Meet Me Under The Ombu Tree by Santa Montefiore Read Free Book Online Page A

attempt in a very slow, very loud voice. When they raised their hands and shrugged in despair he would mutter irritably, ‘You’d have thought they’d have picked it up by now!’ and shuffle off to find someone who could translate for him.
    ‘She wants to play in the polo match,’ replied Anna, humouring him.
    ‘Bloody good idea. Show those boys a thing or two.’
    The water was cold against her skin as Sofia cut through the surface. Furiously she carved her way up and down the pool until she sensed she was being watched. Rising to the surface she noticed Maria.
    ‘ Hold .' ’ she spluttered, catching her breath.
    ‘What’s up with you?’
    ‘Don’t ask, I’m completely loca with irritation!’
    ‘The match? Your father won’t let you play?’ she said, stepping out of her white cotton shorts and stretching out on the sunbed.
    ‘How did you guess?’
    ‘Call it intuition - you’re easy to read, Sofia.’
    ‘Sometimes, Maria, I could quite happily throttle my mother.’
    ‘Couldn’t we all,’ replied Maria, pulling her lotions out of her tidy floral bag. ‘Oh no, you have no idea, your mother is a saint - a goddess from heaven. Chiquita is the sweetest person alive - I wish she were my mother.’
    ‘I know, I’m very lucky,’ conceded Maria who was the first to appreciate the good relationship she had with her mother.
    ‘I just wish Mama would leave me alone. It’s because I’m the youngest and the only girl,’ Sofia complained, climbing up the steps and taking her place alongside her cousin on one of the other sunbeds.
    ‘I suppose having Panchito takes up most of Mama’s attention.’
    ‘Wish I had a younger brother instead of those two oafs. Agustin is such a nightmare, he’s always getting at me. It’s the way he looks at me with that superior expression of his.’
    ‘Rafa’s kind to you.’
    ‘Rafa’s okay. No, Agustin’s got to go. I wish he’d leave and study abroad. I’d love to see the back of him, I really would.’
    ‘You never know, your wish might be granted.’
    ‘If you mean the tree, I’ve got more important wishes to ask for,’ Sofia told her, and smiled to herself. She didn’t want to waste one on Agustin.
    ‘So, what are you going to do about the match?’ Maria asked, smoothing oil onto her voluptuous thighs. l Quemada, no? 1
    ‘Yes, you’re black, you look like one of the Indians! Hey, give me some. Thank God I haven’t inherited Mama’s red hair and pale skin - poor Rafa, he just goes as pink as a monkey’s bottom.’
    ‘So, come on, what are you going to do?’
    Sofia sighed deeply. ‘I surrender,’ she said dramatically, raising her arms in the air.
    ‘Sofia, that’s not like you.’ Maria was a little disappointed.
    ‘Well, I haven’t devised a plan yet - anyway, I don’t know if I can really be bothered. Though it would be worth it just to see Mama and Agustin’s faces.’
    Just then she was swept up from the sunbed by two very strong arms and before she could work out what was happening, found herself at once in the air and then in the water, sunglasses and all, struggling to free herself.
    ‘Santi!’ she gasped happily, coming up for air. ‘Boludo!’ Lunging at him, she pushed his grinning head under the water. To her delight he grabbed her in a bear hug around her hips and pulled her down with him where they wrestled together until they were forced to shoot up to the surface to breathe. Sofia wished they could fight some more but found herself reluctantly following him to the edge.
    Thanks a bunch. I was just beginning to cook.' she said at last when she had regained her breath.
    ‘You looked far too hot to me, like one of Jose’s sausages. I was doing you a favour.' he replied.
    ‘Some favour.’
    ‘So, Chofi, you’re not playing this afternoon?’ he goaded. ‘You’ve really wound your brothers up like two clockwork mice.’
    ‘Good, they needed their cages rattling a bit.'
    ‘You didn’t really think Paco would let you,