‘We can take this as slow as you want, just don’t leave like that again,’ he said, pressing his forehead to hers.
‘I promise.’
The cat meowed at their feet again and made them both laugh.
‘I think he’s trying to tell us he agrees,’ she said.
‘I think he’s trying to tell you he doesn’t ever want you to leave again,’ Benjamin said, kissing her forehead before straightening, still holding her hand.
‘What happened to no pressure?’
He shrugged. ‘I can’t control how the cat feels, but I’m fairly sure he begged you to stay.’
Rose found herself being led up the steps to the house then, keeping hold of Benjamin’s fingers as he opened the door.
‘How about a home-cooked meal out by the pool, and while I cook you can tell me all about what you’ve been doing these past few days.’
She smiled up at him as they stepped inside. ‘You know, I think I’m ready to tell you about my mum, if that’s okay?’
Benjamin lifted her hand and kissed it. ‘It just so happens I love the sound of that. I wish I could have met her.’
She squeezed his hand. ‘I wish you could have met her, too.’Because I know she would have loved you.
27
SANTIAGO FAMILY ESTATE, ARGENTINA, 1940
‘You can’t do this!’ Valentina’s mother begged. ‘I’m your mother. Where will I go?’
Valentina stared at her mother in the same way her mother had stared at her on her wedding day, as she’d begged not to be forced into marriage. ‘Mother, you have a stipend that is more than enough to provide the essentials for the rest of your life.’
‘Valentina, I’m sorry, please, I?—’
‘You’ve had days to gather your things, and after everything I’ve been through, I care little about how sorry you are.’You have no idea what I went through, what I endured because of you.
‘And what of Bruno? What is he supposed to do?’
‘He can get a job like any other young man of his age,’ she said. ‘Now go, before I have you escorted from the grounds.’
‘Valentina—’
‘If you enter the property again, you will be charged with trespassing. Now please, save yourself further embarrassment and leave.’
Valentina looked over at the stables and saw that Felipe’s father was standing, watching the commotion. It had been her greatest pleasure telling her lawyer to transfer the deeds ofFelipe’s family’s home to them, and today she intended on telling him that he could choose whichever polo ponies he wanted for his own, as per her father’s wishes. But before she did that, there was someone else she couldn’t wait to see.
Felipe.
It had taken all her self-control not to reach out to him, but since the court ruling she’d had a whirlwind five days in the city making arrangements and signing paperwork, as well as managing to buy back a small stake in her father’s olive oil company, but as soon as her mother left, she intended on finding him.
And as much as it hurt to see her mother yell and spit at her before getting into the car, her stepbrother lifting his middle finger and swearing at her, Valentina refused to change her mind. She had her whole life ahead of her now, and she intended on living every day to the fullest.
‘Valentina!’ José called, waving to her.
‘I’ll come and see you soon,’ she called back, waving to him as she ran across the driveway. ‘Have you seen Felipe?’
‘That’s what I need to talk to you about.’
‘I promise I’ll be back soon!’
