Two Lives With You.
Chapter Five: Te Amaré(Note: Remember how I was calling this Suze and that Suze in the other chapters? Well, when I'm talking about the Suze that went to the past I'll call her Susannah Simon/De Silva, the present Suze is Susannah Ackerman, is part of the story but more than anything is to avoid confusion)
Con la paz de las montañas te amaré, con locura y equilibrio te amaré, con la rabia de mis años, como me enseñaste a hacer, con un grito en carne viva, te amaré. En secreto y en silencio te amaré, arriesgando en lo prohibido te amare, en lo falso y en lo cierto, con el corazón abierto, por ser algo no perfecto, te amaré.Te amaré, te amaré, como no esta permitido. Te amaré, te amaré, como nunca se ha sabido, por que así lo he decidido, te amaré. Por ponerte algún ejemplo te diré, que aunque tengas manos frías te amare, con tu mala ortografía y tu no saber perder, con defectos y manías, te amaré.
Te amaré, te amaré por que fuiste algo importante, te amaré, te amaré, cuando ya no estés presente, seguirás siendo costumbre y te amaré. Al caer de cada noche esperaré a que seas luna llena y te amaré. Y aunque queden pocos restos, en señal de lo que fue seguras cerca y muy dentro y te amaré.
Te amaré, te amaré, a golpe de recuerdo. Te amaré, te amaré hasta el último momento, a pesar de todo, siempre te amaré.
Te amaré, Miguel Bose
....
Susannah Ackerman stirs in her bed, what a way to spend Saturday than at the Padre Serra festival at the mission. Getting up at the fifth attempt, Suze walked to the bathroom. On her bedside table sat a picture of herself and a handsome young man in the beach. Before, even though she did not knew it, on the same spot had sat a little portrait, a miniature of certain handsome guy who had lived in another era. Before the world shifted, that is.
When she was giving herself the last touches of make up, Suze heard the phone ring and after a few moments…
"Hey, Suze, is for you!"
"Ok, dad, I got it." Suze yelled back going to pick up the phone in her room. Andy Ackerman wasn't really her father, but he and her mom had been married for more time that what her father had been alive, he had adopted her back at the end of elementary school, just as her mom had adopted the three Ackerman boys: Jake, Brad and David.
"Querida?" a nice, masculine voice asked in the other end of the line.
"Oh, hi!" Suze voice was cheerful and happy, as usual when she talked to her boyfriend.
"I was wondering if you want a ride to the Mission, mi sister is already there but my mother sent me to buy some stuff for tonight. Which reminds me, do you want to come over to the ranch? Some of my cousins are coming and mother wants to make a big dinner. You could stay if you want."
"I'll love too, but I have to ask mom and dad."
"I already asked, your father said it was ok since you already finished your history homework,"
"Oh, that…" Suze said in her I-knew-I-had-forgotten-something tone.
"Bring your homework, I'll help you after dinner."
"You're the best boyfriend ever!"
"I know,"
"But not modest."
"You love me anyway, querida."
"I do, Jesse, I do." She said happily. "So. See you in five?"
"Sure."
Suze moved fast and packed a little overnight bag, it wasn't her first time staying at the De Silva Ranch, Jesse invited her often. Jesse had actually been the very first person she had met when she moved to Carmel – some eight years before –when her mom married Andy Ackerman. As she sat on the front porch waiting for Jesse's car to show up she let her mind wonder back to when she had first meet him.
"Mom, I'm going for a ride on my bike," Suze had called at that same spot in which she was now, the very first day she had arrived at the house. Soon she had learned why they called it Carmel Hills. She was about to hit square against a three when someone had pulled her back, letting the bike crash.
"Are you ok?" a slightly accented voice asked, it belonged to the cutest twelve year old boy, he had dark hair and olive skin and dark liquid eyes. Back then Suze had been much to young to understand how handsome Jesse De Silva would be when he grew up. Suze had just stared into those dark eyes and began to cry… "Hey! Santo Cielo, what's wrong? Did you hit yourself somewhere?" little Jesse was going into hysterics awkwardly holding eight-year-old Susannah in his arms.
"I'm ok, I just got scared." Suze admitted after calming down a bit. "Thanks, I think I'll be getting home…" she had said attempting to walk just to realize she had hurt her ankle. "Ouch!"
"There is no way you can walk and take the bike back," Jesse had said, picking up the bike, so happy that she wasn't crying anymore. "Come, tell me where you live, I'll walk you home." That day, Jesse had walked her home, guiding the bike with one hand and with his other arm wrapped around her helping her to walk.
"Querida, are you alright?" Jesse asked looking at her quizzically and pulling her out of her thoughts. "You looked… away?" he offered sitting next to her. Of course he could have just yelled or honked from the car, but that was no way of treating a lady, so he had parked the car and walked all the way to Suze.
"I was just thinking," she said smiling, "back to the day we meet."
"I remember that day, you were such a cute kid."
"Are you implying that I'm not cute anymore?" Suze asked half serious. Jesse smiled and planted a kiss on her lips.
"You still are very, very cute, and you always will be."
Now Suze planted a kiss on his lips. "Good answer."
As Jesse picked up Suze's bag and opened the door to his car, the young couple didn't notice that someone was watching.
...
Later that afternoon, Suze and Jesse were making out in the couch of the TV room at the De Silva Ranch. Jesse wasn't big into Public Displays of Affection, around his family all he would do was hold Suze's hand. But when they were alone, that was a different story, then he had nothing against going over some French lessons. Just as they came out for air they heard a loud sound in the dining hall, clear indicative that Jesse's sister was home.
"Hey, Jessica!" Jesse yelled as he and Suze walked to the dining hall. "What are you doing? Trying to destroy some family heirlooms before dinner?"
