Chapter 12

Written by Tita Calderón

Translated by Fay

-"Did you know that I met a friend of yours from St. Paul's at Annie's house?" Candy whispered so that Aunt Elroy who was sitting in front of them in the large room wouldn't hear her.

Those words slightly surprised Albert who was carefully checking the wedding guest list.

-"Who?" he asked in the same low voice, so as to prevent his aunt from hearing them.

He raised his eyes from the list he held in his hands while he stopped ticking the right of each name.

It was rare to meet old college mates of his in Chicago.

-"Marian...Smith, I think...I don't quite remember her last name," admitted Candy, still in a whisper.

-"Marian?" Albert was a little surprised. "I didn't know that she and Billy were back," he said meditatively, also still whispering.

-"Who is Billy?"

-"Her husband," he answered. "They were married shortly after they left college, if I'm not mistaken."

-"Oh...She's expecting a baby."

-"Another?"

Albert seemed surprised.

-"How many children do they have?" asked Candy with curiosity.

-"Two, I believe, and three with this one," he pondered.

-"Oh!" exclaimed Candy. "And were they close friends of yours?"

-"More or less," confessed Albert, somewhat awkwardly. "Actually I was more a friend of Billy's than of Marian's..."

Albert went back to his past for a few moments.

…..

He recalled exactly that moment when Billy, one of his classmates, pointed at Marian, telling him that she was looking at him with interest. Albert had barely looked at her. He always tried to avoid looking straight into the eyes of the girls because he got too much attention from them...

Marian was a pretty and smiling girl. A few days later, he unintentionally met her, when she screamed wildly because a lizard was on her dress. Since then he saw her more often and gradually began to notice her excessive interest...It could be said that he met her everywhere...Albert tried very politely to get away but she was always in the places he used to frequent.

One rainy afternoon he found her near the stables.

-"William...I was waiting for you," she said.

-"For me?"

-"Yes."

-"Why?"

-"I want to tell you 'yes'."

-"Yes to what?" asked Albert, completely confused.

-"That I accept."

-"You accept what?"

He didn't know what she was talking about.

-"To be your girlfriend."

-"What?"

The poor boy almost fell on his back at the unexpected reply.

Marian showed him a letter which said that he loved her and he was her secret admirer.

Albert couldn't even blink when she clung to his neck and tried to kiss him.

-"Hold on, hold on," he said between their lips. "There is a mistake; I haven't written this letter," he excused himself while trying to get rid of her grip.

-"Really?"

Marian thought a little about it.

-"Yes."

He took a breath of relief, thinking she had understood.

-"Never mind, I still accept you."

She threw herself to his neck again.

In an almost brusque movement he held her wrists and pulled them off his neck.

-"What I mean is that I have neither written nor thought of writing that letter...Your admirer is definitely someone else."

The noise of some footsteps distracted them. Albert saw someone slipping away stealthily. Some time later he discovered it had been Billy.

-"Listen, Marian; there has been a misunderstanding. The boy who loves you has just left. I'm not the one you have been waiting for," he said shrugging his shoulders.

-"I have been waiting for you," Marian declared firmly.

When Albert finally found out that it was Billy who had written the letter, he tried to encourage him to talk to her, but Billy only told him that he should give Marian a chance and get to know her better. Albert was aghast. Billy told him that when a person really loves, what they want the most is to see their loved one happy, even if not in their arms.

That was one of the first lessons he had ever learned in his life...

…..

-"But Marian seemed to know you very well."

Candy's words brought him back to reality.

-"I don't think so," Albert hastened to reply, still whispering.

Candy remembered Marian's look when she was talking about Albert; it had a certain touch of nostalgia.

-"Can I ask you something?"

There was some apprehension in Candy's voice.

Albert smiled sincerely. It was obvious that she would ask him, even if he refused.

-"Of course, I'm all ears."

-"Well..." Candy hesitated. "But do you promise you'll tell me the truth?" she warned him.

-"The truth and nothing but the truth."

He raised his hand as if he were in front of a judge.

Candy smiled, but then her expression became slightly tense.

-"Was Marian your first love?"

Albert looked at her amused.

-"No," he answered honestly. "Why? Did she tell you anything?"

-"She didn't say much..." Candy assured him. "It was rather the way she spoke, which made me think that there was something more between you..."

He knew everything about her, so why couldn't she know everything about him too? However, deep down she wasn't sure she wanted to know if there had been someone else in his life. She felt slightly tense as she was waiting for his answer.

Candy's words brought him back to the past again...

