‘Perhaps. Just don’t cut him off completely. Call him, text him, whatever. Just don’t go into full incognito mode. Keep the lines of communication open so that while he’s figuring out all this stuff, he knows what all of his options are. Okay?’

  ‘Okay.’ Talking to Tanya always helped to put things into perspective.

  Gabriela had prepared dinner for her and Tanya, and as they sat and ate, she began to feel the clouds shifting. She still thought they both needed time to think, but Tanya had made her realise that she shouldn’t cut him off completely. She resolved to call him later after Tanya left.

  By eleven, Gabriela was alone, enjoying the last of her wine. She decided to take Tanya’s advice and to keep the lines of communication open. So, she called Sean. After a couple of rings, the line connected.

  ‘What do you want?’

  The voice on the other end of the call was not that of the man she was in love with. She would recognise Bruna’s accented tone anywhere.

  That now familiar sickness started wreaking havoc again with Gabriela’s stomach. She realised that her hands had started to shake. Why was Bruna answering Sean’s phone. And if he was at home, what was she doing there this late. All manner of scenarios started crossing Gabriela’s mind and none of them were particularly good.

  ‘Can I speak to Sean, please?’ To her own ears, Gabriela voice sounded alien.

  ‘Why won’t you leave my family and I alone? Don’t you know when you’re not wanted? Sean has more important things to think about right now than some silly girl and her feelings.’

  Gabriela took a quick intake of breath. Bruna sounded so nasty and hateful. The last thing she wanted to do was to hear this woman voice, but she desperately need to talk to Sean.

  ‘Who’s that?’

  This last voice sounded much further away, but it was unmistakably Sean’s.

  ‘No one important,’ came the venomous voice of Bruna.

  Then the line went dead.

  Gabriela gripped her phone. Her head pounded. Operating only on autopilot, she squeezed the button on the side of her phone and then touched the screen, turning it off completely.

  Sean walked into his living room, holding a cup of herbal tea for Bruna. He had invited her over so that they could talk about their situation and come up with a plan of action moving forward. There was a child on the way, and he would do the best that he could for both mother and child.

  As he entered, he saw Bruna with his phone to her ear.

  ‘Who’s that?’ He asked.

  Bruna shrugged her shoulders. ‘No one important.’

  He saw the glint in her eyes and then suddenly had a sinking feeling in his gut. He put the tea down on the coffee table and then took his phone out of Bruna’s grip. He quickly reviewed his call history and saw who the last caller was. He only barely held back the expletives that came to his mind.

  ‘What did you say to her?’ Sean was furious, but he knew losing his temper wouldn’t do any good.

  ‘Nothing. I just told her the truth. It’s not my fault if she didn’t want to hear it.’

  ‘Bruna—’ He stopped himself before he said something out of anger. ‘Please, be careful how you speak to and about Gabriela.’

  ‘Why should I?’

  ‘She’s in my life.’ Sean suppressed the thought that immediately came to his mind in regards to the ‘time’ Gabriela had asked for. The fact that she’d tried to call him must mean that she was reaching out. This is something that he was grateful for. But as Bruna had answered his phone, and Lord knows what she’d actually said to her, who knows what Gabriela was thinking about him right now. He knew he needed to call her back as soon as possible.

  ‘I’m in your life! And soon, there will be two of us.’

  He bowed his head. ‘I know. And I’ll take my responsibility as a father seriously. But nothing is going to change the fact that after you cheated on me, I moved on with my life. Gabriela is now a part of that.

  Bruna rolled her eyes and started grabbing her handbag.

  ‘You need to get your priorities straight, Sean.’

  With a slam of his door, she was gone. Sean exhaled. Without a doubt, in the last few days, his life had become extremely complicated.

  He brought up Gabriela’s name again on his phone so that he could call her back. It went straight to voicemail, her beautiful voice telling him that she was unavailable. His brow wrinkled. He repeated his actions and once again it immediately went to voicemail.

