“Señor Espina,” he said, hoping his smile didn’t give away how nervous he was. “Hello.”
The older man glanced over Gabriel’s shoulder at the royal guard hovering nearby. The irritation suddenly faded and was replaced with a respectful bow. “Prince Gabriel. To what do we owe the honor of your presence?”
“Please,” Gabriel said. “You bandaged my skinned knee once. Let’s drop the formalities. I’m not here as prince. I’m here about Serafia.”
Arturo nodded and took a step back to allow him inside. The guard remained outside the door at Gabriel’s request. Arturo led him through the large mansion to an inner courtyard landscaped with trees and a sparkling tile fountain. “Please, have a seat,” he said. “May I offer you a drink? Something to eat?”
Gabriel shook his head. “No, thank you.”
“I’m surprised to see you here, Gabriel. Serafia hasn’t mentioned what happened in Alma, but considering how she rushed home, I’m assuming things did not end well. What I’ve read in the Alma newspapers has been disheartening, to say the least.”
“I know, and what I’m really here to do is apologize. And maybe, if my apology is accepted, I’d like some information only you can give me.”
Arturo sat down across from him and waited for the questions to come.
“First, I want to apologize for the way I’ve handled all this. Regardless of the truth, I behaved poorly, lashing out at Serafia, and I’m ashamed of that. Your family, and specifically your daughter, never gave me any reason to doubt your loyalty.”
“You are not the first to be suspicious of our family over the years.”
“I had never heard any of those stories before,” Gabriel explained. “The papers have had some terrible things to say about your family. I grew up in America in a household that very rarely, if ever, discussed Alma and what happened. Our families have always been friends, so I was blindsided by those stories. I feel like a fool, but I allowed those articles to taint my feelings for your family and for your daughter. I shouldn’t have let that happen, but I was upset with myself and took it out on her.”
“I read about what happened at the oil rig. Am I wrong in thinking that was related to your abduction?”
Gabriel looked Arturo in the eye. “It was. I wasn’t sure how many people knew about it. My father wanted to keep it all pretty quiet.”
“He called me while it was happening and asked for advice. Rafael was torn up about the whole thing and how it was taking so long to bring you home. Rafael was so frustrated—he felt helpless for the first time in his life. When you showed back up in Miami, I think he was embarrassed about how it was all handled and never wanted to talk about it again. He thought you would blame him for everything, so he wanted to forget about it all.”
“I didn’t blame him,” Gabriel said. “But I’ve always felt like I was a disappointment to him, somehow. I tried to hide my claustrophobia because I thought he’d see it as another weakness.”
“No one—your father included—would hold something like that against you. You went through a terrible experience. He probably thought that putting it behind you would help. We did that with Serafia and I’ve never been certain it was the right course. But as parents, you do what you can to protect your children.”
Gabriel sighed. He’d come here for answers about the Espina family and ended up with more than he’d expected. “Thank you for telling me that. I’ve never really been able to get past what happened. I don’t do well in small spaces since my kidnapping, and I blamed Serafia for not warning me ahead of time about what was in store on the oil rig. It wasn’t her fault. I ruined everything with her, and then I find out that all those rumors that poisoned my mind weren’t even true.”
“Do you mean the rumors about the Espinas helping Tantaberra depose your family?” Arturo asked. His tone was flat, as though he’d had to hear these slanderous charges his whole life.
“Yes. An old woman who worked for your family back then came to the house today and explained the truth about how the Espinas safeguarded the royal treasure. At least, I hope it’s the truth.”
Arturo nodded. “We’ve had to keep quiet about our family’s role in all this for decades, ignoring the rumors so we didn’t risk anyone finding out the truth. I don’t think any of them believed the dictatorship would last as long as it has. We feared that the Tantaberras would come after us if they knew what we were hiding, or worse, come after your family if they had any knowledge of it. Even after all this time, we had to deliberately keep it from you and others in your family.”