Page 49 of Easy Rumba

Chapter 22

Leo

“Mamá, abre la puerta.”

I’ve been hammering on my mamá’s door for the last hour, demanding she opens it and lets us in. I arrived in Spain with Elise in the late afternoon, and my internal clock is all over the place. I’ve had very little sleep due to the journey and the constant worrying, but now I am here, I’m more concerned that my mamá isn’t answering. She doesn’t have the best mental health, and I’m worried about her reaction to my father’s interviews. Maybe I should have come sooner.

“Mamá, es Leo. Por favor.”

“Do you think we should call the police?” Elise asks.

She’s standing next to me, nervously nibbling at her fingers. She didn’t sleep the entire flight either. She spent most of it on the phone trying to speak to Izzy and getting updates from the lawyer on how her application for joint custody is going. Simon has everything so twisted up in court procedures and various legal proceedings that it’s becoming obvious he’s bribed someone, somewhere. Elise has asked her lawyer to hire an investigator to look into it. However, that will take time. Eventually, just before landing, we received word from Izzy. Simon has allowed Elise’s lawyer to speak to her. The little girl said she was all right but sad. Elise spent most of the car journey from the airport in tears. That’s changed since we’ve been standing here, trying to get into my mamá’s house, because now panic has taken over.

Pounding again on the door, I shout once more—this time in English.

“Mamá, open this fucking door, or I’m going to kick it in.”

“Vete,” my mamá shouts at me from inside.

Finally an answer, even if it is telling me to go away.

“I’m not going anywhere, Mamá. I’ve just flown for over eleven hours to get here. You’re going to open this door now. Please, Mamá. I need to know you’re all right.”

I rest my head against the heavy oak frame of the villa. I’d have no chance of smashing my way in, but I would try.

The lock to the door clicks, and I breathe a sigh of relief as the woman, who I’ve worshipped since I was born, opens the door. She looks awful. Her eyes are sunken in—she’s looks exhausted and is obviously not eating. She’s lost weight since I last saw her.

“Mamá.”

“I’m sorry, mi hijo.”

I pull her into my arms and carry her into the villa. The mess inside shocks me. It’s not been cleaned for days, and dust covers the surfaces, blown in by the warm winds on the coast this time of year. Papers and pictures are strewn all over the kitchen table, and after I settle my mamá in her favorite chair, I go over to check them out. Elise is already there, looking through them.

“My father and you?” Elise’s face has gone paler than I’ve ever seen it. Her lips are moving as if she’s saying something but nothing is coming out. Her world is falling apart with the evidence in front of her. “It’s true then.”

“No,” my mamá shouts at us in her heavy Spanish accent. “It’s not. He’s a liar. It’s all lies. He destroyed me once, and he wants to do it again. I hate him.”

“Who?” I take a few steps toward my mamá, but I can’t go all the way at the moment. I’m torn between the emotions of the two women in the room. I’m confused…scared even to acknowledge what all this means.

My mamá waves her hand in the air, signaling for us to sit. I do as instructed. Elise refuses and continues to stare at the photos of her father laid out on the table.

“Su padre, Leo. Everything your father said in those interviews is a lie. Elise’s father and I didn’t have an affair. We couldn’t. My faith and both our moral compasses forbade it.”

My mamá wears a cross around her neck. It’s a sign of the Catholic faith she’s always been devoted to, even when she tried to fit in with my father’s beliefs.

“But you had feelings for each other?” Elise asks as she finally comes to sit with me. She’s holding a picture of her father in her hands.

My mamá nods.

“Si, we did. I’m sorry, Elise, Leo. It was wrong. We didn’t consummate the feelings we had for each other, though, despite having them for a long time.”

“Leo, su padre was my first love, but my love for him died shortly after you were born. He wanted nothing to do with us as a family. His work always came first. I found myself being alone more and more often. Elise’s parents invited me over, and I got to know them both well, but your father in particular. With Leo’s father being away so often, I needed things done in the house. Elise’s father offered, and our feelings developed from there. He was a fantastic man, so kind, helpful, and handsome. There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t miss him. The events of the night he died are still vivid in my mind. I think it’s why I get so lost in there at times.”

My mamá wraps her arms around her body to give herself comfort as she speaks. Elise freezes at the mention of her father’s death, and reaching out, I take one of her hands and squeeze it to offer her reassurance.

“Mamá, what do you mean?”

“I’m sorry, Elise.” My mamá starts to cry. “I tried to stop him from leaving, but he insisted on going.”

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