He shook his head and stepped forward to drop another kiss into Valentina’s hair. ‘Enjoy your afternoon,mi querida niña,’ he whispered. ‘I’ll keep your mother busy so you can have fun without her watching you.’
‘But Papa,’ she whispered back, looking up into his dark eyes. Any other time she would have revelled in being given some time to have fun without her mother hovering, but something about the way he’d touched his chest before, the almost frightened look in his eyes, had scared her.
‘I’m fine, Valentina, I promise. If I was worried, I would call for the doctor myself. I take my health very seriously.’
She nodded and watched them walk away, but she couldn’t quell the little knot of fear in her stomach even as Felipe waved to her from the other side of the fence and beckoned for her to come and join him and his friends. Valentina glanced back at her father one last time before slipping under the fence rail, waving back to Felipe once she was out of her mother’s line of sight and gathering her skirt into her hand so she could run across the grass towards him.
Later that day, when they were all home and her father had fallen asleep, Valentina went to find her mother. She’d felt a void growing between them recently, almost as if she’d done something wrong without knowing what it was, and she hoped that by seeking her mother out, she might soften towards her again. The more she thought about it, the more she felt it might have something to do with her age. She was a young woman now, and she wondered if it was simply because her mother no longer viewed her as a child.
‘Mama?’ Valentina called out, as she softly knocked on her door. ‘May I come in?’
She looked around the half-open door and found her mother sitting in front of her mirror, her face bare of make-up as she brushed out her long dark hair. Valentina shared little of hermother’s personality or interests, but she did share her looks, and it was almost as if she were staring into the mirror and seeing how she might look in thirty years’ time as she studied her mother’s reflection. Their hair was the same—an almost-black mane with a gentle curl at the tips—and they had the same light golden skin with the darkest brown eyes flecked with a hint of gold. And as she stared at her mother’s reflection, she was reminded of how beautiful she was, and of all the stories her father had shared of falling in love with her at first sight when he’d seen her across a room.
‘Mama, I’ve been worried about Papa all evening,’ she said, taking a seat in the armchair in the corner of the room. ‘He wasn’t feeling well this afternoon. Something was wrong.’
‘Your father is fine,’ she said, brusquely, as if Valentina had moaned to her about the weather rather than her father’s health.
‘But he was holding his chest, as if he was in pain. I’m worried about him.’
Her mother set her brush down and looked back at Valentina in the mirror, before slowly turning to face her. ‘Do you know what would help your father?’
Valentina shook her head.
‘It would help if he wasn’t having to worry about his only daughter gallivanting around with the hired help,’ she said, her voice low. ‘If your intention is to bring our good family name into disrepute, then you’re doing a fine job of it.’
Valentina swallowed, her face hot as she folded her hands together, palm to palm, opening her mouth but not knowing what to say. If her mother had wanted to hurt her, then she’d done precisely what she’d set out to do. ‘Mama, I?—’
‘You think I didn’t know that you’ve become friends with the stableboy?’ she asked. ‘That you’ve been learning to ride, because your father wants to indulge your every whim, eventhough I expressly forbade you from doing so? You thought you could hide those things from me?’
This time, Valentina didn’t even try to reply, keeping her head bowed so she didn’t have to meet her mother’s angry gaze, her eyes fixed on the floor.
‘You will not see that boy anymore, Valentina. It’s not appropriate for you to be fraternising with the staff, especially at your age.’
Valentina looked up then, her heart racing in response to her mother’s words. ‘Mama, you cannot mean that. He’s a friend, and he’s only teaching me to ride, and?—’
‘Enough! You speak to me as if I’m going to change my mind, but I’m not your father, Valentina. You don’t have me wrapped around your little finger, and I know full well that it’s more than learning to ride. I saw the way you looked at each other today. I’m no fool!’
Valentina stood then, but it took every inch of her strength not to burst into tears and run from the room. But if she didn’t stand her ground now, she knew that her mother would never respect her.
‘I have my father’s permission to take riding lessons from Felipe. He’s even gifted me his old horse, and I’m thoroughly enjoying my daily rides.’ She paused, her breath coming in fast pants. ‘I do not intend to stop, just as I do not intend to stop worrying about my father, so please stop treating me like a child and start speaking to me as the young woman I am.’
And even though she felt like a coward for doing so, Valentina quickly turned on her heel and walked away from her mother before she could say anything else. She didn’t know what she’d done to earn her mother’s wrath, but she did know that she only had one ally in this house, and that was her father.
Her mother acted as if she was nothing more than an inconvenience, and if that’s the way she was going to treat her,then Valentina had no intention of being an obedient, placid daughter any longer.
13
PRESENT DAY
Rose had never experienced anything like the Argentine Open. From the moment she’d arrived, she was so pleased that she’d decided to come. She’d had no idea how many people would be attending; the enormous, immaculately prepared field was flanked by stadium seating on both sides, with tents at one end for the VIP guests, of which she was fortunate enough to be one.
‘Rose!’ came a call from the other side of the tent, just as she was reaching into her purse for the ticket that had been sent to her the day before.
She saw Luis Gonzalez waving to her, and she nodded to the security guard as he stood aside to let her pass.
‘I’m so pleased you came,’ he said. ‘And that you’re still in Argentina, of course.’
‘Well, I met Benjamin, and let’s just say he was very persuasive,’ she told him. ‘But I’m pleased to be here—it’s turning out to be quite the experience.’
