Autumn in Catalonia

by Jane MacKenzie

  ‘You didn’t go to see Papa!’

  ‘No, Carla, what could I achieve by going to see him? No, Toni and I went to see Pablo Roig.’

  ‘Pablo Roig? But he’s Papa’s bitterest enemy – the biggest rat in the regional government!’

  ‘Exactly! Sergi stopped Roig from getting promotion once, and Pablo Roig never forgot it. So I took the blackmail documents to him.’

  ‘You did what?’

  ‘Well, I didn’t see Roig in person – he’s the most untrustworthy man you could imagine, and I wouldn’t want him to be able to let Sergi know sometime that his wife had spilt the beans on him. Toni took the documents in to him while I waited outside. Toni has never met Roig, so he can’t be connected to Sergi. Toni says he just told Roig he’d picked up the documents and felt they should be handed in to the correct authorities. Roig read the letters through and asked him to wait. He took them away, and when he came back he told Toni he’d done very right, and should just go away now, and take comfort in being a good citizen of Spain.’

  ‘Oh my God! He could have held Toni for questioning! Did you think of that, Mama?’

  ‘No he wouldn’t. Roig won’t even want it to be known that he handled the documents. He’ll have handed them on himself, very quietly. You may want to dispose of a rival, but you don’t want his demise to be pinned to you.’

  Carla chewed at what Joana had told them, and thought she was right. Her knowledge of the political world Sergi moved in was better than any of theirs, after all – but what a risky situation to have put Toni in, nevertheless!

  Joana seemed to read her mind. ‘Don’t think I forced Toni! Remember your stepfather sacked his mother when she became ill, and has refused her all help since. Toni was a willing accomplice, I can assure you. Ask him for yourself, and he’ll tell you.’

  Carla looked to Luc to see how he was reacting. He seemed to be more bemused than anything, and she wondered if he had taken in the significance of what Joana had done. A wave of anger and frustration went through Carla as she thought through all the possible implications.

  ‘So you’ve engineered Sergi’s fall from grace, Mama, is that it?’ she asked, wanting to be clear. ‘Will he be arrested?’

  Joana merely nodded, as though she didn’t want to say the words.

  ‘But you already said last week that you don’t think the allegations in the blackmail documents will be enough to get him ultimately convicted, or even to justify a trial. He’ll get out of gaol pretty quickly, don’t you think, with all the connections he’s got?’

  ‘Possibly Carla, but don’t look at me as though you wanted to murder me.’ Joana picked up her glass again and looked challengingly back at Carla. ‘The point is that he’ll have lost his power base, and he won’t be able to dog your lives, or blight Luc’s career. Don’t you realise what he could have done to you? He needn’t ever have shown himself openly, but provided he could follow your progress, he could always be there behind every spoilt opportunity, every time you were refused a bank loan, or a house. He may not have been able to influence your academics at Barcelona University, but anyone in government employment, or a bank, or even private employers, could have their view of you coloured by a word from a major regional government department. And he would have done it, believe me, for the sheer pleasure of being able to.’

  There was a silence. It was Luc who finally broke it, in a voice which sounded dead, and which pierced Carla to the core.

  ‘That’s probably true, Joana, and it might well have made our lives difficult. Instead of that, though, he will now be arrested, and with his connections he’ll get himself released in no time. And with or without his power base, he’ll believe Carla was responsible for his arrest, and he’ll come looking for us – in Terrassa or wherever we go afterwards. And this time he’ll have nothing to lose. He won’t be looking to bug our lives, but to destroy them.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  It was almost funny, Carla thought, how she and Martin reacted following Luc’s very blunt indictment. Within three seconds she was by Luc’s side, standing over him where he sat, in his bleak dismay, and in the same time Martin was next to Joana, a hand on her shoulder as so often before, like a devoted bodyguard. But Joana did not look in the least bit disturbed. She reached her hand up to pat Martin’s, and then rose from her chair to cross over to Luc, leaning down and kissing him gently on both cheeks.

