The Last Song (16 page)

I rose to go with her. A small smile quivered over her lips.

“You stay. The two of you must have a lot to say to each other.”

With a wave of her hand, she was gone. I was astonished. What had happened to my proper mother, always so strict about conventions?

“Doña Catarina is a kind lady. I am grateful that she gave me the opportunity to tell you what fills my heart.”

I remembered my tears, the sleepless nights, and all the dreams and hopes I had bid farewell to. I realized that Yonah was trying to protect me, but I felt that he gave up on our dreams too easily. I turned my face away.

“There is nothing to talk about,” I said. “You told me that you couldn’t see me again. That I should marry Luis.”

He took my hand. I tried to pull it away, but he wouldn’t let it go.

“Don’t you understand? I wanted to save us heartbreak, and I was right. In a week’s time, my father and I will leave Sefarad, never to return. We will be going to Cartagena, and from there we will sail to Morocco to start new lives. That is my destiny. Yours is to stay here with your parents and marry Luis and become the mistress of a great estate. I came to say good-bye. We’ll probably never see each other again.”

A lone tear trickled down his cheek. It melted my heart.

“I am here now,” I whispered.

Then he kissed me.

C
HAPTER 16
 

T
he sun was rising and the sky was turning a blushing rose when the loud clang of the bell woke me.

I met Mama on the landing. Like me, she was barefoot and covered by a robe.

She dug her fingers into my arm. “Could it be your father? Has he come home?”

We rushed to the front hall. The servants were waiting for us. None of them made the slightest move toward the door.

“Open the door, Yussuf!” Mama cried.

The Moor’s fingers fumbled with the locks. Finally, he swung the door open.

Papa fell into Yussuf’s arms. Mama and I rushed forward and hugged Papa and kissed him until he asked us to stop.

“Doña Isabel, the Grand Inquisitor instructed me to ask you for a letter you had promised him,” said a quiet voice.

I turned around and looked toward the open door. Fray Armand was patiently waiting on the stoop. There was a litter with closed curtains behind him outside.

“Yes, I did promise to give the letter to his grace. I must go to my chamber for it.”

He nodded and I left.

It took mere minutes to retrieve the letter from the jewelry chest. I returned to the front hall and handed it to the monk. “This is the letter his excellency is expecting.”

I watched him through the open door as he took it to the litter.

“I have it, your grace,” I heard him say.

Torquemada’s blunt features appeared for a moment in the window of the litter as he reached for the letter through the curtains.

Papa slammed our door shut. “I don’t want to see them ever again. It’s so good to be home!”

We bathed my father’s wounds and put him to bed. He was feverish, so Mama sent for the surgeon to apply leeches to bleed him to balance his humors. We fed him gruel by a spoon and gave him ale to drink to help
him recover his strength. Two days later, he was strong enough to leave his bed.

“Master, Yonah Abenatar, the son of the silversmith Natan Abenatar, wishes to speak to you,” announced Yussuf.

Papa’s eyes flickered in my direction. “Show him in.”

The Moor ushered Yonah into the room. Then he bowed and withdrew, closing the door gently behind him.

“Don Enrique, Doña Catarina, Isabel, good afternoon to you all. Forgive me for disturbing you, but I had to speak to you as soon as possible,” Yonah said.

Papa asked him to sit down. “What brings you to our home?”

Yonah’s eyes traveled around the sitting room. “Can we be overheard?”

Papa shook his head.

“I have some bad news, Don Enrique,” he said. “I told Isabel that the Grand Inquisitor gave in to her demands too easily.” He lowered his voice. “Unfortunately, my suspicions were well-founded. Pablo, the brother of my father’s apprentice, is a footman in Torquemada’s household. I asked my father’s apprentice to speak to Pablo to find out if he had heard
any mention of you, Don Enrique, in the Grand Inquisitor’s household.”

Papa shifted in his seat. “Has he?”