Jess was of the same age than Suze and one of Suze's best friends, next to Cee Cee and Adam. She had also been the one that freaked out the most when Suze and Jesse had started going out a year before.
()()()()
"Hi! I'm Jess, you must be Susannah, my brother hasn't shut up about you." Jess had said the next day after the bike incident as she put her cafeteria tray down next to Suze's.
"I'm Suze, actually…"
"Oh, I should have guessed, the males of the family have the annoying tendency of calling every girl they meet their full name."
()()()()
"Nah," Jess answered good-naturedly. She looked a lot like Jesse, just that her brown eyes had a that weird shade with hints of green. "Just looking at the portrait,"
"I don't care how many times I see it. It is still so odd." Suze said looking at the said portrait.
"Yes, it is. I mean, you look just like our great grandmother – and have her name too – and Jesse looks just like great grandpa Hector." Jess said, and it was true, the woman on the portrait must have had her same age, and Jesse was the spinning image of Hector De Silva. The resemblance was such that he was named Jesse after him, that had been Hector's nickname.
"I hadn't notice before, that's you're cross." Suze said pointing at the cross the woman on the painting was wearing, it was the same the Jess was wearing.
"Oh, yes… family heirloom." Jess said proudly.
"Are we going to stand here all day?" Jesse asked annoyed, wrapping his arms around Suze. "I mean, we should do something fun before the Diego's arrive."
The Diego's were some second cousins of Jesse and Jess or something, they had never really amounted very much. But Jesse and Jess grandmother still claimed that family was family, "…and if you're family is annoying, so be it" Jess often said mocking her grandmother perfectly, right down to the traces of Spanish her voice. All De Silva's were fluent in Spanish and English. Jesse even had a slight accent.
After arguing a little bit about what they would do before the Diego's arrived, the three of them walked out the dining hall and back to the TV room.
"Just keep you hands where I can see them," Jess pleaded as the door closed.
….
Again, they didn't knew they had been watched.
When the door closed, a ghostly female presence materialized there. Admiring the painting for a moment before reading the gold plaque in the frame of the picture, it read: "Querida." and down from that, in a little script letter added "A portrait of Mrs. Susannah De Silva (1851)"
"You looked so beautiful that day," another ghost said materializing right next to her, "You were glowing actually."
"We had just returned from our honey moon in San Francisco." Susannah De Silva said smiling at the memory.
It was quiet for a while, "I've been watching all day… here is so different." Jesse said absently taking Susannah's hand and running his thumb over her knuckles.
"I told you it would be," Susannah answered.
Little less than a year after Susannah Simon had arrived at Carmel by-the-Sea in 1850, Hector "Jesse" De Silva had married her. Till the end of her life – shortly before the first World War - she never remembered anything about the XXI century, till just now that as a ghost she had wanted to show Jesse from where she had come from.
"Don't you regret not living this life?" Jesse asked softly, fearing an answer he would not like. This world seamed so happy, so free, much different from where he came from. Yet, his beloved Susannah had sacrificed that to live with him.
"I don't believe in regret." Susannah answered. "I believe in happiness, and I was… I am very happy with you." Now she had turned around and was just in front of him. "You are all I ever wanted."
"Are you sure?" he asked hopefully.
"Positive." She said smiling leaning into him to kiss him, it had been Susannah's free and forward attitude what always had caught his attention. Susannah's freedom of spirit charmed Jesse, and Jesse's goodness kept Susannah in love.
Now, nearly 100 years after their deaths, they stood there. Jesse's arms around his wife waist, lips locked in a kiss neither brief nor chaste, vanishing into an eternity together. Celebrating a love so strong and powerful that found it's way around time.
And it did it twice.
…
End of Chapter Five
End Of Two Lives With You.
Notes:
First of all, thanks to everyone who reviewed –from the most recent to the first: Lindsay; :::Miranda:::, Pens in potatoes, UnangelicHalo, Ahhhh, Jess16, SweetestReject, Jessie, Star, Allimba, IceWolf57, Enelya Tinuviel, Sidhe, phylicia, muzacgurl, Hauntedgurrl, shumshum.haha, StarryDreamer89, gatorchick007, Liz P., Ellen Liu, reesespeices88, CONFUSEDCHIC and Querida (the first reviewer of this one).
Special thanks to the girls form the Meg Cabot Book Club, you know who you are.
I hope the title makes sense now. And that this wasn't too sappy or too sucky. It has been great writing this, thank you so much for making it such a wonderful experience!
Now I have to go, cooking waits for no one.
Love you guys!
Alex (a.k.a. Clavel a. k. a AurynFaith a. k .a whatnot)
PS. This is the translation of the song, it's called "TE AMARE" sung by Miguel Bosé, gotta love that guy, and it is my favorite love song of all time.
"With the peace of the mountains I will love you, with madness and equilibrium I will love you, with the anger of my years, in the way you taught me to be, like a scream of my raw flesh, I will love you. In secret and in silence I'll love you. Risking into the forbidden, I'll love you, in the lies and in the truths, with my heart open because you're not perfect. I'll love you.
I'll love you, I'll love you, like is not allowed. I'll love you, I'll love you, like it has never heard of because that's what I've decided, I'll love you. For example I'll tell you that even with your cold hands I'll love you, with your bad orthography, and your bad loser behavior, with your flaws and you're obsessions, I'll love you.
I'll love you, I'll love you because you were important, I'll love you, I'll love you even you're not around anymore, it would still be my custom and I'll love you. With the fall of the night, I'll wait for you to be my full moon and I'll love you. And even if there aren't so many reminiscences of what once was, you'll still be close and deep inside and I'll love you
I'll love you; I'll love you with the power of my memories. I'll love you, I'll love you till the last moment, no matter what, I'll always love you."
PS2. Peace, Love, Fruit and Jesse!