Forever Summer (22 page)

“Fear is an emotion as well, also one I do not wish to feel.  It keeps me from committing to a future with the man I love.  Luisa, I can’t even tell him I love him.  You are the only person I’ve told.  How do I get past that?”

“As I said, you cannot control emotions, but you can control actions.  You cannot make yourself trust, but you can make yourself risk.  It may not be pleasant for awhile, but time will take care of that.  Time and love.  Gabriel loves you,
mi vida
.  I can see it so clearly.  He has the same kind of love for you that your father had for your mother, but he is stronger and more balanced.  He also loves his daughter, and for him, it’s not a question of which of you he loves more, it’s the combination of you both that makes him happy.”

“I’ve missed you, Luisa.  I’m so glad I found you again.  Thank you for helping me to understand things better, from an adult’s view, instead of a child’s.  I will think about what you’ve said.  All my memories of my mother while she was living are happy ones.  Maybe I can rediscover that part of me that you say is like her.”

The back door opened, and Gabe walked in.  He greeted Luisa with a smile and put his arms around Summer from behind, kissing her cheek.  “Steaks are almost ready.  How’s the rest coming along?”

“We’re about ready here, too.  I’ll just put everything into serving dishes and meet you outside.  Let’s eat on the patio.”

“Perfect.  See?  We make a great team.”  He kissed her cheek again and went back outside to pull the steaks off the grill, leaving Summer with a smile on her face.  She looked at Luisa.

“We do make a great team, don’t we?”  Luisa smiled back at her.  No response was necessary.

The return to Mexico and to Gabe’s base of business and residence was peaceful and quiet.  Although Gabe and Summer were not particularly happy to get back to the real world, they were very comfortable as a couple and as a family after spending two weeks together in their private world.  Having spoken to Araceli, they were well aware of the media storm that awaited them in Mexico.  A picture of the three of them leaving the carnival, Gabe and Summer holding hands, had appeared in every major paper in the country, and the sharks were circling in the water waiting for them, in hopes that some of the mystery shrouding their relationship would be uncovered.

When the plane landed, the airport was crowded with reporters from all over Europe and every Latin country where Gabe had ever performed.  Thankfully, Gabe’s security people were also there to greet them and were waiting on the tarmac to escort them to the waiting limo.  Marisol was asleep on Summer’s lap, and before the door opened and the madness began, Gabe turned to Summer and took her hand in his.

“Summer, before we go out there, I wanted to speak to you privately.  Our privacy will soon come to an end for awhile, I’m afraid.  It won’t last forever, but it will be a test in patience for both of us until another story takes away the spotlight.”  Gabe looked out the window at the crowds that had already formed, and then looked back at her.

“Summer, I know you don’t like to talk about … things sometimes, but I have to tell you something, and it can’t wait.  I love you.  If you don’t want to talk about it right now, it’s okay, but I had to tell you.  Try not to panic too much.  We don’t have to do anything about it right now, but I might as well let you know that, as soon as I can convince you, I’m going to marry you.  This isn’t temporary between us, it’s permanent, whether you’ve come to realize it or not.  I’m not trying to bully you into anything, but I want you to know that I will not stop pursuing you until I make you mine in every way, including legally, and I don’t care how much you rant and rave, that’s the way it’s going to be.”  Gabe looked at her and braced himself for her outburst, already trying to plan how best to calm her down, thinking he might have to just kiss her quiet again.

Summer looked into his eyes, her own wide and surprised.  Then, she did the strangest thing, and the very last thing Gabe had expected.  Summer gave him the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen.  It lit up her entire face, her eyes, and if he wasn’t mistaken, her heart and soul as well.

“I love you too, Gabriel Rodrigo, and assuming Marisol is in agreement, I’ll marry you whenever you wish.”

“You will?  I mean, I thought you would be frightened, and I thought at the very least I’d have to calm you down, with the worst case scenario being that I’d have to
track
you down after you ran away screaming.”  She laughed.  “I was prepared to enlist the help of both my parents, especially my mother, and Marisol, and was considering contacting your grandmother.”

“Oh I’m still afraid sometimes, but now my love for you is stronger than my fear.  I believe in you, and I believe in our love.  In time, I bet I won’t be afraid at all.  I know you’ll never leave me alone, as long as it’s within your power to stay with me.  If one of us were to get sick, like my mother did, I know we would face it together and do everything in our power to defeat it.  If we couldn’t, whoever has to leave will save a place for the other, and we’ll be together again eventually.  Because that’s the kind of love we share.”  Marisol began to stir and finally lifted her head.

Summer bent down and kissed the top of her head, and Marisol snuggled against her and smiled.  “Hello, Sleeping Beauty.  There are a lot of reporters out there waiting to take our pictures.  You won’t be scared, will you?”

Marisol sat up.  “No, you and Papá are here with me, so I won’t be afraid.  Are you afraid?  You haven’t seen them all the time like we have, but don’t worry, we’ll protect you.  They probably just want to get to know you, because you are a new person in our family, right Papá?”

“Yes,
mijita
.  Marisol, I was thinking of making Summer a permanent member of our family by marrying her.  What do you think about that?”

“She would be my mamá?”

