A Night at La Rosa Negra

By Luna Patchouli

Chapter Two

My grandmother is the most amazing woman I've ever known. She got pregnant at 18 and was disowned by her family shortly afterwards, but somehow managed to care for my mother and finish her high school education to then go on to study at Radcliff.

And it was my grandmother that first made me fall in love with Cuba, Havana in particular. I am named after the beach front capital. Oceania Havana Miller. The Oceania was the hotel my Gran stayed at when she lived in Cuba during the Revolution, where she met who I can only imagine is my grandfather, Javier Suarez.

"It's such a romantic tragedy…" I muttered to Manolo from where I sat in front of my laptop. Given the fact that Miami and Havana have no time differences, a long distance relationship wasn't that hard. "I mean, after one night spent together, she has to leave and they never see each other again…"

I notice Manolo nodding through the webcam, "Sounds like something straight out of a movie…" We're silent for a moment before he speaks. "So mi princesa bella, when do I get to hold you again?"

"My beautiful love? That's a new one." I comment, blushing slightly by his words. "Well, mi principe hermosa, the trip is next month." I pause for a moment, and he asks me what's wrong. I sigh. "What if asking Gran to come was a mistake?"

"What do you mean, Querida?" He asks, leaning forward.

I run my long fingers through my sunny blonde hair, sighing again. "What if I've set her up for heartbreak? What if he won't see her or worse can't see her?" I looked at his worried image on my screen. "What if he's dead?"

"Listen to me, Nia." He said, and I leaned my elbows on the desk, giving him my undivided attention. "I remember all the stories I've heard from both you and your abuela and from what I understand, your Gran was his… um…" He thought for a moment, trying to translate Spanish to English. I told him Spanish would do. "Pedacito de Cielo."

I thought for a moment, "His little piece of heaven…" Biting my lip, I thought a little more.

"Have faith, Querida. Everything will work out the way it's meant to be." Manolo said, and turned when someone entered his room. "¿qué paso mamá?" The round and cheerful woman looked at the computer screen, and I waved at her with a greeting. She waved and said hello before speaking to her son in their native tongue, which was almost too quick for me to understand. "I'm sorry, Bella, I have to go help my mother with dinner. But I'll call you back later, okay?"

"Okay. I'll talk to you later." I nodded, and was about to end the call when he spoke.

"Querida?" He asked. What? "You're my Pedacito de Cielo." He gave me one last smile before the screen went black. I shut my laptop and went to my door. When I opened it, Gran was walking from her bedroom.

"That golden tongue of his will get him into trouble one of these days." She remarked with a wink, and I couldn't help but smile. We both made our way down to the kitchen where my older sister, Carmen, was preparing supper, and I began to set the table while Gran went off into the other room.

"You shouldn't have invited Gran to go to Cuba." She told me as she mashed potatoes. I looked at her, but she didn't do the same. "Gran is getting older and she shouldn't be wasting the years of her life that are left chasing after a Romeo that hasn't made any effort to find her in 50 years."

I sighed. "That's exactly why I decided to invite her. I don't want her to have only seen the love of her life once. Gran deserves to be happy."

"And what if he doesn't care?" Carmen asked, slamming the masher into the pot and glaring at me. "What if he's moved on and couldn't care less about her? What if he's six feet under?" She turned back to supper. "Do you even think sometimes?"

I wanted to punch her in the mouth, but the last time I did, I wasn't allowed to talk to Manolo for three weeks. So I bit back whatever remarks or actions I wished to make and continued to set the table.

When Gran came back in, she was wearing a lovely summer dress with green and brown foliage in front of a creamy back drop. "Don't you look lovely?" I told her, and she did a turn for us.

"I wore something like this on my last night at La Rosa Negra." She told me, and I remembered from the reel. "I thought, if Javier would be anywhere, it would be at La Rosa Negra."

Carmen gawked at the slender older woman, Gran hadn't changed much in proportion since she was a young woman, which was something I wish would happen to me when I got older. "You're not actually thinking of going."

"Carmen," Gran said simply. "I've waited long enough to see Javier. I've waited long enough to go home."

And then the bomb went off.