by Stefania Gil
Sigh.
The taxi slowed down to take exit 14 and after passing a couple of roundabouts, it turned right onto a dark road that was in pretty bad condition. After a couple of minutes, the large fence that surrounded the estate appeared before them. There was a rather rickety sign on which: “The Alcalá Orange Grove” could hardly be seen.
She motioned for the taxi driver to leave her there. She paid with her credit card. She stood before the great iron gate. It was huge most old houses.
It was one thing to see it in the photographs and another to stand there and be able to touch it. It was cold, full of corrosion and rusty bubbles in some parts. Those irons would need repairing immediately because they could not afford to lose them. They no longer made gates as solid and secure as these.
She looked for an intercom to announce her arrival. It was night. A single bulb shone almost like a firefly in the middle of a vast field at midnight with no moon.
Isabel began to wonder where the hell she was going to go if she could not find a damn intercom.
She felt an intense pang at her ankle and bounced a little cursing in a loud voice at the mosquito attacking her.
With no intercom and no cell phone, she was not sure how in the heck she was going to tell them she was out there and spending the night there, it was not an option.
She sighed again and as a second thought, turned the gate’s latch. Like a true miracle, it opened.
Isabel was thankful at the moment. However, she made a mental note that the gate not only needed repair, but also a lock. Nothing could be done if they had a monstrous security system that was left open.
Of course, with that came an intercom. A modern one with a camera and lots of lights.
She started walking down the dirt path that led to the house she could see in the background. It didn’t seem far away but she realized it was after walking for several minutes on the dirt path in her fabulous designer stilettos.
“What the hell did I get myself into?” she replied in a loud tired voice. “Poor Carlota, how do you live in these conditions?”
She didn’t trust restorations from a distance. The photographs didn’t do justice to the reality that Isabel had before her tired and irritated eyes.
It was true, the house was a dream. It was big and imposing with old architecture that welcomes you inside. Surely a house as old as this had many stories to tell and that motivated Isabel.
She needed to captivate those stories.
She touched the strong wood of the door. She could feel all the scratches left from over the years. It was marked by the passage of time, by people.
Just as she was marked by Luke. How could she forget the man she loved and the only man she had ever loved in her life?
She felt a lump in her throat that she was immediately able to contain because she heard her niece's laughter. She could not let the child see her cry.
She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
***
Ed was in a session of “Daddy is a zombie who wants to eat you” when there was a knock at the door. According to the hour and how timid the knock sounded, it just seemed strange.
“Come on, Alicia,” he carried the laughing child, “let's see who's come to visit us.”
Beside the door, a long small window was used to see who was at the door.
He was surprised when he saw his sister-in-law, without luggage and dressed to kill.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he opened the door. He knew he would soon have a tremendous urge to punch Luke and tell the idiot what a damn fool he was for breaking his sister-in-law’s heart.
The little girl smiled wide when she saw her.
“Auntie,” she said, opening her arms. Isabel could not resist the reception.
The little girl spun a couple of times, and then Isabel pressed her tightly against her chest.
Edward folded his arms and smiled at the scene.
Then he hugged his sister-in-law very tightly and she took refuge in his chest like a child.
“I'm sorry to come this way.”
Edward sighed. Was it wrong to want to hire a hit man to kill Luke, because that was precisely what he wanted to do?
“It's all right, Isa, this is your home too, and you can come when and how you wish.”
“You're a dear, Ed. My sister is lucky to have found you.”
“Let`s go inside.”
They entered and Edward noticed how Isabel stopped to look at every detail of the house.
“It’s beautiful,” she said as she walked down the main hall. “We’re going to need to fix a lot in here. Small repairs, but there will be many. I’m going to make it sparkle like the cover of a magazine.” Isabel looked for her sister, “and Carlota?”
Edward smiled.
“She’s in the basement. She has discovered some old photos and our neighbor Alfonso is telling her about a legend surrounding this estate.”
Isabel interrupted him.
“Is she writing again?”
“Well, not yet, but I think she will surprise us soon. She’s already talking about the things they talk about and she has commented that the basement has a great history. Since yesterday she only leaves it to eat and I carry her to our room when she falls asleep.”
“That's good...” Isabel said, turning around so Edward couldn’t see the moisture building in her eyes. “I’m so happy for her. For you.”
Edward could not ignore the fact his sister-in-law was trying to hide her grief. Although he wanted to hug her so she could let it all out, he thought it would be best to give her space. She would let him in when she was ready.
“It smells good.” She said trying to raise her spirits.
“You came just in time for dinner. We are going to serve it at our makeshift table and then we will call Carlota and surprise her.”
“Perfect. Come here.” Isabel carrying Alice back and giving her a series of ticklish kisses that made her laugh out loud.
