We also knew that this was a difficult subject for Erica. And that it was difficult, above all, for her mother, for Conchi.<\/p>\n
Conchi had lived her whole life without her father. But one day, when she was older, she began to investigate.<\/p>\n
Erica: My mother looked for him\u2026 Because, of course, my mother and he never had any contact. At the age of 33, my mother pulled out the phone book.<\/p>\n
33 years old. The same age Erica was when she started this investigation.<\/p>\n
Conchi managed to find Mateo, the families got to know each other. They even spent a summer together. Erica called him \u201cgrandfather. Then something happened and they stopped talking to each other.<\/p>\n
Erica: He and my mother argued. Over something that had to do with my grandmother, or if you are my daughter or if you are not my daughter\u2026 That\u2019s what I remember, I also think that when they met I was 11 years old. That is, I don\u2019t remember either\u2026 They had a fight, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n
That was 20 years ago. And for Erica, Mateo was already a distant memory. But suddenly the police file, and his name there, so clear, had sped everything up. Erica even tried to call him.<\/p>\n
Erica: Well, I put the recorder on and everything, but I got blocked, and I started to cry and I had tremendous anxiety\u2026<\/p>\n
But she also knew that, if she wanted to get to the bottom of her grandmother\u2019s story, she had to talk to him.<\/p>\n
Erica: I\u2019ve realized that the question I\u2019ve most wanted to answer is what happened to make her leave. And the person who might know the most is him.<\/p>\n
Welcome to Lunatics.<\/p>\n
`{`Theme song`}`<\/p>\n
Erica: What happened between them?<\/p>\n
A series by (De eso no se habla) and Producciones del KO.<\/p>\n
Erica: Were you two boyfriend and girlfriend, were you not boyfriend and girlfriend? How did you find out that she was pregnant?<\/p>\n
Where we try to answer these questions\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: Was that what broke the relationship? Was it already broken?<\/p>\n
And some others.<\/p>\n
Erica: There was no relationship? Did you know that Loli left? I don\u2019t know, were you aware?<\/p>\n
This is episode 4, The problem she had.<\/p>\n
Erica: I\u2019ve knocked on so many doors and I\u2019m not going to knock on this one?<\/p>\n
Many times during this investigation, Erica wanted to be accompanied. She wanted to be accompanied in the interviews, but also in other important moments. Like this one, when she is finally about to call Mateo. The first time she tried with Dani, her boyfriend. Now, Andrea and I are there to support her.<\/p>\n
Andrea: But if something had happened to him, you would know, right?<\/p>\n
Erica: Well, he has Whatsapp, he still has Whatsapp, he still has a photo, that is, he has a profile picture on Whatsapp, so\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica dials the number and gets ready.<\/p>\n
Erica: He\u2019s going to freak out\u2026<\/p>\n
`{`Phone`}`.<\/p>\n
Does he have her number saved, Erica\u2019s number? Has he also looked at her picture from time to time? Three rings and we get uneasy.<\/p>\n
`{`Phone`}`<\/p>\n
But on the fourth\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo: Yes?<\/p>\n
Erica: Hello, Mateo?<\/p>\n
Mateo: Yes.<\/p>\n
Erica: Hi, this is Erica, I\u2019m your granddaughter, I don\u2019t know if you remember me.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Oh, of course I remember. I\u2019ve remembered many times, I wonder, how is Erica?<\/p>\n
Erica: How are you?<\/p>\n
Mateo: Fine, very old, but fine.<\/p>\n
Erica had rehearsed the conversation a few times. She was going to tell him that she wanted to talk to him and, if he didn\u2019t want to meet another day, she was going to try to ask him there, live.<\/p>\n