…..

Not that Marian and he had anything serious or formal between them, but he accepted her company because it had been the only way to keep away the other girls who surrounded him...Being an Ardlay was always a problem. Girls were attracted by his name like bees were attracted to honey.

They had never kissed again, or rather, she hadn't tried to kiss him again...Actually, she had, but Albert had been quicker in avoiding her...

On the eve of the May Festival, Albert decided that he had to put an end to that adolescent game which didn't lead them anywhere.

-"Marian, we need to talk."

Marian's eyes shone with an intensity that made his stomach twitch.

-"I have already written to my parents telling them about us," she declared suddenly with excitement.

-"About us?"

The panic in his voice was also reflected on his face...For him there had never been "us".

-"Yes, and they are very glad." She took William's hand. "They say that when we finish college we can be officially engaged."

-"What?"

-"But if you want, we can do it in the next summer vacation."

-"Hold on, Marian, hold on..." said William, raising his hands. "I think there has been a misunderstanding and I believe I am to blame for all this mess."

-"What are you talking about, William?"

-"There is nothing between you and me," he declared seriously.

Marian seemed to be pouting.

-"Marian, when I leave college, I'll go around the world...I don't want any kind of attachment..."

The sincerity of his words was painful.

-"But what about us?"

-"There's nothing about us. It's you on one side, and it's me on the other..."

-"But some day you'll want to get married, and I'll wait for you...as long as necessary," she assured him decidedly.

-"No, Marian...I don't want to get married today, tomorrow, perhaps never. The only thing I want is to leave this kind of life...I want to be free...free like the wind...like the birds..."

He would not give in. The last thing he wanted was to have any attachments in his life...

-"There is someone who loves you as you deserve..." he said sadly.

-"But...what about you?"

Her voice was broken.

-"I...love you..." he admitted. "But not in the way you want," he confessed without hesitating.

Then he learned that there was nothing better than telling the truth...

…..

-"Between Marian and me...there was a certain kind of friendship..." Albert was telling the truth because that was what he had promised her. "Especially since I always found her in the places I used to frequent." He took a deep breath as he saw the slight tension in Candy's eyebrows. "...She thought that when we would finish college we could formalize a relationship that never existed..."

Candy opened her eyes slightly wider, trying to control the expression

of her face. She was pricked by jealousy as she imagined Albert with

Marian.

Albert smiled somewhat awkwardly but he couldn't deny that unintentionally making Candy jealous was the most Machiavellically rewarding thing that could happen to him.

-"A relationship that never existed?" repeated Candy, trying to understand his words.

-"Marian had interpreted things in her own way...which was totally different from reality," he said awkwardly. "I had to tell her that I didn't feel anything for her and that when I finished college I would go far away..."

Candy took a breath of relief as she recalled that Albert looked like a vagabond when she met him again years ago.

-"And what about her?"

-"She needed someone like Billy, her husband."

-"And what did you feel?"

-"Nothing; I just wanted to free myself from the bonds of my name. Marian was just a friend...You see that everyone sees things differently. More or less, it's like what you felt about Neal."

-"Phew..."

Candy didn't need any more examples, while both of them were smiling.

Candy turned her eyes to the list she was checking. The names were familiar to her because Aunt Elroy had talked to her countless times about them but she hardly knew anyone. Then she remembered Aunt Elroy's words...She glanced at her, unwilling to bring up the subject. That moment one of the maids came in, distracting Aunt Elroy as she gave her some papers.

-"Albert..." she called him in a whisper.

-"Yes?" he answered in the same tone.

-"When we get married we'll continue living here, right?"

Albert looked up.

-"Has Aunt Elroy said something to you?" he asked suddenly, looking towards his aunt.

-"No," she answered far too quickly.

-"Candy?" Albert pressured her.

He was well aware that his aunt was behind that question.

Candy tried to dodge the subject...but he knew her too well.

-"Well... she told me that you were thinking about purchasing some place near your business," she confessed sadly, lowering even more her voice so that Aunt Elroy wouldn't notice.

-"I knew it," said Albert, shaking his head. When would his aunt learn not to interfere with his life? "And what did she suggest?"

-"She told me she wanted us to keep living here when we get married.

She is very old now and she doesn't want to be left alone."

-"Candy," said Albert slowly, "my aunt is not so old, and I'm sure she'll survive without us."

-"It's not that...It's just that I don't think we have to go somewhere else since we can live here."