***
When Carlota climbed the basement steps, she crossed the laundry room and entered into what would be the new kitchen. She felt a mixture of happiness and anger at seeing her little sister there.
Her husband told her to come up because dinner was ready and he had a surprise. A surprise. A surprise is something positive you give someone. It was true she loved that Isabel was already here. She knew exactly why her younger sister had arrived in the middle of the night in Spain, dressed as she would say "to kill" and without luggage.
Normal people, in normal situations, did not travel that way nonetheless without luggage. Or at least, not them. Carlota and Isabel were well-known for traveling with luggage to spare in case they ever needed it.
She went to embrace her sister, and Isabel burst into tears.
“Shhh, don’t cry any more for that asshole.” Carlota wanted to kill the asshole, but first she wanted to make him suffer with tortures devices used in the middle ages.
“I need wine, please.” Isabel said through sobs, and a glass filled with dark liquid was placed in her hand. “Thank you, Ed.”
“There is no need for that, honey, and we have plenty. Drink as much as you want and drown your sorrow in alcohol so that tomorrow you will be as good as new.”
“Good advice.” Carlota said as she handed Isabel a napkin and took a sip of her wine.
“It's the truth, Carlota. She has to heal. It’s like the five steps of mourning. It is a loss.”
Carlota looked at her husband with a sad face.
“All you have to do is visit that idiot Luke and give him a good beating. I’ll introduce him to a series of tortures later.”
“Carlota! Please! God forbid something would happen to my Luke!”
Ed looked his wife and understood why she was so exasperated by the absurd love that Isabel had for Luke despite everything the bastard had done to her.
“I'd better change Alicia.” Edward said, picking up the little girl.
“How cou
ld you wish such on Luke?”
“Are you serious, Isabel? You are being serious?” Carlota raised her voice more than was ethically correct.
“And why would I play with something so serious?” said the youngest of the sisters, “You are wishing evil on the man I love. What if I did the same to your Ed? Luke is not bad; don’t wish that kind of thing on him.”
Carlota silently studied her sister. She was trying to remain calm because she knew if she let go, she would choke her and things were going to get very ugly between her and Isabel.
“He's not to blame for being confused.”
That was what broke Carlota's patience.
“There's more wine in there. She pointed to a box with a dozen bottles. You can drown in it if you like.”
She turned and walked to the stairs.
“Where are you going? Are you going to leave me alone? I'm very upset, Carlota!”
Carlota stopped, turned and looked her dead in her eyes.
“I'm sorry, Isabel. I can’t do anything for you, if you don’t admit to the dependence you have on Luke. Yes, it is bad that he makes you suffer and when he does, I feel an almost irreconcilable desire to go and give him a good kick in the ass that would send him to another galaxy because in all these years, you have done nothing but be unhappy and you owe it all to him.”
Isabel burst into tears and Carlota only clenched her fists and crossed her arms.
“I'm going to help Edward with Alice. We’ll talk later.”
***
Isabel felt like she was going to die with what her sister had just said.
She saw a black-tinted tear fall directly on her beautiful red dress. She was still sitting at the makeshift table crying like a child who had been denied a toy. She cried as if life itself were going to end.
Luke was part of her. How could she ever forget him?
She felt Carlota and Edward come downstairs again.
She tried to wipe away the tears that refused to leave her eyes.
“Take these.” Carlota handed her a handful of napkins.
“We can go upstairs while Ed serves dinner.”
“Thank you.”
Isabel followed her sister upstairs. She was still sobbing. She must have looked a mess because the napkins turned black with the make-up that was running down her cheeks.
“I left you some clean clothes and a towel.” She pointed to a door between two rooms. “You have everything you need inside.”
“I'm sorry, I feel like I’m going to die, Carl.”
Isabel put her hand to her breast and burst into tears again.
Carlota could not help giving her the comfort she so desperately needed.
She hugged her very hard.
“It's all over, Isabel. All. Later you will realize that Luke made you very unhappy.”
Isabel cried harder after hearing that because she knew deep down her sister was right.
She went into the bathroom, got undressed and slipped into the tub.
She wanted to stay there forever to see if by any chance her feelings for Luke could be drown with the water and let out of the drain.
How bad and silly she felt to choose a place with people to get over her heartbreak. She should have gone to a hotel, away from everything and everyone.
She needed some damn time, days, weeks even, until Luke was an unimportant memory in her life.
What was he doing now? Would he miss her?
She wanted to think so. Deep down, she also kept hoping that he would realize how stupid he had been and that he loved her more than anything in the world. Isabel took pleasure in the moment of happiness in which he at least, after all these years said, “I Love you”.