Erica: I\u2019ve been trying to call you for a while, because, well, I was a little worried because we hadn\u2019t talked in a while\u2026 And well, this last year I\u2019ve remembered you a lot, I\u2019ve even dreamt about you and everything, that we talked\u2026 And I don\u2019t know if you would like to talk to me and tell me\u2026 Because I\u2019m making an audio documentary about my grandmother\u2019s life and well, it\u2019s been many months and I always think, oh, I would love to know my grandfather Mateo\u2019s version\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo: I wouldn\u2019t mind talking to you but I don\u2019t feel like doing it by phone, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Erica: Well, I\u2019ll go see you then\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo: Well, then\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo said yes. Erica suggested going to see him in Seville, where he lives. At first he said no, that he preferred to go to Madrid, but then time went by, he couldn\u2019t make up his mind, and Erica managed to convince him: she would go to see him in Seville. So we booked a train ticket for her and Dani and also a hotel room. Because Mateo, above all, did not want to meet at his house.<\/p>\n
Back in Seville, at the hotel, Erica is nervous.<\/p>\n
Erica: And then, in all the others I\u2019ve been with someone, you know?<\/p>\n
This is the first time that Erica is going to do an interview alone.<\/p>\n
Erica: I\u2019m just\u2026 I\u2019m very nervous.<\/p>\n
Dani: This is the moment.<\/p>\n
As soon as they get out of the elevator, she recognizes him.<\/p>\n
Erica: He\u2019s there\u2026<\/p>\n
Dani: How did you recognize him from behind?<\/p>\n
He\u2019s sitting with his back to the bar. He\u2019s wearing a shirt and shoes.<\/p>\n
Erica: It\u2019s him, for sure. I\u2019m almost sure\u2026<\/p>\n
Dani: Yes, he\u2019s an older man\u2026<\/p>\n
She goes up to him and says\u2026 Grandpa?<\/p>\n
Erica: Grandpa?<\/p>\n
Mateo: Hey!<\/p>\n
Erica: How\u2019s it going?<\/p>\n
First they have a cup of coffee and chat for a while.<\/p>\n
Erica: Look, this is Dani.<\/p>\n
Then they decide to go to a quieter place, in a corner of the hotel lobby.<\/p>\n
Erica: You look great!<\/p>\n
Mateo: Do I look good? Yes, I\u2019m doing fine\u2026<\/p>\n
And when Dani starts to prepare the microphones and the conversation turns into something more like an interview, Mateo tries to say that he doesn\u2019t have much to say.<\/p>\n
Mateo: I don\u2019t know, I barely have anything to say to you.<\/p>\n
Erica: You know what? I think you\u2019re a person who can tell me things that no one else has told me, even if it\u2019s not much.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Yeah\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: You know?<\/p>\n
Mateo: Well\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: And I also think that\u2026 When I\u2019ve been talking to more people during this year, everyone here gives their opinion. So I thought that you should give yours too.<\/p>\n
Dani leaves them and Erica is left alone in front of Mateo.<\/p>\n
After having done so many interviews for this investigation, Erica has learned that she has to start by talking about lighter things, that she can\u2019t start asking questions directly. So first she shows him some photos that she has been collecting over the past few months.<\/p>\n
Erica: Look, I do have some, because of course\u2026.<\/p>\n
Mateo: And am I in any of the photos?<\/p>\n
Erica: No. It was one of the first things I looked up, because\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo: Of course, I remember taking pictures of myself.<\/p>\n
Erica: Look, I have pictures here that my aunt Merce gave me when she was Miss.<\/p>\n
Mateo: You mother looks so similar\u2026 A strong resemblance. Look, yes, this one is from when she was Miss.<\/p>\n
Erica: Yes\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo: Miss\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: Moratalaz.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Moratalaz, yes, yes.<\/p>\n
Erica: Sure. So I have these pictures from that time\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo: 1963?<\/p>\n
Erica: 63.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Look\u2026 I was 20 years old then.<\/p>\n
Erica: So you already knew each other? When\u2026 Had you already met when she was Miss?<\/p>\n
Mateo: When she was Miss, yes, we already knew each other, from where we used to go dancing, the discos\u2026 There were also times when I would call her. And whenever I told her \u2018let\u2019s go here, let\u2019s go there\u2019 she was always willing. She liked me a lot, and so yes.<\/p>\n