Albert breathed with some difficulty. He had thought about buying an apartment so that the transition from friends to a married couple wouldn't be so abrupt, especially for Candy...There they would be able to sleep in separate rooms until she accepted him completely... But he couldn't do that in the mansion...They would have to sleep together since the first day...Not that he didn't want to do that, but it would be harder for him...because he would have to control his hormones, his instincts and his feelings below zero...

-"I had thought that if we lived apart, it would be easier for us to adapt to married life," confessed Albert, trying to make her see the advantages of going away.

Candy stifled a sigh. She also wanted to be far away from everything, only with Albert...to enjoy his company without any interruptions. But she had promised Aunt Elroy she would persuade Albert to stay there.

-"But do you like living here?"

It was more a question than an affirmation.

-"Yes," answered Albert without hesitation.

-"So?"

Both exchanged a lingering look while their souls were synchronized. The important thing was not where they would live but to be together forever. To share their dreams, their lives...never to be separated.

A distant hammering woke up Candy from the deepest sleep. That knocking had become customary those last days. A few more knockings and then everything was completely silent.

Candy's heart constricted with excitement. Albert was determined that if they were going to live there, they should have a more private place, so he had decided to remodel the third floor on the opposite side from where everybody's rooms were. They would make a spacious bedroom, a small living room with large windows and a bathroom larger than all the others in the house. It would be a place just for them.

She picked up the crutches after she got out of bed and headed to the third floor. Almost without believing it, her eyes widened by what she had just discovered...The place was beautiful, large, full of light... There was still a lot of dust in the air, but even so, she could see it would be spacious and above all it would be hers and Albert's...

-"Candice, close your mouth lest you swallow all this dust."

-"Aunt Elroy..." stammered Candy by way of greeting her.

She was still astonished at how different those rooms which once had

been used for the guests looked.

-"This place is enormous," she said, as if talking to herself.

-"I believe it will be very cozy when it is furnished," Aunt Elroy observed. "William wants to move a part of the library to this place. You'd better go and change. We have to go to the doctor," she reminded her in her typical unrelenting tone.

-"Yes, Great Aunt."

-"Stop calling me Great Aunt," she ordered her.

Candy looked at her troubled.

-"I want you to call me simply Aunt," she said softening her voice when she saw Candy's face. "If you marry William you will be my niece."

Candy's eyes brightened with excitement.

-"Thank you...Aunt...Aunt Elroy," she whispered, somewhat nervously.

-"Go and change," she ordered, trying to conceal the joy she felt as well.

She watched her out of the corner of her eye, thinking that she was crazy to trust that girl. But no doubt Candice had a big heart and an innocence that had managed to break down her barriers, although she would never admit it openly.

Now she felt a moral duty to protect her. She recalled that Elizabeth Robinson's defiant attitude at the house of the Brightons had bothered her, not to mention the inopportune meeting with Marian Smith, a girl she didn't remember until she started talking about William. With some uneasiness she remembered that her parents had told her their daughter had a relationship with William at St. Paul's. She couldn't deny they were a good family, but she didn't want William to marry so soon...She was relieved when he explained to her that it was all a misunderstanding...

Before they left for the doctor, Elroy Ardlay was nervous...She needed to talk to Candice about a very unusual matter. Once she had done it with her beloved Rosemary. It was time to do it with Candice too...

A soft knock on the door called her attention. She took a deep breath before asking her to come in.

-"I'm ready, Aunt," murmured Candy in the doorway, feeling a little uncomfortable about the new way of addressing her.

When she would tell Albert, he would surely be very happy.

-"Please enter. I would like us to have a little conversation before leaving. We still have time."

-"Certainly, Aunt."

Candy entered the old lady's room which she knew very well.

-"Sit down."

-"Thank you."

Elroy took another deep breath while Candy was patiently waiting for her to start talking. Surely she wanted to give her some advice about her behavior. She had resigned by now to the fact that Aunt Elroy would make her polish her manners at all times.

-"In two weeks you will be William's wife," she began. "And I believe you must know you have certain obligations to fulfill."

Candy just nodded slightly while she secretly tried to rub the itching plaster with her healthy leg.

-"One of these obligations is taking charge of the household."

-"Me?"

She opened her eyes wide.

-"That's right. You will be the mistress of the house and you will have to manage the household and the employees."

-"But don't you do that yourself?"

The panic in Candy's voice was too obvious.

-"As soon as you marry William that will be your obligation."

-"But...but couldn't you keep doing it?"

She didn't believe she had the commanding presence or the rigidity of Aunt Elroy, nor did she wish to replace her.