She burst into tears again. It was no longer from sadness or pain, no, she was angry with herself for ever being so naive. So dumb to believe that her dreams would come true.
Her perfect life with Luke, was always in her dreams.
VII
Amazingly, the days began to pass quickly for Isabel. It had been fifteen days since she had arrived in the middle of the night in her dazzling red dress and her heart torn to pieces.
Her heart was still in the same state. She cried every night in the solitude of her room. Her chest hurt when she thought about Luke, which still happened each day with an incredible frequency.
Especially when she had nothing to do.
So she tried to keep busy with a lot of physical activity during the day so nightfall would be melted into the next day. It was not going as well as she wanted. She was losing weight too quickly and soon she began to feel like she couldn’t get out of bed.
Every time she looked in the mirror she had the feeling that she had grown older than what she thought was normal.
She no longer knew how in hell to find the perfect method to help her regain her life and forget about Luke.
Her sister suggested that she party a little. Alfonso had a charming nephew, handsome and who seemed to be interested in her but she, did not want to go out with him. She did not want to get involved with anyone until she forgot Luke.
Sigh.
She took a sip of her coffee while she reviewed some plans on her computer. Some decoration designs she had been working on for a week. Everything was going very well.
She was distracted for a few seconds with the contagious laughter of Alice who was being chased by her nanny. Thanks to Pilar, they found Laura, who now took care of Alicia because Edward wanted to continue learning to work in the field and Carlota was busy with a wonderful idea for a new novel. She was taking advantage of her muses in the basement.
The basement.
That was the only space in the house she had not entered to do a professional inspection. In a vain attempt to make her feel better, Carlota took her down there to tell her about the legend Alfonso referred to as “The Alcala Orange Grove”.
Of course, Isabel didn’t listen to the famous legend because she was submerged in her thoughts for a better future and Luke. Upon realizing she was not paying attention, Carlota aborted the mission by telling her that at some point, they would return because she wanted to turn that area into her studio.
She already had elaborate sketches of the decoration for the whole house. Some furniture had even begun to arrive. The walls were freshly painted and the lamps were already hung. Some things were missing and the rest, she and Carlota would do them at some point.
The rooms on the second floor were almost ready. Only one bathroom was left to be restored.
The kitchen had been fitted with appliances that had an antique feel. Isabel selected the perfect contrast with the simple and modern lines of the cabinets and the thick white marble countertop.
Isabel was very pleased with the outcome of everything. Even though they were going very fast. She was reaching the maximum dates proposed at the beginning of the year when they began to plan the trip and the general house remodel.
Considering that she had not planned her current situation with Luke, she thought about getting as far away from New York as possible but she could not leave her business for so long, and she didn’t like being separated from her love also.
Things were different and although she wanted to delay the decoration process, she could not. The days went by fast, the same way; her work calendar did when it was time to close the cycle.
What would she do after this? She could not throw everything away and start over.
No. She’d have to look for something new to decorate.
One thing at a time. She would think of something when she finished the estate.
She received an email from Jo that morning. Her friend told her that it was unthinkable that she would give her partnership in her company. She did not accept it and said all she had to do was sign a power of attorney stating she could sign and make decisions for the company that were needed while Isabel was out of the country. Of course, Jo was so diligent that, for sure, in a couple of days Isabel would be receiving said documents.
She would find a way to make Jo accept the position because she had no intention of returning anytime soon.
“What are you doing?” Carlota interrupted her, as she was rubbing some moisturizer on her hands. She had just finished washing the lunch dishes.
“Reviewing emails. Jo wrote me saying that she did not accept the proposal to be my partner.”
“I'm not surprised,” said Carlota, smiling. “Jo is unable to take anything that she has not earned.”
“Or that she has not paid for.” Replied the younger sister, “As is the case.”
“Well, maybe it's not necessary because you're almost done with remodeling the house. You just came for that.” Carlota looked her in the eyes waiting for her to say something.
Isabel smiled at her.
“I'm thinking all this is going very fast and I do not want to leave yet.”
Carlota's smile spread with sincerity.
“Well, you still haven’t checked my future job site. When were you going to do sketches down there?”
Isabel did not think twice. She picked up her sketchbook and her charcoal pencils. She followed her sister who carried two cups of good coffee for them both.
***
Carlota handed one of the cups to her sister.
“The coffee in this country is great”—and for both women, there was nothing better than a good cup of coffee when getting up and after lunch.
“Yes,” Carlota said, “I have become addicted to it.”
“Have you written anything?” Isabel asked curiously noticing that Carlota's computer was on with a blank page on the screen.
“No. She took a sip of her coffee. This morning I felt the words come together but I have writer’s block. For so long I had no motivation and now I don’t know where to start.”