Page 74 of The Stolen Child

Lily shrugged. She wasn’t sure they did. ‘Gaga says it’s easy to take something for granted that’s right under your nose. As I said, I know they love me, but I wish they’d show it a little more.’ She looked up and caught Zach’s eyes watching her thoughtfully. ‘You had a happy childhood with your parents, though, didn’t you?’

Zach answered immediately. ‘The best. It was a charmed life. Which is why this is so difficult for me. Because if I am Robert that means my entire life has been a lie. And I don’t know what to do with that.’

Their waitress sidled up to the table and topped up their wines, emptying the last of the bottle.

Lily leaned back in her chair and looked down at her tummy, now swollen with good food. ‘Zach, this was an incredible meal – the best I’ve had in a long time. But I am about to burst. I’ve eaten too much.’

Zach held up the empty bottle. ‘Another one?’

‘Could we go for a walk first, and then we can find a bar for another drink?’

With the plan made, Lily insisted that she pay for their meal, as Zach had paid for the car and villa. Then they walked to the Puente Nuevo, Ronda’s famous bridge, that Zach had told Lily about. It spanned a narrow chasm that divided the city into the old town, La Ciudad, and the new town, Mercadillo.

Lily looked down into the breathtaking panorama of the gorge and the Guadalevin River.

‘It looks like a romanticist painting, from the national gallery.’

‘Especially in this light, bathed in the golden sunset,’ Zach agreed.

‘What does Puente Nuevo mean?’ Lily asked.

‘New bridge,’ Zach said with a smile. ‘Which is funny because the bridge was built in 1759. By American standards, that’s pretty old.’

‘It looks like a fortress, the way the stone is carved into the cliffs,’ Lily remarked in wonder.

‘Yeah. It’s almost three hundred feet high. I feel like I’m in another era whenever I stand here,’ Zach admitted. He turned to face her. ‘I’m glad you’re here too, Lily, that you came with me. Thank you.’

‘It’s okay,’ Lily replied, feeling a rush of affection once more for this man who had been a stranger to her a short time ago, but who was now beginning to feel like family.

‘Zach . . .’ Lily began as a group of birds flew up from beneath the bridge in synchronised movement. ‘Maybe it’s the wine, this place, I don’t know, but I want you to know that I believe you. I feel it too. You are my brother.’

Zach moved closer and put an arm round her shoulders as they watched the birds continue to swoop and twirl as one beneath them. ‘You’re trembling.’

‘Scared,’ Lily admitted.

‘Of me?’ Zach asked in a whisper.

‘No!’ Lily answered quickly. ‘I’m scared that for the first time in a long time I’ve allowed myself to believe that Robert – you – could be alive. But if I go to sleep I’ll wake up tomorrow, and it will all have been a dream.’

She leaned in closer to Zach, and they watched the birds until they disappeared under their feet once again.

NOW

August 2023

Lily

Casa Rosa, Ronda, Spain

Lily reached over to grab her phone and hit the snooze button on the alarm. She’d forgotten to turn it off from her regular seven o’clock wake-up time. Her tongue felt like it was coated with sandpaper, and her head throbbed. How much had she and Zach put away the previous night? After their walk, they’d visited what felt like every bar in Ronda.

She jumped up, pulling on a T-shirt and jeans over her underwear, which she’d slept in the night before. Lily found Zach guzzling water from the tap in the kitchen. She appeared to be not the only one suffering.

‘Shove over,’ she said, nudging him. Then she filled a glass of water for herself and gulped it back in one satisfying go.

‘How’re you feeling?’ Zach asked, scratching his head.

‘I’m regretting my life choices,’ Lily said, collapsing into one of the chairs in the living room. ‘I mean, what was I thinking, saying yes to limoncello shots in that last bar?’