Read Online Autumn in Catalonia by Jane MacKenzie - Free Book Online Page B

Grandma and Victor’s house, and the car looked absurdly incongruous in the tight little street. The last time she had seen Toni he had come looking for her in Barcelona. Her blood chilled at the thought that he might also have come looking for her here today.
    She stopped to watch as Toni stepped towards the rear of the car, reaching out a hand to open the back door. The door opened before he could get there, though, and a young man got out whom Carla didn’t recognise. Toni stepped back from him, and then moved towards the front door of the apartment building. Oh my God, Carla thought, could Toni be taking one of her father’s men up to the apartment? They must indeed be looking for her! But could Toni really be helping one of her father’s men against her?
    She hurried towards the car, calling out as she went. ‘Toni, what are you doing here?’
    Both men stopped in their tracks. The young man turned, and she vaguely noted that he was about her own age, but her eyes were fixed on Toni. And Toni was gaping back at her, an expression of pure shock freezing his face.
    ‘Carla!’ was all he said, when he found his voice. But the single word was wonderful to hear.
    ‘You didn’t know I was here!’ she said, and felt her nerves relax a fraction.
    Toni shook his head, still staring incredulously at her. He hadn’t been told anything by her father, that was for sure. If he was on a mission from Sergi, he was flying blind.
    She kept her eyes on his. ‘And you didn’t know I was pregnant either?’ She rubbed her huge bump.
    He shook his head several times, as though taking the time to absorb what he was seeing. ‘No,’ was all he managed.
    ‘So you haven’t come here because of me?’
    ‘No, but Carla …’
    ‘Yes, I know. It must be a shock. Lord, the last time I saw you was a year ago, and I wasn’t pregnant then! Well things happen, Toni, including pregnancies. You’re still with my father, obviously.’ Her gaze took in the car and his uniform.
    ‘With your mother, at the moment, up at the hill house.’
    Carla was amazed. ‘She’s still there in October?’
    ‘Yes, this year she didn’t come back down to Girona with your father. In fact he hardly stayed there this summer. She’s on her own up there.’
    ‘My God! She must have a lover or something, to maroon herself up there all this time! And she didn’t send you to find me? No? So you’re looking for Grandma? How strange!’
    It was Carla’s turn to shake her head. A jumbled vision crowded her head of the hill house, mountain skies, and her mother sitting on the wide veranda, looking as elegant as ever, probably with a glass in her hand. It was a painful little picture, a barrier to coherent thought, and she tried to pull her mind back to the present. Toni had come to Girona, but not looking for her, so that meant Joana didn’t know she was at Grandma’s. Not that it changed anything, because her father knew exactly where she was, and was watching her more closely than ever. But for now, this visit by Toni had not come from Sergi. So who was the young man with him?
    She became aware of herself, of them all, standing there agape like frozen effigies in the street, and as she looked again at Toni she allowed herself a moment of emotion. She put her shopping down on the ground again, took a step towards him, and wrapped her arms around him.
    ‘It’s good to see you, Toni,’ she said, and was surprised to hear her voice shaking. She felt daily more isolated, and Toni’s was a friendly face from different days.
    Toni hugged her gingerly and then eased her gently away from him, looking down at her bump. ‘It’s good to see you too, Carla, but … is your husband staying here too?’ His voice was deeply troubled.
    ‘No, Toni, there’s no husband, although there should have been – was going to be until my father stepped in. Listen, Toni, I can’t explain about my pregnancy, not now, not here and not like this. But please, don’t tell my