Without a Second Thought

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Diane knew nothing about the Spanish Civil War, and the only thing she knew about the dictator Franco was that Alberto, the worldly, successful Spanish engineer she wanted to marry, called him "benevolent." The insights into daily Spanish life could only be told by someone who lived them, and loved most of them. Diane filled her letters home with happy anecdotes about maids and doormen, in-laws and food, but underneath the comfortable exterior lingered vague images of Franco's police and ghosts of the Civil War—the war no one spoke about, or mentioned only superficially, except for Alberto, who had recounted his harrowing experience as a teenager fleeing the siege of Madrid. It was Alberto's increasingly alarming behavior that made her fear for her marriage, and ultimately made her fear for the safety of her daughters. When she saw no other way out, Diane faced the fear the only way she knew how.