-0-
"I found her. Adriana. She's the right Adriana this time." Enrique said as they passed the exit for the city. "She wants to meet us first."
"You've actually found Victoria's Adriana?" Héctor said, excited.
Enrique had been Héctor's partner-in-match-making on this. ("Partner-in-crime more like," Luisa had snorted, "Tell Victoria I had nothing to do with this when she inevitably finds out and gets furious.") Enrique had been going through the archives and using the internet to search for Adriana. They had been through a few incorrect Adrianas in their search.
"You really think seeing Adriana again will be enough to send Victoria home?"Enrique asked.
"I think it's worth a shot. They say now we have to fulfil what we missed out on in life, and Victoria missed out on getting to be with her lover."
"Héctor, don't say lover. No one needs to hear their great grandpa say lover." Enrique suppressed a fake shudder."Besides I think lesbians prefer life-partner."
"Fine. She never got to be with her life-partner."Héctor said sarcastically, raising his eyebows.
"Don't get sassy with me, son." Enrique said, taking one hand off the wheel to ruffle Héctor 's hair then give him a playful shove. "What about you? You ever think about going home?" Enrique asked after a moment, glancing at Héctor out of the corner of his eyes. He was trying to sound casual. He did his best to keep the fatherly concern from his voice, but Héctor still heard it.
Héctor really liked Enrique. They had a lot of fun on these drives – but sometimes (quite often, actually) Enrique would try to 'dad' him. He would treat Héctor the way he treated Miguel. Héctor never knew how to react to Enrique's 'dadding' aside from brushing it off.
"Eh, it happens to everybody eventually. I'm sure my turn will come up too."Héctor said with a shrug, matching Enrique's light and breezy tone.
Adriana had retired to the pretty town of Mazunte, the same seaside town she had planned to meet Victoria in all those years ago. There was something oddly romantic about that. She was around Elena's age. She was elegant, classy, fierce – she reminded Héctor a little bit of Imelda.
Holy crap! He and Victoria even had the same taste in women.
Adriana had some photos of Victoria and a bundle of letters tied with a ribbon. The photos had been taken on their one day together, strolling by the stream and into the forest near Santa looked happier than Héctor had ever seen her. She was looking at her lover with a smile that reached her eyes.
"Why doesn't Victoria contact me herself?"Adriana had asked them.
"She's very nervous about seeing you again. She thinks it is too long ago and you would have forgotten her and moved on by now." Héctor knew Victoria well enough to guess why.
He had felt the same. As the years ticked by on the otherside, and no one ever put his photo up, he began to assume it was because Imelda had remarried and did not love him anymore. He'd tried to be optimistic about this. He loved Imelda so much and he didn't want her to be lonely in life.
He'd been so nervous about seeing her when she first arrived in the land of the dead. Dios mío, the things she'd shouted at him that day. The truth had been so much worse than her remarrying. At least if she had re-married she might have had another chance at happiness. He'd ruined her life when he left with Ernesto. No wonder she'd tried so hard to forget him.
"I could never forget Victoria." Adriana said simply. "You never forget your true love. I would give anything to see her again."
-0-
"So, how do we get Victoria here?" Enrique asked, as they began the drive home.
"She'll be stubborn. She won't want to come if she knows we've been meddling in her love-life." Héctor said.
"So, we make it a surprise. She and Adriana can just randomly run into each other." Enrique suggested.
"What reason will we have for bringing her to Mazunte?"Héctor asked.
"Maybe she wants to see a sea turtle?"
"Or maybe she wants to do yoga?"
"Or get a tattoo?"
"Or learn how to surf?"
"I have a real idea, Héctor, but you might not like it." Enrique said diffidently. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel before speaking again. "Music. We'll say it's for your music. You're doing a show here or shooting a music video here or something. We all know how reluctant you are to leave home for the music."
Héctor nodded. He wasn't a performing monkey like didn't want to do shows, or tour, or make music videos. The plaza suited him fine. He'd made no secret of this. "So, we'll say the whole family needs to come to support 'll come for you." Enrique said firmly.
"This is a good plan, Amigo."Héctor said, "But we only do it if Coco can come. I'm not going without Coco."
"We can talk to the nurse about that."
Operation: Get Victoria to the beach was in motion.