She was always willing. She liked him a lot. He doesn\u2019t say if he liked her too. According to Mateo, they were like that, meeting here and there, for 3 years: between 1963 and 1966. Until one day\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo: One day she told me \u2018No, no, Mateo, don\u2019t call me anymore, you and I are not going anywhere, I have a serious boyfriend and I don\u2019t want you to call me anymore\u2019. And I said \u2018Oh, sorry, Loli, I\u2019m not bothering you anymore\u2019, right? I heard voices, I said \u2018Where are you?\u2019 She said \u2018I\u2019m at home\u2026\u2019, I said \u2018Oh, I hear a man over there\u2019 and she said \u2018Oh, it\u2019s my father\u2019. The father would be saying \u2018Tell him to fuck off\u2019 and so on, because the truth is that I was appearing and disappearing, I was not serious at all. I was 20 years old, not\u2026<\/p>\n
It is very possible that, at that time, Loli was already pregnant. Erica thinks that maybe she had just told her family. Hence the voices Mateo heard on the other end of the phone: Loli\u2019s father, perhaps the rest of the family as well.<\/p>\n
And maybe that\u2019s why we, listening to this story, also need another voice to complete it. The other part of the story. The version of the only living person who can tell us how Loli lived those days: the voice of her only sister, Merce.<\/p>\n
So, for the moment, we are going to leave here, on pause, the conversation between Erica and Mateo, in that hotel in Seville, and we are going to a town in Madrid, to Merce\u2019s house, to build this story with two voices.<\/p>\n
After all, these may be the most important days to understand Loli\u2019s story.<\/p>\n
You may remember that, in the second episode of this podcast, Erica and her mother had gone to visit Loli\u2019s sister Merce, the owner of the family photo archive. And that they had turned off the recorder just outside the door. And now, at last, almost at the end of this investigation, Erica has dared to walk through that door, with the recorder on.<\/p>\n
Voices: Hello.<\/p>\n
She also goes with Dani.<\/p>\n
Erica: Well, this is Dani.<\/p>\n
Merce: Nice to meet you.<\/p>\n
Dani: Nice to meet you.<\/p>\n
And also here Erica starts with a lighter topic. The family photos that Merce herself had given her. Those photos that had served her so well.<\/p>\n
Erica: Well, I was going to show you that, that I started making\u2026 Do you remember that I came here and you left me photos? Making an album of grandma.<\/p>\n
Merce: Yes, how nice\u2026 How nice\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: From when she was born\u2026<\/p>\n
Merce: Look, from our school days.<\/p>\n
Erica: This was at the Lucero, wasn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
Merce was Loli\u2019s older sister. The responsible sister.<\/p>\n
Merce: My father used to say \u201cyou have to be here at eight o\u2019clock, both in winter and in summer\u201d. Well, she was always late and my mother would say \u201cYou\u2019re not going out next week\u201d. \u201cBecause you say so\u201d. \u201cThis week you\u2019re not going out\u201d. And one week my mother said \u201cEnough going out\u201d\u2026 She would go into the room screaming, \u201cI\u2019m going to leave, because I\u2019m leaving, because I\u2019m not staying here, because I\u2019m leaving here, because I\u2019m opening the door and\u2026\u201d. And she would leave. And come whenever she felt like it.<\/p>\n
One day, in 1966, her mother called her. Merce was 23 years old, three years older than her sister. Her mother, whom everyone in the family calls \u201cla yaya Conce\u201d told her that she had to tell her something.<\/p>\n
Merce: \u201cMerce, I have to tell you some news,\u201d she said. She is\u2026 Loli is pregnant\u201d. And I said, \u201cWhat do you mean, she\u2019s pregnant?\u201d And indeed she was pregnant.<\/p>\n
Erica: And how did that happen?<\/p>\n
Merce: Since she had her boyfriend, well, I didn\u2019t\u2026 Well, it doesn\u2019t feel good for you. But come on, it\u2019s not like she didn\u2019t have a boyfriend or it was with just anyone\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: Because you met\u2026?<\/p>\n
Merce: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Of course I met him.<\/p>\n
Erica: But you were going together, or\u2026<\/p>\n
Merce: No, no, no, no, no. I met him because he went to pick her up at yaya\u2019s door and I\u2019ve been with them.<\/p>\n
That boyfriend Merce met was Mateo.<\/p>\n
And now, back at the hotel in Seville, Mateo tells Erica that he found out about Loli\u2019s pregnancy at that discotheque where they had danced together so many times.<\/p>\n
