The Young and the Beautiful

Chapter 22

Late Summer 1953 Madrid, Spain

Five years have passed and my time as an ambassador here in Madrid comes to an end. Camila and I decided to take a short trip for about two to three weeks around Europe before we fly home to Manila. We were invited for lunch by the Spanish-Filipino community in Barcelona, which was a little far away from Madrid. I'm sure we'll go horseback riding or polo once we get there.

We lived and enjoyed our five years together to ourselves, and tried to live again after we lost our son Cristian. Five years went by really fast and now is the time to head back home to face a new chapter in doing pápa's business. We were both nervous on how will we live in our new house and start again with both of us having new jobs.

There's a Spanish artwork that Camila really wanted and she showed it to me in the museum where she worked. It was made by a Catalonian artist. It was a landscape painting of the view of the Mediterranean.

I purchased the painting for a little over than USD2,000, and had it removed from the frame. I want to surprise her on our trip. She doesn't know where we'll go yet. But I was planning a little trip to Provence, Southern France, to Monaco to Rome, Amalfi coast, and end the trip in Paris where we'll board the plane to Manila.

The tickets were gifts of Enrique and his wife Rita who was Camila's childhood friend. Enrique Soriano is a son of a Filipino industrialist who established and built the first airline of the country after the war. No wonder he's an heir to a large fortune, his father is now onto their second empire after finding success in steel production in the earlier 20th century . His grandmother who owned a mining field spoils him rotten with his trips to Nueva York and Europe with his wife.

They never failed not be featured in the Sunday lifestyle edition section of newspapers. Everything that this couple do is groundbreaking and is new to the Filipino readers. There's a time that Enrique had a winning spree in Monte Carlo so he bought several pieces of Dior's new collection for his wife, and several pieces of Hugo Boss for himself. Manila wasn't prepared to see its first Alfa Romeo coupé and Enrique has it.

It was our first time to travel abroad without any staff to help us. It's a good thing that I knew how to live without them when I was younger in Madrid.

My butler Mateo, helped me pack my things. All of our things will be shipped out today and Mateo is the busiest among the household. After we spent almost the whole day on packing and driving to the seaport to have it shipped to Manila, I invited Mateo for a drink in a pub nearby.

He mentioned to me before that he wanted to study and be a lawyer one day. He just doesn't have the means to do so. I talked to the head of a charity that Camila introduced me to years ago to make sure that he will be given the opportunity to study what he wanted. He was just nineteen this year. They were living in an orphanage during the war but when Mateo was fourteen he was made to work because nobody was sponsoring the orphans like them. He has been supporting himself and his younger brother and sister for years.

"So this would be the last bottle of Brandy de Jerez that we will have together for a long time Mateo. Thanks for being loyal to us and of course being my friend here in Madrid. It's hard to find genuine people in my work where you don't know who's being really nice to you and wanted to be friends and just being nice because they want something." I said to him as I poured him Brandy.

He was imitating the way I sat, how I hold my brandy glass and how I smoked my cigarette. People were talking about the new government in the background. Some were enjoying a nightcap alone and some were hoping that nobody will blow their cover as a spy or something.

"I will leave you a box of my books that I used here while studying law. Read it. I hope that teaching you, and the rest of the staff English will come handy." I added.

"Thank you sir. I don't know what to say. I am so happy." He replied.

"Wait, before you thank me, I talked to someone from the Universidad de Madrid who's willing to give scholarship to you. Remember the essays and exams I gave you? It was for that, and you passed. I put on a good word for you, Mateo." I said, handing him an envelope which contained the letter of acceptance.

"You can work in the nearby pubs or restaurants to sustain your housing, but promise me that you will be a lawyer one day, and defend those people who were once like you." I added. Mateo was shocked and his brown eyes went big and looked into the letter I handed.

The first month Mateo started working for us, I saw potential in him. He was interested about things and sees everything around him the same way that I do. So I taught him what my father taught me when I was younger, manners, dinner topics, and everything that made me who I am today. I saw myself in him, if he was given a chance to study I know he would be a good lawyer. It was just that he was born poor which made opportunities a little aloof to him.

Everyone in our household were interested to learn English so I held English classes almost every day for one hour before going to bed. I saw how they improved a lot and just last year we conversed in full straight English at home.

On our last lunch in Madrid, I asked Rubi, Camila's lady's maid and the household head to prepare lunch for six people. Instead of being served by Mateo, the dishes were all placed on big plates and bowls, just like how families would eat.

"Why are you guys all quiet? We're just going home, we're not going to be executed." I jokingly said. Then the girls started to laughed shared that they were feeling sad because we'll leave on that day.

After lunch, I asked Mateo to take a picture of me and Camila outside the garden where she planted those bushes, and roses, and in front of our first house.

Mateo called on a taxi on the street, I shook Mateo's hand goodbye and he gave me a hug, then he started crying. He was really just a kid.

"Thank you Señor. Thank you for everything that you gave me. I promise to do good in school and be just like you. Adios Señor. Muchas Gracias a todos." He said.

"I told you to call me Pancho, we're friends. You're not our staff anymore. Adios mi amigo! Muchas Gracias." I said.

Camila gave him a hug too. He was like our little brother.

"You have our phone number and address, write to us whenever you want. We promise to reply to you." Camila said. She started to shed some tears as well.

We waved everyone goodbye as the taxi started to move towards the airport.

"You were not just a friend to Mateo, you're his hero. You changed that young boy's life. I am so proud of you, Pancho." Camila said, and gave me a kiss.