I woke up to a loud beep coming from a passing cab. I snuggled up to Jesse and put my head on his chest. I could hear his heart beat. It was such a wonderful sound. It had been beating for the past nine years but still. It was so good to know he was alive. I was still getting over it.

I felt him stir and I looked up into his face. His eyes fluttered open.

"Morning, Jesse." I whispered.

"Good morning, Querida." He kissed my forehead. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. I felt his skin touch mine and I tingled all over. I kissed him lightly on the lips. I guess he felt my skin too. He pulled the cover down a little to reveal my bra strap. I was hoping for him to get all excited and kiss me and I would finally, finally seduce him enough…

"Susannah!"

"What?" I asked, puzzled.

"You're only in underwear!" He whispered harshly. I rolled my eyes.

"And…?" I asked, with just a little attitude. What? I'm twenty-five years old.

I'm not going to go on about how I'm still a virgin, which I am, because, frankly, it's not that bigger deal for me. I mean it would've been nice if I wasn't a virgin but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. I was going on about how my twenty-nine year old boyfriend always feels the need to explain to me why we can't have sex. I mean, sure, when we get married I want to wear white but he tells me that if we do do some dirty deeds I won't be true to what the white signifies. Purity. The first time he mentioned this, I was heartbroken that he would think I wouldn't be "pure" and threw a shoe at him. He then tried to reason with me and said that he loved me and new I wasn't dirty but that was his belief and I kinda softened when he said he loved me and just gave in. So, whenever he launched into one of these lectures I learned to tune out and had memorised the answers to the questions he always threw at me at the time we were discussing the matter.

"Susannah, people will get ideas that we're…you know."

"How will they know? They aren't going to see me in my underwear outside this room. And even if they do, who cares? I mean, it's not considered as much of a disgrace as it used to be. No offence Jesse, but you're kind of old fashioned."

"Excuse me, Susannah, but do you not remember which era I'm from?" I sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think sleeping in my underwear was so bad. I mean, we didn't actually do anything 'impure'" He sighed.

"I said I was sorry about that…"

"I know" I said, as I brought my face closer to his "it was only a joke, Jesse." I smiled as I kissed him again. We made out for ages which went from me curled up beside him, to me on top of him, legs split and knees resting on either side of his waist.

I heard Gina knock.

"Suze, I'm off to…" She actually walked in on me in my underwear on top of Jesse, making out.

"Gina!" I yelled.

"Oh, God, sorry. Ok, see you later." And she left.

"Susannah, I told you."

"Oh, she'll get over it. She knows we haven't done anything."

"You tell her about our sex life?"

"No, my sex life. Not that I have one." He sighed. I rolled off him and got up to go to the bathroom.

"Querida, you know my beliefs on that." He said through the door. I sighed. I washed my hands and opened the door to look at him.

"I know. And I will wait for you, if that's what you want." I sighed.

"Thank you, Querida." He kissed my cheek. "So, what's on the agenda today?" He asked.

"I'm introducing you to Grandma. She'll probably bring up the whole sex before marriage thing too and how wrong it is." I smiled at him. He shook his head.

"So, you want the first shower?"

We arrived at Grandma's flat at 10am and went to the door and pressed the speaker box buzzer.

"Hello?" said the sweet voice of my grandma.

"Hey, Grandma, it's me, Susannah."

"I know who you are, Susannah. I'd know that voice from anywhere. Just wait a minute." And the door gave a little buzzing sound and clicked open.

I let him walk in front of me but due to his chivalrous ways, he insisted on 'ladies first', which I thought a little sexist but I knew he meant well. I started to turn around, after our little "you go, no you go" thing, to walk up to her flat but was stopped for a millisecond by a pair of piercing blue eyes outside the door. I quickly spun around and let my ballet flats tapped up the stairs to Grandma.

I knocked on her door. "Grandma?"

"Susannah! Oh, my little Susannah!" She said as she opened the door and hugged me really tight, like, so tight you could hardly breathe. "Well, not too little. Look at you, all tall and thin. And look at your chest! Very impressive."

I saw Jesse blush out of the corner of my eye. I turned an even deeper shade of red than he did. "Grandma! Stop!" I hissed.

Ok, so my grandma wasn't like my friends' grandmas who were 90 and knitted them sweaters for winter or when you were five, you'd sit and eat freshly baked cookies and drank cold milk for morning or afternoon tea.

My grandma was so much different. For one thing, she didn't knit. And for another she wasn't 90.

Oh no. She was 70 and still looked beautiful. She was like my mum when she was young. Attractive, Popular, well liked by everyone and didn't have a certain gift her granddaughter did.

Also, she made you earn what you got. Like if you wanted money, it was like 'sweep the floor and do the dishes and maybe you'll get a dollar. In my day you only got one cent for working from dawn until dusk!"

She was a little harsh. Until that one weekend I was staying with her while Mum was on a business trip.

I asked if she had candy and she just went on to one of her "in my day…" speeches about how she was so poor she couldn't afford candy let alone the shoes on her feet.

I just groaned and went to my room.

When she fell asleep in front of the TV, I snuck into her room to try and find candy and as I was riffling through her draws, I found a tin with a stash of money. And, no wonder I got good at stealing and breaking and entering because, when I was a little short of change, I just snuck back to Grandma's and 'borrowed' some from her tin. She also liked to state obvious physical changes in me, especially my chest.

"It's nice to see you too." I said with a slightly embarrassed smile on my face. "Um, Grandma, this is Jesse, My fiancée. Jesse, this is Olive, my grandmother." She smiled and they shook hands.