Mateo: And it was at that discotheque that she came to tell me the problem she had.<\/p>\n
Erica: That she was pregnant.<\/p>\n
Mateo: That\u2019s right, yes, she tapped me on the back and said \u201cI have to talk to you\u201d. Then we went to the side\u2026 \u201cI\u2019m pregnant\u201d, and so on. And I said\u2026 \u201cBut now?\u201d Besides, I think\u2026 The truth is that I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t remember, I didn\u2019t calculate the time that had passed or anything, but I don\u2019t think\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: It wasn\u2019t possible.<\/p>\n
Mateo: It wasn\u2019t possible, more time had passed.<\/p>\n
Mateo says that he had not calculated the dates but he also says that it was not possible because \u201cmore time had passed\u201d. He remembered sleeping with Loli more than nine months ago. So, if it had been him, Loli should have already given birth, he says.<\/p>\n
Erica: So, what happens after that? I mean\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo: I told her no.<\/p>\n
Erica: Did you tell your family or your family\u2026?<\/p>\n
Mateo: I said no. Well, I don\u2019t remember, but I think I did\u2026 But I don\u2019t remember. It wasn\u2019t the first time that happened to me.<\/p>\n
Erica: So you were going from one to another?<\/p>\n
Mateo: No, yes, it happened to me at that time\u2026 Well, you have to see that\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: Were you a flirt?<\/p>\n
Mateo: It was the 60\u2019s and so on\u2026 At that time I had a group of friends who lived in Vallecas and she\u2026 When I stopped\u2026 Well, not that I stopped, we still saw each other and that. But she also went to see these people. So I really didn\u2019t believe that I was the one.<\/p>\n
Erica: So you thought it was possible that it was another guy because she was also seeing more guys.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Exactly.<\/p>\n
Erica: Right.<\/p>\n
From that point on, Mateo steps away. Months go by and January \u201967 arrives. Loli is about to give birth. And we go back to Merce\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
Merce: One day she told me \u201cI peed in bed\u201d. Of course, she was already fat. She said \u201cI peed in bed\u201d, I said \u201cno kidding\u201d. And then I said to the neighbor, I said \u201cTere, my sister\u2026\u201d and she said \u201cNo, no\u201d, she said \u201cthat\u2019s because her water broke\u201d. And then we ran to La Paz `{`hospital`}`. And then I remember perfectly well that in La Paz they called him to tell him that he was going to be a father and he said he didn\u2019t want to know anything, and the social worker said \u201cHey, look\u201d she said \u201cyour girlfriend is going to give birth\u201d and he said \u201cI don\u2019t want to know anything\u201d. Nothing. And that was it.<\/p>\n
But, according to Merce, Mateo\u2019s story with Loli did not end there.<\/p>\n
Merce: And two or three months later one day he calls and tells her to bring the girl down to meet her. And my mother didn\u2019t want to, but my sister took her down and he told her \u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m going to give you money every month to support the girl\u2026 I mean, for you to support the girl and all that\u201d. And no way, no\u2026 Nothing.<\/p>\n
Maybe this is the same encounter that Mateo remembers, but in a different way.<\/p>\n
Erica: And when do you find out\u2026? I mean, when you know mom is born, can you go to see her or not?<\/p>\n
Mateo: No, she calls me one day and says \u201cLook, come here, come here, I want to show you the baby\u201d. So \u201cAh, well, okay, I\u2019m coming, I\u2019m coming to see you\u201d. Where then? Well, in her neighborhood, right? And she came with the child. And he showed me the girl and I said \u201cBut Loli, please, not me, not me\u201d. \u201cLook, look how pretty\u201d and so on, \u201cLoli, it\u2019s not me, don\u2019t you remember you told me you had a serious boyfriend and so on\u201d. \u201cYes, no, but that was because my father was scolding me, whatever, it was all\u2026\u201d. Anyway, a disaster. A bummer.<\/p>\n
The next date in this shared chronology appears in the police file that Erica obtained. It is July 1967. Conchi was six months old. And the police showed up at Mateo\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
