The staircase greeted his arrival on the second floor of the restaurant with the pleasant creak of veteran wood. For a moment he hesitated and that moment of hesitation made him realize that in his pocket still rested the intriguing invitation to dine at Botín, with no more details than that laconic signature: La Duquesa.
Instinctively, she fixed her clothes and tied up her black hair, barely broken by that eternally silver lock. Her mother-of-pearl eyes scanned the room with its immaculate black and white checkerboard floor. At the only occupied table there was a smiling, wavy-haired old lady, who was happily attacking a succulent plate of suckling pig.
-Sit down, young man," said the grandmother without losing her smile, "I can imagine your doubts, but please join me in giving an account of this dinner and I promise to clear them all up.
The young man obeyed, bewitched by the kindly presence of the old woman. Immediately, a diligent waiter served him a glass of bright red wine and a portion of the aromatic suckling pig, standing discreetly behind him.
-I am the one who has invited you to this little celebration. Specifically, we are celebrating my recent widowhood," the woman commented, surprisingly amused. I know it is little information, but I assure you that I will give you all the information you need during dinner. Don't worry, but right now I'm more interested in getting to know you.
-That's simple," the young man replied, a little dazed. I'm thirty years old, I'm single and I work as a teacher.
-And are your parents alive? -She continued without time to rest.
-I grew up in an orphanage, I never knew my parents.
That can be arranged," said the smiling old woman, narrowing her mother-of-pearl-colored eyes, while she exchanged knowing glances with the smiling waiter, who tied up his black hair, barely broken by that eternally silver lock.