“I am afraid that he has. Pablo was cleaning silver in the Grand Inquisitor’s apartment when Torquemada walked into the chamber, accompanied by Fray Armand. They took no notice of Pablo. They were talking about you, Don Enrique.”

“Are you certain that it was of me that they spoke?”

“There is no doubt of that. The Grand Inquisitor referred to you as Enrique de Cardosa of Toledo. He also called you – forgive me for repeating this – Enrique the Jew.”

“No offense taken.” He gave a rueful laugh. “Torquemada might have been speaking of himself. Our ancestors are the same. What did the Grand Inquisitor say about me?”

Yonah lowered his voice even more. “Torquemada said, and I am quoting him, ‘Enrique the Jew believes that he is safe now. I shall let a few days pass to give him time to celebrate his freedom. How dare he send his whelp to blackmail me?’ ”

Yonah paused, then continued. “Pablo said that the Grand Inquisitor was so angry that he was shouting. This was the first time that Pablo had ever heard him raise his voice.”

“What did Torquemada say next?”

“I am sorry to tell you this, Don Enrique, but the Grand Inquisitor plans to arrest not only you but also Doña Catarina and Isabel.”

Mama gasped. I started to speak, but Papa silenced me with a wave of his hand.

“We must leave this place as soon as possible,” Papa said. “The Inquisition has long arms. Nowhere in Sefarad is safe for us.”

“But where can we go?” Mama asked.

“When I told my father what Pablo had said, he came to the same conclusion as you did, Don Enrique – that it is no longer safe for you to remain in the kingdom. He instructed me to invite you and your family to join us when we leave our home in a week’s time.”

My selfish heart began to dance.

“Where will you go, Yonah?” Papa asked.

“I wanted to sign on as a crew for Christopher Columbus,” Yonah answered. “Many people say that he is an anusim. I know several men who are sailing with Columbus. He doesn’t ask too many questions when he signs you on.” He sighed. “My father says that he is too old to sail with Columbus, and I won’t go without him. We’ll make our way on foot to Cartagena instead, and board a ship from there to Morocco. My mother, may she rest in peace, had a
cousin in Fez. We’ll try to find him when we get there.”

“Morocco! So far away,” Mama said.

Papa rubbed his eyes tiredly. “What do you think, Catarina? Should we accept Natan Abenatar’s most generous invitation and go to Morocco with him and Yonah?”

“Morocco is as good a place as any,” Mama said. “But must we leave, Enrique? This is our home. This is where you were born. This is all we know.” Defeated, she wiped her eyes.

“We are no different from Yonah or his father,” Papa said. “They, too, have to leave all that’s familiar and beloved. If we stay, we will lose everything, even our lives.”

I jumped to my feet. For the first time since I could remember, I laughed. “Thank God! I won’t have to marry Luis!”

I stole a look at Yonah. He stared ahead. I couldn’t tell how he felt.

“Yonah,” Papa said, “please tell your father that we accept his kind offer with gratitude.”

Yonah stood up. “I’ll convey your message to him, Don Enrique. There is another problem. Where will you hide for the next few days? My father and I can’t give you refuge before we leave. The spies of the Inquisition are everywhere in the Juderia.”

“We will find a place,” Papa said.

“Let us know where you are,” Yonah replied. “We will come for you four days from today, early, before the sun rises. I will bring clothing so that you will look like one of us.”

Before I knew it, Yonah was at the door.

“I was afraid that this would happen,” Papa said after Yonah had left.

“What a fine boy,” Mama said. “It’s so kind of his father to risk their own safety to help us. It’s good to know there are people like that in the world.”

“Where will we go to hide?” I asked.

“Juana and Diego will take us in,” replied Mama.

“You can’t believe that. Tia Juana wouldn’t even answer the door when we tried to see her!”

“I can’t explain why that happened,” Mama said, “but I know Juana. She would never let me down. She is your godmother. She is my friend. She’ll help us.”

