“How can you explain your birthmarks and your sudden connection to Valeria? Don’t those recordings explain your inability for commitment and your disconnection to any woman until Valeria came along?”
“I . . . well . . . I. . .”
“It also makes sense about me,” Kate announced.
“About you? What do you have to do with my past life?”
“I was there, Valeria.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was Katalina. It’s all so clear now. You asked me to take care of your husband after you died and I did.”
“What?” asked Valeria.
“I’m the one who took care of Leonardo and baby Ofelia when you passed on. I guess I was still trying to be with him in this lifetime.”
“My gosh!”
“Don’t get so upset, Valeria,” rushed Kate.
“But . . . but . . .”
“It’s all in the past,” assured Kate.
“Oh my gosh!”
“Valeria, I now love Gary and not Enzo. You can be sure of that.”
“It’s not that,” mumbled Valeria, her voice hyperventilating.
“What is it then?” asked Lorenzo, concerned.
“My water just broke.”
“Your what?” asked Kate.
“I’m about to have this baby,” blurted Valeria, holding her womb with both her hands.
After rushing to the hospital, Doctor Urtiaga quickly informed Valeria that she’d been very lucky. Five hours of labor was practically unheard for a first child. Mrs. Loya smirked as her sight fell to hr daughter, her eyes in an 'I told you' mode.
“It was all those walks in the park. See how right I was?” Mrs. Loya commented proudly.
“Yes, Mama, Thank you,” said Valeria, seconds before she fell asleep with exhaustion.
When she awoke, Lorenzo quietly sat next to her. Her room glowed with bright and vivid colors of the dozens of flowers in it. His dark eyes stayed firmly on her and his smile contained the joy that took over his whole face. She rewarded him with a smile of her own.
“How do you feel?” he asked anxiously.
“Like my body just split open.”
He chuckled. “Okay, that was a stupid question.”
“No, it wasn’t stupid. It was very considerate.”
Her lips turned upward when she thought of him in the delivery room with her, helping her breathe. He looked so shaky and worried, and she with the urge to hit him—to hit the man, no matter how devastatingly attractive he was, who had impregnated her. The vicious pain had been so acute and unrelenting that blaming him for it had been easy in the state she was in. But that feeling had left as soon as their baby girl had been born.
“Our baby is beautiful,” he said with glowing eyes as he took Valeria's hand and put it against his warm cheek.
“She looks like you,” Valeria commented, a sparkling glint in her own eyes.
“I think she looks like you. She couldn’t be more gorgeous.”
“Thank you.”
Lorenzo kissed her hand, his firm lips sending shivers up her spine. “You’re welcome.”
“I guess our baby has a little of both of us.”
“What do you want to name her?” he asked.
“I’d like to name her after the elderly neighbor who gave me this,” Valeria asserted, indicating the ring on her finger.
“What’s the name?”
“Ofelia.”
Lorenzo grew disconcertedly quiet.
“You don’t like the name?” asked Valeria, upset.
“It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
“You really haven’t realized it?”
“Realized what?”
“Think about it,” he asked of her.
“Think about what?”
“The name Ofelia doesn’t sound familiar to you? Doesn't it ring a bell?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The recordings,” he declared, frowning.
“I don’t really want to talk about the recordings,” she stated. She had decided to put them out of her thoughts for the time being.
“We have to.”
“But—“
“Remember the name Ofelia from them?”
Realization suddenly crept in. “Ofelia was Valentina’s mother,” she murmured.
“Yes, and also Valentina and Leonardo’s baby,” he said quietly.
“My gosh, this gets stranger by the minute!”
“You can say that again.”
Valeria sighed deeply. Even though she and her parents had mentioned to him tidbits of her relationship with the elderly woman who had lived next door to them a long time ago, maybe it was time to go further into detail. “Let me tell you a story.”
