While you were Sleeping

34. What next?

"Good morning, Vale!" Mateo beamed, stepping forward and greeting her with a kiss on the cheek. "I didn't know you were here too."

Valentina frowned as he walked past her into the house. "Too?" she asked.

"Yeah," Mateo smiled. "Eva didn't mention you were here."

"Oh. Right. Eva called you?" Valentina spoke slowly, her brain struggling to understand the situation.

Mateo gave her a funny look, amusement playing on his face. "Are you okay? Did I wake you?" He grinned. "You know it's almost lunch time?"

"Oh. Yeah. I'm just surprised to see you." Movement on the stairs caught her attention, she glanced up to find a nervous Eva slowly descending the stairs, her slow gait suggesting she was reluctantly headed for the gallows.

"There she is!" Mateo grinned moving forward to greet his wife with a kiss. "You didn't tell me your sister was here."

"Umm... yeah. Sorry, I forgot to mention it. Guille is here too," she added.

"Oh?" Mateo's eyes widened as he absorbed the news. "A weekend of family bonding?" He scoffed, his gaze bouncing between the sisters.

"Um... something like that," Eva said glancing towards Valentina. "Mateo, could you make us some coffee? I need to speak to Valentina for a second."

"No problem," he smiled and strolled off towards the kitchen.

Valentina moved quickly to her sister, taking her wrist, she dragged her to the far side of the room. "You invited him here?" She whispered incredulously. "Are you going to tell him?"

Eva nodded slowly. Valentina could see the war raging in her sister's eyes. She wanted to hug her to tell everything would be okay but she couldn't. Mateo was one of the nicest people she had ever met but she didn't know how he would react to this news.

"Do you want us to pack and leave? You can have the house to yourselves?" She knew it was going to be a difficult conversation and thought her sister might appreciate the privacy.

Eva's eyes widened as she quickly shook her head. "No! Stay! Please?" Eva closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't know how he'll react. If nothing else, I might need a ride home."

"Okay," Valentina nodded, feeling a little uneasy by the panicked expression on her sister's face. "What if we go into the town for a few hours? I can wake Guille and drag everyone out for breakfast. That should give you time to talk to Mateo?"

Eva glanced towards the kitchen and sighed. "Yeah, okay."

"We won't be far away, you can call us if you need us." Valentina stressed, her hand gently rubbing her sister's arm, trying to offer some comfort.

"Thank you, Vale." Eva's voice broke, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I wish I could go back and tell myself not to be so stupid!"

"Eva, you did a stupid thing. You were stressed and unhappy but we all make mistakes." Valentina tried to be reassuring. "You need to explain everything to Mateo, tell him how you feel, about starting a family, about school, about travelling. He needs to understand why it happened."

"He's going to divorce me!" Eva sobbed.

Valentina hated seeing her sister so broken, she gently pulled her into a hug. "Stop, you don't know that. Mateo may surprise you. Just be honest with him."

Eva nodded as she stepped back, trying to remove any evidence of her tears. "How bad do I look?"

Valentina smiled as she wiped away a dark smudge below her eye. "You look fine."