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Aisha put her arms around Gabi’s waist and hugged her. “Are you okay?”
Gabi showed Aisha the nugget inside the locket. “I’m fine. She was happy here.”
“Do you think people can die of a broken heart?”
She stroked Aisha’s cheek. “I know I could.”
Aisha kissed her.
“I want to take flowers,” Gabi said.
“We can pick some up at the market.”
The market stalls Gabi remembered had changed owners. The old man’s rug stall had been replaced by a bohemian-style pottery display. Matiás’s jewellery stall had been replaced by another. She bought a bunch of pink carnations, red roses, and white lilies, and they made their way, hand in hand, to the cemetery.
It looked bigger, probably because it housed more people now. There were new names on the wall with the little boxes that held the ashes, and the statue that had been in a decrepit state all those years ago hadn’t been restored.
She stopped at the Flores family plot and stared at her nana’s full name, Estrella Sánchez Flores, engraved beneath the names and dates that marked her parents’ short lives. Aisha squeezed Gabi’s hand. Gabi laid the flowers down. “She had a long life. A good life.”
Aisha wiped tears from her cheek and Gabi drew her closer. “It’s still sad.”
“Loss always is.”
They walked back to the apartment with the urn and sat it on the table on the balcony overlooking the river and out to the Sacromonte hills. She hoped Nana could see them.
Aisha handed her a glass of Rioja, and they made a toast. Aisha looked towards the hills, and Gabi noticed the tremble in her hand as she sipped her drink. She put her arm around her waist and held her close.
“Are you ready to go back there?”
Aisha sighed. “If I don’t go now, I never will.”
The caves looked the same, a change of door colour here and there, and Matiás’s workshop in the field opposite had been well maintained. Gabi felt his warmth and kindness, and Aisha turned her wedding ring with her thumb as they stared at the pomegranate tree.
Gabi poured Nana’s ashes around the root and stared at them. Tears filled her eyes and burst onto her cheeks. “I swore I wasn’t going to cry,” she said.
Aisha wiped her eyes. “It’s impossible not to cry with so much love here.”
They sniffled together, holding hands, and the sniffles turned to a chuckle, and the chuckle to laughter. Gabi didn’t have a clue what she was laughing about, but it was good to laugh here. She took a deep breath. “Are you ready?”
Aisha gazed towards her parents’ house. Nana had kept them informed. Her papa had long since died, and her sister had three children and a baby grandchild.
“Yes,” she said.
The front door to her mama’s house was open, and Aisha glanced across the field. Her mama was picking the crops, her back bent low, her movements a snail’s pace. Aisha pressed her hand to her chest.
“I’m right here,” Gabi whispered. “If you want to leave, we can.”
Aisha shook her head. “It’s the right time.”
Aisha frowned at woman who walked towards them with a toddler holding her hand, and then she smiled. Conchita stopped walking and held her hand to her mouth. Gabi felt Aisha’s hesitation, and her heart thundered. Conchita let go of the child’s hand, ran towards them, and threw herself into Aisha’s arms.
Gabi blew out a long breath.
“It’s you, it’s you,” Conchita said.
Conchita’s noise alerted Aisha’s mama, who looked up and started towards them. The child cried.
“I can’t believe it’s really you,” Conchita said, her eyes wet with tears.
