‘I’m sure he is here, Ally,’ I said as a sudden tingle ran up my spine, and I felt the hairs on my arms stand on end. I’d always wondered what it meant, and Angelina had explained it was because a spirit was present. So I smiled as I heard Theo ask me a question for Ally.
‘He says he wants to know why you’re not wearing the eye,’ I said.
Ally’s face drained of colour as her hand went automatically to her neck.
‘I . . . Tiggy, how can you know about that? It was a necklace he bought me just after he proposed. It was only cheap and a few weeks ago, the chain broke and I still haven’t got round to getting it fixed . . . oh my God, Tiggy, oh my God.’
Ally looked so terrified that I immediately felt guilty, but I was sitting in the sacred caves of Sacromonte with all the power that they held from centuries of my ancestors, and I couldn’t stop what I was hearing.
‘He also says he likes the name “Bear”.’
‘We were once talking about what we’d call our kids, and I said I liked Teddy, and he said . . . he said’ – Ally gulped – ‘that he preferred “Bear”.’
‘He loves you, Ally, and he also says . . .’ I listened hard as I could feel the energy weakening, ‘to be prepared.’
She looked at me in confusion. ‘What does that mean?’
‘Honestly, Ally, I have no idea, I’m sorry.’
‘I . . .’ Ally wiped her eyes roughly with the backs of her hands, ‘I’m so . . . gobsmacked by what you’ve just said. My God, Tiggy, what a gift you have. I mean, really, there’s no way you could have known those things. Just no way.’
‘Something’s happened to me here,’ I said quietly. ‘It’s difficult to explain, but apparently I come from a long line of gypsy psychics. I’ve always felt things, but since I met Angelina, and after what she’s taught me, everything has started to make sense.’
‘So you have found a relative?’ Ally said as she visibly composed herself.
‘Oh yes. As Charlie saw earlier, I’ve actually got scores of them. They were all at the fiesta tonight, but I’ve been spending the most time with Angelina and her Uncle Pepe – my great-uncle.’
‘So . . . this is starting to make sense to me too. You’re descended from a line of gypsies, and we all know about their fortune-telling talents.’ Ally smiled at me.
‘Well, I haven’t seen a single crystal ball or a piece of heather so far,’ I said, suddenly feeling prickly and defensive. ‘Angelina is what they call a bruja, in other words, a medicine woman, who knows more about herbs and plants and their healing properties than anyone I’ve ever met. She’s spent her life caring for not only the gypsies but the payos – the non-gypsies. She’s a force for good, and what she does is real, Ally, I promise you.’
‘After what you just said to me about Theo, I’m ready to believe anything,’ Ally said with a shudder. ‘Anyway, before you freak me out any more, it’s time we both went to bed. Help me up, will you?’
Ally reached out a hand and I pulled her upright.
She winced slightly and clasped her belly, then looked up at me. ‘Want to feel your niece or nephew kick?’
‘I’d love to,’ I said as Ally guided my hand just to the left of her belly button. After a few seconds, I felt a sharp thrust into my curved palm. It was the first time I’d ever felt a baby kick and it brought tears to my eyes.
We hugged and then walked along the narrow corridor towards our rooms.
‘Night, darling Tiggy. Sleep well.’
‘And you, Ally. And I’m really sorry if . . .’
‘Shh,’ Ally put a finger to her lips. ‘Once I’ve managed to actually process it, what just happened is going to stand out as one of the most special moments of my life. Oh . . .’
‘What?’
‘You know he said he liked the name “Bear”?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s not a good name for a girl, is it?’
‘No, it isn’t,’ I said, and gave her a little wink. ‘Night, Ally.’
*
The next day, I staggered out of the blackness of my cave-room and into the bright sunshine. Sitting at one of the tables in the courtyard was the unlikely mix of my boss, my sister, and my newly discovered gitano relatives.
‘Hello, Sleeping Beauty,’ Ally teased me. ‘I was just about to come and get you. It’s noon already.’
‘I’m so sorry, I’ve never slept in as late as that in my life.’
Angelina muttered something and shrugged her shoulders expressively.
‘She says you need your sleep,’ said Charlie.
‘You speak Spanish?’ I asked in surprise.
