The Spanish House by Cherry Radford

Author:Cherry Radford [Radford, Cherry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781801103879
Publisher: Head of Zeus

16

Day 49

Fran, her father. Papá. Maybe. No, almost certainly. The straight dark hair, the wide face – that had had both of them cast as Native Americans. Why hadn’t she seen it? You’d think the genes in every cell of her body would have buzzed at the proximity of his. Try as she might, she couldn’t – and never had been able to, she realised – find any characteristics linking her to Dad. Maybe he felt the same, and yes, Mama’s pregnancy after twenty years must have made him wonder… Poor Dad. At least he ended up happily remarried, with two more girls who might just as well have been his and were everything he could have hoped for.

How would Fran feel about her? Perhaps he and his wife already had a houseful of offspring, and this was a reluctant duty for them. She wasn’t sure she’d want him to feel anything about her. She didn’t need another father – that would always be Dad, for better or worse. Recently, better. But if Fran was her biological father, she felt she must, for Mama’s sake, make some connection with him.

Two more hours until she had to leave. She started to feel jittery and impossibly in need of another pee – otherwise known as feeling nervous. She hadn’t had much sleep, but she’d managed to eat, been for a swim, put out a spotted dress and decided it was too on-the-nose ‘I’m now half gitana’ – as the Spanish Romani are called. Instead she laid out one of the market ones with some small horses on it. She smiled to herself; it was impossible not to see the funny side, as she often tended to, when she was nervy – much to Arturo’s irritation, bless him. Kim had called last night, and at the end of a long chat they’d started listing the benefits of having Fran’s genes – the gift of eternal youth, discounted Fort Tabernas tickets, and The Importance of Being Spanish for gaining amorous confidence from her twice-English-bitten neighbour.

She decided to cool down and relax with a bit of watering. First her own, and then down the bank and up to Josemi’s terrace, where he’d had Juan Luis’s brother take away some of the low wall and put in a gate.

As soon as she banged the gate shut there was bleating from the other side of the fence. She opened the hinged plank and there was Chica, pushing her head through into Juliana’s hand for a scratch.

‘Aw, you’re missing Josemi, aren’t you? But you won’t like it over here today, I’m about to do the watering.’ In the corner of the field, she could see the rest of the goats going over to Diego. ‘Looks like you’re off for a walk and a munch anyway. Have fun!’

She patted her and closed the fence, went over to the tap – and jumped. ‘Oh! Didn’t see you there!’

Dolores was standing at the terrace door with a tub full of wet sheets.

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