“Would that be alright, Marisol?”  Summer looked at the rosy cheeks that swelled into a bright smile, dimples and all.

“Yes!  That’s really what I have wanted for a long time, but I thought you might like to be the girlfriend first and then the mother, like in the movies.  And this way you will get to use the plane and the cars whenever you want, too.  I can’t wait to tell
Abuelita
.  When are you going to get married?”

“Just as soon as we can plan the wedding.  You and
Abuelita
can help Summer, so we can do it faster, alright?”

“Yes, Papá!  Can I get married with you?”

Summer hugged the child to her and laughed.  “Of course!  All three of us will get married, so everyone will know we are a family.  We’ll both buy matching dresses, and we’ll make Papá were a fancy tuxedo, and it will be just like the movies.  Even better.”

Javier entered the plane then.  “Boss, are you almost ready?  The natives are getting restless.”

Gabe looked at his girls and smiled.  “Well, let’s give them what they want, shall we?”  He stood up and reached for Marisol, lifting her into his arms and positioning her on one side, and reached for Summer’s hand and led them out of the plane onto the tarmac.  Although his security team kept them from being rushed by the army of reporters, there was a flood of flashes and questions shouted out.

“Gabe, where have you been for the last two weeks?”

“That’s our secret, sorry.”

“Who’s the mystery lady, Gabe?  Does she have a name?”

“This is Summer Alvarez, my fiancé.”

There was an uproar and even more flashes and yelling, but Gabe moved everyone to the limo and waved as they drove away.

“That should make them happy and give them something to talk about.  I thought we might as well get it over with.”

“I really don’t care, only I wish we would’ve told your parents first.  I hate for them to hear it from anyone other than us.”

Gabe laughed.  “Baby, if you think this will come as a surprise to my parents, you are mistaken.  This was my mother’s goal from the day she met you I bet.  Now that her plan has been accomplished, she’ll start hinting next about blond grandchildren for Marisol to play with and for her to spoil.  We’ll never have any peace at all.”

“I’m going to have brothers and sisters to play with?”

“Not any time soon,
Chiquita
.  Maybe someday.  Right now, your papá and I are barely going to get married.  But if we do have a baby someday, I hope he or she will be very much like you.  I am so happy that you will be my daughter.  We’re going to have so much fun together.”  Marisol threw her arms around Summer’s neck and kissed her.

“And I won’t be a brat, either.”

“If you are, I’ll remind you about being sweeter, just like a mamá is supposed to do, okay?”

Gabe reclaimed Summer’s attention.  “Summer, I hadn’t thought that you might have wanted to tell your father first.  I should have asked you before I made the announcement.  I’m sorry.”

“Until you brought it up, I honestly hadn’t thought about it.  It’s been so long since I’ve kept my father informed about my life, that it never occurred to me.  I’m not sure if I want to call him or not.  I’ll have to think about it.  I will, however call my grandmother and Carlos right away, so I can catch them before they read the papers.  Luisa and Yolanda, too.”

“I’ll support whatever decision you make,
cara
, but it would be nice to meet him.  I know you have been estranged from each other for a long time, but I would like to seek his blessing, as my father sought my grandfather’s blessing.  Tradition,
mi amor
, tradition.”

****

The paparazzi were camped out at Gabe’s gate, and that’s where they stayed as the limo passed through and the gates closed behind them.  Before they got out of the car, the front door opened, and Araceli rushed down the steps to the courtyard and wrapped Summer in her arms with tears in her eyes.

“Summer,
mijita
, I am so happy.  Have you set the date yet?”

“My goodness, news travels fast around here.  No, Araceli, we haven’t set a date.  This was all kind of spur of the moment, so we haven’t had a chance to discuss it.  When we do, I promise you’ll be among the first to know, this time,
before
the press.”

“
Que bueno, mijita
.  You will make such a beautiful bride.  You must call me Mamá,
querida
.”

“But I just got used to calling you by your first name.”  The women laughed together.  “Good God, you Rodrigo’s move fast!  Come on
Chiquita
, show me our home.”  Marisol skipped up and took her hand and lead her to, of course, her pretty pink room first.  The rest of the house could wait.

Dinner was a loud affair filled with laughter and conversation.  Araceli and Summer cooked in the kitchen side by side, sharing recipes and wedding ideas.  Although it was the first time Summer had ever been to Gabe’s house, she felt completely at home and for the first time in forever, she felt like she was part of a family.  She loved it.  And she was truly happy.

Summer joined Gabe and Marisol for the first time for the bedtime ritual.  They both read her a story, joined her in prayers, and tucked her into bed.  When they’d kissed her goodnight, they walked hand in hand from the room, down the hallway.  Gabe stopped in front of the master bedroom and turned to her.

“Summer, now that we have left the girlfriend-boyfriend stage behind and entered into the mother-father-husband-wife-fiancé stage of the game, I would like you to move into my rooms.  Marisol and my parents are all happy that we will be married, and we all think of ourselves as a family already.  I don’t see any need to wait until after the wedding, do you?  Before you answer, I think I should tell you that if you disagree, I’ll take you to a priest or a judge or whoever can marry us tomorrow.”