‘I spent my gap year working in Seville. Angelina and I have had a very interesting conversation. She tells me she’s a practising doctor of medicine too.’
‘She is.’
‘She’s also told me that she has been treating you for your heart problems since you arrived here.’
‘Really?’ I looked at Angelina. ‘Is this true? ‘That stuff you’ve been making me drink . . .’
‘Sí,’ Angelina shrugged. Then she spoke again in Spanish to Charlie, gesticulating at me, which really irritated me as I couldn’t pick up most of what they were saying.
‘She said that your “ancestors” came to help you when you went to the woods. And they are helping you still.’
‘Did they? Are they? Well, if they are, I’m really happy. Especially if it means I don’t have to go to the hospital . . .’
‘Sorry, Tiggy, even though I have an open mind when it comes to alternative treatments, we still need to do those tests. And we need to leave now, if you don’t mind.’
‘Okay,’ I sighed, surrendering.
‘Marcella has said she will drive us there. I’ll be back in a moment.’
Charlie departed to go to his room, whilst Angelina, Ally and I sat in the sun eating warm bread and jam, washed down with another dose of potion.
‘This must be good for me,’ I said, crossing my eyes exaggeratedly as I sucked the last couple of mouthfuls from the straw. ‘Angelina, why didn’t you tell me you saw my sickness?’
‘Sickness makes fear, and fear becomes a sickness itself. Better you do not know. Then you get better quickly.’
‘You certainly look well,’ Ally put in. ‘I told her and Charlie what you said to me last night, that you couldn’t have known. Honestly, Tiggy.’ Ally put her hand on mine. ‘I’m still getting over the shock.’
‘Oh God.’ I blushed to the roots of my hair. ‘So Charlie knows all about me too?’
‘Yes, but you shouldn’t be embarrassed, Tiggy. What you can do is absolutely amazing.’
‘Sí.’ Angelina patted her chest proudly. ‘She is of my blood.’
‘Right, we’d better go,’ said Charlie, reappearing on the terrace.
Marcella sped us down the narrow streets towards the city, and if anything was going to give me a heart attack, her driving certainly could, I thought. Without a care for her tiny Punto, she careered around corners and almost lost one of the wing mirrors squeezing through the tiny alleyways. Charlie, Ally and I all breathed more easily when she drove through the city gates at the bottom of the hill, and we merged into the relative safety of the heavy Granada traffic.
I glanced at my watch and saw it was already nearing one. ‘It’s going to take us ages to be seen, I’m sure.’
‘We won’t have to wait,’ said Charlie. ‘I phoned a friend who knew a friend who works in the cardiac department here. I’m just going to call her to let her know that we’re here.’
Five minutes later we climbed out of Marcella’s car, giving Ally a hand to extract her from the front seat. As we made our way into the hospital reception I saw a very attractive woman with glossy dark curls approach Charlie. The two of them chatted for a while as Ally and I hung back out of politeness.
‘This is Tiggy.’ Charlie eventually introduced us in English. ‘Meet Rosa, who has very kindly offered to help us jump the queue.’
‘Ho
la, Tiggy.’ Rosa held out her hand and shook mine. ‘Now, we go.’
Rosa and Charlie led the way, still chatting as I walked behind them with Ally, feeling like a child being dragged to a dentist. We went up in a lift and emerged into a small reception area, where Rosa spoke to the woman behind the desk.
‘Please, sit,’ she said to us. We did so, then I turned to Charlie.
‘So, exactly what am I having?’
‘You’ll have another ECG first, then an echocardiogram, as well as some blood tests. Apart from my professional judgement, Angelina agreed that other tests were a good idea.’
‘Is she worried about me?’
‘I think the opposite actually. Angelina thinks you’re well on the way to being cured, and she wants to prove that to me. Anyway, it certainly won’t do any harm.’
A nurse with a clipboard came over and asked me to follow her. I could almost feel the animosity of the other patients who had probably been sitting there for hours and were almost certainly far sicker than I was . . .
Three hours later, having had all the tests and scans, I dressed and went back to sit in the waiting room with Ally.
‘Has Charlie left?’
