LA MENTIRA

Chapter Five

Suze's P. O. V.

"I know!" Mapi yelled suddenly while we were eating a late breakfast the following day, "Why don't you and Jesse get married?!"

"María del Pilar!" Jesse yelled while I chocked with the milk I was drinking.

"But, I think is a good idea," Abuela intervened calmly. Jesse shot her a look but he was too much of a gentleman – and way too afraid of her cane – like to yell at her.

I thought the whole thing was over, I mean, that it wasn't more than an embarrassing moment. But Mapi and Julia wouldn't drop it.

"Mapi, please, just let it go." I pleaded for what I felt was million time,

"What? You don't like Jesse? Is that it? Because I thought you too looked rather chummy last night." Julia intervened.

"Of course I like Jesse," I said. "And yes, we know from a while, but he is not interested in me, not that way." I could feel those words making my heart sink down my stomach.

"That's not true!" Mapi yelled. "And don't say I'm too young to understand. That's what Jesse did. But I'm not. I know Jesse likes you. I see the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is looking. He looks at you the same way my papá used to look at my mom."

I didn't know if that was true. Not then anyway. All I wanted was to Mapi to understand, "Sweetie," I said kneeling down in front of her, "I loved once and it hurt too much," I wasn't going to tell them about Jesse and me, I couldn't, "I don't think I will love again."

"I know, I know," Julia said, "Jesse used to say the same thing."

"What?" I said turning to her.

"Yes, he was going to marry someone a while a go. But then she said she would marry some other guy…" she looked thoughtful, trying to remember something, "Slater, I think…

"I never said that I would marry Slater, that was my mother," I murmured, earning an odd look by Mapi and Julia. I felt lightheaded.

Julia continue though "He even had broken his betrothal to our cousin Maria because of this girl but…"

I could feel my heart in my temples; it was beating so fast "What?" I asked weakly, "Jesse never broke the betrothal, Maria told me he had asked to marry him. She told me, straight and to my face. Two years ago, she told me, they were going to marry…"

"What are you talking about, Suze?" Mapi asked. "You know Maria?"

"I… I… I have to go," I said standing up and running outside. I think abuela asked me where I was going when I ran into her one my way out but I don't think I answered.

"Susannah!" I heard Jesse yelling, but I didn't turn, I kept running. Everything was so confusing. What if Maria had lied? I mean, she married Diego, not Jesse and… and…

Jesse's P. O. V.

"Susannah!" I yelled after her but she didn't answered.

"You think we said something wrong?" Mapi asked Julia as I entered the living room, Mapi and Julia were looking out the window.

"What have you two been saying to Susannah?" I asked.

They looked at each other, "We are not sure," Mapi said.

"What do you mean?"

"See, we were explaining Suze about how your had broken your engagement to Maria for that girl, and they she murmured something about, what was Julia?"

"Suze said she had never agreed to marry Slater, that that had been her mother," Julia said. I must have looked more than surprised since Julia asked, "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," I heard myself saying. Hadn't been Slater's exacts words that Susannah had been "glowing with joy" when he had asked her to marry him. But she had told the girls she had never agreed. Susannah had no motive to lie to them.

"Anyway," Julia continued, "Then she said that Maria had told her that you had asked her to marry you and that you and Maria were going to marry."

"Then I asked her if she knew Maria, and then she said she had to go," Mapi said.

I sank down in one of the armchairs. "Are you sure that's what she said?" I asked.

"Yes." They both said and nodded.

Is not that I don't trust my eleven and eight years old sisters, but I needed validation. And I just know where I'm going to get it.

"I'll be back." I said getting off the chair and out.

I arrived at Maria's house not an hour later.

"Hector," she said in that little girl voice of hers, "What a surprise."

"I bet. Now, Maria, I need you to tell me why exactly did you tell Susannah I was going to marry you after I broke our betrothal?"

Her expression changed, "The little skank told you that?" she said.

"Stop the name calling," I said. "Now you're going to tell me what you tell her and why."

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because if not, I not exactly sure what I'm going to do to you, but is not going to be pretty," I said in a menacing way.

"Is that a threat?"

