A strong and sudden gust of wind violently pushed them backward. Julia thought of a night when the unleashed force of a tornado drowned out the laments of a tragic event. She remembered Manuel’s downcast face when she told him the news and his shock on hearing it, the speed with which Jacobo’s act was covered up, the Jacobo she had loved so much . . .
“Get into the car quickly, Julia!” Jacobo came over. “You’ll catch pneumonia.”
“Fine, I’m coming.” Julia, overcome by the memories, clutched Clarence’s arm as the girl whispered a final question in her ear.
“How could Dad have done something like that?”
Julia blinked, perplexed. Had Clarence read her mind? She sat in front of the wheel slowly and murmured, “He also suffered.”
Julia started the car, and a couple of seconds later, the Volvo was climbing the dirt track to the main road.
Clarence watched the car until it disappeared into the cold night. Should she take Julia’s phrase as confirmation of her suspicions? A wave of bitterness trembled in her chest. How could he have suffered as well? She went over Jacobo’s life and could not find any evident signs of suffering, unless his bad temper was the result of an unhealed past.
When New Year’s Eve was over, Clarence decided that she couldn’t wait another day to talk to Daniela. After the long interlude from her return from Bioko to Laha’s arrival, everything was going too fast. The signs were more than obvious. Daniela blushed each time her hands accidentally bumped against Laha’s, and he smiled like a fool in love. It was impossible that the rest of the family had not noticed it. And that glint in Daniela’s eyes . . . It was the first time she had seen it in her cousin.
Clarence looked at her watch. It was almost dinnertime, and there was no one at home. Carmen had managed to convince Kilian, Jacobo, and a few neighbors to go for a hot chocolate. Laha and Daniela had gone shopping. It was impossible to get a minute alone with her cousin. When everyone went to bed, she decided, she would sneak into Daniela’s room.
She started to prepare dinner without much enthusiasm. Carmen was a natural at cooking, be it for two or sixteen people. It took Clarence a lot of effort to even think about where to start. She had mastered only basic things like a salad or a Spanish omelet. She sat at the kitchen table and began to peel the potatoes. The house was silent. She heard voices coming from the street. The noise got louder, and she made out Jacobo’s strong voice.
“Open the door, Clarence!”
Clarence peeked out the window. Below, Kilian and Jacobo were carrying her mother up in their arms. She ran down to open the heavy door to the entrance and let them in. Carmen’s face was a picture of pain. A trickle of blood ran from her forehead down past her temple to her cheek.
“What happened?” Clarence shouted nervously.
“She slipped on a sheet of ice,” her father answered, panting. “She never looks where she is going!”
Carmen moaned. They finally sat her down on an armchair in front of the fire. Clarence did not know what to do. She cursed Daniela’s absence and went looking for gauze to stanch the cut that was bleeding more and more.
“Where are you sore, Carmen?” Kilian asked.
With her eyes closed, his sister-in-law responded, “Everywhere . . . my head . . . my ankle . . . my arm. Most of all my arm.” She tried to move, and her face twisted in pain.
“Where the hell is Daniela?” roared Jacobo.
“She’s gone out with Laha,” Clarence answered. “I don’t think she’ll be too long.”
“Is there no one else in this house except this Laha?”
“Dad!”
“We should call for a doctor,” Kilian said calmly.
They heard laughs, and the back door to the kitchen opened. Daniela, followed by Laha, stopped dead on seeing the situation. She quickly got to work. Moving calmly and assuredly, she cleaned the wound, felt her aunt’s body, and gave her diagnosis.
“She has broken her arm. It’s not serious. But she will have to be taken to Barmón hospital. I’ll make a sling so the journey won’t be too painful, but the sooner you go, the better.”
Clarence hurriedly packed some things for her and her parents. Laha took Carmen in his arms and carried her to the car. The good-byes between everyone were quick, although Clarence used her cousin’s hug to whisper, “I’ve something important to tell you. It has to do with Laha.”
Daniela frowned. Had she not had enough time to talk to her all these months? Now she had picked the most inopportune moment?
“Are we going now or not?” shouted Jacobo impatiently through the window of his silver Renault Mégane.
Daniela opened the car door to let Clarence in.
“Is it Laha you have been missing all these months?” she asked in a low voice, her heart in her mouth.
“What?” Clarence blinked. It took her a few seconds to realize Daniela’s error. She thought she was in love with Laha! “Eh, no, no. It’s not that.”
Daniela breathed a sigh of relief. “Then everything else can wait.”
Daniela prepared a quick dinner for the three of them. Laha asked Kilian some questions about the valley, and he answered with many amusing anecdotes that his daughter had not heard since she was a child. After dinner, they sat down together by the fire, waiting for Clarence’s call, which did not come. Kilian’s eyes were beginning to droop.
“Go to bed, Dad,” Daniela told him. “If there is something important, I’ll get you.”
Kilian agreed. He gave a good-night kiss to his daughter and patted Laha on the shoulder. “Enjoy the fire.”
Daniela smiled, warmed by the flames and the thick embers. She got up and went looking for two glasses, which she filled with rancio wine.
“This drink is only served on special occasions,” she whispered.
The house was very big, and Kilian’s room was in the farthest corner. He could not hear them unless they shouted, but her low voice masked the nervousness she felt knowing that, in less than two minutes, she would be in Laha’s arms under the same roof as her father.
“It’s stored in a small barrel where a small quantity of the original wine is kept over many decades. Only a few liters are made each year.”
“And what’s so special about this occasion?” Laha moistened his lips with the liquid, which was intensely sweet and similar to brandy.
“You’ll see soon enough.”
The telephone rang, and Daniela ran to answer it. A few minutes later, Laha heard steps from the stairs that led to the upper floor. When Daniela came back, the last ash log had just split on the bed of embers licked by flickering tongues of fire.
“Carmen will be in a cast for three weeks, so they will stay in Barmón. Clarence will come up to collect their things.”
“I’m sorry I won’t be able to say good-bye to your uncle and aunt.”
“Well, I hope you’ll see them again.” She paused. “Would you like to?”
“Yes, because that would mean seeing you again.”