An Uncommon Family (27 page)

“That means you would have to get in touch with the family,” Jonas said.

“I know someone who could find out for me.” Anna thought of her friend Gloria, the former receptionist for the firm Nico used to work for in Guadalajara.

“Perhaps finding out a little more about that part of your husband’s life would help you in some ways. Perhaps bring some closure.”

“I have enough closure,” Anna said in a curt voice. Then she sighed and added more gently, “Perhaps you’re right.”

“Carmen and her youngest son still live in the same place,” Gloria said on the phone. “The two older children have moved out and gotten married. The youngest one is finishing up his studies at the university.”

Anna was stunned. “How did you find this out so fast?”

“Pure coincidence. I have a friend who happens to know the family. I explained the situation to her and she went and talked to Carmen.”

“Gloria, I didn’t mean for you to get in touch with her. I just wanted to know their financial situation.”

“They’re not rich but my friend found out that they were included in the will. I think they’re doing all right. And I didn’t tell my friend to contact her. She did it without my knowledge. I guess I should’ve made it clear not to do that; I’m sorry. But anyway, Carmen told my friend that she knew Nico was involved with a woman in the United States. But she only found out that he had married again after he had died. She was really shocked about that. But she wants to meet you.”

“Meet with her? Gloria, are you crazy?”

“Anna, she sounds like a really nice person and I think it would be good for both of you. She’s in a similar situation as you. She, too, has only half the story. Don’t you think it would help you both to put this part of your lives behind you?”

“Gloria, I don’t want to start digging up the past again.” Anna sighed. “Let me think about it, okay?”

After hanging up the phone, Anna plopped onto the sofa and groaned. “Just when I finally thought I could move on with my life.” Ever since Anna and Jonas had become more involved with each other, Anna had hardly ever thought of Nico. The pain of his betrayal had all but disappeared. Now, it was mostly curiosity that made her consider traveling to Mexico. She wanted to find out once and for all how a person could live a perfect double life for almost ten years.

The following few days, she began to make plans. Karla’s spring vacation started in three weeks. She would spend about two weeks in the Ticino with their friend Lena, so it would be perfect timing. Anna could fly to Mexico, spend a few days there, and then fly back via New York to visit with Susan and George, her old friends she hadn’t seen in years.

Chapter 50

Karla tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. She was worried about Anna being so far away. Karla had never been apart from her, except during her vacations with Lena. But that was different; that was just a three-hour drive by car and they talked on the phone every day.

Yesterday, Jonas and Karla had taken Anna to the airport. Karla had cried when Anna walked through passport control. She was afraid she would never see her again, just like her mother. Fortunately, Jonas was with her and that helped a little. Jonas was here now, spending the night. Tomorrow, they would drive to the Ticino to Lena’s, where Karla would stay until Anna came back.

Jonas promised he would wake her up in the early morning when Anna called from the hotel in Mexico. If only it was already morning. Then Karla would know that Anna was all right. Anna’s husband had died in a plane crash and Karla’s mother in a car accident.

Karla sat up; she would never be able to fall asleep. She kicked the down comforter aside, got up, slid her feet into her flip-flops, put on her robe, and walked downstairs. Jonas was still up, in front of the fireplace, reading. He peered at her over his reading glasses. “Can’t sleep, huh?”

Karla shook her head and plopped down on the sofa next to him. She shivered a little. It had been a rainy and unusually cold April. Jonas handed her a blanket. “I’ll stoke the fire again. Want something to drink? Warm milk might help.”

“Warm milk with chocolate?” Karla said.

“Yes ma’am, coming right up.” Jonas got up, and placed a couple more logs in the fireplace, then went into the kitchen. He came back with a mug of hot chocolate milk.

Karla warmed her hands on the mug, took a small sip, and burned her tongue. “Ouch.”

She sat it down on the table, then snuggled up to Jonas, folding her legs underneath her robe. He put his arm around her. It smelled of burning wood and one of the pine logs made a loud popping sound. A meow came from the kitchen. Karla’s black-and-white cat had woken up and joined them in the living room. She jumped up on the sofa and crawled onto Karla’s lap. Karla stroked her soft fur and Dotty began to purr loudly.

