Picking up the Pieces

PRAISE FOR AMANDA PROWSE ‘Amanda Prowse is the queen of family drama’ Daily Mail ‘A deeply emotional, unputdownable read’ Red ‘Heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure’ The Lady ‘Amanda Prowse is the queen of heartbreak fiction’ MailOnline ‘Captivating, heartbreaking and superbly written’ Closer ‘Uplifting and positive but you may still need a box of tissues’ Cosmopolitan ‘You’ll fall in love with this’ Cosmopolitan ‘Powerful and emotional drama that packs a real punch’ Heat ‘Warmly accessible but subtle . . . moving and inspiring’ Daily Mail ‘Magical’ Now ALSO BY AMANDA PROWSE Novels Poppy Day What Have I Done? Clover’s Child A Little Love Will You Remember Me? Christmas for One A Mother’s Story Perfect Daughter The Second Chance Café Three-and-a-Half Heartbeats Another Love My Husband’s Wife I Won’t Be Home for Christmas The Food of Love The Idea of You The Art of Hiding Anna Theo How to Fall in Love Again The Coordinates of Loss The Girl in the Corner The Things I Know The Light in the Hallway The Day She Came Back An Ordinary Life Waiting To Begin To Love and Be Loved Novellas The Game Something Quite Beautiful A Christmas Wish Ten Pound Ticket Imogen’s Baby Miss Potterton’s Birthday Tea Mr Portobello’s Morning Paper I Wish . . . Memoirs The Boy Between: A Mother and Son’s Journey From a World Gone Grey (with Josiah Hartley) Women Like Us This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Text copyright © 2023 by Amanda Prowse All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. Published by Lake Union Publishing, Seattle www.apub.com Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Lake Union Publishing are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. ISBN-13: 9781542024815 ISBN-10: 1542024811 Cover design by Emma Rogers This book is dedicated to the memory of Robert Edward Bauer – ‘Bob’, you made us laugh with so many fantastic stories from your wonderful life. You will be very much missed. CONTENTS PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CASA PINO CHAPTER TWO SANTIAGO AGOSTÍ’S FIRST LETTER CHAPTER THREE 14 MIDLAND ROAD CHAPTER FOUR MAGGIE’S LETTER CHAPTER FIVE CASA PINO CHAPTER SIX CASA PINO CHAPTER SEVEN SANTIAGO AGOSTÍ’S SECOND LETTER CHAPTER EIGHT CLOVE COURT, MAIDA VALE, LONDON CHAPTER NINE CASA PINO CHAPTER TEN 14 MIDLAND ROAD CHAPTER ELEVEN CLOVE COURT, MAIDA VALE, LONDON MATEO’S LETTER CHAPTER TWELVE ABOUT THE AUTHOR PROLOGUE Leonora’s daddy once told her that no matter what fell from an aeroplane – a rock, an old apple, a car or a person – it would fall at the same speed. Wasn’t that amazing? No matter how much something weighed or how much space it took up, when tumbling down to earth everything was the same. She wasn’t sure she believed him. But then, they definitely all ended up the same way: squished. She woke to the sound of a car door closing, the deep thrum of an engine and the crackle of stones under tyres as the vehicle travelled along the unfinished driveway, which threw up fire-coloured dust under even the steadiest of wheels. Leonora’s brain somersaulted with an unfounded yet familiar fear that she might have been left alone; her heart raced and her breath came in stuttered bursts. It was a hot, sticky night, much like any other, and she wondered where her parents had gone. The beach? The harbour? A bar? She strained to listen as the car rattled off into the distance, changing gear on the bend. She could hear the subtle pull of the engine and pictured it struggling up the hill. All cars struggled up that hill where the track grew narrow and rocks sometimes skittered down into the forest. She imagined them tumbling down and down before coming to rest on the valley floor – did they all fall at the same speed too? Her breath was now shallow, the pain in her chest real. ‘La Fosca’ – the grand, listing villa perched halfway up a mountain that she called home – was a big old place with creeping shadows, whining doors and creaky floorboards. The thought of being here without a grown-up was enough to make her tremble and fire a bolt of white-hot terror through her core. Images of the robbers and ne’er-do-wells that Luna liked to read to her about sprang unbidden into her mind. Her fringe stuck to her forehead as she sat up in the middle of the vast double bed, where her small body left an anxious shadow on the once pristine white linen sheets. Blinking, she avoided the gloomy corners of the wide room and looked towards the window where plumes of the red dust cloud rumbled up towards the house. Pulling back the gossamer-like mosquito netting surrounding the groaning mahogany four-poster, she let her skinny legs dangle over the side of the deep feather mattress and looked at the floor. It seemed like quite a distance for a six-year-old who was, as her mother liked to remind her, ‘no more than skin and bone’. She would say as she drew on her cigarette, ‘But I reckon you’re stronger than you look and smarter than anyone will ever give you credit for, what with you being so very pretty.’ The way she said it and her intense, lingering stare meant Leonora wasn’t sure if it was a compliment or an insult, so she said nothing by way of response. This level of confusion was quite standard when being addressed by her mother, as was her own hesitant smile, which to the best of her knowledge was appropriate for either scenario. She dropped to the tiled floor, landing with a flat-arched splat that sent a shooting pain up