It's Just Lola (22 page)

“Can we name him Yousef?” asked Mehmet.  “My father’s name was Yousef.”

“What if we have a girl?”

“I’m sure he
’
s a boy—I have a feeling.”

“Then he shall be named Yousef,”
said
Lola.

~ ~ ~

The months flew by with the slow intercontinental correspondence negotiating the automobile contract taking place in the background of ordinary business and daily life.  Mehmet felt so confident that he decided to share the contract with the Constantinople Trading Company.  He would
use some of their
capital and share the profits
proportionately
. 

Mehmet brought presents for everyone when Yousef was born.
  He was entranced with his new son
and
he barely left the house for the first
few
weeks. 
When the automobile negotiations were complete, he reluctantly left for San Francisco.
  Lola missed him terribly, and went back to the doctor to borrow books to occupy the nights when her be
d
was too empty for her to sleep.

“Yousef
, l
et go of your sister’s hair.”  Lola pried the little fist open, releasing the shiny curl.  “
H
e thinks your pretty curls are toys.  If you let me tie them back with a ribbon
,
he won’t be able to reach them.”  Lola picked her daughter up and dried her tears.

“Tell me a story,” pleaded Estela. 

“Me too.”  Blanca
came running to join them.

Lola sat on the settee with one girl on either side. 

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation.  “Are we expecting anyone for a fitting?” asked Lola as she answered the knock.

“Señora Osman?” asked the well-dressed young man.

“Yes.” 

“I am from the Constantinople Trading Company.  May I come in?”

“You must be looking for my husband.  I’m sorry, he’s still away, but I expect him soon.”  The man made a choking sound and his complexion turned an unhealthy shade.

“Are you ill?” asked Lola.  The man opened his mouth as though to speak, closed it again and nodded.

“Enriqueta, please bring a glass of water for the gentleman,” Lola said as she stepped aside
for
the man to enter.  She rushed over to the settee and put Estela and Blanca down, telling them to go see what Concha was doing.

The man sat down in the chair facing the settee.  When Enriqueta brought the
water,
he drained the glass and took several deep breaths. 

“I’m sorry.  They didn’t tell me…I didn’t know that you…I’m so sorry.”  The man’s face looked tortured, and his hands fluttered in his lap like wounded birds. 

Cold fear filled Lola’s stomach.  Something was definitely wrong.  She grabbed Enriqueta’s hand.  “What didn’t they tell you?”
she asked through lips that were suddenly frozen stiff with fear
.

“I assumed you had been informed.”  His hands stopped fluttering and clasped together until his knuckles turned white.

“I am so very sorry to have to tell you that Mister Mehmet’s ship has been lost at sea,” the words rushed out in an anguished tone. 

The world turned black and Lola heard no more.

~ ~ ~

A baby was crying.  The crying was so loud—it was right in her ear.

“Lola, please
.
  Think of your children
.
  Yousef needs you
now
.
  Do you hear him crying?  He is still too little to live without you.  Your baby needs you.”

She felt a weight on her chest and it moved.  It was the crying baby…her baby
.
  She had to get up and feed her baby. 

Enriqueta’s concerned face floated into her field of vision. 

“Oh, thank you, Mother Mary,”
said
Enriqueta as she helped Lola sit.  “I
’
m so happy to see you awake
. 
I was terrified you
’
d be gone for ages—like last time.  Thank God and his Holy Mother, Yousef brought you back to us.
”  She hugged her sister. 
“Lola, I
’
m so sorry
.
  It must be terrible for you.”

“Yes,” Lola said in a toneless voice.  “It is terrible.  What happened to that poor man?  He was very distraught.”

“I sent him away.  He wanted to look through Mehmet’s things, but I told him no.  He
’
s coming back tomorrow.”

“Very well.  I
’
ll deal with him.”

Enriqueta looked at her sister in disbelief.  “How can you be so
calm?
  I was sure you
’
d take to your bed with grief.”

“No, dearest Enriqueta, you were quite right that my children need me.  I cannot indulge myself with grief right now.  Besides, he only said the
ship
was lost.”

“Lola,
y
ou know it’s not possible to swim from the middle of the ocean.”  Lola did not reply.

The next day the Turk came back to the house.  He was obviously relieved when Lola greeted him politely.
 

“I know this is a difficult time, but I have been sent to see if Mehmet left any papers about the business.  I will just take his papers and not bother you again.”

“What are you looking for?”

“
J
ust business
papers
.  If you show me where he kept
them
, I
’
ll take them all and sort them out later.  That way I w
o
n
’
t bother you in this difficult time.”

“You want all of his papers?  Even his private papers?”

“Surely you have no need of papers, and I have no wish to intrude upon your grief.  Giving them all to me is the most efficient way to rid yourself of my presence.”

“I
’
m sorry.  That
’
s quite impossible.  You must either tell me exactly what you want or you must go away empty
-
handed.”

The man became agitated.  “Señora, those papers are the property of the Constantinople Trading Company, and I insist you surrender them to me as legal representative of the company.”

“Concha
,
” called Lola.  “Would you go and get Señor Javier and Señor Luis?  Tell them that there is a foreign man here trying to take things from us forcibly.”

