Bend, not break

Part 5 - Free, loud and happy

Marta stopped in a darker corner of the back entrance at the foot of the stairs. It was still a few metres to the car, but the risk of being seen out of one of the windows was much greater there. It was one thing for Marta to rebel against her father's decision in this way. But it was quite another to be seen arm in arm with a woman.
Marta took Fina's hands. Her hands gently stroked the back of her hand. Her head leaned against Fina's forehead and she sighed. She thought it was her turn to reassure the young woman that everything would be all right, that it was only a week until they would see each other again. But it was Fina who pressed Marta's head against her shoulder and kissed her just below the hairline.

"Everything will be fine, my love," Fina whispered. "Just a few days and we'll be together again."

Marta closed her eyes. "Forever?" she asked in a timid voice.

"Forever," Fina assured her.

Marta was almost ready to break away from the embrace and kiss her goodbye when they heard the door of the side entrance open. Footsteps came down the stairs in their direction. Marta put her index finger to her mouth. Maybe they would be lucky again if they didn't move. Just one more time, Marta prayed, just this once. And Fina did the same.

"Marta?" André's voice sounded just a few metres away from them.

"Marta?"

There was no point. She glanced briefly at Fina, whose face was in the shadows, and moved her head backwards. She hoped Fina could see it. Then she straightened her shoulders and stepped out of the dark corner. At the same time, Fina took a step backwards and almost completely disappeared into the darkness behind one of the pillars of the staircase. Perhaps Andrés hadn't seen her yet and it would be all right again.

"Andrés, what is it?" Marta barked at him in a low voice. If he had even wondered for a moment why Marta had emerged from a dark corner, the thought was quickly dispelled by Marta's appearance. He had to disappear, Marta thought, immediately. And this was evident in every fibre of her body language.

"I needed some fresh air," she said, "and I want to be alone," she added, her eyes firing flaming arrows as if by inner command.

"I saw you loading suitcases into the car this afternoon."

Marta's breath caught for a moment. She searched for an excuse. Perhaps she could claim that she was already travelling to Andalusia? Andrés wasn't stupid. He would surely ask why Jaime wasn't coming with her. Or why it couldn't wait another night. It was pointless. And even more pointless the longer she didn't say anything. Her heart was pounding in her throat, but with her arms crossed, she continued to look at him coolly.

"Are you here to stop me?"

Andrés was silent for a moment, then his gaze softened.

"No, Marta, I'm not. I'm here to give you this." He held out an envelope to her. "And to wish you good luck."

"What's this?" Marta asked, looking at the envelope.

"Money, of course, sis. The little you have will probably only last as far as the city limits. With this, you might at least make it to the country border."

There wasn't much that could surprise Marta de la Reina in her life. But her brother's caring and practical gesture did. She had always underestimated him, the one who had been the quietest of them all. And sometimes also the one who everyone thought was the weakest. Even Marta had sometimes thought that of him and had long felt she had to protect him. But what everyone saw as a supposed weakness, the impossibility of seeing it differently for even a moment, was merely a product of their upbringing and the family traditions into which they had both been born. Presumably, if Marta had managed to talk to him earlier and more often, really talk to him, she would have realised long ago that his weakness was actually his strength. And it would have done her good to spend more time with him, Marta suspected. She hoped that one day she would have the opportunity to do so again. Also to apologise for her arrogance, which had certainly often affected him as well.