We followed her in. "Now, I didn't have time to bake cookies. But I went down to the shop and bought some shortbreads and blueberry muffins. I hope that's ok Jesse. I do normally bake something but you came so early."

Oh, I forgot, she is the type of Grandma who bakes. Man can she bake. And she's good at savoury too. I guess, with a big family that she had when she was young, you had to know how to cook.

"It's fine, Ma'am. I'm sure shortbread and blueberry muffins will satisfy my taste buds just brilliantly." He smiled at her politely.

"Oh, please. Call me Olive, dear. Susannah, help me with the refreshments, will you?" I nodded and followed her into the kitchen.

"Jesse, you can sit down. She's not gonna bite your head off." He smiled at me and sat at the kitchen table.

"Susannah, where did you meet this Jesse?! He is very handsome and so well mannered. I approve of this one." She smiled very excitedly at me. I grinned back.

"I'm so happy, Grandma. Mum still thinks he's a little old for me…" She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please. Your grandfather was seven years older than I was. It didn't stop us." She smiled. "I can't believe you're finally getting married!"

"Surprisingly, neither can I."

"Come on, Susannah. We better not keep Jesse waiting."

We went back out to Jesse with the pot of tea, coffee and tray of biscuits and muffins. We walked in to find Jesse holding Paul (well, to Grandma it was just thin air) by the shirt and getting ready to swing. He suddenly let him go, which put Paul off balance and made him stumble back. He dematerialized and Jesse straightened up. He smiled at Grandma.

"Here. Let me help you with that." He took the pot of tea and placed it on the table.

"Thank you, Jesse." She glanced at me questioningly and then pretended it never happened. "Well, sit down. I won't snap at you. Go on, Susannah. Sit next to Jesse."

"So, Jesse. You're originally from Carmel? How long have you lived there?"

"It seems too long to even remember, Ma'am"

"Oh, goodness, Jesse. Please. I insist that you call me Olive. It makes me sound so…much older and superior to you, which I am not, besides the old part." He chuckled.

"Of course. I will indeed call you Olive, if you wish."

"Thank god. Now, can I pour you some tea?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Milk or sugar?"

"No, thank you, Olive. That looks lovely." I could tell Grandma was warming up to him and I was so happy about that.

"So, tell me a bit about yourself. You're Hispanic?" He nodded as he sipped his tea. "I could tell. My late husband's grandmother was Hispanic."

Jesse then did this thing where he did the sign of the cross on his chest and said "May he rest in peace".

We both just looked at him and raised our eyebrows. I shook my head and continued the conversation.

"Really, Grandma? You never told me that."

"I didn't, Susannah? Oh dear. Well, she was stunning. Beautiful thick eyelashes, luscious red lips and gorgeous figure. Just dazzling and the most vivacious woman you could meet. So full of love and life. I admired her so much."

"What was her name?" Jesse asked.

"Carmen Rajas. I wish you had met her, Susannah. She could teach you so much."

I smiled.

"She sounds amazing."

"Anyway, I don't suppose you knew them. She was the last of the Rajas family to live."

Jesse thought for a moment. "I think we did have a connection with a Rajas family, actually. Did they own some type of strawberry field?" Her eyes brightened.

"I believe they did, Jesse. How could you know that? She died before you could have even been born."

"Oh, before my parents passed, they told me stories of how they had the biggest and best strawberries in the whole of the world." He smiled.

I could tell he was remembering the 1850s and his family. Suddenly, a small tear crept down his face. I put a reassuring hand on his arm. He looked into my eyes and held my hand. I smiled up at him, sympathetically.

"I'm sorry, Jesse." Grandma told him.

He smiled at her. "It was a while ago. But thank you for being so sympathetic." She nodded.

"So, where have you planned to have the wedding?" Jesse and I looked at each other.

"We're still thinking about it. I mean, we don't want it on the beach because it's too messy with the sand and water and everything. We don't want it at the park because that's a bit tacky. We just thought a nice simple, backyard wedding would be nice with our old friend Father Dominic marrying us."

"But we were still considering the option of a church wedding, Querida." I sighed.

"Yes, but my vote is still for the backyard." I said, grinning.

"If it makes you happy, then the backyard it is." We smiled teasingly at each other.

"Good." I nodded my head.

"Susannah, have you looked at dresses?" Grandma asked.

"Grandma, you know I've been looking at dresses since I was twelve. I am not going to explain it here. It's bad luck."

"Very well, I'll just have to be surprised." I reached out for my coffee when it started quivering. I didn't know what was going on. Suddenly it tipped over.

"Suze, you promised not to tell. You promised…" A familiar voice said. Grey, thick clouds covered the sky and it started to rain. I looked up from my coffee to see Paul on the veranda. The whole apartment started quivering. Oh my god.

"Paul! Stop!" I looked over at Grandma. She was clutching the edges of the table for dear life. "Paul! Please!" I started yelling. I walked out to the veranda. I put my hand on Paul's.

"Paul" Suddenly, the sky became blue again and it stopped shaking. I looked into his eyes.

"Suze, you promised not to tell! I can't believe I trusted you…" I sighed.

"Paul, I didn't tell him!"

"Yes you did. I could hear you last night!"

"I didn't tell him how you died, just that you did. Look, he understands-"

"Suze, he'll never understand. He's never understood me in his life or in his death."

"I couldn't not tell anyone! I had to tell somebody, ok? How could you let me carry that on my shoulders until you passed? You really are selfish." I shook my head, walked back inside and snatched up a muffin. I bit into it and sighed. I suddenly realized I had an audience. I forgot Jesse and Grandma were there.

"Susannah, what was that?" I shrugged at her.

"Some bad weather…" she cut me off.

"No, Susannah, I meant who was that boy?"