The Heart Chooses

By Mara Brent

Esperanza has lost everything she had, and is sent to work to a castle as a maid, on what it seems will be the rest of her life, dull and boring. But her life won't be like that in the end. Love will come up unexpectedly because "the heart chooses for one what seems neither sane nor reasonable".

In this book I wanted to make a little homage to my maternal grandparents.

They were peasants and poor people, and loved each other very much. My grandfather was fifteen years older than her.

He, whose first surname indicated that he came from one of the emigrants who in the Middle Ages went from what is currently Germany to Navarre, was very tall.

And my grandmother, the only one who multiplied the loaves and fishes in the hard Spanish post-war period, was small. A brother of her who went to Argentina became a famous jockey.

This book is set in the eighteenth century and I gathered information about the period, although in relation to the frustrated robbery I have allowed myself a license, since what I tell used to happen in the early twentieth century.

First, the thieves put a hat or cap on the road and money had to be deposited to continue the journey with no problems. If you didn't, a dog would appear barking. More money had to be put in at that time. And if you finally didn't put anything, you got beaten up and had everything taken away from you.

That happened to my grandfather on one occasion when he was carrying all the money from the sale of a calf and, when the dog appeared, he decided to stray from the path and go into the bush. He arrived home late, all scratched and bruised.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mara Brent
• Release date: Feb 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393413745

Book preview

We never know what the stars have for us.

I

It was there, in front of my grandfather's bed, that I realized that nothing would ever be the same again.

When Matias arrived, it was already dark. He carried a stick on his shoulder from which hung a lantern as his only companion.

He came to pay his respects to his devoted friend, his friend of so many battles, the one who had saved his life. But for me he was my grandfather, my guide, everything, and he was dying.

I was devastated, and all I did was rub my hands against my dress in an attempt to control my nervousness. By my side my brothers, stuck to me, mute, worried about their grandfather but also about seeing me without initiative, dejected and defeated as they had never seen me before.

We lost our parents very early, our mother in the birth of Blasillo and our father shortly after a fall in the forest when he was hunting. We were three brothers: Juana, Blas and I, Esperanza, who was the oldest. Grandfather showed up for father's funeral and never left again.

We were waiting for the priest for the last rites, but we had been told that he was required at the castle and that he would be late. I figured he wouldn't hurry since he wasn't getting any money or food in our miserable house. I was outraged to think that someone preached so much against sin by sinning so much in gluttony and greed and neglecting his parishioners. I didn't care, but Grandfather had faith and deserved respect.

Grandfather died, or he left little by little until he breathed his last, as if in mute resignation for leaving this world.

Matias started to pray on his knees and the rest of us followed him, I opened my mouth in a murmur, with a pain that burned me all over. Tears were running down my cheeks and I couldn't and wouldn't do anything about it.

It was already mid-morning when the priest arrived. Don Fermín was a big, flabby man with a face red from excess. He had a bad temper and having to come to our house would not have made it any better. He prayed an unwilling eulogy, and with everything else did the same.

Do you have money for the funeral?

No -I had to say.

He already knew we didn't have any and I didn't think he had to humiliate us so much, but I had to shut up.

There were still a few linen sheets left that had belonged to my mother. Most had been selling for food, but I was going to use one to cover my grandfather, I didn't want him to just be placed in the ground.

My grandfather was well known in the area, but only people from nearby farms came, the others were far away and almost certainly did not know he had died.

Everything was done very quickly because the priest didn't want to stay longer than necessary. My grandfather was wrapped in the sheet and four men carried him. We went to the cemetery and right there, with a short prayer, he was given land. He had no right to have a mass said for his soul, I was outraged.

II

Right there our fate was decided, the one the priest had arranged; Juana would go with one family, Blas with another and I would go to the castle, to work. The hut that was our home was not really ours; it was in the castle grounds. They had allowed us to live there or simply didn't know we existed.

They were going to separate us, I didn't think I could bear that much pain. All I had was my two brothers and they were going to take them away from me. But I was also going to be punished by being sent to the castle, I was the rebel because I once told Don Fermín that if we were all equal in God's eyes, why did he treat the rich and the poor so differently? He didn't hit me because Grandfather stopped him.

I was able to give my brothers a hug and a kiss and watch them go off to their new families. At least they weren't as poor as we were. They cultivated castle land and could eat every day. That was something we didn't know about. Lately, with grandfather sick, I was the one who went out hunting and often returned empty-handed. We also picked wild berries and some apples, but that was all. We had a goat that saved Blasillo when was a newborn, but in a particularly bad winter we had to eat it because otherwise we would have died.

The priest got going and I had to follow him. I guess it was also an excuse to drink; sure they'd give him some wine.

We arrived at the castle and he went straight to the kitchen. It was a huge place, and an army of people were moving