Author's note: perhaps you are familiar with a story of mine called 'NHEAS'. Actually it's a series of chapters that are not connected to each other but that have one thing in common: they do Not end Happily Ever After. Ties that bond us could very well be a NHEAS chapter but I'd rather publish it as a separate multi-chapter story. I hope you will enjoy reading it.
Ties that bond us
Luis Romero was the only male villager who could do groceries without being scolded for it by the old men sitting on their usual spot near the shops. Though it was the 21st century, in their small community in central Spain one social rule read that being a housewife was a wonderful career for a woman while another rule stated that a man who executed domestic tasks was a sissy. One must allow for exceptions though. Luis Romero was a high ranked local civil servant and therefore an acquaintance to treasure. His masculine hobbies, his fine family and the large Romero house added to his importance.
The old men raised their hands to greet Luis and they talked about his upcoming 40th wedding anniversary. According to one of them the entire village was invited for the celebration, and another stated that a band from Madrid would play at the party. Of all the rumours they repeated only one was true: Luis's elder brother Joseph would attend the festivities.
Joseph hadn't visited his relatives in a long time. It wasn't dislike that had kept him from them: he had a demanding job. He'd stayed in touch and to his brothers and sisters-in-law as well as to his nephews and nieces, he was as much part of the family as each and every one of them. When Luis's children were young they had shown their friends the cards he'd sent them from all over the world, while boasting about their uncle who was a navy seal and later on a bodyguard. Andreo's daughters and son, who were much younger than their cousins, could proudly tell their peers that their uncle was in charge of the security of the Queen of Genovia.
On his arrival Joseph only had a moment to survey the surroundings before his sister-in-law Pilar came running from the house. As they hugged, Nadine, Andreo's French wife, hurried outside too, followed by Pilar's thirty-two year old daughter Elena, who walked hand in hand with her little cousin Adella. After lots of hugs and kisses Pilar urged Joseph to put his luggage in his apartment and then join them in the kitchen. On their way back there the women praised Joseph's appearance. The Romero brothers looked alike: they were not very tall but they were muscled and had strong features. Joseph wasn't oblivious that quite a lot of women found him attractive but he cared for the approval of one lady only.
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On the day of their brother's arrival the bride and groom had organised a small evening gathering for relatives and close friends. Joseph knew it was for his benefit, to get familiar with everyone again. The seat next to his was never empty: one after the other told him what was going on in their lives.
Pilar whispered to her second son David: ´Old Rosita is basking in his royal presence, isn't she?´
David grinned. Old Rosita had been his grandmother's friend. Having known his father and uncle Andreo all their lives she sometimes still treated them as if they were children. But toward his uncle Joseph she looked up, despite the fact that (as David's father liked to state) she'd changed his nappies too.
Luis Romero loved his elder brother but the joy he felt in seeing him was mixed with apprehension. He was afraid that someone of his friends or neighbours would -on seeing Joseph- remark that the much envied Romero house wasn't Luis's. Luis dealt with this by touching on the subject himself, making such remarks as to emphasize that he knew the place, that he felt its heartbeat. When he'd rehearsed his lines the only one who'd paid attention was Elena, who had been very fond of her uncle even before he had decided (against the expectations of his brothers) that the apartment that would be build behind the garage would be his, while the larger one above it would be hers. Elena had softly defended Joseph's attachment to the house.
Luis now spoke his lines, informing Joseph about a fence he'd made and about having replaced some hinges, not knowing that Joseph saw straight through him. Luis's behaviour reminded Joseph of the way he'd taken leave of his Queen.
Clarisse had arranged for them to say goodbye in the privacy of her suite and he had told her that he looked forward to celebrate his brother's wedding anniversary. She had smiled understandingly. He knew that he couldn't introduce her to his relatives as his beloved, but he felt that she might have expressed her regret that to his family she could only be his employer. She hadn't though and he had kissed her fiercely, claiming her just like Luis put a claim on the house where he lived.
Halfway the compliments Joseph made his brother for the way he maintained the house, Andreo's little ones came to say goodnight to their family. Though they'd greeted their eldest uncle that afternoon, they were shy and a little afraid (cousin Fernando had told them that uncle Joseph could kill a man with a snap of his fingers) and they made for wonderful mouthpieces. ´Why don't you ask uncle Joseph how many men he has under him now,´ cousin Carlos wanted to know, and ´Don't you want to know what princess Amelia is like?´ the children's mother suggested, while uncle Luis at the same time tried to persuade eight year old Penelope (a daughter from Nadine's first marriage) to ask her uncle what type of man the President of Italy really was.
The Romero's were very proud of Joseph. They were always a bit worried that their Joseph might look down on them, moving in royal circles as he did and none of them would tolerate it should he become arrogant, but Joseph was still as down to earth as he'd always been. He never entered into the particulars of his professional life but the things he did talk about made for a vivid picture of day to day dealings at court. To his family and friends Joseph only had to obey Her Majesty and as such he must be the second in command of Genovia. On several occasions Joseph had told his relatives that to visiting presidents and kings he was just a servant in the background. He wasn't in the mood to correct their assumptions now and not just because he knew his words would fall on deaf ears: mere employees don't court queens and he didn't want to be reminded of that.
Did he and Clarisse have a future together? Would she ever allow herself to be a woman in love?
So far the door to her bedroom had remained closed. He knew that she loved him and he knew what prevented her from giving in to her needs, but he'd come at a point where his understanding for her self-control wore thin.
As he answered the children's questions (´Yes there are guard dogs at the castle´, ´I don't carry a gun with me now´) he saw his house through the eyes of someone who lived in a castle and it suddenly seemed naïve to dream of a day when Clarisse and he would sit here hand in hand just like David and his Catalina. The loving way Pilar looked at Luis, which more than made up for her complaining about him, caused Joseph to feel a pang of envy.
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Author's note: Too many names? Joseph has two brothers: Luis (married to Pilar) and Andreo (married to Nadine).
Luis has four children: Carlos (engaged to Raquel, who will show up in the next chapter), David (married to Catalina), Elena and Fernando.
Andreo has a stepdaughter called Penelope and two children of his own: Felipe and Adella.