-"I could," replied the old lady in a quiet voice. "But I will not... because you will be the mistress of the house."

-"But...Aunt..."

Candy looked down distressed.

-"Listen, Candice...You don't have to be afraid...All the staff love you and respect you...Besides, this s not a novelty. In the last months you have seen how a house is managed."

-"Yes, but...I don't know if I can do it..."

-"Of course you can do it, and very well...Besides, I will be here to advise you whenever you need it...but your own orders will be the ones everyone will follow...In the evening we will gather all the staff..."

-"It's that...I don't know if Albert wants that..."

-"He will support you...as he always does..."

Candy squeezed her dress tight...She was so looking forward to the wedding day but with this...she no longer wanted it to come...She imagined herself as the mistress of the house and Aunt Elroy causing her a heart attack.

-"I don't think that's a good idea," the poor girl insisted, full of anguish.

-"Candice...I'm sure you will do fine."

-"But..."

Candy looked at her in affliction.

-"Don't be distressed. This is normal. William owns everything and while he was single I was helping him in this, but now you will be his wife and therefore you will have to take charge of the house."

Candy swallowed hard...She had never imagined, not even in her wildest dreams, that she would take charge of the mansion.

-"Also as his wife...there are other duties you must fulfill."

The old lady cleared her throat somewhat uncomfortably.

-"Other duties?"

-"The marital life itself."

Candy tilted her head without understanding.

-"At nursing school you have probably taken lessons about the marital life between a man and a woman."

-"Yes...I think so..."

Candy hesitated.

-"Well, this is also something that will happen between William and you...As you must have been taught, men have needs that women must satisfy."

-"They didn't tell me that."

She tried to remember that kind of lesson.

-"Well, I'm telling you...For women it's more of an obligation and also a little painful, more than it is for men..."

-"Is that right?"

Elroy wiped her forehead, somehow awkwardly, but satisfied that she had finally broached that subject.

-"Was it like that for you?" asked Candy innocently.

-"Candice, please...That does not concern you."

-"I'm sorry, Aunt."

-"As I was telling you..." she straightened up in her seat trying to look calm "...you will have to fulfill your obligations as a wife and carry the heir of the Ardlays in your womb...and I think you have the general idea...They must have explained it to you at the nursing school."

That was a good way out.

For the first time she felt relieved that Candice had attended that school.

-"They didn't explain to us...everything, exactly...but they told us...that certain parts of man and woman are involved in reproduction," replied Candy quickly, trying to remember that lesson...

-"Very well...You don't need to tell me what they have taught you...It's enough for me to know that you have the basic knowledge."

-"It's that..." Candy fidgeted with her fingers. "I don't know if I have understood correctly...Could you explain it better to me, Aunt?"

-"I?"

The poor old lady almost fell off her chair.

-"Yes, please...since we are talking about that now..."

-"Candice, I'm not going to explain any of this..." Aunt Elroy said nervously.

Talking to Rosemary had been definitely much easier. She didn't ask as many questions as that terrible girl did.

-"William will take care of that..."

She couldn't think of anything else to say.

-"Do you think he would like to explain to me tonight?" Candy asked again, innocently.

-"NO! Good heavens, child...You will know about that when you get married...not before..."

-"But I thought that..."

-"You'd better not think...Well...Let's go, we'll be late..." Aunt Elroy got up. "And don't even think about discussing this with William before the wedding."

-"Why not?"

-"Just don't do it..." she answered coldly.

-"Aunt, do you think he knows how to do it?"

It was a miracle that the poor woman didn't have a heart attack.

-"I don't know and I don't care either."

She tried to ignore that question as she was going out in a hurry...

-"But you said a while ago that he would explain it to me, and if he doesn't know...then..."

-"That's enough!"

Why did she talk about these things with that savage?

-"I'm sorry, Aunt."

The poor girl knew she had said something wrong but she didn't understand Aunt Elroy's contradictory ways...She'd better talk with Albert...He would be more patient with her.

While Dr. Martin was examining Candy's X-ray, she smiled as she looked at Aunt Elroy next to her. Having her close gave her a feeling of protection. She was like the mother she never had...A little older, rather severe, but she was there for her...Miss Pony and Sister Lane had been like mothers to her, but there were so many children that sometimes she felt lonely, and having Aunt Elroy just for her was the closest idea she ever had of a mother. Some day she would tell her that.

-"Well, Candy, I think it's time for you to take off the plaster."

Dr. Martin's voice interrupted her thoughts.

They exchanged a satisfied look.

