One evening Pilar announced that the next day she would go to Madrid. Her husband made a small sound in reply and she told him that she wanted to buy cloth to redecorate the family cradle. Knowing his wife had just been on the phone with Raquel, Luis guessed that their future daughter-in-law had spotted a shop with just the sort of stuff Pilar was looking for. Not wanting his wife to start chatting about the subject he didn't make inquiries.

The following day, after having done her shopping, Pilar made it for Malou's lunch-room. On her way she stopped in front of a jeweler to examine the silverware: among others she planned to give her grandchild a rattle. In a warehouse she bought a bib.

Malou acted as if she was happy to see her but she claimed to be very busy. It was indeed crowded in the lunch-room when Pilar arrived there but even after most people had left Malou didn't show herself. Pilar asked for her bill and she was told that her lunch was on the house. As she put a tip in a jar, she asked the waiter to tell his boss that she was leaving and that she liked to say goodbye to her. This was innocent enough to lure Malou, apron and all, out of the kitchen. They chatted and then Pilar remembered that she had something to discuss regarding Raquel's bachelor party. Would it be possible to quickly go through it?

Once in the privacy of Malou's small office Pilar asked her some questions she might as well have asked over the phone. Malou didn't think that her roommate would like to dress up as some character of fiction but she was sure that Raquel wouldn't mind having to wear a shirt saying I'm the bride.

´Oh, you should see what I just bought,´ Pilar said. She produced the bib. It read My daddy is cool!

Malou turned pale. Her response made Pilar feel that she was on the right track.

´Raquel told me, not to gossip but just as something that came up in our conversation, that she'd seen a box of a pregnancy test in your bathroom some time ago,´ Pilar softly said, ´But when you remained silent, she figured it was false alarm.´

Malou stared at the bib.

´She was wrong wasn't she Malou?´

Pilar had seen Malou neither enter nor leave Joseph's apartment but she'd noticed the chemistry between them. Pilar very much hoped that her sweet friend and her dear brother-in-law had found each other.

´Do I know the father?´

Malou swallowed hard and avoided Pilar's gaze.

´Is the baby Joseph's?´

Malou nodded, unsure of her friend's reaction. When Pilar smiled brilliantly, Malou started crying.

´Oh sweetheart! That's wonderful news!´ Pilar said, hugging the younger woman.

´We only met once.´

´When I first saw my Luis I told myself: Pilar, he's the one. Simple as that. I'm so happy for the two of you!´ Pilar said, lovingly stroking Malou's hair. ´Your mother would have liked Joseph, ah! She would have loved him! He is handsome, he is intelligent, he's kind, he's a real Romero.´

´I like him,´ Malou sniffed, ´I really do. He's just the sort of man I was looking for. Even though I didn't know that, if that makes sense.´

Pilar nodded enthusiastically. She failed to see how any woman would not like Joseph.

´But we only met once,´ Malou repeated.

Pilar shook her head at her friend's foolishness.

´I will raise the child alone if need be,´ Malou said. She had given it a lot of thought and she knew that she could do it, though it was not a future she had ever dreamt of, especially not had she pictured a man like Joseph to be the child's father.

´Are you out of your mind? You haven't told him? Of course not or he would have told me! Ah! Why didn't you tell him? You can't leave him out of this Malou!´

Pilar looked fearsome.

´We only met once Pilar,´ Malou softly said. ´When the Genovian Queen was in Madrid he didn't even come to see me.´

In the week following the wedding feast Malou had spent even more time in her lunch-room than she usually did. She was after all in love with Joseph and she had been stupid enough not to ask for his phone number or e-mail address. With him knowing the location of her lunch-room, all she could do was wait.

When she'd learned that Queen Clarisse had come to Madrid, she had decided that she would try some time consuming recipes in the evening. She'd felt a little silly as she'd placed her utensils and ingredients on the sink in her lunch-room's kitchen. She had recalled every witty remark she and Joseph had exchanged and every smile he'd given her. She'd recalled his scent. It was a good thing that the recipes had been complicated so she had to focus on them instead of day-dreaming about a man who might simply recall a night of shared fun.

´Joseph doesn't control his schedule sweetheart!´ Pilar said, ´Now, you will call him, won't you?´

´I don't have his number,´ Malou confessed.

´You silly! I do!´

Pilar knew Joseph's office number by heart and she noted it down while commenting pregnancy hormones that made women forget to think of the obvious.

´Now, Joseph is a busy man. When I need to speak to him I always first check www dot houserenaldi dot gv. It's got the Queen's schedule. Come, make a connection,´ Pilar said, gesturing toward Malou's laptop.

Malou did as she was bid.

´Ah, we are lucky, see? There's no public appearance scheduled for tomorrow morning, so Joseph won't guard her himself. But you can't tell anyone that, understood?´

Malou was too tense to laugh at Pilar's serious expression.

OoOoOoO

Joseph acted on autopilot. He instructed his men, he read a file, he signed a get well soon card for a guard who'd broken his leg, he went to the gym. After dinner he went to the Queen's suite for it was Thursday: their film evening.

´Which film did you select sir?´

Joseph showed his men the DVD box he'd brought.

Once their boss had entered Her Majesty's suite, one of the guards whispered: ´Make a bet he's gonna bring Pulp Fiction next week?´

It was a good thing that Joseph had already seen The usual suspects for he couldn't focus on the film. It neither had to do with feeling Clarisse's upper body resting against his chest nor with inhaling her perfume. It wasn't until she kissed him that for a moment he forgot about the two thoughts that had occupied him since that morning: Clarisse can't find out and I will provide for the child.

OoOoOoO

Two days after Malou's call Joseph contacted her. Before she might speak he started to read the first point from a crib he'd made. He told her that he had been overwhelmed at her news and that he was sorry he had barely responded at the time but that he wanted her to know that if she chose to keep the child he would offer financial support.

By suggesting that they would make arrangements at the wedding of Carlos and Raquel Joseph had covered all items on his list and he curtly disconnected.

He was relieved for having done what was right. Malou had not said much, and Joseph liked to think that to her he was just a sperm donor. She wouldn't want him to be part of her future and he would graciously accept that.

He breathed in and out deeply. He could face Clarisse again.