She started telling him about Doña Ofelia, wincing at certain parts where the elderly woman had explained in detail about her parents and stepmother. It had been then that Valeria had stopped dreaming about the Mexican Revolution for the most part—except for the one nightmare that wouldn’t let her go. The one that was eerily similar to the death of Valentina. When Valeria stopped talking, a quiet blanketed her hospital room as if no more words could fit the air.
“Valeria,” Lorenzo murmured, breaking the silence, “does it seem strange to you that what was on those recordings not only coincide with my nightmares but also coincide with what that elderly lady told you about her life and her parents?”
“Yes, it's bizarre,” she muttered.
Chapter 60
Baby Ofelia slept soundly in her solid white crib with her parents standing above her, marveling at the magic that newborns brought with them from another world. They stared in amazement at her small body, tiny hands, and pretty face with the puckered lips. They listened carefully to her deep breathing and then smiled with translucent rays of bliss at one another.
Valeria mouthed and gestured to Lorenzo that they should leave the nursery. He nodded and stepped out with her. They made it to the living room before either said anything. The soft radio music that had been left on helped the overwhelming quiet.
“She’s such a miracle,” declared Lorenzo.
“Yes, she’s one hundred percent a miracle,” asserted Valeria. “The miracle of Ofelia.”
“Ofelia,” he repeated, in deep thought.
As they sat down on the sofa, Lorenzo gave Valeria a serious look. He shuffled in his seat, deciding whether to bring up what had been circulating in his mind. “Valeria, I know you’ve been through a lot the past few weeks but I think we need to talk about it.”
“Talk about what?” she asked defensively.
“Those recordings.”
“I don’t—“
“We can’t pretend they don’t exist.”
The Ballad Of Forever blared out and both shot their bewildered eyes to the built in radio, next to the light switch. After setting aside her stunned reaction, Valeria strode to the radio and hastily turned it off.
“I’m not ready to talk about those recordings,” she insisted, obviously disconcerted.“But—”
“Not ready,” she affirmed.
The doorbell rang, intruding on the thick tension in the air. Lorenzo frowned deeply. “Okay, have it your way,” he grumbled as he stood up to answer it.
“How’s our grandchild?” asked Mr. Loya with excitement in his voice as he and Mrs. Loya stood at the door.
“She’s asleep,” informed Valeria, a smile back on her lips. “Hi, Mom and Dad.”
“Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Loya. Please come in,” Lorenzo greeted with his own returning smile as he led them inside the house.
“What’s all that stuff?” asked Valeria, getting an eyeful of the many packages stacked in their hands.
“We found the most beautiful things for Ofelia at the mall,” stated Mrs. Loya.
“She was just born and you’re already spoiling her,” commented Valeria.
“Don’t even t
hink about getting in the way of our duties as grandparents,” stated Mrs. Loya sternly. “Don't even think about it.”
“You can spoil your grandchild all you want,” affirmed Lorenzo, a grin on his face.
“Did we tell you how much we liked you from the very first time we met you?” asked Mr. Loya.
Valeria chuckled lightly. “Was that before or after you were furious with him for the Acapulco wedding?”
“Daughter, do you have to bring up the past?” frowned Mr. Loya.
“It was just a little misunderstanding. This is a happy occasion, let’s stop thinking of such things,” stated Mrs. Loya.
“Yes, let's,” agreed Lorenzo.
“Where is your family?” asked Mrs. Loya. Lorenzo’s parents, sister, and nephew had arrived the day before bearing suitcases of gifts for Ofelia.
“They’re visiting friends,” informed Lorenzo.
“I forget that they lived here before they moved to Albuquerque,” commented Mrs. Loya.
That evening with both families at the dinner table, each person enjoying one another's company and talking about bright hopes for baby Ofelia, Lorenzo took in the ease and comfort of the atmosphere. Two families had become one. He looked up from his plate of chicken tacos and caught the eye of Valeria. She smiled radiantly at him, and he knew without a single seed of doubt that she was thinking the same thing.
Chapter 61
“Mama, are you sure she’s okay?” asked Valeria, the soft angles of her face in a tight expression.