  She switched off her phone!

  Undoubtedly. Whatever Bruna had said to her must have upset her so much, that she’d switched off her phone.

  ‘Fuck!’

  There was no reason not to let out the expletive now.

  What must she be thinking?

  He didn’t have a clue as to when he would see or hear from Gabriela again, but knowing that she was reaching out to him this soon made him feel good. But now…

  ‘Dammit, Bruna!’

  A few days had passed since she’d tried to call him and had gotten Bruna instead. She’d seen his missed calls and heard his voice messages asking her to call him back, but she’d ignored all of it. The perspective she’d gained after Tanya’s visit was gone, and she was back to being confused and frustrated. She needed to find a way to get rid of this negative energy.

  This is how she’d ended up dressed in all whites that Saturday night, positioned at the atabaque, getting ready to play it for the roda. Mestre Escorpião sang the introduction ladainha and a couple of other songs, then he indicated that she should sing the next song. This would be her very first time singing lead. She was nervous, but a part of her was excited too.

  Gabriela matched her drumbeat with the rhythm of the berimbau and the pandeiro, and then she began her song.

  Avisa meu mano,

  Avisa meu mano,

  Avisa meu mano,

  Capoeira mandou me chamar

  Capoeira é luta nossa, da era colonial

  E nasceu foi na Bahia, Angola e Regional

  This was the first of three songs she sang. There was something thrilling, cleansing and soul defining about singing the music of Capoeira. This was the exact release that she had needed. It was strange being there without Sean. She could feel him everywhere in this space. But it was also nice to experience Capoeira on her own terms without Bruna presence mocking her.

  She also played a few times and that added to her good vibes for the night. The cherry on top was when Mestre Escorpião came to her at the end of the class.

  ‘Gabriela, you nickname will be Canora, alright?’

  That’s all he said before he walked away.

  Canora… singer.

  She smiled.

  When Gabriela went to grab her bag, Jennifer and Oksana came up to her.

  ‘Hey! We heard the news,’ Jennifer said

  When Gabriela gave her a puzzled look, she continued.

  ‘Bruna’s been going around telling people at the office and here too that she’s pregnant for her boyfriend, Sean.’

  Gabriela’s calm at having such a wonderful lesson and being given her special Capoeira nickname, started to evaporate.

  ‘Is it true? I’m so sorry. We heard Sean only recently found out about it.’

  ‘Um… yes.’

  Then Oksana chimed in. ‘I can’t believe she’s that far along and she waited all this time before she told him.’

  ‘What is it? Over four months, right?’ Jennifer asked.

  ‘It appears to be four and a half months, yes.’ Gabriela did not want to talk about Bruna, but she didn’t want to be rude either, as she really liked Jennifer and Oksana.

  ‘I remember back then. She went back to Brazil for like a month,’ Oksana said.

  ‘Then, when she came back, I caught her screwing one of our work colleagues at the office post-Christmas party. It made me wonder how long that was going on. I don’t know what Sean saw in her.’

  Gabriela remembered that Sean had told her that it was Jennifer who’d told him what Bruna had done.

  ‘So, are you and Sean going to split up?’ Jennifer enquired. ‘You’re far better for him than she could ever be.’

  Gabriela knew that Jennifer and Sean were good friends, but she did not feel quite as comfortable sharing the details of her and Sean’s relationship with anyone at the school. She doubted Sean would want that either. At least not until the two of them figured out what they were going to do.

  ‘We’re playing it by ear for now.’

  The girls thankfully backed off then, and they all went to get changed. Jennifer and Oksana wanted to hang back in the Centre for some reason, but Gabriela didn’t question it. She was more than happy to be alone right now and head home. She exited the building and then headed to the location where she and Sean would park their cars.

  As she rounded the corner, she saw her car, and something else too. Or, someone else, to be exact. All six feet tall and drop-dead gorgeousness of Sean Lancaster was propped against the driver’s side door of her car.

