Chapter 2

He had returned. He put a tray on the bedside table next to her and took a seat on the couch next door.

I had brought coffee. Two steaming cups. He didn't like it too much, but he needed something to occupy his hands with.

-Yes, thank you: With milk and sugar, please," Cami replied. Maybe taking something sweet would relieve the vomiting you had feeling all morning.

-I see you're not too worried about keeping the line -he joked carefully.

-Not much.

But he was fixing himself on Cami's body. And, despite the eyes that dented under his brown eyes, after five days of fatigue and stress, he was a very pretty woman.

He carried hair collected over his head, and only a few brown hair that fell wavy on the soft skin of his face escaped his hair. He had freckles in his nose and certainly the most sensual and generous mouth he had ever seen.

He shook his pulse and threw a spoonful of sugar over the tray. Nothing happened. He put the teaspoon in the sugar bowl again, but his torpeza disturbed him anyway.

I hadn't thought at all about what Mary's cousin would be like. Of course, he hadn't thought that he could find her attractive, although perhaps the soft melody of his voice on the phone should have warned him.

But he didn't want to feel attracted to her. He was a man without emotional ties; no one who knew him would question his right to freedom and did not want that complex situation to become even more complicated. It was about putting an end, not starting anything. After that meeting, they would not see it again.

Set aside his male instincts and, after a second spoonful of sugar, he delivered his cup.

-You said it was a car accident,- started Benja, determined to face the most painful as soon as possible. Was it quick?, was she driving?

-The police told me it was instant. For both. They were more than 100 kilometers per hour

- For both? -he asked, although he was not too surprised either. Above all, taking into account all the occasions when she had assumed that Mary was alone and then had not been so.

-There was another person behind the wheel,- said Cami, after clarifying his voice. A man.

He released him like he gets off a bale. He would have liked to have prepared a little, but in the end he would have had no choice but to tell him the truth. Moreover, if Benjamin Rojas had gone straight to the grain, she didn't have to go with rodeos.

All in all, he felt uncomfortable. They were talking about the woman of Benja. Okay, maybe the couple would have been going through some problems. Mary herself had spoken to her of her separation, of attempts to reconcile herself, of the baby that the two wanted... and that they had not achieved, despite the treatment against sterility. But Mary was still Benja's wife, and until only a week ago the hopes of successfully reconducting her marriage had not disappeared. Or that had Cami believed until the previous Sunday.

-It was named Phillip Quinn,- she reported. According to his family, they were lovers. Sorry, Benja.

He forced himself to look at him and saw an ice mask, rather than the unbelieving and desperate expression he had expected. Even she seemed more affected by... It didn't make sense!

He extended an arm to grasp his hand, instinctively, to release it after stroking his back for a few seconds. In the background, the motorboat was heard in which Don Jarvis had taken her to that office. He assumed that, at that time, he would be driving Benja's secretary to the coast.

-I'm sorry too,- he said at last. See that dying that way... 100 kilometers per hour! Too fast to get around town.

-But...

-Do you think I would be surprised? -Benja asked calmly-; what would hurt me?

-Know that your wife and another man...? Of course.

-Cami, Maria was already unfaithful to me five years ago. More than once. That is why we separate ourselves. The divorce proceedings were not pleasant at all, but it all ended three years ago. Then I saw her twice, both times because she asked me to... And both times it was uncomfortable. Yes, there was a time when it was a great part of my life, and no one deserves to die like this, so young; but I can no longer cry for Mary. If I had a lover and was happy with him, I am glad for her. Maybe I was finally starting to accept it.

Were Benja and Maria divorced? And what was it that Mary had accepted nothing at all? It seemed to him that the office crumbled and Benjamin Rojas's face took a yellowish color, to end up disappearing completely.

Cami noticed that she vanished, left her cup of coffee on the table and sank into the couch.

He closed his eyes. He did not question even a second the truthfulness of those words. In fact, they made a lot of sense. Divorced three years ago... Therefore, when searching Mary's house, she had been so hard to find Benja's phone or address in her lake residence. And he also explained the concern he had begun to feel when recording Mary's roles, as well as the certainty that things were not as this one had told him.

Mary had lied. And perhaps to himself as much as to others.

-It's just a bump. A temporary separation. We both need some space. But if he could give him a baby... He has always wanted to have children. And right now it gives me the same work. I just want to form a family - Maria had told her two months ago. This of sterility is ruining our marriage, Cami. That's why we decided to stop seeing during the summer, while I was looking for a mother to rent... We couldn't stand together anymore. We were doing a lot of harm, arguing for nonsense and then weeping, asking for forgiveness and making promises that we would break again two days later. The only thing we've agreed on lately was the idea of hiring a suede mother.

