AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat. “You said it has been two hours since you last saw her?”
“That’s not the point.”
He wiggled the red tie at his neck. “She will not be considered missing.”
The great emphasis he had placed on the word missing didn’t escape Gabi. That he was technically accurate grated even more. “I’m going to see if I can find her,” Gabi said through gritted teeth. She forced a tight-lipped smile and turned her back to him. She took a deep breath to alleviate her heart palpitations, and another, and stood still until the dizziness had abated. She didn’t need this stress. She needed a quiet night and a long sleep. She needed the comfort of…comfort of what?
“May I suggest you start at the river,” the man said.
Fuck. She hadn’t thought that Nana might have drowned. She turned back and glared at him, and the smile slowly slipped from his lips.
“It is the place many of our guests go for an evening stroll.”
As she walked, she had to admit he was trying to be helpful, but she wasn’t overreacting. She knew how vulnerable Nana was even if Nana didn’t show it. Gabi shouldn’t have left her to walk back to the hotel on her own. If something happened to Nana, she would have to face her dad, and she would feel eternally guilty. And pissed off that he’d been right about her being incapable of helping anyone but herself.
She started jogging, searching among what looked like the whole population of Granada for Nana’s silver-white head of hair. After two hundred yards, her lungs were burning. She stopped, took a couple of deep breaths, and reverted to walking, scanning in every direction until she reached the river. The water looked deep, and the current was strong. Everything blurred in front of her eyes. Which way should she go?
She walked for ten minutes before she sat on the wall of a small plaza that overlooked the river, held her head in her hands, and allowed the tears to fall silently. She didn’t want anyone to stop and ask if she was okay, because she’d break down completely. She needed to be strong for Nana. She rubbed her eyes and lifted her head.
“Are you all right, Gabriela? What happened?”
“Nana.” She jumped up and wrapped her arms around Nana and held her tightly. The tears flowed, but they were out of joy and relief. “I was so scared.”
“Cariño, about what?”
Gabi let her go and stared at her. “About you. Where did you go to? You were supposed to be at the hotel and when I got back, I thought something horrible had happened.”
“Cariño, why would you think that? I feel safe here. I wasn’t tired, so I took a walk.” She perched on the wall and rested both hands over the pommel of her cane in front of her. “Sit down, cariño. Enjoy this wonderful place.”
Gabi sat, not because she wanted to, but because she felt as though she’d had the wind knocked out of her. “I was frickin’ terrified.”
Nana patted her on the knee. They sat in silence. The elation seeped from Gabi as her insides unwound, and she felt sick. A flash of irritation gave way to exhaustion. She closed her eyes and willed herself to stay calm. Nana was safe, and that was all that mattered.
“I used to sneak out from my house and walk here with a boy.” She sighed. “It was romantic and exciting,” Nana said.
Gabi opened her eyes. Nana was smiling, and her cheeks had coloured. It was hard to imagine Nana being that young. This wasn’t Grandpa she was talking about because she would have called him by his name. Intrigue got the better of Gabi as she watched Nana reliving the fond memories of that time. “Were you in love with him?”
“Juan was his name. Yes.”
Her eyes watered, though she was still smiling as she gazed out at the river. She had been in love with someone other than Grandpa. All Gabi knew of Nana’s history was that she and Grandpa had fled to England at the beginning of the Second World War on a shipping boat via Gibraltar. Grandpa had been a civil guard, and Great Grandpa, Nana’s father, a senior guard commander. After Nana and Grandpa moved to England, he worked for the British government as a civil servant of some kind. He’d died before Gabi was born, and she’d never heard Nana talking about him. She’d had no reason to ask questions before, but now her head was filled with them. “If you loved Juan, why didn’t you marry him?”
Her smile broadened. “It wasn’t possible. He was a gitano.”
“A what?”
“They are Romani Gypsies who originated from southern Asia. Some settled here hundreds of years ago, and many still live in the caves in the Sacromonte hills.”
“So, why couldn’t you marry him?”
“Franco killed gitanos without reason, and I was the daughter of a guard commander. I wasn’t even allowed to speak to him, let alone walk with him.”
Gabi’s heart ached at the sadness she saw in Nana’s eyes. The cruelty was hard to stomach. “If I loved someone that much, I couldn’t leave them.”
Nana sighed. “I hope not. I’m pleased the world has changed for you.”
Nana must have been broken-hearted leaving behind the man she loved, but that made something else more confusing. “Why did you marry Grandpa if you didn’t love him?”
Nana took a deep breath, and there was a long silence before she responded. “Circumstances, Gabriela. It wasn’t safe for a young woman to travel alone, so being married gave me some protection.” She pinched her lips together and took a deep breath. “And I did learn to love your grandfather.”