  Almost immediately, her heart went into overdrive. It had been days since she had last seen him. The inner Gabriela wanted to run to reach him faster and plant kisses all over his handsome face. But, of course, she did not. She took a deep breath and kept walking at her normal pace. As she got closer, she saw stress and strain written all over his face. One side of his mouth lifted in a smile.

  ‘Hi.’

  ‘Sean...’ Despite what she had told him about needing time, she was very, very happy to see him. She dropped her gym bag and gave him a hug. He followed suit and embraced her too. He smelled good. She had missed that scent so much.

  ‘How did you know I was here?’ She said as she lifted her head away from his chest to look into his eyes.

  ‘A little birdie told me?’ Sean said with a wink.

  At first, Gabriela didn’t know what he was alluding to, but then she understood.

  ‘Jennifer!’

  Sean smiled cheekily, indicating that she had guessed right.

  She giggled, shook her head, and then once again, placed it on Sean’s chest. It felt right being where she was.

  She could hear his heartbeat. It was strong and faster than she would normally expect it to be. She knew that he must be feeling a lot of what she was. Plus, he must have been annoyed that she’d been avoiding his calls since the night Bruna had answered his phone. She just couldn’t face it all. She knew that she was a chicken for not dealing with all of this head-on, but it seemed so much easier, for now, to just pretend that the man she was in love with wasn’t having a child with another woman.

  ‘Weren’t you supposed to be giving me time?’ She reluctantly pulled herself away from him and put her bag in the trunk of her car.

  He gave her a sheepish grin. ‘I was planning to, but then you stopped answering my messages. I wanted to make sure you were alright and to apologise.’

  ‘Apologise for what?’

  ‘For whatever it was that Bruna said to you when she answered my phone.’

  ‘Oh, that.’ Gabriela didn’t really want to be reminded of that.

  ‘Can we go someplace quiet and talk?’

  She nodded.

  When she locked her car, he held his hand out to her. She put her hand in his, and then he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. His breath was warm on her skin, and it sent tingles up her spine.

  They walked up the street to a small pub that she’d seen before, but had never gone into. It wasn’t particularly loud or busy. Sean ordered them a couple of drinks at the bar, and then they found a secluded booth at the back.

  As soon as they sat down, Sean pulled her close to him and kissed her on the lips. It was all too brief for Gabriela’s liking, but it was nice feeling this close to him again. Sean took a swig of his scotch before he spoke.

  ‘First of all, I wanted to say that Bruna only answered my phone because she was at my place so we could discuss a plan moving forward with the baby. I left the room to make her some tea, and I guess that’s the same time that you called. Nothing happened between us.’

  It felt good that he wanted to make sure she understood.

  ‘I know nothing happened.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Because I trust you.’ This was a fact that Gabriela was clear about above almost anything. Even though they had not talked about any titles or defined their relationship, she knew that she could trust him, regardless of the doubts that sometimes crept in.

  He smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. ‘Thank you for trusting me.’

  ‘Of course. I told her I want to be hands-on, check-ups, feedings, nappies, the works. It’s going to mean big changes for me, my lifestyle... and for us.’ Sean looked away from her, a shadow crossing his face. ‘That is, if you want there to be an “us”.’

  Gabriela mulled that word over in her mind. Was she willing to jump head first into a much more complicated relationship than she had started to imagine for them?

  ‘I’m not naïve. I know that this is going to be tough. Your child will have to come first, and the time we can spend together will be impacted by this. I don’t know how I will feel or deal with it down the line, but…’ She took a deep breath. This was a huge step for her. ‘I… I’d like to try.’

  He looked deep into her eyes.

  ‘Are you sure, Gaby? I don’t want you to do or say anything just to make me feel better.’

  ‘No, that’s not it. I’m saying all of this for me. I don’t know if we have a chance. This situation might be too big for “us” to survive. But we won’t know until we have a go.’

  He smiled. It was a broad smile that reflected in his eyes.