Why had he lied that way? Those lies had changed his life completely.

-Are you okay? -He heard that Benja asked him, weak his voice among the mist that surrounded her.

He forced his eyes to open and breathed deep twice to regain calm; but the stomach rebelled and caused him a nausea.

-You're looking bad," he said, worried.

-Yes... I'm pregnant,- Cami replied. He was waiting for a reaction. She doubted that Mary had told her anything about it.

-I go for cookies and a glass of water,- he said, standing up. And for potatoes with salt. Don't move, okay? I don't take a long time.

Cami tried to get up, say something kind, but he had already left. He stayed where he was, struggling with his stomach upset. In the last few days, it had become a family nuisance.

He wondered how it was possible that Benja would have known so quickly how to relieve nausea in pregnancy. A week or two ago, she herself would have had no idea what cookies and potatoes could be needed during the first few months of a pregnancy.

He assumed that fatigue would contribute to the feeling of arched being so strong: He was Mary's closest relative and, as such, had to deal with all paperwork. He had not had the help of other relatives, nor of any close friend of his cousin and, in short, had worked without rest for four days in a row.

And it wasn't over yet. Mary's floor was still chaos. It would have been easier to have had the support of Mary's father or mother, but both had died. Aunt Anne had only lived five years longer than Cami's beloved father John. And her mother, Nora...

Well, her mother was very happy at the time, so it might not be fair for Cami to have borne all the responsibility, without being able to ask for help. Mathew Kady, her mother's second husband was thirty-seven, aspired to make a living as an actor, and Nora Bordonaba was obsessed with getting her a chance.

He had retained John's last name in second marriage, so that he could present himself as Matt Kady's representative, without revealing the covert interests. On the other hand, she seemed to hate that Cami was already twenty-three years old, as a daughter so older made her feel old.

In fact, it was this distancing with her mother that had pushed her out of California to return to Philadelphia, where she had lived until the age of nine. And so it had, of course, been as I had intimidated Mary during the previous three months, after thirteen years without seeing the least.

-Benja.

Benja had returned, with a large glass of ice water, a packet of crackers and a bag of potatoes.

-Sorry -He apologized, while giving him the package of cookies-. They are flavored with Bovril.

-What is that? -Cami asked, taking the package anyway.

-A sauce of the English, with a lot of body. I was there on a trip last month and... well, I'm always joking with my brother Luis. I have decided to give him a taste of the world's strangest appetizer, replied Benja, smiling, as trying to kick a smile from her as well. He is sixteen years old and comes a lot here in the summer.

-And what did these cookies look like? "Asked Cami, interested.

It was a blessing to be able to talk about a minor issue. He knew Benja was distracting her adrede and thanked her for her consideration.

-You haven't tried them yet, Benja explained. For the moment, I have only given you ketchup, hot dogs and flavored biscuits to onions in vinegar.

-How rich! -Cami exclaimed.

Yes sir!, Benja shouted for his ententers. It didn't last long. Like a ray of the sun, passing through a cacopotated sky and turning off after shining a moment, Cami outlined a wide and radiant smile, which illuminated his entire face and made him imagine him as a little boy, like a naughty girl who hunts frogs and climbs into the trees.

Cami handled the pack and gave a bite to one of the cookies. To his surprise, both the stomach and the salivary glands thanked him.

-You're having a bad time- Benja said suddenly.

-Last days only.

-How much are you?

-Not much. About six weeks, according to the doctor. Four since... well, I conceived. I took the test this same Friday. Mary... didn't find out.

-So you're at the beginning -he said, with some tension in the voice, perhaps by the mention of his ex-wife.

-Yes.

Cami outlined a tense smile. Indeed, it was the beginning of a tremendous change in his life. He had been rethinking everything for days; he already felt deeply attached to the baby growing in his bowels. Although initially he had only agreed to rent himself as a mother, until the baby was born, he already knew that it was something transcendental, that it mattered more than anything else, and if Benja did not face the situation and offered him what she wanted…

"Nausea is the same," Cami said firmly. Right now, this baby is the most important thing in the world to me.

-I'm glad -He put it back, with a dernished gesture-. Babies awaken our love, the best of us... I'm really glad for you, Cami.

It conceived hopes. Yes, Benja was a sensitive man. Maybe they could fix it, find some solution to that disaster.

Then, he looked at her left hand. He frowned to see that he was not wearing a ring and assumed that Cami was not married... I'd have time to know why.

-Are you sure you are fine? Benja continued when she saw Cami's disjointed gesture. We can go out and take some air. If you want, we eat something outside. Run a little breeze.

