As Alvaro and the others were about to continue, Alvaro's phone rang. It was Toni and Alvaro moved away from the others to understand Toni despite the saw.
"I met up with Vicky," said Toni. "She hasn't changed from before. She looks like when she was with Dani. And she has a daughter. She says she is from Dani."
Alvaro explained to Toni where they were and arranged to meet him on the phone again later. Toni hadn't said anything to Dani yet.
Roberto had taken over the other chainsaw and Alvaro was piling branches with Juanma and Gaspar. He briefly told what Toni had said. They made good progress and soon the tree was just a pile of wood.
In the afternoon they all met again at the ranch house. Alberto thanked the hard-working helpers and they discussed that a few little things had to be done the next day before leaving. "But I would like to invite you, when you are on vacation again, to take a few days' vacation here," he said. "But then really vacation"
Everyone laughed. "We gladly accept the invitation," said Alvaro.
Travis said to the boys, "Who wants to drive a car?" and Juanma was there immediately. "Remember that you have to wash the pickups again later," said Alberto with a laugh and the boys nodded.
Alvaro took Mia tightly in his arms and gave her a kiss. Mia smiled at him. They wished the boys a lot of fun and went to the stable with Ruby.
Mia checked her cell phone again. Another message had come in, no answer to her question, of course.
She tried to call the number, but the cell phone seemed to be turned off.
She looked at the earth, lost in thought, until Lupe nudged her "hey, what do you have with your cell phone that you get so lost in thought as soon as you look at it."
Mia looked at Lupe for a moment. Lupe raised an eyebrow. "Mia?" she asked.
Mia showed her the cell phone. Lupe scanned the news. "But you don't think it was me now, do you?"
"No," Mia said, "I hadn't thought of that. I can only think of Laura, but the cell phone is switched off."
"That won't be your real number either," said Lupe. "Juanma had her number. Let's ask him later"
"But please don't say anything to Alvaro. He'll just worry again."
Lupe smiled and said "No, of course not."
The youngsters had a lot of fun. Alvaro drove travis pickup and they let the tires spin in the mud and drove off . In the end, both cars looked as if they had been pulled out of the swamp. When she got to the ranch, Albarto clapped his hands over his head, laughing.
They cleaned the cars. Mia approached Juanma and showed him the news. "Is that Laura's number" she asked softly. Juanma took the cell phone and let Mia pull him away from the others. "No, I think I have another, wait" He read the news while he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "You don't care about this nonsense, do you" he asked and looked at Mia carefully. Then he sifted through Laura's number and found that he actually had a different number. He put his cell phone away again.
"Mia?"
She looked at him and Juanma took her hand. "Forget that. We block the number and then it's done," said Juanma and looked Mia in the eye.
"But what if .."
"What?"
"If there is anything to it."
Juanma put his finger on Mia's lips. "I haven't heard that and you'll forget it again. You know how much Alvaro loves you and you also know that everything that happened is not your fault"
Mia nodded. " Yes I know that."
Juanma put his arm around Mia. "I'll go back to the others in the stable" she said and Juamma nodded.
Mia walked past Alvaro and took him briefly in her arms. "You guys got the cars pretty dirty" she said and gave him a kiss. Alvaro smiled and looked after Mia for a moment.
The boys washed the cars and Alvaro, Juanma, Gaspar and Roberto drove to the bungalows to shower.
Alvaro and Roberto brought wood into the houses and turned on the chimneys.
The girls helped Isabel and Ruby preparing the meals and Travis and Alberto and Ramiro took care of the horses.
One of the horses had a swelling on its leg and Travis got an ointment from a closet. "Ruby's mother swore by herbs and natural remedies," Albero said, smiling at Ramiro.
Ramiro put a hand on his shoulder. He knew how much his friend had suffered from his wife's untimely death. "You have a great daughter who is very much like her mother," he said.
Alberto nodded. He swallowed briefly, but then smiled again.
