Turn a blind eye!

Leah’s long white dress gently billowed as the wind blew in from the seafront. She stood near the cliff, staring out at the spectacular blue sea. Leah had never seen such clear water before. She marvelled at it. Is this really to be the view I can so easily enjoy every day of my new life? Of our new life?

She smiled to herself and threw her hands up. She closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of the sea and the sweet fresh air. Her body came alive. She felt born again. Footsteps approached. She could hear the sand shifting beneath each step towards her. She opened her eyes and turned around. Diego grinned at her. He put his arms around her waist and eagerly pulled her close. Leah smiled as wide as a Cheshire cat. “It’s more beautiful than you said!”

“I know,” Diego said. He leaned down and kissed her soft lips. “Come, they’re here. We should start unpacking.”

“A few more minutes,” Leah begged as she hugged him and laid her head against his chest.

He squeezed back tightly and then pulled away. “We have forever to enjoy this. Come on, we need to tell them where to put everything.”

Leah relented and let him pull her along back to their 18^th-century Spanish home to greet the movers.

Hours passed. The sun was clocking out. Leah was sitting on the floor in the living room going through a box of glassware. Diego was pacing up and down and talking loudly on the phone. He was gesticulating wildly. He switched back and forth between Spanish and English.

Leah pulled out a set of beautiful wine glasses. A few were cracked. “Di,” she whispered. “Di, look.”

“Broken?” he asked covering the mic on his phone.

Leah nodded. “Yeah…”

He grunted, “More broken glass! Sí!”

Leah set the glasses back in the box and stood up. She walked down a long cold corridor and went upstairs to their barren bedroom. She looked around. Ten suitcases were scattered about the room. Three chests of drawers were half filled. Tomorrow’s priority is to pack all our clothes away so we can actually see our…single armchair, two bedside tables with old lamps missing light bulbs and our ancient four-poster canopy bed.

Leah sat on the old bed. It was missing the curtains. She let her curly hair loose and fell backwards onto the mattress. It felt hard as a rock. She sighed and stared up in despair at the intricate wooden carvings above her. She spotted what looked like scratchings that were not made by the bed’s designer. She squinted. It looked like someone had etched something in by hand. It looked like the name ‘Ana’.

“What’s wrong?” Diego asked. He was leaning against the door frame.

Leah took a deep breath. “Nothing. I’m just…nothing.”

Diego walked over and sat down beside her. He took her hand in his and caressed her face with the other. “Look, it’s not so bad. We’ll figure it out. Okay? We have insurance. We’ll get new—”

“Di, it’s fine. I’m fine. It’s just a lot. I thought it would be easier. Thou—"

“—Easier? Baby, we moved to a whole new country. It’ll take a few days to get things sorted but we’ll get it done.”

Leah looked at him for a long moment. “You mean I’ll get it done,” she said sitting up.

Diego shrugged and bit his lip. He ran his hand through thick brown hair. “I love you, but you know I have to go to work. I’ll help you in any way I can, but I mean we talked about this.”

“I know, I’m just…” she sighed. “Sorry I didn’t mean that. I know we agreed. I’ll do the house and you make the money. At least for now.”

“For now? You seemed so excited about it before.” He raised an eyebrow. “What’s—?”

“I am! I’m just overwhelmed,” she said quickly.

“Err, okay.”

“It’s a big house!”

He laughed,” Yes, it’s big but we’ll have a big family to fill it.”

“Whoa there, we said after a year. I’ve only been Mrs. Torres for two months.”

Diego dramatically rolled his eyes. He climbed on top of her. “I love you.” He kissed her forehead and then pulled back to stare into her big brown eyes.

“I love you too,” she whispered back before adding, “we need to find some bedsheets.”

The next morning, Leah sat on the countertop and sipped her tea as she watched Diego inhale his omelette. He guzzled his coffee down and then stood up from the breakfast table and briskly walked over to her. “This was good.”

“Yeah?”

“My mother is a good teacher, eh?” He kissed her cheek. “Gotta go.”

“Call me at lunch?” she asked.

“Bye baby! See you tonight.” Diego kissed her other cheek. He gave her a charming wink and left.

Leah’s shoulders sank. She heard him fumbling with his keys as the sound of his footsteps faded. The front door opened and closed. The car started outside, and the motor sounds quickly quieted down. Leah sipped her tea and listened the sound of canaries singing outside. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard anything but traffic and construction outside of her home. This is wild!

She hopped off the counter and went upstairs. Leah spent the morning sorting and folding clothes. She packed them away in the big dressers. The room smelled old and stuffy, so she threw open the double windows and let the fresh air pour into their new bedroom. When the last of the suitcases was empty, one by one she lugged them downstairs. She was climbing back up the stairs to grab the last one when her cell rang. It was her mother.

“Lili? Can you hear me?” her mother asked.

“Hi mom!” she delighted at hearing her voice. She began pulling the four wheeled suitcase out of the bedroom. She walked down the long corridor towards the staircase. “You won’t believe what happened.”