-0-
"No, no, no! Absolutely not! I will kill you for putting this idea in her head, you damn fool musician!"Elena was furious.
She took off her slipper right then and there and started slapping Héctor about the shoulders with it. She'd overheard him ask Mama Coco if she would like to go to the beach – of all the ridiculous things! Coco had been having a surprisingly good day. She seemed to understand completely. Elena strode in, grabbed Héctor by the collar of his T-shirt and dragged him out so she could yell at him in the hall.
They had recently hired a palliative care nurse, Consuelo, to help care for Mama Coco. She'd suffered a big setback when Héctor had been injured. Elena feared it would not be long now. Now Héctor had put the damn fool idea of a little holiday in her head! "She's an old woman Héctor. She's dying."Elena yelled at him, and Héctor recoiled like she'd slapped him.
"She's one hundred years old and she's never seen the sea. She got so excited when I asked her. She says it will make her happy."Héctor said defensively, standing his ground in the wake of her shoe onslaught. "I just want to make Coco happy."
"Sure, she says she wants to go, but have you thought about how difficult it would be, you idiot."
"Yes. I've talked to Consuelo. She says it's possible. We have to get special transport and accommodation, but she's agreed to come with us. She can help make arrangements." Héctor fired back.
Hhhhmmm, he'd actually put thought into this. That was irritating.
"This is ridiculous. This is the most ridiculous you've ever been!" Elena was still cross.
"Elena. My Elena. Come here." She heard her mother's voice calling her from the room. She walked in and Mama Coco was reaching out for her. Mama Coco took her hand and gave it a squeeze.
"I love you my little Elena, and you are right.I am very old." Elena felt very chastised. Mama Coco had obviously heard them fighting right outside her door. "I don't have much longer. I would really like to see the ocean before I die. I would like that very much. I want to go with my Papa."
-0-
Things that annoyed Elena about going on holiday with Héctor :
-His stupidity – what on earth was he thinking? A beach side holiday for the whole family! Ridiculous Musician. Elena vowed not to have a good time out of protest!
-His big, sad eyes that he thought were so convincing. (She was also annoyed about the fact that his big sad eyes worked on her, but the less said about that the better! She wasn't going soft. Pah!)
-The fact that the dog and the cat were included in this family holiday. Would she never be free of these street animals!
-Héctor repeatedly singing an extremely irritating song for the twins called "Baby Shark." They would whoop with joy and ask for the song again, and Héctor would indulge them.
-Getting "Baby Shark" stuck in her head.
Things Elena ended up liking about the holiday, despite herself:
-The beach.
-The feeling of sand between her toes.
-The pool.
-Having drinks and food brought to her while she sat by the pool.
-Watching sunsets over the water with Franco.
-Seeing her family happy and relaxing.
-0-
It was the summer holidays and the whole family had to go to the sea because of Héctor .He'd finally agreed to do a proper music video – much to Victoria's surprise.Héctor didn't really go for much of the trappings of the modern music world. He was old-school in every sense. Victoria had secretly been delighted in his choice of location.
Mazunte was as beautiful as Victoria always assumed it would 'd wanted to come here her whole life. The pretty town, the beautiful beaches, the peaceful, artistic, slightly hippy vibe – all of it appealed to her.
Victoria had chosen it for her planned rendezvous with Adriana all those years ago. It was halfway between where Santa Cecilia and where Adriana lived. They were meeting in the middle. Victoria really wanted to see a sea-turtle. She wanted to hold hands with her love in a crystal blue sea. She'd wanted some space to be it hadn't worked out that way. The bus driver had hit a turn too hard on the mountain pass and she'd woken up dead.
She was finally here now. She spent her day swimming in the sea and looking at a sea-turtles. At least she got one of the things she wanted.
They'd chartered a boat and gone out looking for turtles. The children and Héctor had whooped with joy when they found one. They'd all started jumping over the side in the snorkelling gear to get a closer look at the creature.
"She's a beauty, that turtle. She's nearly 150 years old." The captain had told them when they surfaced.
"Hey – She's older than me!" Héctor exclaimed excitedly, unaware of how it sounded to their captain.
The captain raised an eyebrow curiously. "I've seen forgotten sandwiches older than you, amigo." The captain hadn't recognised Héctor, which was why Victoria had chosen him. Then it turned out that he thought Héctor was Victoria's son. This was something that gave the others a great deal of amusement.