-Perfect.

He did seem perfect. So friendly and helpful. Having someone to worry about their well-being was both strange and wonderful. He had felt so alone since the previous Sunday!

She was holding her behind and her hand looked like a velvet tong around the forearm. The sleeve of his shirt rubbed him on the bare skin of his arm. Cami noticed the heat of her body against her back and, for a moment, dropped to rest on Benja's chest.

He, without releasing her while leading her through the house, could not prevent her body from reacting to contact with Cami. Possibly, he thought, it would be the fact that he was pregnant what made her radiate that serene and mysterious beauty.

He wondered why he was not married and had not even mentioned any man.

Then, Cami took his hand to his mouth and repressed a new arcade.

-Quiet -He serenaded her, as if speaking to a nervous baby. You go slowly and keep up with the cookies.

-You seem to know a lot about this,- said Cami.

-forcefully, "I replaced Benja-. I have six little brothers. I don't know how many months of childhood I spent looking for cookies for my mother.

-Six brothers? -She repeated, thinking that Benja's mother had more value than the most heroic of the warriors.

-And a larger one.

-No girl?

-None- Benja said with joy. After the room, Mum stopped importing. She assumed that between her and dad they couldn't make girls; besides, what the hell!, the boys liked it a lot.

-I like children too," said Cami. As a child, he was almost one of them. You know, always climbing trees and whistling with your fingers.

-Yes, something like that had imagined me- he murmured.

They arrived on the terrace. Cami had not paid attention to the route; he had concentrated on the floor, sometimes of tiles and other carpeting, or covered with Turkish carpets. He didn't know why, but he hadn't supposed Benja to be such a wealthy man.

-I soon come with the food -he continued, after making him take a seat.

-OK.

He was right. It was much better outdoors.

The terrace did not face the dock you had reached, but the light was shining over the water of a sandy beach, next to a green lawn esplanade lined with colorful flowers. A gentle breeze blew and stroked her forehead and cheeks.

Minutes later, Benja returned with a tray of salad sandwiches, a pitcher of cold water and a huge bunch of green grapes.

-My mother loves them- he said, smiling.

-I'll try one.

Minutes later, Benja returned with a tray of salad sandwiches, a pitcher of cold water and a huge bunch of green grapes.

-My mother loves them- he said, smiling.

-I'll try one.

-Yes- Cami replied, to whom he did not miss her that he had referred to the point that worried the two.

-Did you know yourself well? -Benja asked-. Are you intimate?

-He saved my life when I was nine years old. «And that's why he stayed sterile» Cami thought. «But then neither of us knew it».

-It's a very strong bond- Benja agreed.

-Yes it is. Or it was. I have always been grateful and indebted to her since then; even during the years when we did not see it,- replied Cami, who went on to tell her the whole story as if she knew Benja for weeks, rather than just a few hours-. She was sixteen years old when it happened. Our families were spending the holiday together in a house we had rented at the Vermouth ski resort.

One day I fell down and a guy following me hit my left arm with a ski. I broke an artery, I still have a scar, and a few minutes later a creepy storm broke out, so they could only take me to a small hospital in the area. Airports and heliopports were closed for more than two days. I had lost a lot of blood and in the hospital they had no negative zero from my group, from which we can all receive calmly. Mary's blood was the only one they could find that I was worth. I had a transfusion; they gave me more than was safe for her... and two days later she began to get sick. In a hurry, he had forgotten to warn that he was finishing his period... And she ended up much sicker than I did. You know what happened to him, Benja. You know the damage her ovaries suffered.

-Yes- he nodded. The doctors told us that was what prevented him from becoming pregnant. But I didn't know that you had something to do.

-What to see? It was for my fault, Cami lamented.

-No -He denied-. That is too much.

-If I had known... if my parents had known the price Maria would end up paying for donating that blood…

-But you didn't know. How were you going to do it?

-She never threw it in my face.

-Yes- Benja said calmly. Sometimes he had moments of astonishing heroism.

-I thought it was a real heroine... But that doesn't take away how expensive the gesture came out to her," she insisted. Suddenly, she felt very close to Mary, wondered why she would have lied about her marriage to Benja, and doubted whether she should not distrust him. She may not tell me you were divorced, but it was true she wanted to come back with you.

-I wanted so much to be with me that I had a lover to forget me, right? -he asked, with sarcasm.

That argument disarmed her. True, how was it possible for Mary to be with another man? However, he preferred not to compromise and continue attacking:

-I wanted you so much, that I was willing to hire a woman to make you a father. I don't know the truth about your marriage or divorce, Benjamin Rojas, but the baby I carry inside is yours!