‘No. He disappeared with the gorgeous Rosa and hasn’t been seen since.’ Ally giggled. ‘Maybe she’s seduced him in the scanner; she certainly looked as though she wanted to eat him.’
‘Really?’
‘Didn’t you notice? It’s not surprising, is it? He’s a very attractive man.’
‘He’s quite old, Ally,’ I rubbed my nose, just in case I was blushing.
‘Old?! Honestly, Tiggy, he’s only thirty-eight, and people in their thirties – like me – still have a pulse, you know . . .’
‘Sorry, I often forget that there’s an age gap of seven years between us. Anyway, there he is, so he’s obviously survived the seduction.’
Charlie was holding a large envelope. ‘You okay, Tiggy?’ he asked me as he sat down.
‘Yup, never better.’
‘And yes,’ Charlie tapped the envelope, ‘it seems you are. Better, that is. I’ll need to do some more analysis of the scans, but the heart muscle does appear to have recovered somewhat. Your ECG was normal as well, although when you arrive back in Scotland, I’d like to put you on a black box for a couple of days or so, just to make sure it’s stabilised.’
‘What’s a black box?’
‘It monitors your heart and gives us an overall picture of how it’s functioning.’
‘So you definitely think there’s been an improvement, Charlie?’ Ally cut in. She always liked to get straight to the point.
‘Dare I say it, but yes. Of course, this might be something to do with the fact that Tiggy has been resting. Or sometimes the heart begins to heal itself . . .’
‘What? Can hearts really mend in ten days?’ Ally queried.
‘Not normally, no, but—’
‘Told you I was feeling better,’ I put in smugly.
‘Do you think that Angelina’s treatments might have had an effect?’ Ally asked.
‘Something has,’ Charlie admitted. ‘Although don’t get too cocky, miss,’ he added, wagging a finger at me. ‘There’s still some slight inflammation, but I’m happy to have you fly home tomorrow and then we can monitor you properly for a while.’
‘I’m really sorry, Charlie, but I’m not coming back to Scotland. I want to stay in Granada. I have Angelina and Pepe to look after me, it’s warm, and I feel more relaxed than I have done for ages. I can always come back to the hospital here and see your Rosa if I have a problem.’
Ally and Charlie shared a look, which reminded me of Ma and old Dr Gerber doing the same when I was a child. Nine times out of ten, that look meant bad news for me.
‘Tiggy, we really think you should fly home as soon as possible. I can’t stay with you, because of you-know-who –’ Ally pointed at her bump – ‘but Charlie has told me that what you need is rest.’
‘Tiggy, myocarditis is . . .’ Charlie searched for the word, ‘unpredictable. I want you to take it easy for the time being, instead of wandering through woods at night, speaking to dead people.’
‘Don’t describe it like that, Charlie,’ I reprimanded him. ‘I’ve got better here – even you’re saying I have.’
‘I don’t think Charlie meant it like that, Tiggy.’ Ally came to his rescue. ‘But neither of us trusts you to rest if you stay here alone.’
‘No, we don’t, and Beryl has already said she’d be happy to take care of you at the Lodge. She’ll have me on speed dial, ready to despatch an air ambulance straight to you in any emergency. So for now, why don’t you two head back to the hotel? I’m staying here for a while. Rosa’s going to take me to their research lab – it’s state of the art apparently.’
‘I bet she is,’ mumbled Ally under her breath. ‘Right, see you later, Charlie.’ She heaved herself up. ‘I don’t know about you, Tiggy, but I’m starving. Shall we get something to eat in the city before we head upwards?’
With me still smarting that Charlie had abandoned us for the charms of Rosa, we asked for directions and then walked to the bustling Plaza Nueva. With every step I took, I felt the jumbled history of this city, from engravings of Spanish pomegranates, to colourful Moorish tiles. The square was lined with grand sandstone buildings, teeming cafés and shops, and a crowd had formed around a pair of flamenco dancers who were dancing in the bright sun. Up above us, the fortified walls of the Alhambra were flanked by trees, as if they were still guarding this city a thousand years on.
We found a cosy bodega in one of the cobbled alleyways off the square, mismatched chairs and tables squeezed into a tiny room where we could feel the heat from the kitchen. Having chosen from the gorgeous array of tapas dishes, Ally tucked into chorizo and empanadillas, whilst I enjoyed patatas bravas and roasted artichokes, the only vegan things on the menu.
