It's Just Lola (29 page)

Lola took the children straight to the kitchen where she asked Pilar for a hot tub and some chicken broth.  Pilar’s eyes widened and her mouth opened to ask questions, but Lola forestalled her with a finger on her lips and a glance at Estela.
 
“Just a small accident by the river,” Lola said quietly as she took up a stance near the warm cook stove and held the two children close to her. 

By the time the children were clean and wrapped in warm towels, Pilar had steaming bowls of broth set out for them.  James came to help her carry them upstairs.  Lola felt exhausted.  She welcomed James’ suggestion of a nap before dinner.  She was pleasantly surprised to see that James had moved the children’s beds into their own bedroom. 

“It looks like wall-to-wall bed,” she laughed.

“
The children might
feel better in the same room with us rather than by themselves,”
James said
.

“And I’ll feel better having them with us
.
”
She put her arms around her husband and whispered a thank you. 
He may have been unfeeling toward her father, but he did care deeply for the children.

“I
’
ll talk to your father after dinner tonight,” whispered James after the children were asleep. 

“Be careful what you say.  It
’
s not always easy to guess how he
’
ll react regarding Jacoba.”  Lola didn
’
t add that he sometimes treated his wife worse than a servant, but other times was fiercely protective of her.  She looked at Yousef’s peaceful face.  She was certain she wouldn
’
t be able to close her eyes, but the events of the day had left her physically and emotionally drained.  The next thing she knew Marta was tapping on the door asking if they were dressing for dinner.

Lola and James dressed hurriedly, and asked Marta to stay in the room with the children.  “Don
’
t leave until I come back,” said Lola.

“Rosa said there was an accident at the river,” said Marta anxiously.  “Are the children all right?”

“Yes, thank you.  They
’
re fine.  Yousef has a bump on his head where he tripped and fell into the water, and we all managed to get very wet rescuing him.”  Lola smiled and gave Marta a quick hug.  James cleared his throat and Lola understood
—
he didn
’
t approve of her being so familiar with the servants. 

Lola gripped James’ hand as they went into the dining room.  Her steps faltered as she
wondered how she could sit across the table from Jacoba.

“Are you all right?” asked James.  “You look pale.” 

Lola nodded and gripped his hand even tighter.

Jacoba began to talk almost before they were seated.

“I was so sorry to hear there was an accident at the river today
.  Are the children all right?
”

“Yes, thank God.  They
’
re just tired, and we thought it best for them to eat early.  It was a stressful day,”
said
James.

Enrique looked at James. 
“Why hav
e
n
’
t
I
heard about this?”

James smiled as he answered.  “Be thankful.  Had it been any worse, you would surely have heard.
 
Yousef tripped and fell into the water. 
I
t looked as though he hit his head on a rock.”  James reached across the table and touched Lola’s hand, a rare
gesture
in the presence of other people.

“Lola knew exactly what to do.”  James proceeded to describe the episode with great pride.  He managed to make everyone smile with his description of how they must have looked trudging back from the river
in
shoes that made squishy sounds with every step.  Listening to James tell it, even Lola smiled and began to adopt his attitude of a happy ending to a potentially tragic accident.

“I
’
m pleased everything turned out well. 
T
he children shouldn
’
t go
near
the river until they
’
re older,” said Enrique in a tone that indicated he was putting the incident to rest. 

Jacoba, however, was not so quickly satisfied.
 
“I can’t believe that girl left them alone near water
.
  I felt terrible when Rosa told me there
’
d been an accident.  It was lucky you were close by.”  Lola looked at James.  His face reflected puzzled confusion. 

“Alone?” Enrique sounded more incredulous than angry.  “
T
hey were left alone?”

Lola open
ed
her mouth to speak,
but
Jacoba
spoke first. 
“I blame it on that dreadful girl.  Imagine, leaving the dears alone by the river
.
  You know, Enrique, your h
orse
whip has hung in that library too long.  The Cholos are becoming totally irresponsible.  That girl should be whipped for leaving our grandchildren unattended
.
” 

Lola heard a strangled noise come from James’ throat.
 
“But you were there—
you
left them alone
.
  Marta didn
’
t leave the children, you did
.
”  James was shouting in astonished anger. 

“I was out for my daily walk and joined them for a short while.  You know how little time I get to spend with the children.  It never occurred to me she would scamper away and leave them.  I
’
d walked as far as I cared to and I returned home.”

“But you sent Marta away.”

Jacoba’s mouth stretched into a sardonic smile.  She directed her reply to Enrique.  “Of course he
shields
his mistress.  He thinks everyone is blind to his actions.”

Lola dropped her fork.  She looked from Jacoba to James, shocked by what she
’d
just heard.  James’ face was flushed…with anger?
E
mbarrassment?
S
hame?  No
, i
t was just Jacoba trying to deflect his accusations
and make
more trouble.
 