“Everything alright?”

“Well,” Leah started as struggled to push the handle back down so she could carry the suitcase from the top handle down the stairs. “Our many things arrived and—”

“You got them from the ship?”

“Yes. Well, no. We hired a delivery company to pick them up from the harbour and deliver them to us.”

“Oh, how nice of them.”

“We paid them Mom. It wasn’t out of the kindness of their hearts. Anyways we— just a second.” Leah put the phone in her back pocket. She pushed the handle down with so much force that the suitcase snapped out of her hand and toppled down the stairs. Leah ran down after it. It landed with a big bang at the foot of the stairs. One of the wheels had come right off. “Shit!” Leah grimaced. She hoped her mother hadn’t heard her curse. There was a loud thud on the inside of the suitcase as Leah tried to right it. She opened it and unzipped the inner pocket. She stuck her hand in and felt around. A book. She pulled it out and looked at the leather bound notebook. Must be one of Di’s. She opened it and a photo fell out. She bent down and puzzled at it. It was a grainy photo of a soft faced woman sitting on a beach towel. It was a close-up image taken slightly from above. It felt…intimate. The woman was smiling. She was wearing a bright red bikini top with a rose pattern over it. Leah brought the photo closer to her face. The woman was tucking her hair behind one ear. She had several bracelets on her wrist, and she wore a golden pendant necklace on top of one of a cross. Leah turned the photo over, there was a name written on the back. Ana. Who is Ana?

Leah felt her butt cheek begin to vibrate. Her phone rang again. “Hello?”

“What happened?” her mother asked. “Are you okay? I heard a loud noise, so I thought I’d call back. You weren’t answering. I—”

“Mom, calm down. I just put you in my pocket. I dropped a suitcase down the stairs. Anyways, I was just saying that our things arrived. There were a lot of damaged items,” Leah said. She put the photo back in the notebook and placed it on a nearby shelf.

“Ugh, how awful. Can you report it?”

“Diego is handling it but I’m still going through everything. It all came in yesterday so I’ve no idea how much of it is damaged yet.”

“This is why I said it might be better to just sell most of it and start fresh.”

“Money, Mom.” Leah raised her eyebrows in exasperation. She sat down on the bottom stair and picked up the broken wheel.

“Well, it’s not like Diego’s family doesn’t have lots of it.”

“Mom! I told you already. He’s trying to make it on his own.”

“Yeah but…sweetie it’s not like he doesn’t have access to it. He does, I mean look at the photos you sent of that massive house you have there.”

“He didn’t buy it. It’s been in the family for years. He inherited it,” she said placing the wheel down beside her.

Her mother sighed, “Okay well... Is it nice there? Is the house nice?”

“Yeah, it is. Huge. Lots of old furniture but I can work with this.”

“Good. Alright well, I’m off. I’m taking your Granny to hospital to get her blood pressure checked.”

“Tell her I love her,” Leah said.

“I will. Love you sweetie. You go and be good wifey now,” she quipped.  

“Mom!! Oh my gosh. Okay, I love you too. Bye!” she smiled to herself.

Leah was standing outside waiting for the driver to arrive. Finally, an old white Mercedes drove up her driveway. She climbed into the back seat.

“Hola!”

“Hola! Uh, Inglesa?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I speak English. You want to go to the supermarket?”

“Yes, please.”

The driver nodded and they set off for town. It was a twenty-minute drive. Leah mostly stared out the window and admired the beautiful landscape. They drove down a mountainside and across flat land toward the city. Leah snapped a few photos on her phone. She sat back and looked over her handwritten list of groceries. She wasn’t sure if she’d find everything she needed in town, but she was looking forward to acquainting herself with it. Her thoughts turned to the photo she saw. Who is Ana? she kept thinking. I don’t remember him mentioning anyone named Ana. Why does he have a photo of her? Why is her name etched into the top of our bed canopy? She opened Facebook on her phone and went to Diego’s friend’s list. She typed the name Ana into the search bar. 28 results from his friend list. She started going through them one by one. She had 8 profiles remaining when the driver honked and stopped the car. Leah looked up. There was a car that was dawdling in front of them. The driver carefully overtook them.

“So, you are the new Mistress of Casa Torres?” the driver said looking back at Leah through the mirror.

“Casa Torres?” she asked trying to hide her surprise.

He smiled. “Yes, Casa Torres. Nobody has lived there for ten years and now the lights are on at Casa Torres again.”

Leah shifted in her seat. “Uh, my husband is Mr. Torres. We just moved in.”

“Diego Torres. When I last saw him, he was…” the driver stopped himself. “Everybody in town is talking about Diego being back. Working for his uncle now. Alfonso, the big boss.”

“Yeah… Everyone’s talking about Diego?”

The driver nodded. “Small town. Not much happens on this island that we the people don’t know about. When the big boss’s nephew comes back, and he turns on the lights at the big house… well we notice.”