‘So, Tiggy.’ Ally eyed me over her cup of coffee. ‘I hope you’re going to obey doctor’s orders and fly back to Scotland tomorrow.’
‘No way am I going back to Kinnaird, and that’s that.’
‘Tiggy, what is it? This is Ally you’re talking to. You know I’m like a vault; I won’t tell anyone, promise.’
‘I . . . the thing is, Ally, there’s been nothing going on between me and Charlie but—’
‘I thought it might be something like that. I mean, it’s been pretty obvious to me from that first phone call how Charlie feels about you.’
‘Ally! We’re just friends, really. He’s my boss . . .’
‘Theo was mine. So?’ Ally countered.
‘And even if Charlie wasn’t,’ I continued, ‘you wouldn’t believe how complicated his life is. He’s married for starters, to a seriously scary – and very tall – woman.’
‘Okay, answer me honestly, Tiggy: have you or haven’t you been having an affair with Charlie Kinnaird?’
‘No!’ I insisted. ‘I absolutely haven’t, but . . . look, I’ll tell you as long as you swear not to say anything to another soul.’
‘I don’t think anyone in Bergen is interested in your love life, Tiggy.’
‘True, but I really don’t want Ma or the rest of our sisters to know. The Valkyrie – that’s my nickname for Charlie’s wife – thinks something’s been going on between us too. She came to see me in the hospital and basically told me never to darken her – and Charlie’s – door again.’
‘Right. Presumably Charlie doesn’t know anything about this?’
‘No.’
‘But you do . . . like him, don’t you, Tiggy? I can see you do.’
‘Of course I do! So that’s why I left, even though I’ve done nothing I should be ashamed of, I . . . well’ – I felt the blush rise to my cheeks – ‘I wanted to, Ally. And it isn’t right. Charlie’s a married man and I’m not going to be a home wrecker. They have a sixteen-year-old daughter too! Besides, look at the way Rosa reacted to him. I don’t want to be one of the many women who throw themselves at him. That would be
sad, it really would.’
‘Tiggy, how many boyfriends have you actually had?’
‘Oh, a couple, but not anyone serious.’
‘You have had . . . you know?’
‘Yes,’ I said, lowering my eyes in embarrassment, ‘but only a couple of times. I’m afraid I’m one of those old-fashioned girls who equate sex with love.’
‘I understand completely, and there’s no need to be ashamed of it.’
‘Isn’t there? I sometimes feel that I’m really pathetic and out of date. All my mates at uni didn’t think twice about spending the night with a man they’d just met at a party. And why shouldn’t they take their pleasure like a man?’
‘Because they’re not men?’ Ally rolled her eyes. ‘I just don’t understand the feminists who seem to model themselves on males, rather than relying on what I think is our superior set of female life skills. I swear, Tiggy, if we use those instead of trying to ape men, we’d be ruling the world within a decade or two. Anyway, I digress. My point was that you’re not very experienced with men, are you?’
‘No.’
‘Well, I’m here to tell you that the one we just left at the hospital two hours ago is not only decent, kind, and incredibly attractive,’ Ally winked at me, ‘but he’s also as keen on you as you are on him. Why else do you think he’d go to all this trouble?’
‘Professional reasons, Ally. He told me himself.’
‘Rubbish. Charlie came here because he cares about you deeply. I’d say he’s almost certainly in love with you . . .’
‘Please don’t say that, Ally,’ I begged her. ‘You’ll just make me more confused.’
‘Sorry, but given what I’ve been through in the past few months, I’ve realised that the moment is all we have. Life’s too short, Tiggy. And whatever you decide, I just wanted to tell you that the way he feels about you is written all over him, so no wonder his wife was feeling insecure.’
‘Then surely it’s best I just disappear? It’s all too complicated.’
‘Life usually is, and certainly to get anything worthwhile. Anyway, the bottom line is, you can’t stay here alone. So, if you won’t go back to Scotland, then how about Atlantis? Ma would love to have you, and the hospitals in Geneva are second to none. What do you think?’
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