Mateo: \u201cMateo Sanchez?\u201d \u201cYes\u201d. \u201cWell, you have to come with us.\u201d \u201cWhere to?\u201d \u201cTo the police station.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loli had denounced Mateo so that he would recognize the paternity of his daughter. Erica shows her the file.<\/p>\n
Erica: Look. Because in all this year I have investigated many things and one of the things I did was ask for my grandmother\u2019s police file. And the first thing there is what you are telling me. She goes to the police, and then the police go to your house\u2026.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Oh, yes, right?<\/p>\n
Erica: And the statement and everything, from both of you\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo: And what does it say here? You tell me.<\/p>\n
Erica: Shall I read it to you? Well\u2026 Here what they say is that you, as soon as you knew that the witness, my grandmother, was pregnant, you stopped going out with her\u2026 This is her statement, it\u2019s her version.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Of course, at that moment I stopped\u2026 No, it\u2019s just that it happened\u2026.<\/p>\n
Erica: And that when the baby was born, he did not want to know anything either, refusing to get married and to give the child a last name. And not having anything else to add, well, they do investigations.<\/p>\n
In that statement, Mateo admitted having had sexual relations with Loli \u201ctwo or three times\u201d during the Moratalaz festivities the previous year.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Yes, yes, I had no reason to say no, I had no reason to lie. Because at that time there was no DNA test or anything, right? So they couldn\u2019t say \u201cYou are the father\u201d, right? So, if I had said \u201cNo, I haven\u2019t been with her\u201d, maybe I wouldn\u2019t have had such a problem, but well. \u201cYes, yes, I have been with her but it\u2019s not me because it doesn\u2019t match.\u201d For me the dates did not match.<\/p>\n
In front of the police, he kept the same version he keeps now in front of Erica.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Two of my friends came and they were willing to say that she was with other boyfriends at that time and so on. But I told them no, no way.<\/p>\n
Erica: And why?<\/p>\n
Mateo: Because I didn\u2019t want them to think that\u2026 No, you know?<\/p>\n
Erica: Because it was ugly, that they would think she was with several men.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Of course, at that time, oh, of course. And the judge, I don\u2019t know if it was the judge or an official or something, well, he drew his conclusions and nothing happened.<\/p>\n
Nothing happened then, but something did happen later. It turns out that on Conchi\u2019s birth certificate, in the margin, there is an annotation that was added years later: the name Mateo appears in that annotation. And it says that he is Conchi\u2019s father.<\/p>\n
Erica: Of course, mom had her grandmother\u2019s surname for a while, the same surname as hers, and then, years later it appears here in the margin\u2026 Your name appears. And it says that there is a recognition sentence.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Yes, because you can see that they put the surnames of\u2026 You can see that they put the surnames of the grandfather, or of the grandmother, and then when investigating, seeing this, they would say \u201cAh, but here there is\u2026\u201d. Of course, they don\u2019t say anything to me, but maybe the judge says that I am the father, or that they consider that I am the father, because they cannot prove it. Nobody can prove it, neither yes nor no, and we don\u2019t know, that is\u2026<\/p>\n
Is it possible that no one told Mateo about the resolution of this sentence? Erica thinks it is possible. She thinks so because, in fact, neither Loli nor her family were told about the recognition sentence.<\/p>\n
For many years, Conchi carried her mother\u2019s surname, because, as we already know, Mateo had not wanted to recognize her. But one day, when Conchi was about 10 years old, the family had to ask for her birth certificate. And there they found that annotation in the margin: that favorable recognition sentence that said that the judges had decided that yes, Mateo was her father. They found it by surprise. And suddenly, Conchi had to change her last name: at school, on her ID card, everywhere.<\/p>\n