The knock on the door called everybody's attention. Candy's eyes brightened when she saw it was Albert.

-"Come in, Albert," said Dr. Martin.

-"I'm sorry to be late. I had a last minute meeting."

-"You're just in time to see me removing the plaster from Candy's foot."

-"Is it all right now?" Albert asked with interest.

-"The X-rays have confirmed it."

Albert approached and kissed Candy on the forehead, which made her blush. He stood next to her and took her hand. Candy sighed. He was always with her when she needed him the most.

Being without the plaster made her feel free...Candy moved her foot and couldn't help laughing when she saw it was so thin.

-"You must be careful. You will have also a few rehabilitation sessions."

-"Yes, doctor."

Albert walked beside Candy in case she needed help...She was still limping a little.

-"Will you come with us?" asked Candy.

-"No, I still have some things to finish at the office," confessed Albert with some concern.

-"It's all right, don't worry. Thank you for coming."

-"I'm happy to see you are fine...I don't want you to climb trees until you fully recover, understood?"

He raised an eyebrow.

Candy looked at him like a sad puppy.

-"Well, not unless I'm there too, so that we can climb together," he modified his request when he saw Candy's expression.

-"All right," she smiled.

-"Thank you for accompanying Candy, Aunt," Albert said, turning to his aunt.

She just smiled. It was her duty to accompany her.

That was another thing Candy had to thank Albert for; that he had given her an aunt who was also a mother.

In the afternoon, everybody was in the living room, having their coffee.

-"Archie?" said Candy.

Archie quickly looked up as he was taking a sip of his coffee.

-"When are you going to propose to Annie?"

Poor Archie inadvertently choked on his coffee when he heard that unexpected question.

-"Are you all right?" asked Candy, worried to see that he kept coughing.

-"Yes...I think so," he answered, still coughing.

Candy was looking at him, concerned and amused at the same time. Albert was smiling; only Candy was capable of disturbing the composure of his refined nephew.

He looked at his aunt sideways, expecting some unfavorable reaction towards Candy, but to his amazement his aunt kept drinking her coffee as if nothing had happened. What's more, he would swear that she was rather in a hurry.

-"Well?" insisted Candy, when she was sure that Archie could breathe calmly now.

He touched his head, extremely nervous.

-"I think there is still a little time before things between Annie and me become official...I want to graduate first."

-"And when you graduate will you propose to her?"

-"I...I think so. What with the practice in the company and the lessons at university, I hardly have any time left..." he said apologetically.

Everybody was looking at Archie, and he couldn't help blushing.

-"If you'll excuse me...I'm leaving...I have to study," he added standing up, before Candy had the time to ask him any more embarrassing questions.

After a couple of more sips, Aunt Elroy got up too.

-"I'm leaving too; I have to make my prayers."

She should better leave before Candice asked any question like the ones she had asked in the morning...

Albert looked surprised at his aunt as she was going away.

-"Do you know what's wrong with Aunt Elroy?" he asked anxiously, resting his beautiful blue eyes on his fiancée.

-"I think...I think...that she's a little angry with me."

-"Why? Did anything happen?" he asked worried.

-"Something...something serious has happened...No...It's just that this morning..." She kept silent. "You know she asked me not to call her Great Aunt Elroy anymore, only Aunt Elroy," she added smiling. "She said that since I will be your wife, then she will be my aunt."

-"And was she angry because of that?"

-"No, of course not...That happened later."

Albert smiled, wondering what Candy might have done to his aunt which made her act so strange...as if she was ashamed of something.

-"You see, she said I would have to take over the running of the household after our marriage." She looked at him with a mixture of excitement and worry. "Do you think I should do it?" she asked anxiously.

-"Of course I do, Candy...I'm sure you'll do fine..."

Albert's heart was thrilled with emotion as he imagined her in charge of everything. Very soon she would be his wife; she would belong only to him.

-"I don't know...Perhaps I'm not ready for this..."

Candy avoided his eyes but then she looked at him again.

-"Aunt Elroy says I'm ready...but I doubt it..."

-"And did that make her angry?"

-"No...Actually she got angry because she began to talk to me about the marital duties of a couple."

Candy looked carefully at him.

Albert seemed as calm as ever.

-"She told me that it is more painful for women than it is for men, and then I asked her if it was painful for her too..."

Albert burst out laughing. Only Candy could think of asking such a thing.

-"Albert, stop laughing," she said annoyed.

-"Candy...how did it occur to you to ask her something like that?"

Albert kept laughing.

