The Last Song (20 page)

A smudge of dark blue appeared on the horizon.

Mama cried out. “The ocean!”

“Our future,” Yonah whispered to me.

We picked up our pace and soon we were in Cartagena. We passed the humble dwellings lining the streets of the town and finally arrived at the port. Six galleons were dancing on the blue sea.

Somewhere in the crowd a man began to sing “Dayenu.”

“It’s a song we sing at Passover,” explained Yonah, his eyes filling with tears.

A woman’s voice joined in, then another voice began to sing, and another after him until a thousand throats expressed their gratitude to God:

Finally, the song ended and the noise subsided. We waited and waited and waited for a miracle to occur. Nothing happened. The waves did not part and the ocean remained calm. The flags of the ships fluttered gently.

Instead, priests carrying crosses appeared.

“Repent! Repent!” they cried. “Accept Christ and you will be saved!”

For a moment, I was back in church in my usual pew, with Father Juan conducting mass. I heard the music; I smelled the incense; I tasted the host. The familiarity of it all tugged at my heart. I thought of the heavenly peace I felt when I prayed to the blessed Virgin. I felt like me when I thought these things. I looked at Yonah. Would I ever become the person he wanted me to be? I didn’t know.

“We must go to the ships or we won’t get a berth,” Yonah said.

“You’re right,” Papa added. He looked around. “There are so many of us.”

“The almighty will help us,” said Master Abenatar.

“I wish that I had your faith,” Papa said.

Sofia nudged me with her elbow. “Mistress,” she said, “I have something of yours that might be useful. Before we left, I went to your room to look for the necklace that Doña Brianda had given you, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.”

“It’s in my jewelry chest.”

“I thought that it might be but I didn’t dare to bring the jewelry chest with me. It’s too big. But I did bring this!”

She took a garish gold bracelet out of the bundle over her shoulder, the bracelet that Luis had given me for my birthday. She held it up. “It was thrown down on a table in your room. I know that you don’t like it, young mistress, but it must be valuable. I heard that you were forbidden to take gold with you, but nobody would suspect somebody like me of having such a bracelet.” She handed it to Papa. “Don Enrique, will it help you arrange a passage for us on one of the ships?”

Papa’s eyes gleamed. “It’ll get a berth for all of us – for our family and for Yonah and his father, for Rabbi Abenbilla and his family, and for Yehudit and her parents.”

He led the way as we pushed through hundreds of people waiting at the harbor, holding onto one another’s clothing to keep together. At the edge of the ocean,
we passed a large group kneeling on the ground while a priest was pouring holy water over their heads to baptize them. Papa stopped.

“Sofia, Yussuf, we must bid you farewell here.”

From the bundle slung over his shoulder, he drew out the two white handkerchiefs on which he had written. He handed the first handkerchief to Yussuf, the second to Sofia.

“What is this, master?” the Moor asked.

“A document that grants you your freedom. The charcoal is a little smeared, but the words are clear enough to prove that you are no longer slaves. Both of you are free!”

Tears came to Yussuf’s eyes. “May Allah bless you, master! I will never forget your kindness. It’s hard to leave you.”

“Where will you go?” Papa asked.

“I will roam the kingdom until I find my wife and child. I heard that they were in Aragon.” He bowed deeply for the last time and melted away into the crowd.

“I thank you, Don Enrique, from the bottom of my heart,” Sofia said. She knelt at my feet. “Let me stay with you, Doña Isabel.
You
are my family!”

I glanced at Mama, and she nodded her head. I pulled Sofia close.

“Only if you come with us as my sister, not as my servant,” I told her as we clasped hands.

Papa led us up the gangplank of the
Santa Maria
. We were fortunate. The ship was about to sail and we were the last passengers allowed to board. We pressed against the ship’s railing while Papa negotiated our passage with the captain. Yonah’s shoulder was warm against mine. Yehudit and my mother stood on my other side. The sailors hoisted up the gangplank and unfurled the sails. My eyes drank in the contours of the shoreline, the green trees, the hazy mountains in the distance, and the houses dotting the landscape of my beloved Sefarad.

The ship began its journey and the land began to recede until I could no longer see even a glimpse of it. I wiped away my tears and put my head on Yonah’s shoulder. He took my hand. We stared into the horizon together.