Holding her stomach she bent over and cried at the injustice of the world. She loathed Christmas and she loathed England. Suddenly she felt a heavy hand on her back. She stopped crying and straightened up. Wiping her face with her glove she lifted her eyes to find the dark eyes of her father staring into hers with love and remorse. She swallowed hard and blinked.
‘Papa?’ she croaked, catching her breath in her throat with surprise.
‘Fede. I’m sorry.’ He drew her kicking and screaming into his arms.
‘I hate you, I hate you!’ she sobbed, as he held her in a firm bear hug, burying his face into her hot neck, whispering words of tenderness and encouragement. As she felt herself enveloped in the familiar smell of his body she closed her eyes and stopped fighting, giving in to the security of his embrace, conquered by her love for him. Finally he crouched down and held her by her narrow shoulders.
‘I missed you,’ he said emphatically, searching her expression for submission. He wished he had missed her much sooner. ‘I got your letter,’ he added, grinning at her sheepishly.
‘Is that why you came?’
‘No. I was always going to come and see you. I’ve just been very busy. But
your letter made me realize that I couldn’t leave it any longer.’
‘I’m glad you’re here,’ she said and smiled timidly.
There, that’s better.’ He wiped her face with his thumbs. ‘You have so much to tell me. You’ve been living an adventure. I want to hear everything. Do you like England?’
‘Sort of. I have a best friend called Hester.’ She sniffed, cheering up.
‘What about that dog Mama was going to buy you?’ he asked.
‘She hasn’t yet.’
Ramon rolled his eyes. ‘Oh dear. Do you want one, as a Christmas present?’
‘No thank you. You’re my Christmas present and I couldn’t ask for anything else.’
Ramon had forgotten how much he loved his daughter. It had been too easy to forget. But now, as he held her against him again, his heart reeled with tenderness.
Suddenly the door opened with a low groan and out walked Helena. When she saw Federica in the embrace of a strange man she was about to object. But then she recognized the wide shoulders and the strong back and felt her head swim with uncertainty. When he turned around to face her she stood blinking
at him with her jaw open, not knowing what to say and fighting the impulse to slap him around the face and slate him for not having come months ago.
‘Helena.’ He said and smiled at her.
Helena stared back at him, her face pale in the blue winter light, her lips quivering, anxiously trying to find the words. ‘Ramon,’ she replied in confusion. Then added clumsily, ‘What are you doing here?’
‘As there was no one at the house I presumed you’d be at church,’ he replied casually, as if he dropped in all the time.
‘Yes, we are at church,’ she retorted stiffly, finding her wits again. ‘We’re at church. Now if you’d kindly let Fede go we’d like to finish the service,’ she said tightly, taking Federica by the arm.
‘I’m not leaving him,’ Federica hissed, grabbing onto his hand.
‘Fede, he’ll be here when we come out.’
‘I’m not leaving him,’ Federica repeated before dissolving into tears again.
‘It looks like I’m going to have to join you,’ said Ramon with a smirk, squeezing his daughter’s hand.
Helena pursed her lips together and let out a long-suffering sigh. ‘There’s very little room,’ she argued, not wanting to incite the curiosity of the
congregation by walking back up the aisle with Ramon.
I’ll find somewhere,’ he said, shrugging his big shoulders.
‘As you wish,’ Helena conceded, reluctantly opening the door.
Ramon followed her into the church, which he dwarfed with the sheer scale of his charisma. As they walked down the aisle Helena felt innumerable pairs of inquisitive eyes settle on her husband, eager to know who the strange, dark foreigner was. But Federica placed a proprietorial hand in his so that no one would be in any doubt that he was her father.
Jake and Polly’s eyes widened with surprise when Helena asked them to move up to make space for Ramon. They sat staring at him with their mouths agape like floundering fish. Fortunately Reverend Boyble was still merrily giving his sermon about the meaning of Christmas so they didn’t have the opportunity to ask questions or voice their shock. Federica grinned up at her father and held his warm hand in both of hers to prevent him from getting away. Hal squeezed closer to his mother, sensing her uneasiness and feeling fear but not understanding why. Helena wished she hadn’t been so unfriendly, but she was in shock, what did he expect? He could have let her know. A letter or a telephone call would have been nice. She sat scowling into her prayer book trying