Page 85 of Stronger Than Fate
“Don’t forget that I have two older brothers, not one.”
“I assure you they won’t intimidate me. Ask them when it’s convenient for them.”
And I had no doubts about that last part; Henry wasn’t a person who let himself be intimidated by anything or anyone. The problem was that my brothers had investigated his life and hadn’t been very happy with the information they obtained about his love life, and if I added to that the fact that they also didn’t like seeing me melancholic in the days after our separation, Henry didn’t have much chance of coming out unscathed from that meeting. What would happen? I had no idea.
Chapter 13
"We must learn to navigate between false friends and true enemies"
—Paulo Coelho
God help me! Or rather, give Henry patience to endure my brothers. At that moment we were entering the restaurant chosen for lunch with them. The day before when I had proposed having lunch with us, they were first surprised by our “reconciliation,” and then even more surprised that Henry had invited them to lunch, but they hadn’t hesitated for a second. And there they were, sitting at a table talking between themselves, but attentive to the entrance door. When we entered, they both followed us with their gaze until we were in front of them. We were holding hands and Henry walked with confident, elegant steps. I felt an immense urge to turn around and flee from there.
Henry was wearing beige gabardine pants and a blue shirt, and I had chosen white pants with a black sleeveless bodysuit and black high-heeled sandals. My brothers were also dressed casually, but elegantly.
“Hello, little brothers, how are you?”
“Good afternoon,” Henry greeted them formally.
My brothers stood up, responded to our greetings, gave me a kiss and shook Henry’s hand. We sat down and the waiterimmediately came to take our order. As soon as the four of us were alone, Henry broke the ice.
“I’m glad you accepted the invitation because I know Dalina really enjoys having lunch with you on Sundays, and I also assumed you wanted to get to know me better. The time we met wasn’t under the best circumstances,” Henry pointed out.
“We never turn down an invitation from Dali. For both Lolo and me, it’s very important to enjoy time together outside of work,” Bastián commented, and Lolo nodded in agreement.
“I understand and not only do I respect that, I’m glad it’s that way. I also have a sister and we’re very close.”
“If you have a sister, you’ll understand that Dalina’s well-being and happiness are very important to us,” Lolo said.
“Of course, and as far as I’m concerned, I can assure you that I won’t hurt her.”
“I’m going to be honest, Henry. May I call you that?” Bastián asked, and Henry nodded, also looking at him very seriously. “I’ve been looking into your life and the little I could find out didn’t make me very happy. You’re not the person we would choose for Dalina, but...”
“Bastián, that’s none of your business,” I said, embarrassed by what my brother had just said.
“If he hurts you, it is our business.”
“I appreciate honesty and speaking directly without beating around the bush, but I believe I was clear when I said I won’t hurt her.”
“And we’re going to be clear too, Woollardy,” said Lolo, who then added, “We’ve seen you in photographs with more women than we could count, plus you’re several years older than Dali, which makes us worry. Dali is a wonderful and naive woman and...”
“Please, I ask you not to continue,” I said, with all the calm I could muster.
“It’s okay, Dalina,” Henry said. “We’re here to get to know each other and I prefer to know everything they think,” he stated, looking at me.
“In summary, we’ll be watching, Henry,” Bastián said in a threatening tone.
“I expected nothing less,” he responded, with a calmness that surprised me.
“Having said all that, let’s enjoy the lunch that’s coming now,” Bastián added, pointing to a couple of waiters approaching with our plates.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t expected it. My brothers were first-class busybodies who were always sticking their noses in my business, but they should stop worrying about my life. For them, no man was good enough for me, but when I was alone with them, they were going to hear from me.
After all that raw honesty, they began to talk about their respective jobs and even about Niky. From that moment on, the atmosphere relaxed a bit, but I knew my brothers and knew they were still on alert, and I doubted they would stop being so.
When we were having dessert, I looked out the window and thought I saw Sol standing across the street, looking at us with deadly seriousness. I began to look at her carefully and, when she noticed, she smiled at me with a diabolical expression. I stood up immediately, but at that moment a bus passed by and I lost sight of her. When the bus was no longer blocking my view, she was no longer there. I continued looking but was no longer sure if I had seen correctly.
“What’s wrong, Dalina?” Henry asked, concerned and also standing up from his chair and looking in the direction I was looking.