“What James said is true
.
Marta met me at the stables and told me that you sent her home.”  Lola thought she
’
d see something in Jacoba’s expression that would show that she was worried by the words, but the smile only became condescending.

“Of course you defend your new husband.  You already have more scandal than you can stand in your background,” Jacoba said calmly.  James shot Lola a startled look.

Silence fell over the table as Rosa emerged from the kitchen carrying a clean fork.  She placed it on the table to the left of Lola’s plate.  As she stooped to pick up the fallen fork, she whispered a single word to Lola.  “
Cuidado.”
  Take care.

Lola looked at the faces of the people sitting around the table as Rosa refilled her father’s wine glass and all the water glasses before returning to the kitchen.  Lola silently blessed Rosa for the interruption.  Jacoba’s face almost looked triumphant; her father was looking from one to the other of his dinner companions.  Then she looked at James and felt the blood drain from her face.  She had never seen him angry before—and he looked frightening.

“May I be excused, Father?  I have a terrible headache.”  Lola pushed her chair back.  The two men stood as she rose to leave the table.

“You don’t look at all well,” said Jacoba.  “I’ll have some tea sent up for you.”

“Thank you.”

Lola fled upstairs.  She couldn’t look Marta in the eyes as she told her she had a headache and was going to bed.  She undressed quickly and extinguished the lamp.  The children’s beds were still crowding the room to the bursting point, their presence comforting to Lola.  She lay in the dark on the very edge of her side of the bed, tense and anxious.  Was it true?  Was James having an affair with Marta? 

Her mind went in circles as she moved in and out of a dream.  Lola
was
run
ning from Jacoba
while carrying her children, but her shoes were mired in mud.  Lola had no idea how much time passed before she heard James come to bed.  Lola was now wide awake, feigning sleep.  Which was worse, the dream or the reality?

Lola tensed even more as she felt the bed shift beneath James’ weight.  She listened to his breathing, waiting for it to slow and indicate he was asleep.  It didn’t.  Lola’s lips twitched in an involuntary smile.  What’s wrong with me?
 
My son was nearly drowned today; my husband may be having an affair with Marta; I may have married a man with a worse temper than my father.  And I
’
m about to giggle over the thought of the two of us, lying stiff as two boards on opposite sides of the bed, pretending to be asleep.  I must be insane.

“Are you asleep?”  Lola jumped at the sound of James’ whisper.

“No.”

“I talked to your father.”

“And…?”

“I
told him
I
’
m taking you and the children away for a week.  You need to relax and get away from this place and your work.”

At least neither man had become violently angry—but
it
made no sense to her. 
Lola
wanted to protest that this was a busy time for her because the distillery was working at top capacity, but she stayed silent.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“What?”

“The scandal in your background.”

“You said you talked to my father,” she said flatly.

“I didn
’
t want to admit to anyone, not even your father, that my wife has been less than open with me.”  The anger was back in his voice.

Lola
met his
anger
with her own
.  “Why would you get so upset about that one sentence?  Why would you believe
that
statement?  Unless, of course, you recognized truth in the rest of her accusations.”

“How can you say that?”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Very well,
it’s
because I saw you react to that statement.”

“And
you
reacted to her statement that Marta was your mistress
.
”  There was silence. 
Had her answer struck the mark?

“You’re right, as usual, my dear.  The woman
’
s not only a liar, but a very vicious liar.”  Lola felt weak with relief as she allowed James to pull her into his arms. 

“We
’
ll go to the city with Juan the day after tomorrow,” he said softly.  “That should give you plenty of time to pack.  It
’
ll be the honeymoon I was too busy to take after the wedding.”   Lola happily fit herself into the curve of his body.
“
In the meantime I
’
ll be with the children in the mornings.  Marta can visit her mother in the mornings and help you in the afternoons.”

Lola rose with the sun the following morning.  She hurried to her office, wanting to leave everything perfect for her father.  She was surprised to see Juan waiting for her.

“How did you know I
’
d come so early?” she asked.

“I would
’
ve waited.  I
’
m a patient man.”  He
spread two halves of a paper on her desk.  “It’s
a letter addressed to Pepe the gardener in care of Señor Herrera.  Read it.  I’ll get some coffee.”

Dear Papa,

I hope this letter finds you
well
.  I have a good job now, and we bought a small house with some land.  We want you to come and live with us.  You can plant a garden and help us keep up the house.

I am sure that by now sister JJ has either been tamed or has come to a bad end.  Either way, it is time to let her fend for herself.  It is time for you to take it easy.  I am making good money, and it will be good for the children to have their grandfather around.

I look forward to coming to the plantation to bring you home with us.

Your loving son,

Filipe

Juan came back with two cups of coffee.  “I heard about the accident by the river.  You were lucky.”

“Yes.”  It was on the tip of Lola’s tongue to say it was no accident, but she hesitated.