-"I just thought she might explain to me better, since we were discussing that subject," she said sorrowfully. "But she wasn't so angry about that," she added meditatively.

-"Then why was she angry?"

-"Because I asked her if you knew how to do it."

It was Albert's turn to choke on his coffee...

-"Well...Aunt Elroy didn't explain well to me...She told me that my duty as your wife would be to have the heir of the Ardlays. Well, at nursing school they taught us only the basics and I was wondering..."

Albert cleared his throat while he was looking at her extremely amused.

-"Come," he told her, holding out his hand.

He led her to the small garden outside the house and they sat on a bench watching the sunset...

-"Candy, having an heir is not an obligation but it's something between you and me...and knowing how to do it is not something that you need to know as a theory...but simply to feel it...Nobody needs to explain it to you...You just feel it..."

He spoke clearly, looking at the sky, while emotions were struggling inside of him.

-"I thought...that someone should teach me..."

She hesitated.

-"We'll discover that together...when the time comes..."

-"On the wedding day?"

Candy didn't know very well what she would have to face...

-"There is no hurry...What you and I have goes beyond any kind of scheme..."

Albert raised his arm and put it tenderly around Candy's shoulders. She automatically leaned on him, feeling so close to him...wishing for that day to come...He turned and kissed her forehead...Candy raised her face and melted into the blue of his eyes, hoping he would take her back to that unknown world with a kiss, thinking that nobody was looking at them...

But they were being observed very closely from various points of the mansion.

Aunt Elroy was looking at them from her room...It was true that Candice was breaking her rules and maybe that was why William loved her so much. That affirmation made her shudder but it was useless to ignore something so obvious. It was enough to look at them to know it...She sighed involuntarily admitting that she loved her too...Rosemary had been more docile in every way but Candice always went beyond her expectations...just like William...No doubt they were made for each other, she thought without losing sight of them.

Archie was also observing them carefully. He should be grateful to them for giving him an example of how one could love...The looks they exchanged was something worth imitating...He had done the same thing with Annie lately. Of course, she didn't respond like Candy who, despite blushing, was always looking at Albert. On the contrary, Annie just tilted her head and avoided to look at him...Their courtship had been almost forced but now, with his uncle's example, he saw love from another point of view...as something that was felt with every touch...with every look...

George too stopped in front of a window to look at them carefully...He smiled to himself while confirming with that picture that his suspicions were true...They were made for each other.

In another part of the mansion several sighs were heard...

-"If I was in Miss Candy's place I would have thrown myself at the master's neck," said Rita with a sigh.

-"All the girls want to do the same when they see him...but Candy is different," answered Dorothy. "That's why he loves her so much..."

-"You sound like old gossips," the butler said reproachfully behind them. "Go to your work and leave the master and Miss Candice alone."

When the girls walked away, it was his turn to peek at them on the sly and he couldn't help sighing as he saw them sitting there as if they had come out of a painting...

Albert caressed softly Candy's shoulder...while she shuddered under his touch. He could confess his feelings to her that moment...but he wanted to enjoy every stage of their relationship. First they were friends, so close friends that they could meet each other on almost unthinkable levels. They had even lived together breaking all the rules of the society, and creating a mutual dependence on each other...It was this coexistence that made them inseparable...

But deep friendship also stirs feelings, and now they had reached the

stage that usually passes quickly; that stage where they discovered that what they felt was not simple friendship but something else; at the exact point where attraction exceeded all the limits of common sense, looking for any kind of pretext to be together, provoking a touch or just a look that would accelerate their soul and alert their senses...They had reached that point where they felt they could own the world, and at the same time they couldn't own it...Now he just wanted to enjoy that stage before courtship...He would make her fall in love slowly...without any haste...without any pressure...He wanted to erase any other residue from the past so that she would love him without limitations or comparisons...and if he had to wait a little for that, he would...because he knew that in the end the reward would be to love her without limit.

Candy could hear Albert's strong heartbeat, knowing that her own heart was beating the same. She was hopelessly in love with her best friend...and that confirmation was changing everything in her life... Now she could float in the air with just a look from him and suffer in agony at his absence...Crying had turned into joy overnight...She couldn't even understand how she could cry for someone other than him...Having all that power to cause her the deepest sadness, he was simply the last person who would ever make her cry...

From that moment on, she would count the minutes and the seconds until the time when she would join her life with his.

Albert leaned his head over Candy's with tenderness, pressing her against his body, as the sun was slowly setting in the sky of Chicago...

To be continued...