Whether he was told or not, the truth is that Mateo went on with his life.<\/p>\n
Mateo: In the end, I feel terribly sad for her. Many times I think about it, how bad it must have been for her, but there is no way I would have\u2026 I would have married. Because the circumstances were not right for that, right?<\/p>\n
On the other side, Loli, a single mother, started working at the U.S. base in Torrej\u00f3n de Ardoz. Merce says that when she returned home, she took care of her daughter, she took care of Conchi. Until one day, she disappeared.<\/p>\n
Erica: She left overnight?<\/p>\n
Merce: Yes, overnight\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: And how did you find out she left?<\/p>\n
Merce: Well, because she didn\u2019t show up, she\u2026. She left and didn\u2019t call the yaya or anything. And the night came and she didn\u2019t come and she didn\u2019t come\u2026 And another day came and my mother said \u201cWell, I\u2019m going to go to the base\u201d. And they told her \u201cNo, ma\u2019am, she asked for the liquidation and left\u201d. She had asked for the liquidation and she left.<\/p>\n
And she did not come back.<\/p>\n
Merce: We spent many years not knowing about her, where she was or anything, if she was alive or not, and my mother said \u201cHoly Virgin of Navahonda, tell me if my daughter is alive or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rest of Loli\u2019s story until she arrived in Bilbao we know from the police file. When she left home, her father went to report the disappearance of his daughter to the police. The file reads: \u201che denounces it in case something had happened to her or some people had coerced her to do so\u201d. The father also says that his daughter is rather short, has short brown hair, brown eyes, and is dressed in a leather suit and gray cloth jacket, and that he is not responsible for the expenses of returning his daughter home.<\/p>\n
According to the file, it appears that Loli was in Granada, but then she is looked for in a \u201cparty room or similar establishment in Cordoba\u201d. From there she goes through Zaragoza and Santander. Until she arrives in Bilbao and begins the life we already know from previous episodes of this podcast.<\/p>\n
Erica knows that this is the life her grandmother chose. But she also wonders what would have happened if she had chosen another path, if she had stayed in Madrid, if she had raised her daughter in the same neighborhood, as a single mother.<\/p>\n
So, once again, we are going to leave Mateo for a few minutes in that hotel in Seville, and we are going to go to Moratalaz, to Erica\u2019s neighborhood.<\/p>\n
`{`Music`}`<\/p>\n
Erica: Well, I just got off in Moratalaz and I am going to get Andrea\u2026<\/p>\n
From the beginning of the investigation, Erica had a name in her diary.<\/p>\n
Manoli\u2019s, a friend of her grandmother\u2019s who Erica believed could help her understand that other life that her grandmother could have lived.<\/p>\n
Erica: Hello!<\/p>\n
Andrea: Do we have to record this?<\/p>\n
Erica: Yes, because everything has to be recorded.<\/p>\n
I must say that I didn\u2019t really understand this eagerness to find a woman who was neither family nor seemed to know much about her grandmother. But for Erica it seemed to be unfinished business. She and Andrea were very insistent, so this was one of their last missions together in this investigation.<\/p>\n
Andrea: Your great-grandparents lived here?<\/p>\n
Erica: Yes, and my family, my mother has lived here all her life.<\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t know her last name, they didn\u2019t have her phone number or address. They only knew that Manoli lived in a doorway near her grandmother\u2019s house. But somehow Erica and Andrea managed to find her.<\/p>\n
`{`Bell ringing`}`<\/p>\n
Erica: You\u2019re so smart. So it would have to be that one.<\/p>\n
They also managed to convince her to let them into her house and to let them record the conversation.<\/p>\n
Manoli: Well, tell me.<\/p>\n
Erica: Well, we are trying to find people who knew my grandmother\u2026.<\/p>\n
But, actually, and for the first time in this investigation, they were not there to talk about Loli. Or not directly.<\/p>\n