Papa pulled the bell so hard and pounded so fiercely on the front door of Tia Juana’s house that I thought that the wood would splinter. However, the door remained closed.

“I told you that we shouldn’t have come back. I knew that they wouldn’t let us in.”

“Silence, Isabel.” He banged even harder.

Mama shot me an imploring glance. “Isabel! Don’t vex your father. Enrique,” she continued, “Isabel is right. Let’s go home. Juana and her family may have gone to their orchard to escape the heat.” She wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“With all the windows open? Not likely. They are at home but not answering the door,” Papa roared. He slapped his thigh in frustration. “We’re wasting our time here.” He turned to Yussuf, who was holding our horses. “Give me the reins!”

Papa mounted his horse. Mama and I followed on our animals. The Moor rode a donkey. It was slow going with horses, donkeys, mules, litters, and people milling in the road. We had turned the corner when I heard somebody calling after me.

“Isabel, wait!”

Brianda was running through the crowd behind us, pushing and shoving aside everyone in her path with her elbows.

“Stop, Papa! Stop!”

My parents reigned in their horses. Brianda was gasping for breath. I dismounted and hugged her. Mama got off her horse, too, but my father stayed in his saddle.

“Where are your parents?” he thundered. “Why won’t they answer the door?”

“I am sorry, Tio Enrique, but –”

“But what?”

“Leave the girl alone, Enrique!” Mama said. Her tone was sharp. “
She
is here, isn’t she?”

Papa dismounted. “Your Tia Catarina is right. Forgive my bad manners, Brianda. We need your parents’ help, but there is no need to burden you with our problems.”

“What’s wrong?” Brianda asked.

“The Inquisition came for Papa and …”

“Silence, Isabel!” Papa yelled.

“Why can’t I tell Brianda about your arrest? Everybody knows about it.”

“There is no harm in Brianda knowing,” Mama said to Papa. “She will realize how important it is that we find her parents.”

“This is not the place to talk,” Papa said.

He led us through an alley to a lane behind the shops. It was quieter than the main thoroughfare. He stopped in front of an inn with a thatched roof. We tied our horses to a hitching post in front of it.

“Yussuf, stay with the animals,” Papa said. “Don’t take your eyes off them, not even for a moment. There are plenty of horse thieves about.”

We went into the inn. We found ourselves in a low-ceilinged room with clay walls covered by soot.
We sat on benches beside a rough-hewn table. The proprietor, a surly man with a dirty doublet and even dirtier fingernails, brought us ale. I couldn’t bear to touch the tankard he slammed down on the table in front of me.

I told Brianda about everything – about Papa’s arrest, about my interview with the Grand Inquisitor, about Torquemada’s treachery. She was horrified.

“We have to find a hiding place …” I couldn’t find the words to say anything more.

Mama said them for me. “If the Grand Inquisitor finds us, he will arrest us. So we must disappear. Where are your parents, my dear? As you can see, we must speak to them. We have little time.”

Brianda hung her head. “They’re home,” she admitted. “My mother told my father not to open the door when you called. You know how he always does what she tells him … it’s easier. Mother says that you are New Christians – heretics! She says that the Inquisition will punish us if we are your friends, that it is forbidden to help you.”

“Are you scared, Brianda? To be my friend?”

“Of course not!” she cried. “How can I help you?”

Mama was wringing her hands. “I would never have believed that Juana was so disloyal.”

I knew what was coming next.

Softly, as if to herself, Mama said, “We grew up together, close as sisters.”

“Don’t judge her harshly,” Papa said. “Fear does strange things to people.”

“My mother is afraid of the Inquisition,” Brianda muttered under her breath.

Mama looked unconvinced. “When times are this hard, you quickly discover who your friends are.”

“What can I do for you?” Brianda asked.

Papa threw a few coins on the table and stood up. “Unless you are able to hide a whole family for a few days, there is nothing much you can do for us.”

“Wait a minute, Tio Enrique!” Brianda cried. “I have the solution.”