  ‘I guess you just have to trust me that things won’t happen that way, Luc.’ She looked up into Carla’s face. ‘And you Carla. I haven’t done this for revenge, I promise you, and nor have I done it rashly, without thinking through the consequences.’

  She turned as Toni came into the room, and Carla was struck by how cheerful he looked. By all appearances he had enjoyed the role he had played this afternoon, and foresaw nothing bad from it either.

  ‘I’m just planning on heading down now, Senyora, if that’s all right with you?’ he said, and Joana nodded approval.

  ‘Have you eaten Toni? Well then, that’s fine, and yes, do head off. Toni,’ she explained to the others, ‘is going back down to Girona. He’ll stay over at the Girona house tonight, on the pretext that he has a job to do for me first thing in the morning, and that way he’ll be around on the spot if anything happens to Sergi. We don’t think they’ll hang around too long before arresting him – perhaps tomorrow morning, do you think, Toni?’

  ‘Possibly, Senyora, but as you say, they won’t wait long. I’ll come directly back here when it happens – it’ll be seen as quite natural for me to come straight to tell you, anyway. And then I can take you back down with me.’

  Carla looked a question. It was clear that the two of them had been making detailed plans during their drive to Girona, but what was now on the programme was beyond her.

  It was Joana who answered the unspoken question. ‘You see, we’ve been thinking, and once Sergi has been taken into custody, only a very few people will be able to find out what is happening to him, and I, of course, am one of them. Toni will be seen to come hightailing it up here to get me to help Sergi, and then I can go to see our lawyer. With his help I should be able to get in to see Sergi long before he can call in any of his allies. And Sergi will be wary of trusting any of his political friends anyway, not being sure who has plotted against him, and whatever he may think of me as a companion he’s never had any reason to doubt my loyalty. Provided I can stay close to him and the lawyer, we’ll know if and when Sergi can hope to be released. But nothing happens quickly here, and I don’t think Sergi can even begin to plan an exit from prison for many days – long enough, anyway, for you two to be married and safe. And believe me, he really won’t have the resources to find you afterwards. Money won’t be enough – he’ll be on blacklists everywhere, and won’t be able to access the information you need to track anyone down.’

  Carla shot another look at Luc, still silent at her side. She could believe herself that for a long time to come Sergi would lack the means to track them if they truly disappeared, but they had hoped to stay in Terrassa for some time, and there he could most certainly find them. He must know very well where Luc’s parents lived. How long would it take him to worm his way out of his current dilemma and walk out of prison? It was the unanswerable question, and she didn’t have Mama’s faith that it would take long enough for them to be safe, for in Franco’s Spain you could surely bribe your way out of most things, provided you had access to the right people.

  ‘He has to be locked up first,’ she said, suddenly anxious. ‘What if they just charge him but leave him free to build his defence?’

  ‘For a charge of murder? And with Roig working against him? No, Carla, they’ll take pleasure in detaining him, just for the humiliation. It’s their best way of ensuring any political damage is permanent.’

  Carla shook her head in frustration. These were political games in a world she didn’t understand, and she felt small and vulnerable where her mother seemed to feel empowered.

  ‘W
e have to get married, that’s the only thing that matters right now.’ She focused on the one thing that had been her priority now for so many months.

  ‘So should we still go to Terrassa, in your opinion?’ It was Luc who was asking, looking at Joana.

  ‘Oh yes, most definitely,’ Joana answered. ‘Your parents will be worried if you don’t turn up soon, and besides, we need to know when the wedding is planned for.’

  Carla considered. Mama was right, of course, but she didn’t want to leave Girona while things were so much up in the air. She ventured a plan of her own.

  ‘Could we use Toni, do you think, once you’re in Girona – even though Sergi’s other employees will see he’s not there? Surely they’ll have other things on their minds, and they’ll be looking to you for leadership? Because if so, could he take us to Terrassa and then bring me back?’

  She saw Luc frown, and took his hand urgently. ‘Think, Luc! Your parents haven’t seen you for months, and they must be desperate for you to come home. Let’s go up there, and then once we know how plans are developing I can leave you there in your mother’s tender loving hands! Just for a day or two while we get a feel for how the land lies in Girona.’