"I don't threat. Now tell me. Or I'll make sure everyone in all Salina's County knows that your first child was already on the way when you got married." I knew that if something worried Maria was her reputation. I had heard my uncle Ricardo saying this to my father; it was the only reason why he had let Maria marry Diego.

"Ok, fine. Yes I told you beloved Susannah we were going to marry." She admitted, fury written in her face. She wouldn't risk her good name. "Her expression was priceless when I told her. I bet you looked quite the same when Paul told you he and your beloved Susannah were going to marry." She said the 'beloved Susannah' as a mockery, and I wasn't about to accept it.

"You and him were behind all of this."

"Of course I was!" She yelled, not caring who listened. "You stupid bastard broke our engagement for that little skank. I couldn't take that quietly such blow on my pride. So yes, I helped Paul on his quest to get Susannah to marry him. But your girl decided to run away instead of marry Paul. Not that I cared either way. I got you down and that Susannah was out of the map and feeling quite miserable herself."

"YOU BITCH!" I yelled. "YOU HEARTLESS, VINDICTIVE BITCH."

"I won't allow you to call me names in my own house!"

"Oh, yes, your precious house. The precious house of your beloved husband, the one you had to bail out his gambling debts. The one that rather hang out with the whores in town than with you. The one who gets you pregnant once a year and then forgets all about you,"

"Shut up!"

"Make me. And even IF I shut up, you would have to shut up the whole town of Carmel, because that's what everyone is saying. Didn't you know?"

"Shut up, Hector!!" She yelled throwing me a base.

"I used to feel sorry for you, Maria, I really did. I felt pity for you. You don't even deserve that. You deserve everything that happens to you though. Like your father refusing to speak to you, or to welcome Diego into his house. And even that whore-lover husband you got." I couldn't stand her presence anymore, "You disgust me."

I raced back to the Ranch. I needed to speak with Susannah. I needed to explain. All this time I had thought she had betrayed me. She had thought just the same. If she was hurting half as much as me, she…

"Susannah!!" I yelled when I entered the house. It was raining hard outside "Susannah!!"

"She hasn't gotten back," Abuela said. "What's going on?"

"She hasn't gotten back? The sky is falling down outside!"

"No one has seen her since she ran our this morning. I'm worried about her. But I don't know where to find her." She said.

I looked outside, "I know where she is." I said getting back out.

Suze's P. O. V.

"If is raining so hard why I feel so hot," I wondered out loud. I had been turning the pieces over in my head. I still couldn't understand everything. But at least I was figuring out that Jesse might not have lied to me. I mean, he didn't marry Maria and… and…

"Susannah!" It was Jesse's voice. I could hear his horse.

"Jesse,"

"Oh, Susannah, silly girl, you never hide under a tree when is raining," he said, a light reproach in his voice as he dismounted and ran to me. He had found me in my secret hiding place. As he had done so many years ago when I had first moved here. I used to run to this tree – our tree – to avoid the pleasant company of my stepbrother Brad, the idiot; and later to be with Jesse. "Are you alright?" he demanded.

I was leaning against the three, I was feeling so weak. And suddenly he was close, the rain falling all around. I moved towards him and touched his cheek, "Jesse, I still love you," I said, I didn't know why I was saying it. I just knew it was the truth and that I needed him to know. "I never stopped loving you."

Everything started to spin around. I closed my eyes. I felt like I was passing out and then Jesse's arms were around me.

"I love you."

Had Jesse just said that?

"Querida, you're burning." He picked me up and was cradling me in his arms. And that's all I remember

Nobody's P. O. V.

Jesse made record time back into the house.

"Abuela!" he yelled. "I found her. She has a fever." Jesse explained in a panicked voice. Fevers were no laughing matter before the discovery of Penicillin.

"Santo Cielo," Abuela said when she placed her hand over Suze's forehead. "We need to get her out of those wet clothes, and we need to do it fast." She said as Jesse placed her in her room. "Joaquina! Estela!" she yelled till the young maids came. "Joaquina, bring cold water. Estela help me here."

"What do I do?" Jesse asked.