  ‘You’re amazing, you know that?’ He pulled her close, and with his lips next to her ear, he said, ‘You know I’m crazy about you, right?’

  Gabriela’s heartbeat quickened.

  He went on, pulling away a little so he could look her in the eyes. ‘I think there was something between us from the moment I caught you spying on me.’

  She laughed. ‘You’re never going to let that one go, are you?’

  ‘Not in this lifetime.’ They both enjoyed the joke, then his face sobered. ‘Gabriela.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I love you.’

  Her eyes widened in shock. That is not what she’d thought he was about to say. Her heart beat wildly in her chest and tears came to her eyes. She lowered her head and shook it, but he misunderstood her actions.

  ‘I’m sorry if that’s not something you want to hear. I just needed to tell you, even if you don’t feel the same.’

  She looked up at him quickly. ‘No, no, I do. What I mean is. I did want to hear that. Or I do.’ She was rambling. She took a breath. ‘Sean, I love you too. More than anything.’

  There was silence between them for a moment while what they’d just admitted to each other sank in.

  When their lips met, it was in celebration of what they knew they meant to each other and the promise that they hoped the future held.

  Against her lips, he said, ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  They left the table with their drinks as yet unfinished and headed for the door. They walked back and got into their respective cars. As Gabriela guided her car through London traffic, she glanced multiple times into her rear-view mirror. Sean followed behind her at every turn. A surge of excitement surged through Gabriela. Knowing that the man she loved, loved her right back, had her on cloud nine.

  CHAPTER 12

  - bateria -

  In the weeks that followed, Sean and Gabriela went back to training together and preparations were underway for the workshops and batizado. She finally felt secure in the love that she and Sean shared and the barbs that Bruna sent her way no longer had an impact on her.

  On the first day of the event, Gabriela was so excited. The visitors to their school were so interesting to meet. She struck up a conversation in Spanish with a Contramestre, which was the Capoeira rank just below master, from Spain. His name was Javier Martínez. He had a vineyard in the north of Spain, and that was very much the vein in which their conversation went on. Gabriela loved her wine and loved trying out different grapes from around the world. She’d never tried the wine, Ribera del Duero, from his particular region before, but by the way he had described it, she’d been intrigued.

  ‘My late wife, Isabel, had a passion for wine and we often argued into the night about what was best for our vines.’ He had a wistful look on his face as he mentioned her.

  Gabriela felt very sad about his loss.

  ‘My condolences, Javier.’

  ‘It is alright, amiga. She still lives on in me.’

  ‘When did she pass?’

  For a split second, she saw a deep sadness in his eyes.

  ‘It will be a year in a few days.’

  On instinct, she reached out and gave him a reassuring pat on the arm.

  ‘Anyway, today is a celebration.’ A smile came back to his face. ‘You will receive your first belt today, yes?’

  ‘¡Sí! Mestre Escorpião has been a great teacher. I feel very honoured.’

  ‘I’m sure you have worked very hard for it.’

  ‘Contramestre Incêndio!’ A shout came from somewhere across the room.

  Javier’s eyes sought out the person who had called his nickname from somewhere in room full of capoeiristas. He was being summoned by another one of the visitors. Javier indicated with a nod that he’d heard the man. He turned back to her and gave her an apologetic look.

  ‘It seems I must go.’

  Gabriela nodded. ‘Qué significa “Incêndio”?’ She had picked up a lot of Portuguese so far, but “Incêndio” was a word she wanted to clarify.

  ‘It means “Fire”. Gabriela, amiga, it was very nice to meet you. I’m sure we will talk again during the festivities.’

  ‘¡Encantada!’

  And it was nice to meet him. He seemed like a nice man, and Gabriela was looking forward to taking the workshop he would be teaching shortly.

  She was about to go off and search for Sean when someone grabbed her arm. It was Jennifer. Her face was red with something akin to panic.

  ‘Jennifer, are you alright?’

 

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