Manoli: Well, yes, yes, very bad, very bad. And don\u2019t think I\u2019m a single mother too, huh?<\/p>\n
Loli was an excuse to talk precisely about that.<\/p>\n
Manoli: And then, well, we had a good time. I used to do her hair because I have always been very good at it\u2026 And well, until things happen, honey.<\/p>\n
About what it meant to be a single mother at the same time Loli was a single mother.<\/p>\n
Manoli: Well, look, I brought a relative here from Valencia, we started going out, she took me to a discotheque to a party\u2026 And there they did something to me because I don\u2019t know how I got pregnant, you see? Each one is a different story\u2026 You don\u2019t get your period, you don\u2019t get your period\u2026 And that\u2019s all. You know, you already have a daughter and it\u2019s as if you had done something very bad\u2026 So\u2026 And now, even with your mother, they didn\u2019t throw you out of the house, but\u2026 You were already the maid for everything.<\/p>\n
And Manoli decided to stay in Madrid, with her daughter and her parents, the life that Loli did not choose. But Manoli did not have an easy time.<\/p>\n
Manoli: Because of my family\u2019s way of being, of course, I didn\u2019t go out with anyone anymore. I dedicated myself exclusively to\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: But\u2026 You mean because of your family\u2019s way of being\u2026 Because you had a child without being married?<\/p>\n
Manoli: Yes, of course.<\/p>\n
Erica: It\u2019s just that it had to be\u2026<\/p>\n
Manoli: No, no, very bad, very bad, very bad\u2026 Those were other times. It is that people were very bad. I had a neighbor down here who even followed me to know where I was going when I went for a walk with my belly, when they told me I had to walk.<\/p>\n
Erica: Really?<\/p>\n
Manoli: Yes, yes\u2026 And everyone in the neighborhood knew about it because of her.<\/p>\n
In fact, Erica\u2019s family also remembered her that way, as the girl from the neighborhood who got pregnant without being married.<\/p>\n
Manoli: I remember that when you went out with someone\u2026 Everyone said yes, they didn\u2019t care, what did it matter\u2026. But they didn\u2019t care until\u2026 If they could get something out of you. Then, if you have a girl, they didn\u2019t want anyone with a girl.<\/p>\n
Manoli told them that her family took care of the child, but they didn\u2019t do it for free.<\/p>\n
Manoli: Whether you like it or not, they are doing you a favor by keeping here what you have had\u2026 Well, I had to give my salary until my mother died, in 2009. And all your life throwing\u2026 Your own family throwing it in your face, huh? So, no, very bad. Very bad. That\u2019s why I tell my granddaughters to prepare themselves, to live life, to live it to the fullest\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica and Andrea spent a long time talking to her, understanding how this woman who chose another life had it: the one Loli could have had if she had stayed in Madrid. The other side of the coin. The possibility that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n
Manoli: Well, honey, anyway, keep on looking so cute.<\/p>\n
Erica: Thank you very much, see you later, bye.<\/p>\n
Manoli: And live life, sweethearts, but be very careful, ok?<\/p>\n
Erica: Okay.<\/p>\n
Manoli: And even more so now with everything that\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
Erica: Bye.<\/p>\n
We will never know, of course, what would have happened to Loli if she had stayed. We only know what she lived through, and we know it after many months of investigation by Erica and Andrea.<\/p>\n
But what about Mateo? What did Mateo do meanwhile? That we do know.<\/p>\n
`{`Music`}`<\/p>\n
Shortly after Conchi was born, Mateo took a job opportunity to leave Madrid, and from there he continued to travel.<\/p>\n
Later, he formed a family, with a wife and children, while Conchi grew up with the story of a mother who had abandoned her and a father she never knew about but whose name the whole family remembered. Until, as Erica recounted at the beginning of this episode, when she was 33 years old, Conchi began to investigate. She wanted to know her father. This is what Erica and Mateo talked about, almost at the end of the conversation, back in that hotel in Seville.<\/p>\n