“I wonder where she is now,” Karla said.

“Hmm, let’s see. She’s probably over the Atlantic Ocean right now. She should arrive at around five o’clock in the morning our time. This time difference is a funny thing, isn’t it?”

Karla nodded. She leaned forward, trying to grab her mug without displacing the cat. Jonas picked it up and handed it to her. She took a sip, then handed it back to Jonas. “Jonas, are you worried about her?”

Jonas shook his head. “Not really. Well, to be honest, a little bit. Are you worried?”

Karla nodded. Tears collected in the corner of her eyes. A small sob escaped. Jonas hugged her, unsettling Dotty, who jumped down and gave a protesting meow.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be okay.”

“I know.” Karla took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. She took a few sips of chocolate milk. The warm liquid felt good and calmed her a little. She started to yawn. Dotty tried to climb back onto her lap again.

“Why don’t you try to get a little sleep? You’ll be very tired when I wake you up at five.”

“I guess I could try,” Karla murmured.

“I could tell you a good-night story,” Jonas volunteered.

“A fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen?” Karla grinned. “I know them all by now.”

Jonas chuckled. “Here we go again, children growing up. My kids used to love them, and then one day, they laughed at me when I wanted to tell them another one.”

“I loved them, too,” Karla said. “It’s just . . . well . . .”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you’re a young adult now. What about listening to some soothing music? You have all these CDs.”

“I guess I could,” Karla said. She lifted Dotty up and placed her next to Jonas on the couch. The cat got up and shook her head, as if to say she didn’t like the arrangement. She stretched her body, jumped down from the sofa, and curled up by the fire.

“Don’t forget to wake me up,” Karla said, yawning. She went upstairs and put on a CD by Andreas Vollenweider with soothing harp music. This time, she fell asleep fairly fast.

Loud voices calling for help, flashes of fire, and then it was all red. Karla was suffocating. She tried to call, but no sound escaped. She struggled against the fetters. She was trapped. Finally, a scream, then another one. Karla shot up, her heart thumping in her chest.

“It’s okay,” she heard a voice say. Someone was holding her, tapping her back. “Wake up, Karla.”

Karla’s rapid breaths slowed down a little. She stared at Jonas, who held her. He was in his pajamas. “You were dreaming,” he said. “It’s okay now.”

Karla exhaled. Another one of her nightmares. She was still trembling. Jonas held her. After a while, she calmed down enough to speak. “What time is it?”

“It’s four thirty in the morning.”

“And Anna?” Karla was still confused.

“In about half an hour.”

“I don’t want to go to sleep anymore.”

“Well, we might as well get up. I’ll get some coffee started.” Jonas brushed his white hair out of his face. It stuck out on all sides and made him look like an aged punk rocker, except the different colors were missing. In spite of her shock, Karla had to smile.

Downstairs, Jonas lit the fire again. When Karla came down, it smelled of coffee. “Can I have some, too?” Karla asked.

“Hmm. You really shouldn’t, but okay for once, with lots of milk.” Jonas heated up some milk, poured a shot of coffee into Karla’s mug, and added steaming hot milk and sugar to it. He handed her the cup. “Just don’t tell Anna.”

“She lets me have some once in a while, with lots of milk. I like hot chocolate better, but today is special,” Karla said.

“I guess you’re right.”

They sipped their coffee and looked out the window. Karla watched the play of light and dark as the trees and bushes and the neighbors’ houses became visible, as if they were slowly walking out of the dark. She squinted her eyes and examined the sky. There was a band of whitish yellow right above the horizon, then a thick slab of orange leading into crimson. A group of patchy purplish clouds hung above the trees.

The phone rang, startling Karla, who spilled some of her coffee. She put the mug down and stared at Jonas as he answered the phone.

“Hello there,” he said into the phone and winked at Karla. “How are you? Good. Listen, someone here wants to talk to you really badly. She’s getting ready to rip the phone out my hands. Here you go.” He handed Karla the receiver.

“Anna,” Karla screamed into the phone. “How are you?”

“I’m fine. How are you?”