They spent the afternoon swimming with turtles before heading back. Héctor and Enrique really wanted her to get ready and put on some nice clothes for going out. Enrique was very insistent that she come with him to this beach-side bar. Apparently he had a recommendation from a friend.
Those two idiots were up to something. Victoria just couldn't figure out what. She went along with their ridiculousness and put on a nice dress and went out to meet them. She found herself almost frog-marched back to the beach by Héctor and Enrique.
They were waiting to be served at a luxurious beach side bar when Victoria felt a gentle tap of her shoulder. She turned to see the most beautiful face she'd ever known. Adriana. After all this time, she still made Victoria's heart beat a little faster.
"You are very late for our date." Adriana said with a quirk of her eyebrows.
-0-
Victoria emerged for breakfast in the middle of the morning, with the most shameless sex-hair Elena had ever seen. It looked like she'd been rolling around on haystacks, the beach, the forest floor, then been through a tumble dryer. Her jug-ears were out, her clothes were rumpled. She had a lazy and contented smile on her face. She sat across from Elena and poured herself some coffee.
"Okay. I know what you're , I slept with her on the first date." Victoria said bluntly as she took in Elena's expression.
"Good for you!" Enrique called from where he was lounging next to the pool. Elena shot him a savage stare and he looked down, chastised.
"Are you sure you should be rushing into things Victoria?" She asked, turning back to her sister.
"I've been waiting my whole life and death for Adriana, so no. I don't think it's rushing. She's actually asked me to move in with her." Victoria said.
That really was rushing!
"So soon? You just met this woman again yesterday." Elena scolded.
Victoria pressed her lips firmly together and looked away. She stared at the ocean and sighed deeply. Elena was reminded abruptly of the hospital waiting room, and the way Victoria had cried when she told Héctor her secret. She had been so relieved and overwhelmed when someone in the family first accepted this part of her.
The whole family knew now and had accepted Victoria openly. Victoria had waited until a good day to tell Mama Coco. It had taken ages for her sister to work up the courage, but Mama Coco had smiled benignly and claimed "I knew Mija. I knew the whole time." Times had changed too. Lesbians could even get married in some family's easy acceptance had clearly healed some of the hurt for her sweet sister. But she'd never brought it up again with Elena again.
Victoria was probably remembering Elena's first reaction. Elena had been so aggressively over-protective, so sure she knew what was best. It had driven Victoria into her shell. It had taken dying and coming back to life for Victoria to dare mention it again.
Now Elena was doing the exact same thing! She was too hostile, always leaping to the worst conclusions about people – just like Mama Imelda. She could have whacked herself with her own slipper.
"I am sorry. I just get so worried about you. You are my baby sister." She said, taking Victoria's hand. Victoria still wouldn't look at her. "Are you happy? With this Adriana? Does she treat you well? That's all that really matters to me."
"Yes. I am happy." Victoria said, turning back to Elena with her eyes shining.
"Then I am happy for you." Elena said gently. "I truly am."
Her sister got up abruptly then and came over to hug Elena. Elena squeezed her tight.
'Thank you." Victoria whispered in her ear as they pulled apart.
Elena cupped Victoria's cheek very delicately and then said very severely "I am happy you found love. But if this Adriana hurts you or makes you sad in anyway, I will slap her with my sandal."
Elena would always be protective, and old habits die hard.
-0-
They stayed at the beach. The summer was glorious and joyous and no one was ready to go home just yet. The Rivera family never really had a proper holiday - the workshop had always demanded their attention. But now Elena and Franco had hired enough locals that the shoe business kept ticking over without them. School was out for the holidays. They could stay as long as they liked.
Héctor loved seeing his family so happy and relaxed.
They'd brought the animals. Miguel couldn't bear to leave his dog alone. Héctor had asked Pepita if she wanted to come, so she'd know where the family was. Little Pepita had rubbed herself up against Héctor 's leg in response, and Héctor took this to mean yes. Dante followed Miguel everywhere loyally, was fawned over by the hotel staff, and generally overfed by everyone. Pepita still came and went as she pleased. Héctor assumed there was another marigold bridge nearby and she was going backwards and forwards between the lands to visit Imelda.
