“You and Tom will work things out, won’t you?” Lucinda nursed her teacup with both hands. “Especially with the baby?”
Carla ran her tongue over her teeth and missed having her eye pendant to hold on to. “I just don’t know. I’ve made a mess of everything, so I don’t know how he’ll respond when we meet.”
“It was a big surprise to see Aaron with you, especially after everything you went through with him.”
“Myrtle’s tarot cards indirectly led me to meet him in Paris, so I had to go.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in that stuff,” Lucinda said with a wink.
Carla recalled her recent talk with Myrtle. She was no longer exactly sure what she believed. But now she was more open-minded.
“After all your marriage troubles with Aaron, I was really worried about you,” Lucinda admitted. “You were so down for months afterward.”
“I know, and Aaron and I have talked and cleared the air.” Carla sighed to herself. Her feelings still rippled with confusion about her ex-husband, and also about Tom. The Lovers card hadn’t related to either of them. She looked at her gran and knew she could trust her, knew she’d faced similar romantic dilemmas in her life. “Do you think Tom is the right fit for me, Gran? Or do you think it could be Aaron?”
Lucinda laced her hands together and thought for some time. “I think only you can answer that, honey,” she said. “You don’t need my opinion or validation. It will come down to your own feeling of just knowing.”
The thing was Carla didn’t know. Not for certain. And that was the problem.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself about Tom.” Lucinda patted her knee. “The whole ‘quest to find ex-lovers’ was mostly mine and Myrtle’s fault, and I’m happy to tell Tom that.” She looked up in thought before adding, “Mimi is convinced that our family curse is to blame for poor Bertrand, and also for ruining your wedding day. She’s ever so upset.”
“Mimi mustn’t think like that. I went to see Myrtle last night and I know that a curse didn’t attack anyone.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Carla told her gran the real story of Lars and Agatha, how a curse was cast and lifted by Isabelle, and that Myrtle was their granddaughter.
Lucinda sat with her mouth agape. “Well, I never,” she said. “That story has been kicking around our family for a century, and it took you to get to the bottom of things.”
“Mum started the investigation, Jess and I picked it up, and Myrtle helped to end it.”
“So, she isn’t all bad.” Lucinda raised an eyebrow. “I told you that.”
“No, maybe just half-bad,” Carla said, pausing to sip her tea. “In time, I want everyone to know the real story behind our family curse.”
Lucinda thought for a while. “Telling Mimi would help it spread like wildfire,” she suggested.
“That means there’s a chance people will also mishear it or invent their own version. Let’s think how best to pass it on, after the funeral.”
“If it’s okay with you, I’ll tell Evelyn now,” Lucinda said. “It might bring her a little comfort to know that nothing sinister or superstitious is behind her loss.”
Carla agreed that was fine. She finished her tea and washed her cup in the sink, holding it under the running water for longer than was necessary. Lucinda noticed, headed over and turned off the tap. “What else is on your mind? Besides Tom and the baby?”
“You can tell?” Carla turned around to face her. “There is something else,” she eventually admitted. “Something big.”
“I’m all ears, honey. You can tell me anything, and I won’t persuade you to go overseas this time.”
“That would be helpful.” Carla rested her hands gently on Lucinda’s shoulders. “I’ve found my father.”
Lucinda’s mouth fell open. “You have?”
“You’ve already met him, too. He came here with Babs to see you.” Carla confirmed to her gran that Diego was her father.
Lucinda opened and shut her mouth again. “You certainly have been busy. Babs stayed to chat to me about Suzette while Diego went to check into their hotel. Neither of them said a word to me about this...”
“Babs didn’t know at the time. It came as a big shock to her, just as it did to me. Jess found out about it before I had a chance to tell you. She was upset at first, but we’ve worked things out.”
“Well, I never,” Lucinda said, stunned by all this news. “Suzette didn’t utter one word to me about your dad’s identity. I suppose I can understand why she kept her pregnancy a secret from Babs.”
“Diego’s going to explain everything to her.” Carla’s jaw muscles tensed, hoping that Babs was going to be okay. “Did Mum ever tell you who Jess’s dad might be? I think she’d also love to find him one day.”
Lucinda ran a hand across her chin, her thoughts taking her back in time. “I’ll give it some thought, honey. There was one of Suzette’s boyfriends I liked, someone she met while traveling who had red hair, though I don’t know how you might trace him.”
Carla thought back to the photos in Babs’s sitting room and wondered if a mission overseas, to find their mum’s exes, awaited Jess. “If anyone can find him, I think Jess can,” she said.
Thirty-Four
Home
Tom messaged Carla, asking if she’d like to meet him at the house they were supposed to be moving into. She wondered if he’d chosen it as a neutral space to tell her their relationship was over, or if he wanted to check if the place was suitable for a family of three. She replied to say that she would.
Her bones felt like concrete when she arrived early and let herself inside. She and Tom both had a set of keys.
She took off her shoes and meandered around downstairs in her socked feet. The living room and kitchen looked much pokier than she remembered, and the furniture included in the rental package was all the same insipid shade of gray.
As hard as she tried, Carla couldn’t picture herself sitting on the tiny sofa, bouncing a baby on her knee while Tom made brunch in the cramped kitchen. She couldn’t hear the clatter of saucepans and a ring of laughter. She looked all around her and knew there wasn’t enough space to store all of Tom’s board games. Through the back door, she saw the narrow strip of paving stones that could never be described as a “patio garden.” The house was located at the side of a busy road, not a good place for a child to play outside. Perhaps they’d been too giddy about moving in together when they’d agreed to the rental terms. They’d both thought the house was cute and cozy rather than tiny.
Carla went upstairs, where images chosen by the leasing agent lined the walls, artful black-and-white shots of palm trees and sunsets. In the main bedroom, she didn’t feel any glimmer of attraction to the pristine carpet and the bed’s leather headboard. She couldn’t imagine her and Tom snuggling under the covers as man and wife.