“Fine. I miss you.” The relief of hearing Anna’s voice brought tears to Karla’s eyes again, but she didn’t want to make Anna feel bad, so she held them back.

“You sure you’re okay?” Anna’s voice sounded concerned.

Karla nodded, then realized that Anna couldn’t see her. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just glad to hear your voice. How is Mexico?”

“Busy and noisy.” Anna laughed. “I just got here; I’m in my hotel, getting ready to sleep, or at least try to. It was a very long trip and I’m exhausted.”

“What time is it there?” Karla asked.

“It’s about eleven at night.”

“We just got up. It’s early in the morning here. We’re having coffee . . . and hot milk.” Karla grinned at Jonas, who chuckled.

“Well, let me talk to Jonas, sweetie. And be good. I’ll call you again tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay, Anna, love you a lot.”

“Love you, too.”

Karla sighed and handed the phone to Jonas. She listened for a while, then got up and started pacing around the room. She was so happy that Anna was okay. She lifted up Dotty, who was asleep on the rug in front of the fire. She pressed her against her chest so hard that the cat winced, slipped out of her hands, and hissed at her. “Sorry, Dotty, didn’t mean to hurt you.” Karla patted the cat, who seemed to have already forgotten the somewhat rough treatment. She turned on her back and let Karla stroke her belly.

Chapter 51

Anna was groggy after her long flight to Guadalajara. She felt odd and disjointed, as if hurled back into the past—a past she had tried to put behind her. After talking to Karla and Jonas, she tried to sleep, but although she was exhausted, it took her a long time to settle down. She began to question her decision to make this trip. What was she doing here? What would a meeting with Nico’s other wife bring? She could be at home with Jonas and Karla. She had a home, a man, and a child whom she loved and who loved her. Did she have to come all the way to Mexico for it to really sink in? Anna shook her head.

The following day, Gloria, who had picked her up at the airport in the evening, met her at the hotel. Her friend had gotten a little heavier and older but she was still basically the same bubbly person. They embraced enthusiastically.

Gloria still worked for the same engineering firm that Nico had worked for. After filling each other in on the latest news, they went out for breakfast. Since Gloria had to work during the day, they decided to meet for dinner. Anna spent the day doing some sightseeing, but wasn’t much in the mood for it. She hadn’t slept well the night before, so she went back to the hotel to take a nap.

In the evening, Gloria and Anna went out to dinner. Relaxing with a glass of wine, Anna felt a little better. She loved Guadalajara and the exotic beauty of one of Mexico’s oldest cities, and she would be able to enjoy it more if it didn’t bring up painful memories of the past.

“I’m still not sure meeting with Carmen is such a good idea,” she said, gazing across the street at one of the many beautifully lit cathedrals. “I guess I’m mainly worried that it’s going to be awkward.”

“Don’t you think it would help you understand a little better what happened back then? It may be painful, but it’ll also be liberating. I just feel that if something like that happened to me, I would like to know why that man did what he did,” Gloria said.

“I don’t know. Perhaps.”

The following morning, Anna and Gloria walked along the street where Anna had spied on Nico’s family that fateful day. Seeing the small house with its neatly groomed front yard brought back a rush of memories. Anna’s heartbeat went into overdrive. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her frazzled nerves. Gloria knocked.

Anna recognized the woman who opened the door right away. She had aged, but she was still attractive and slim, with pronounced facial features and penetrating dark eyes. Her long black hair was streaked with gray.

Carmen invited them in and asked them to sit down. Gloria introduced Anna. Carmen observed Anna with a serious face but without malice. She gave Gloria a quick smile and asked if they wanted tea or coffee.

“Coffee would be nice, thanks. What about you, Anna?”

“Coffee is fine,” Anna said. “And may I have some water too, please?” Her mouth felt parched.

“I have bottled water,” Carmen said.

“Thank you.”

“She seems nice enough,” Gloria whispered after Carmen left the room.

Anna nodded. She was beginning to sweat and it wasn’t even hot.

Carmen came back in with a bottle of water and two cups. As she was getting ready to go back into the kitchen to get the coffee, Gloria got up. “Let me help you.” Anna got up as well, but Gloria motioned her to sit down. “Just relax, I’ll help.”