Victoria spent her days frollicking with her girlfriend, looking positively jubilant. Adriana's love hadn't been enough to send Victoria back, but it she certainly brought Victoria joy.Héctor was glad to see Victoria smiling painted many pictures, experimenting with different styles.
Victoria had confided in him that she got a little worried about the apparent age difference between her and Adriana.Héctor thought it shouldn't matter as long as they loved each other."Think of the how the age difference appears between me and Imelda. I'm 21 and she's in her seventies. But I still think she's the most beautiful, sexiest thing in the whole world."
"Gross Héctor . You can't say sexy in my hearing. You're my grandfather." Victoria had laughed giving him a playful little shove on his arm.
The kids loved being by the beach. Abel, Miguel and Rosa were learning to tried teaching Héctor, but he wasn't that co-ordinated at balancing on the board. Rosa said it was because he was a gangly giraffe. His centre of gravity was higher and that made balancing and surfing more difficult.
Héctor told Rosa he wasn't too tall. She was too short! Then he'd held her surfboard over his had jumped to reach it. Miguel snuck up behind Héctor and started tickling him around the middle. Héctor had dropped to the sand (but he was careful not to drop the surfboard on the kids), giggling and Abel and Rosa had joined in, and no surfing was done that morning.
Héctor liked snorkelling and scuba-diving more. He'd gone with Gloria and Luisa. They'd done the PADI course together. Gloria and Héctor had both blatantly copied off Luisa in the theory test. Luisa was the sort of person who always paid attention in class, put up her hand to ask sensible questions and studied in the evenings. She was the instructor's favourite. Still, they all passed. Now they could go out to the reefs and glide past all the fish and turtles, breathing underwater together.
The little ones were building castles in the sand, splashing in the shallows and learning to swim. Héctor let Benny and Manny play at burying , Gloria, Enrique and Luisa spent most of their time enjoying lounging around, having food and drink brought to them for once, and swimming whenever they felt like it. They were living like the kings of Prussia. Héctor felt gratified that his music money had been able to give this to his family. It was good for something after all.
Even Elena seemed more relaxed 'd stayed up until the sunrise the night Héctor had done an impromptu performance to celebrate Victoria's engagement to Adriana. Sure it was fast, and Héctor understood why Elena worried for Victoria. But Héctor had always been a fool for love. He could see how in love Adriana and Victoria 'd played all his best love songs for them and got the whole place dancing and applauding party had lasted until the sun started peaking over the horizon.
He'd done the video for Chamaco – Miguel's new was him, with his guitar, singing on a beach, with footage of surfers, palm trees, the pretty town, turtles and his family being happy. All the family members who wanted to participate in the video had , Gloria and the twins were all large hams who loved performing for the camera – so they had a great deal of screentime, but almost everyone else wanted to be a part of his song as well.
His Coco loved it here. She was having good days was soothed by the ocean morning Héctor, Elena and Consuelo took Coco to one of the tranquil bays. The sea was a beautiful aquamarine colour. It lapped gently against the shore. Héctor would carry Coco into the three of them would support her as she smiled and splashed and always pouted when it was time to come home, but Héctor didn't want to over-tire her.
"Tomorrow, My Coco. I'll bring you back tomorrow."
He hoped that the promise of the sea tomorrow would help Coco hold on for a little bit longer.
-0-
Elena was sitting with Victoria, having a sneaky tequila with her sister. They never drank it in front of Héctor. He couldn't even bear the smell of it. But it had always been their favourite and Héctor was now otherwise occupied. He and Enrique were having some kind of odd competition in the water. They each had a twin on their shoulders and the twins were trying to push each other off their lofty perches, while Rosa and Miguel splashed everyone.
Berto and Abel and Franco were lazing on the sand in the shade of the palm trees, talking about football animatedly, while little Coco sat on Franco's lap, reaching over to pat the sand was lazing on the sun loungers with Luisa and Gloria. They were all getting their toes done. Occasionally peels of laughter could be heard from the cluster of women.
Mama Coco sat with her two daughters, Consuelo tending to her, just watching the family with a contented smile on her eyes were frequently drawn to Héctor, as he laughed with the children in the was now using his stupid, gangly height hold the kids up high above the water. They would stand on his shoulders before throwing themselves into the water with a splash. Their joyful shrieks echoed up to the bar.