  ‘There’s not much you can do,’ Joana demurred.

  ‘There’s not much I can do in Terrassa either. I promise I’ll go up to Terrassa again as soon as we see what that stepfather of mine is up to, and I won’t leave Luc until he’s ensconced in his parents’ sitting room! Look, Luc, we’ve even got you smartened up before your mother sees you! Paula’s put weight on you!’

  It was true, and the scabs on his skin were improving, and most of the shadows were gone from under his eyes. He needed lots more loving, and he needed to be free from fear. Well his mother could give him the loving, but nobody could remove the fear until they were clear away from Sergi, and if things looked bad Carla wanted to be on the spot to know immediately.

  ‘You don’t think I ought to come back to Girona too?’ Luc was asking. ‘Otherwise how will I know if things get serious? We may have to move at short notice, and surely Carla and I need to stay together?’

  It was Joana who answered him. ‘Do your parents have a telephone, Luc? Of course they do, if your father runs a medical practice from home. Well, once I’m in Girona I too will have a phone, so I can let you know what is happening. And just keep remembering, my children, that Sergi is going to have an almighty fight on his hands, and that first fight won’t be with you! Believe me, you’ll have time and plenty to be married. I wouldn’t have done this if I’d been in any doubt of that.’

  ‘All right, Joana, I’ll believe you,’ Luc answered. ‘I want to believe you, and we need to, and I’ll have faith in you to take care of your end of things in Girona.’ He came up behind Carla and wrapped his long arms right round her bump. ‘Just take care of my wife and my child,’ he said. ‘We’ve been apart too long, and I want her back as soon as possible.’

  ‘And you’ll have her! There’s no real need for Carla to come back to Girona at all, but she’s as stubborn as a mule, so we won’t fight her, and you can work on taking her off my hands in the next few days!’

  Luc grinned, and there was nothing left for any of them to say. They were all being carried along in Joana’s plans, and her confidence was hard to resist. Toni went off on his mission, treating it like an adventure, and the rest of them were left to bide their time, holed up in waiting, as Luc put it, as he dragged Martin off to the back of the house to play billiards after dinner.

  To Martin’s protestations that he didn’t know how to play, Luc replied that at nineteen years old there were surely more things he didn’t know how to play than those he did, but that if he wasn’t prepared to learn at his tender age there was something wrong with him.

  Carla and Joana were left in the dining room, toying with coffee. Carla felt exhausted, and her bump felt heavier than ever, and she thought her mother must be shattered, having set out so early this morning on such a tricky venture. Joana had a frown on her face, which hadn’t been there throughout the long afternoon. Was this a sign of her tiredness?

  ‘Are you all right, Mama?’ she asked.

  Joana seemed to emerge from a state of abstraction, and smiled vaguely at Carla. ‘Oh yes, I’m fine. Tell me, what was it that Luc was saying to Martin just then? Was he really saying he was only nineteen? How can that be if he is Luis’s son?’

  ‘Has Martin never told you his story?’ Carla found it very curious, but as Joana shook her head numbly she launched into an explanation.

  ‘Martin isn’t one of Luis’s legitimate children. He was born later, from a woman Luis had an affair with, and he was brought up like me, as another man’s child. He only found out a few years ago and he has struggled with it ever since. So you see, he and I have a lot in common!’

  Joana looked startled. ‘When was he born?’ she asked.

  ‘In 1944, he said – sometime in the autumn, I think, just after France was liberated from the Germans. Uncle Luis didn’t even know that his mistress was pregnant – he was killed by the Germans in May that year. Poor Martin was frightened that we would all reject him, I think, when he first came here, until he saw how Grandma welcomed him in, but he was also needing people to make his father live for him.’

  Joana reached for the coffee pot and poured herself another cup. She looked rather shocked, and Carla wondered why Martin hadn’t shared his story with her, when they were clearly so close.

  ‘Poor Martin,’ Joana said, after a while.