“Why do you call Alfonso the big boss?”

The driver laughed and turned the radio on. They arrived in the city. It was bustling. There were numerous tourists walking around the main square. The driver stopped in front a large supermarket near the square. “Okay, you call me when you’re ready to go. I’ll be waiting here.”

“Oh, won’t that cost me more?” Leah asked.

“Heh? It’s okay. The big boss pays for everything already.” He waved her off.

That evening, Leah was chopping basil when she heard the front door open. “Diego?”

“My love, my love!” he called.

Leah grabbed a handful of the basil and dropped it into the pot. She put the lid on and lowered the heat.

Diego walked into the kitchen. “Mmm, smells good. My uncle gave me this. For you.” He handed her a bottle of wine. The year said 1993. “Your birth year. He pulled this from his cellars.”

“That’s so nice of him.” She took the bottle in hand.

“How was town?”

“Umm, I need Spanish lessons and like now. Like now now. I was so lost.”

“Why didn’t you ask for help?”

“How?”

Diego smiled and walked over to close the windows. “Love, close the windows early.”

Leah inspected the wine bottle. There was a painted image of a woman clad in armour on it. She wore a pendant around her neck. “Diego?”

“Hmmn?” He was inspecting one of the windows. “We need to get someone to redo the windows.”

“I accidentally broke the wheel on one of the suitcases earlier. I was trying to bring it downstairs.”

Diego looked at her. “We can get a new one.”

“There was a notebook inside. I think it’s yours. It was a brown one. Leather.”

Diego nodded. “Yeah.” He turned around and pulled out two wine glasses from the cupboard above him. He began to wash them by hand.

“Who is Ana?” she finally asked.

Diego paused. He then continued rinsing the glasses. He set them aside and nonchalantly walked past Leah. He looked around. “Where are the towels? To dry the glasses?”

“Probably in one of the boxes still. I haven’t found them yet.”

Diego clicked his tongue. He grabbed a napkin and went back to dry the glasses. Leah watched him and waited. He came back to her and took the wine from her hand.

“Diego? Did you hear me?” Leah asked. She watched as he popped open the bottle and began to pour it into the glasses. “Diego?”

“Look, I’m tired. Wh- why are you asking?” he asked defensively.

“There was a photo, and, on the back, it said Ana.”

Diego put the bottle down and stared at Leah. “You went through my things?”

Leah shifted uncomfortably and took a step back. She rubbed her arm. “No, it fell out of the journal.”

“So, you don’t respect my privacy?”

“Wh— what? No, I— I’m just asking. I didn’t mean to see the photo. It fell out. It was in the suitcase that fell.”

“So, you break my suitcase and then you also look through my things?”

Leah blinked in confusion. What the hell? “Why are you being so weird about this? Aren’t we married now?”

“So, you want me to go through your things? Your phone? Your journals?”

“I don’t have anything to hide. Do you?”

Diego stared at her. “Where is it? Where is the photo?”

“Why are you not answering my question? Who is she? Is she like an ex-girlfriend or something?” Leah folded her arms across her chest.

“Where is the photo!” Diego snapped.

Leah jumped. She turned and quietly left the kitchen. She stopped and for a moment she wanted to go back into the kitchen, but she pressed on. She went upstairs and into an empty room that overlooked an overgrown courtyard. She quietly closed the door. She sat down on the cold dusty tiles and held herself. What hell? Who the hell is this woman?

“Leah? Leah the pot! Leah!” he called from downstairs.

Leah didn’t move. She pulled out her phone and called her sister Abigail. It rang and rang. Voicemail. Leah hung up. She began furiously typing a long message to her.

‘Found a journal of Diego’s. There was a photo inside of some woman. Pretty. Her name is Ana. I asked him about it, and he literally freaked out! Abbs he yelled at me! He’s never EVER done that!!! I don’t know who she is. He won’t tell me.

Do you think it’s an ex or something?’

Leah closed her eyes. What is going on? We just got married. We’re supposed to be happy! Why is this happening? Who is this woman? Her phone vibrated, pulling her out of her thoughts. It was a text from her sister.

‘Don’t ruin this for yourself. He’s handsome.

Successful. He loves you and he’s Spanish!

Let it go. Turn a blind eye!’

“Ugh!” Leah put her phone down. She sat by herself in that room for an hour. Who is this woman? Is he cheating on me? She replayed their conversation in her head, over and over again. She couldn’t get the look her gave her out of her mind. Why is he keeping secrets from me?

After a time, Leah stood up and went to their bedroom. Diego was sitting on their bed. He looked up at her. He seemed tired and sad. He stood and took a step towards her, but Leah immediately recoiled.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Why is her name etched into the top of our bed?” Leah asked firmly. She waited for answer. Diego ran his hand through his hair. In that quiet moment, she knew that if he didn’t tell her she would be on the next flight home. I’m not my sister. I just can’t do it. I can’t turn a blind eye.

“Ana fell off the cliff…” he started.  

Wait…what?