"Papa came home."Mama Coco said with a happy sigh.
"He did." Elena replied, as she patted Mama Coco's hand.
"I'm so glad he did – that we did." Victoria said as she twirled the new ring on her finger."We got to come back to life together. Maybe I'll never find what will "fulfil" me enough so I can puff back. But maybe it doesn't matter anymore."She made little air-quotes as she said the word fulfil with much sarcasm. She lowered her voice and gestured Elena closer.
"I think it's bullshit to be honest. The whole "getting everything you want" to return can't be right." Victoria screwed her face up quizzically in thought.
"Why do you say that?"
"I've already gotten everything I ever wanted and I'm still here.I'm getting married to the woman I family knows and accepts me as I am. I'm getting better as an artist."Victoria took a long sip of her tequila sunrise and stared out at the ocean. "I get to be me now. I can just be myself – and I'm enough."She declared to the sea."And now, look at us! We're sitting in a fancy beachside bar, drinking tequila without a care in the world. I love being here. I couldn't be happier."
"Don't tell Héctor I said this, but I feel really happy here was right about coming here. It was a good idea." Elena confided in Victoria. She hated it when Héctor was right, but she could give him this one at least. This beachside holiday had been wonderful.
"Papa came home." Mama Coco said again. Elena squeezed her hand.
"Ah, Mama. That Papa of yours is more than a 'un poco' I'm glad he's with us. We do have more fun with him around."
"Dios mío! It's happening!" Victoria gasped, looking up with wide, alarmed eyes. She dropped her tequila glass and it shattered on the ground.
"What's happening?"Elena asked, alarmed. There was a strange breeze whipping around them now, that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Victoria glanced at Adriana on the beach, so full of love and longing."Elena, I love you. I love the whole family. Tell Adriana I love her so much.I'll wait for her, on the otherside."She was speaking rapidly, trying to get all her words out in time."And I get it now. Tell Héctor it's not about just getting what you want, it's... "
The sudden huge explosion of petals cut off Victoria's last words. The flurry of delicate, orange petals clouded Elena's vision. When Elena looked back, her beautiful, brilliant sister had vanished from her life – again.
-0-
Things that would have made Victoria's stomach clench, if she still had a stomach, upon her return to the in the Land of the Dead: a short list.
•Wanting Adriana, but not wanting anything bad to happen to her beautiful girlfriend either and resigning herself to an epically long you've had a taste of love, it is so hard to be without the other person.
•Working up the courage to talk to Frida. She and Héctor had been friends. Héctor said she was really nice and Victoria should just talk to her when they got Victoria had always low-key assumed Héctor would be there to make the proper introductions.
•Telling her dead family about her engagement. It seemed her father had definitely known her secret, even though she'd never told seemed happy for her.
•Telling her dead family about giving up making shoes to be an artist. (They were much more perturbed by this news than they had been about her being a lesbian.)
•Mama Imelda's hopeful face as she asked "Where's my Héctor?"
•Realising that the stray cat Héctor had adopted was actually Pepita.
•Realising her package had actually gotten through and all her family knew that she had gotten snozzled on Héctor 's painkillers.
•Explaining the circumstances around "her package."
•Listening to Mama Imelda's many words about "the package." Mama Imelda had many feelings about the package.
•Explaining in full to Mama Imelda all about what had been going on in the land of the living, after she had asked "Just what exactly was going on?" in that tone of voice.
•Seeing all the different emotions flash across Mama Imelda's face as Victoria told her exactly what had been going on.
•Suggesting that maybe Héctor was just waiting for Mama Coco to pass too, so they could return together – while knowing this was a lie and feeling that squirm in her guts. Victoria was hoping the imminent arrival of her daughter would distract Mama Imelda.
•Having Mama Coco appear a short time later without Héctor.
-0-
Notes:
So the title is from the jezabels "Endless summer." I just really like that song. Other contenders were George Ezra's "shotgun" (because it's a great summery tune) and "Another Story", by head and heart. It has a beautiful, very sad video clip which kind of inspired the Victoria/Adriana arc.
Once again, enormous thanks to everyone who comments and leaves feedback! Your words make my day!