  ‘Yes. He helped me a lot, you know, last week after I found out about my real father. He has been dealing with the issues for a good deal longer than I have. Do you realise, we both had fathers who didn’t even know we existed? The only difference is that Martin says Luis never really loved his mother, which hurts him. And Luis already had a family, so poor Martin would have been a very inconvenient addition to Luis’s life. At least I know my father loved you and would have wanted me, that’s what Martin says.’

  Joana seemed to pull herself back from a long way away. ‘Oh yes, my love, your father would have wanted you!’

  ‘Do I look like him?’

  Joana sat up in her chair, and focused on Carla, nodding vehemently. ‘Yes, let’s talk about your father, because you need to know you’re Alex through and through. You look like him, dark, and tall, and with those piercing eyes, but there’s more to it than that – he had integrity, and a forceful, challenging brain, just like you. The last time I saw him was just before Barcelona fell, and everyone was hungry and already suffering, and there were so many people who said it would be better just to have everything over, and be done with it. But Alex knew better – he knew Franco would make Catalonia suffer, and that life was going to be even tougher for everyone. But he told me that he and I would be safe if we kept our heads down!’

  ‘You would have been, if it hadn’t been for Sergi.’

  ‘Yes, but back then, after the war, all I could see was that Alex had been wrong, and that the future belonged to people like Sergi. I knew I had to abandon all the old dreams when I married Sergi, so I did, lock, stock and barrel. But I couldn’t control those dreams in the night hours, and it was a long time before I stopped seeing your father every night in my sleep.’

  ‘I see him too, but I’m never sure if I have him right. I need to see some photos, perhaps – something to make my imaginings more real. She paused for a moment, then continued. ‘Martin says I should go to see the Figarola family and tell them I’m their granddaughter. He says they’d be pleased to know their son had left something of himself behind him.’

  ‘That may be true. Do you think it would help you?’

  ‘To have some family on my father’s side? Yes, I think it would help me a lot. It would bring him closer, and allow others to talk to me about him and make him real. It’s all about reclaiming my father, as Martin says.’

  ‘Yes indeed, as Martin says.’ Joana’s tone was odd, and it struck Carla that she might
feel a bit strange having grown so close to a cousin whom she thought was several years older.

  ‘Only nineteen,’ Joana murmured, completely to herself, and Carla took her hand.

  ‘Yes, it’s astonishing, don’t you think, when you consider everything he’s done for us in the last couple of weeks, how he brought us together, and helped me in Girona? He is old beyond his years, kind of like a little wise old man, and maybe it’s his quest for Luis which brought him of age before his time. I think he has the gift of friendship, and all of us have felt it. I don’t think it matters what age you are if you have that kind of empathy.’

  She looked at her mother, and Joana looked up from her coffee cup and smiled, squeezing Carla’s hand as it lay in hers.

  ‘Like you, carinyo, with that empathy of Alex’s! You have the gift of friendship too.’

  ‘When I lay down my bristles!’

  ‘Indeed, but I think you got those from me, not from Alex! Have you forgiven me for what I did today?’

  Carla shrugged. ‘If Luc has forgiven you, then I have too! I’m worried, but I’ll live with it, and like Luc said, we’ll trust you to bring us through. Grandma will keep me sane. Martin says he wants to stay until we know things are all right, by the way. We’ll both hang out at Grandma’s. If the worst comes to the worst, Luc and I can leave with Martin and find our way into France. At least we’re together now, and we can react quickly if we have to.’

  ‘Have faith, my love. I believe you’ll have time, not only to get married but to have the baby in Terrassa. And during that time Luc can be looking around for where you’re going next.’

  Carla was too tired to think about it all too deeply. She held up a hand to cover a yawn, and as she did so she caught Joana doing the same. She laughed.

  ‘Shall we take it one step at a time, Mama? And go to bed? I’m dropping on my feet.’

  ‘And me, child. I think I’m going to sleep tonight.’

  ‘And no bad dreams?’

  ‘Not tonight! I’ve done with bad dreams. There’s too much going on in the present to worry about the past. Shall we leave the young men playing billiards?’