‘Mi flor – mi bella flor!’ he called out. Rafaela opened the door and squealed with delight. Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him with a passion that melted his terror and confusion. ‘Alma mia, mi corazón,’ she sobbed, caressing his matted hair. Once inside, she held him at arm’s length; then her hands dropped and she slapped his face. ‘Hijo de perra – where did you go that you left me with no word of what you were going to do? I worried that the partidarios leales had betrayed you and I lied to everyone that—’ Serrano shook his head and pulled her close, breathing her fragrance. ‘Rafaela – mi ángel.’ Then he stood back and declared, ‘I was betrayed.’ ‘Cariño, who . . . ?’ ‘Not by the loyalists or the patriots, but by the British.’ ‘The British?’ she said incredulously. ‘What have you to do with them?’ ‘In my exile in Cape Town I heard from their officers that they were to fall on the Spanish here, and I hid in one of their boats .