Erica: When mom was about the age I am now, more or less, she decided she wanted to meet you and talk to you. And she looked you up and I think it was\u2026 The phone book, I don\u2019t remember very well how it was.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Yes.<\/p>\n
The families got to know each other, spent some time together and Erica started calling Mateo \u201cgrandfather\u201d. But one day he and Conchi had an argument. Mateo kept saying that he was not Conchi\u2019s father.<\/p>\n
Mateo: So, when I saw her, I said \u201cAh, the same face as the mother\u201d. Of course, if I arrive and she totally looks like me, then\u2026 Well, I said that to your mother, I said \u201cI don\u2019t think I am your father\u201d, right? \u201cNo, no, yes, well, she says yes\u201d, like that. \u201cI say no, I don\u2019t think so\u201d, because\u2026<\/p>\n
It was around that time that reliable paternity tests began to exist and Mateo decided to settle the matter and ask for one.<\/p>\n
Mateo: I was the one who asked for it, huh? It cost me some money too, it cost me 300,000 pesetas. It didn\u2019t cost me a few pesetas.<\/p>\n
The results of that test say the following:<\/p>\n
First. The study of the different molecular genetic markers used has not allowed to exclude the paternity of Mateo Sanchez as the father of Concha Sanchez.<\/p>\n
Second. The statistical analysis of the probability of paternity of Mateo Sanchez with respect to Concha Sanchez, taking into account the genotypic structure of the presumed father and the distribution of the different markers analyzed in the population, has granted a probability of paternity of 99.9%, which corresponds to a practically proven paternity.<\/p>\n
Loli, the locatig\u00fcisquis, the carefree woman, the one who, they said, slept with many men, had only pointed to one of them as the father of her daughter. And she was right.<\/p>\n
Mateo: Well, look, if you want me to tell you the truth, I still say that\u2026 I\u2019m doubtful, anyway.<\/p>\n
Erica: And why do you think that is? If the DNA test\u2026<\/p>\n
Mateo: Because, when we go to do the test, the girl, the lady, the doctor, says to me \u201cOh, are you such and such? Ah, yes, yes, come this way\u201d. And I went in and it turned out that she was a friend of your mother\u2019s, or your mother had called them to do the test\u2026 And then I saw everything very easy, very prepared\u2026 I don\u2019t know, that\u2019s why I say that I\u2026 I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t know. But, I must be wrong. I still think it\u2019s not\u2026<\/p>\n
Erica: Do you think it\u2019s harder to think that you are? I mean, maybe you think not, because it\u2019s harder to recognize that you are?<\/p>\n
Mateo: To recognize\u2026 I don\u2019t know, to be honest. No, I can\u2019t tell you that. I, the truth is that I\u2026 It\u2019s a great shame, I think about it a lot sometimes and\u2026 It was a shame, to be honest, in my life, you know? I am a very good person, I have done good for everybody, I have worked and I have done things well and that\u2026 It hurts me a little , to be honest.<\/p>\n
Erica: But then, can I still call you grandpa or not?<\/p>\n
Mateo: Well, yes.<\/p>\n
Erica: Oh, okay (laughs).<\/p>\n
Mateo: Well, yes, of course you can.<\/p>\n
Mateo has always been very affectionate with Erica. Today, for example, he let her record this conversation because he knows it\u2019s important to her. Even if it makes him uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
But the relationship with his daughter, with Conchi, has always been more difficult.<\/p>\n
Mateo, who has had a good job, remembers some moments when he helped Conchi financially. One summer, for example, he gave her money to send Erica to a camp she could not have afforded on her own.<\/p>\n
But Mateo wasn\u2019t there when his daughter really needed him. He wasn\u2019t there when Loli disappeared and Conchi had to be raised by her grandparents. Nor was he there later, when Erica was born, or at any other important moment in his daughter\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
What about Conchi? How did Conchi live through all this? The absence of her father, the absence of her mother, the stigma of being the daughter of a single mother. Growing up with her grandparents. News of her mother in dribs and drabs and then a new stigma.<\/p>\n
In the final episode, we sit around a table and talk, finally, with her, with Conchi.<\/p>\n
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