“Wait!”

“Yes, Señor?  Do you wish to tell me what you
’
re looking for?”

“I don
’
t wish to upset you at this time.  I never wish to speak ill of the dead.”  Lola sat and stared straight into the young man’s eyes.  “I
’
m so sorry, Señora Osman, but you
’
re forcing me to reveal our suspicions about your husband’s financial activities concerning money that didn
’
t belong to him.”  The man’s discomfort was so great he seemed to be near tears.

“My husband
’
s an honorable man, Señor.  I
’
m sure if you tell me what caused you to suspect otherwise I can set your mind at rest.”

“As I said, Señora Osman, it was a business matter.”

“Señor, I
’
m fully conversant with
my husband’s business.  If you explain what it is that you are seeking, perhaps I can help you.  If you
’
re not forthcoming, then I must ask you to leave immediately.”

The man’s expressive hands clasped together in his lap.  “Remember,
it was
you
who
insisted that I bring up this unpleasant matter at such a delicate time.”  Lola nodded.
 
“We have a manifest of all the cargo that your husband had on the ship.  He listed his employer and his cargo with our company name and the ship owners contacted us immediately upon learning of the loss of their ship.
 
The cargo your husband loaded on the ship far exceeded his working capital.”  He paused to see if Lola understood his words.  “The only way he could have that much capital is if he had been…if he had…
”  He shrugged.
“
I
’
m sorry, my Spanish fails me, and I cannot think of a delicate way to put this.  We believe your husband must have been misrepresenting his profit margins for many years to account for the accumulation of so much capital.” 

“Apparently women do not bring a dowry with them
into marriage in your society,” said Lola.
 
“
My father
’
s a wealthy man, Señor. 
Mehmet received a respectable amount of money from his father-in-law.  We
’
ve been investing that money into areas that wouldn
’
t conflict with the trade of his employer, and it has grown steadily.
Mehmet took all of our money to invest in automobiles.  He decided he would also invest some Constantinople money as well.  He said the Company had been good to him for many years, and he owed them a share.  Listing the entire shipment under one name probably made the paperwork easier.
”

“How can I tell...”

“Come, I
’
ll show you all the documentation you need to show exactly what my husband has done with your capital.”  Lola took out the two ledger books and explained to him how the accounting was done.  She produced receipts and invoices for each transaction and before long the man was bowing his way out of the door, apologizing profusely, with one book and a small packet of other papers.  Lola said he was welcome to take the trunk of papers that pertained to business before the marriage. 

Later that night
when
Concha and the children were asleep, Enriqueta
sat with
Lola
.
  “I was so proud of you today.  I could
never
have been so calm—or so persuasive.  I
didn’t
kn
o
w you had it in you to lie so convincingly.”

“Lie?  I didn’t lie. 
It was all
true.  My father is wealthy,
and
Mehmet’s father-in-law did give him a large gift when he left Turkey, which we invested, and it grew and paid for the automobiles—all true.  Is it my fault he has two fathers-in-law?”  The sisters shared a subdued laugh.

“Mehmet will laugh at this when he gets home.”

“
Please, Lola, you’re too smart to do this
to yourself.  Mehmet can
’
t have survived if his ship went down.”

Lola shook her head. 
“
C
argo ships may get blown off course by a storm, but they
’
re too big to sink.” 

Enriqueta put her arms around
her sister
.
 
“Lola, any ship can sink.”

“
M
ehmet and I are truly joined by our marriage.  I swore to share his life with him always.  He let me share his business—a concept that is
even more
foreign to his culture than our own.  We are as one person.  I
’
d know inside if something had happened to him—I
’
d feel it in my heart.  Perhaps my heart would even stop beating if his stopped.  He can
’
t be dead.  It
’
s a mistake.”

The next morning Enriqueta had already left the house when Lola came out of her room with Yousef.  Concha said she was running errands.  Tía Francisca came to visit and stayed for hours playing with the children, but Lola felt that she was watching her more than the children. 
Lola
plied her needle automatically, putting the finishing touches on a dress, but her mind was thousands of miles away. 

Enriqueta came home just in time
for the evening meal
.  After the house got
quiet,
she
knocked softly on Lola’s bedroom door before entering.  Lola
looked up
from her
book
. 

“Lola, I
must
talk to you.”  Enriqueta held a small packet of papers as she sat on the edge of the bed.  “Come and look at these, please.” 

“Of course.”

“I went to the office of the Constantinople Trading Company today.”  Enriqueta ignored Lola’s frown.  “I told the manager that since they had been allowed to take away papers that impacted their business, I should be able to take away papers that impact your life.  He couldn
’
t let me have the papers, but he let me have them photographed.”  She took
a
photograph out of the packet.
 
“This is a clipping from the San Francisco newspaper reporting the sinking of the ship. 
T
he last radio communication from the ship said they were in a fierce storm and had sustained severe damage to the steering mechanism.  They were taking on water and the cargo had broken loose.”  Enriqueta removed another photograph.
 
“This is a letter from the ship owners, announcing the loss of the ship and listing the cargo that was under the name of Constantinople Trading Company.”