The Moon Sister
‘I will not argue any further with you, José,’ María sighed. ‘I just wish for an end and a new beginning. However, even though every part of me wishes to take Lucía home with me to grow up with her family around her like a normal child, I know that I cannot. She must have her chance. Therefore, I entreat you to take better care of our daughter in future, to protect her as best you can. I must trust you to do this, if nothing else.’
‘You can trust me, María, I swear.’
‘You are free now, José. But never let Lucía know the truth about us. To her, we will always be husband and wife, and her mother and father.’
‘As you wish,’ José agreed.
‘Now, I will go and spend some time with Lucía before you go to the Villa Rosa. I will come to see her dance, and then I will leave for Sacromonte.’ María took a deep breath and stood up on tiptoe to give José a final kiss. ‘Thank you for the precious gift of my children.’
Then she turned from him and walked inside to speak to her daughter.
Tiggy
Kinnaird Estate, The Highlands, Scotland
January 2008
Scottish wildcat
(Felis silvestris grampia)
Also known as the Highland Tiger.
15
My head jerked upwards as I came to. I shifted my weight and felt my back muscles complaining from holding myself upright for so long on the three-legged stool. It was dark now and the air in the room was stale; the fire in the woodburner must have petered out some time ago. Taking my mobile from my jeans pocket, I used the light of the screen to navigate my way to the oil lamp and relight it. I saw Chilly was asleep in his chair, his head lolling to one side. I had no idea at what point both of us had fallen asleep, but I knew that before I’d done so, I’d entered another world; a world full of poverty, desperation and death. Yet the pictures Chilly had conjured up in my mind’s eye were full of colour and passion too.
‘A world that is part of me . . . of my past,’ I whispered. I shook myself slightly, feeling I needed to be grounded, to leave this dreamlike world that I seemed to enter every time I walked through the door of Chilly’s cabin. Even if Chilly could afford to exist in it permanently, I couldn’t, and just now, I felt I was in danger of being drowned by it. After rekindling the woodburner and collecting more logs for Chilly to use overnight, I made a pot of strong coffee for him and left it next to his chair.
Glancing down at his lined face, I tried to picture him as the young boy he’d been, playing the guitar for Lucía, his cousin . . .
‘That means,’ I breathed out loud, ‘that you are distantly related to me too . . .’ I faltered. How could it be that out here in the middle of the Scottish Highlands, I had found a relative? And was his story even true?
‘Goodbye, Chilly,’ I murmured and bent down to kiss his forehead, but he didn’t stir.
Leaving the cabin, I stepped out into the brutal cold and, feeling light-headed from the smoke of the woodburner and Chilly’s pipe, I headed back to the cottage.
‘And where ha’ you been all day?’ Cal looked at me accusingly as I walked in and hung my jacket on the hook. ‘No’ been carousing with our special guest, I hope?’
I’d never been as glad to see his solid, reassuring bulk filling the low-ceilinged room.
‘I was with Chilly in his cabin. He, umm, wasn’t feeling well today.’
‘You and he are tight, tha’s for sure. You’re a willing victim for his stories,’ he chuckled. ‘Been filling your head with faerie tales and stories of his past, no doubt?’
‘He’s an interesting man, I like listening to him,’ I said defensively.
‘Aye, that he is, but don’t start falling for any o’ his tales, lassie. He once told me I was a grizzly bear in another life, stalking my prey across the Highlands.’ Cal gave a hoot of laughter, yet as he stood there towering over me, it didn’t take much of a leap of imagination to believe hehadonce been a bear. And to this day, Cal, the man, wasstillstalking his vulnerable prey . . .
‘Come on, Tig, you’ve got that dreamy look in your eyes. You need to snap out o’ it, and I’ve got just the news to bring you back to reality.’
‘What?’ I walked towards the kitchen in search of something to eat. I’d had nothing since breakfast.
‘Lover Boy requests your presence up at the Lodge at ten tomorrow.’
‘Why? What for?’
‘Don’t ask me. He wants tae take you somewhere special,’ Cal said as he stood at the kitchen door whilst I cut a thick slice of bread and spread it with margarine.