"You go and change. We don't need you to get a fever now. When the rain clears send Carlos for the doctor." Abuela said closing the door to Susannah's room once she had pushed Jesse outside.

Jesse changed into dry clothes, found Carlos, told him to get the doctor as soon as the rain cleared and went back to Suze's room. Abuela let him in, but only because he showed not sings of ever stopping pounding on the door if she didn't.

Suze's P. O. V.

I vaguely remember being in my room. Feeling all warm and cold at the same time. I woke up at odd hours and asked for water. There was always someone there, holding the glass to my lips as I tried to drink. Finally I recognized that person as Jesse. Each time I woke up he was there.

I don't know how much time later I woke up to feel someone touching my forehead. My eyelids felt heavy but I managed to open my eyes. As usual, it was Jesse.

"Your fever broke, querida." He said kissing my forehead. "That's good news."

"Jesse," I whispered.

"Shh. You must be tired, querida. Try to sleep." He said, voice soft. And I closed my eyes again. I think I felt a kiss brush against my lips just before I drifted into sleep.

Next time I woke up was to the sweet sent of flowers. My favorite ones, I might add. They were all over my room, the window open letting in the cool sea breeze.

"Do you like them?" Joaquina, one of the maids asked me as I sat up, I nodded. "Master Hector ordered to fill your room with flowers." She said.

Jesse had ordered to fill my room with my favorite flowers; that was just so like him. "Where is he?"

"Asleep." Abuela informed me, "Finally. Carlos and I managed to convince him to get some sleep. He didn't move more than three steps from your side since you fell ill. He was very worried about you. He loves you so much, Susie."

"He does?" I asked, feeling all my hopes go up, maybe he had indeed said he loved me before I passed out.

"Of course he does. He never stopped loving you this past two years." I looked her in astonishment, "Yes, I know about the two of you. He told me. Jesse always told me about what happened, I know he wants to tell you himself but I know you must be dying with doubt so I'll tell you now,"

Abuela's voice was the only thing I could focus as she told me what had really happened. Maria had lied to me, she had only told me she was going to marry Jesse because she was angry at me for being the reason Jesse had broken their engagement. And she was confabulated with Paul-serial-shagger-Slater. It was a very simple plan: Maria got her revenge against Jesse and Paul got me. Only that I ran away before letting that happen.

He hadn't lie to me!

"Abuela," Jesse's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "May I have a moment with Susannah?"

"Yes, yes, I'll leave." Abuela said walking out.

"She told you, didn't she?" Jesse asked seating down on my bedside.

I nodded.

And then there was no need for words.

Jesse just wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close for a kiss. A real kiss, like the ones we used to share before this all started. It was a kiss I saw no reason to hold back now that I knew his heart was mine, just as my own heart had always been his. So I sneaked my arms around his neck and kissed him back.

When the kiss ended I stayed in Jesse's arms for a while, feeling I was back home.

"Now what?" I asked after a while in silence.

"Now I'm going to marry you – like I should have done two years ago – if you'll have me, that is." Jesse answered matter of fact-ly.

What did I responded? Well, I didn't exactly trust myself with words so I kissed him to signify my consent.

I felt him slip something into my finger.

It was an engagement ring.

End of Chapter Five

Notes:

Ok, my butt hurts. My chair isn't as comfy as my sister's, and my pc is way slower. But I finished this chapter!!! Yay for me!!!

Sorry, I needed that.

Hope you're still liking this.

Next chapter Jesse and Suze visit Suze's mom. It might not be pretty. From where did Jesse got the ring so quickly? You'll find out next chapter too.

Abuela never meat Suze, btw, when she was with Jesse. She just senses that there was some history between Suze and Jesse, unfinished things per se, and wants them to fix them.

Thanks for reading. Please Review.

And sorry for the bad grammar and stuff.

Much love,

Alex (a. k. a. Clavel a. k. a. AurynFaith a. k. a. whatnot)

P.S. PEACE, LOVE, FRUIT AND JESSE.

P.S2 If some PFCer happens to read this, please note that at least I didn't call Paul "Spawn of Satan" this time. Serial shagger is not so bad.