Chapter 53
Chapter Fifty-Three
VANESSA
Dear Gran,
I have so much to tell you. It’s hard to know where to start.
You told me that I needed to make up my mind what I wanted. You told me I needed to commit to something. And you were right.
To start with, I thought that meant sticking slavishly to my idea of opening a Spanish cafe in Kings Heath. But, things have changed. While I still see my future in baking and a Spanish cafe, I think in fact that future is here, in Barcelona.
Although I’d love to know why you left here, and why you never came back, I guess I never will.
I also want to know what you knew of your mother from before she married your father.
But it is too late for answers from you to those questions.
And of course, the old recipe book did unravel something of our shared past.
Did your mother ever tell you about her love for Teresa?
I hope she mentioned her name at least. Sophia and Teresa were in love a hundred years ago.
It was a love that was impossible, thanks to the time and family pressures.
Sophia moved to a different part of Barcelona, leaving just a short note for her lover.
A note she wrote on the torn-out page of the old recipe book.
As fate would have it, Teresa’s great granddaughter is my friend. Dani is an amazing person, so caring. She’s teaching me Spanish. I think you’d be impressed.
But enough about the past. My future is beginning to take shape.
I have met someone, someone wonderful, who loves me for who I am, who steadies me.
And I think I bring something out in her.
Maybe she’s more in the moment, thanks to me.
I hope so. Joey is a baker here in a gorgeous pastelería.
She has taught me how to bake, and also how to settle down.
Falling in love with her has made me see that sometimes things really do stick – and not just because of the honey and sugar everywhere!
Soon, Joey will be running the bakery, and I’ll be working there, too. It’s not quite the plan I made, but it is a plan I intend to stick to. This place has very quickly become my home, and the people here have become my family. I wish I could show you.
Thank you for all your encouragement and wise words. I think they have led me here, to the life I am supposed to lead and the love I am supposed to have.
Love
Vanessa x