Page 41 of Outback Reunion

‘Lorenzo is my father-in-law.’

It took a second for the ramifications of her words to sink in. He put his burger back down on the plate. ‘Yourfather-in-law?’

She nodded.

But that meant... she was married! His grip tightened on his pint glass.

Holy fuck.That changed everything.

‘I thought you said you weren’t with anyone!’ He couldn’t help the accusation in his tone, but she quickly shook her head.

‘I’m not. Not anymore. My husband died six months ago.’

Oh hell.One moment Mark was having to get used to the fact that she was married, the next that she was a widow. He went from annoyed to sympathetic so fast it felt like whiplash.

Poor Gabriela. He could only imagine how she must be feeling.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he said.

It didn’t sound like nearly enough, but he couldn’t think of anything better.

Chapter Ten

‘Thank you.’ Gabi lifted her glass to her lips and took a massive gulp, wishing she could swallow what she’d just said. Or lied. Anything so that she didn’t have to sit here and take his unwarranted pity. He’d gone from looking at her like she was something he wanted to devour to looking at her like someone who’d just received a terminal illness diagnosis.

Silence hung between them a few long moments as she racked her brain for a change of topic, but her head appeared to be completely empty.

What were they talking about before this?

‘Do you mind me asking how he died?’ Mark said eventually.

Yes, she minded. She’d been having such a lovely night and the last thing she wanted to do was ruin it by reliving thatawfulnight.

‘Freak accident,’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘He slipped in the caravan after coming out of the shower and banged his head on the corner of the bathroom cabinet. He passed out and...’

‘Shit,’ he said as her voice trailed off. ‘That’s awful. I can’t imagine how traumatic that must have been. How traumatic it still is.’

She nodded. ‘I’m doing okay, but I’d rather not talk about it if that’s okay?’

‘Of course,’ he answered quickly.

Gabi was no longer hungry, but she took another sip of her drink.

‘So, when did you join the circus?’ Mark asked, in what she guessed was an attempt to rejuvenate their pre-Dante conversation.

‘I was born in it.’ When he frowned, she continued. ‘My mum had a lot of issues. She ran away from overly strict and religious parents at sixteen and got in with a bad crowd. Drugs, alcohol, worse. When she realised she was pregnant, it was too late to get rid of me. She had no idea who my father was and went home to her parents, begging their forgiveness and help, but they pushed her away.’

Mark shook his head, clearly horrified that parents could do such a thing.

‘Alone on the streets, she did whatever she could to survive. The circus was performing in her town; she snuck in one night and tried to steal some money and food from one of the trucks while the show was on. Muriel—that’s Lorenzo’s mother—caught her. She wanted to call the police but Eve, Lorenzo’s wife, convinced Lorenzo and his parents to let her work for what she’d taken. They took her in. They gave her a room in one of the trailers in exchange for work.’

‘Performing?’ asked Mark.

‘No.’ Her mother didn’t have the dedication or discipline required for that. ‘She worked in the ticket booth, the food trucks and did other odd jobs as required. Sometimes she helped with the animals. They still had a couple of elephants and a tiger back then. When I was little, I thought it was normal to have wild animals as pets.’

Mark gave a disbelieving chuckle.

‘Apparently, she was a hard worker while she was pregnant, wanting to save money to provide for us, but it went downhill after I was born.’

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