“Yes, Ofelia’s fine like a small kitten with its mother. She’s just got a little fever. The doctor already told you what to do.”
Valeria gazed down at her daughter, sound asleep in her crib. “But what if he’s wrong and she’s got something more serious?”
Mrs. Loya patted Valeria’s hand. “Ofelia is fine, Valeria.”
“I guess I worry too much.”
“You’re a new mother. It’s natural for you to worry about every little thing.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. When you were a baby, I’d poke you to make sure you were fine.”
“Poke me?”
“Yes, but not hard,” rushed Mrs. Loya.
Valeria smiled. “Okay, I forgive you for poking me.”
“You liked all the attention I’d give you,” remarked Mrs. Loya.
“I still do.”
When the telephone rang, Valeria picked it up as she warmly smiled at her mother. “Hello.”
“May I speak to Lorenzo Montes’s wife,” the female voice on the other end requested.
“This is Valeria. I’m his wife,” she explained, not knowing what to make of the phone call.
“I’m calling you from Cerritos Hospital, and I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news.”
“What is it?” Valeria asked anxiously.
“Your husband just had an accident.”
“An accident?” Valeria questioned, grabbing the top of the wing chair next to her while trying to steady herself.
“I’m afraid so.”
“How is he?” she asked while acid bubbles ate at her.
“I'm not sure. They’re running a battery of tests right now.”
“He’s alive though, right?”
“Yes, he’s alive.”
After hanging up, Valeria looked at her mother with such alarm in her eyes that Mrs. Loya rushed to her.
“What happened?” Mrs. Loya questioned, anxiously waiting for an answer.
“Lorenzo . . . Lorenzo . . .”
“Tell me what happened,” entreated Mrs. Loya.
“He’s had an accident.”
“Is he okay?”
“I don’t know. . . I’ve got to get to the hospital,” stated Valeria. “Can you stay with Ofelia?” She was already at the door.
“Of course.”
“Thank you.”
As soon as she arrived at the hospital, fortunate that she hadn’t received a speeding ticket, she immediately inquired about the room he was in. She forced herself to concentrate on the directions the information person was giving her. Rushing to Lorenzo's room, she found tubes coming in and out of him, an oxygen mask on his face, and dark purple bruises on the skin covering most parts of his skin. The shock of his tortured state almost rendered her speechless.
“What happened?” she finally managed to croak out as she tried to look into his eyes but they were barely open and his mouth could only moan.
Valeria jerked her hands to her heart. “Please don’t die. Please. I know I died on you in the last life but don’t die on me in this one,” she pleaded. It was the first time she admitted to herself that the recordings had contained a reality that even though was hard to face, judging by the evidence that kept materializing, had to be based on truth.
His half open eyes stared at her glazed and distant. She wondered how drugged up he was. How much pain is he in? Can he understand what I’m telling him? He’s in such bad shape that he doesn’t even look like himself, but I’ll love him no matter how disfigured he is.
She tenderly planted a kiss on his forehead, the only skin not bruised as her tears rolled down her face, making everything fortunately looked blurry. She doubted if she could stand having a clear view of his ravaged state.
“I’ve got to get this off my chest because if I don’t do it now, I never will. I want you to know the reason I stay married to you isn't just because of the baby. I know we've talked about our feelings before, but I need to tell you that I love you. I love you more than I've ever loved any other man.”
“You do?” asked a voice behind her.
Valeria’s throat went dry as she turned around. Shock nearly toppled her over. Lorenzo sat smugly in a wheel chair while a nurse stood behind him.
“Who is this?” Valeria asked with a shaky voice as she pointed to the man on the bed.
“My roommate. The empty bed on the other side of the room is mine,” he explained, smiling an overwhelming, effervescent smile.
Embarrassed, Valeria turned to the man. “I’m sorry, Mister. I didn’t mean to bother you.”
“He’s pretty drugged,” the nurse said as she pushed Lorenzo to his side of the room. “I doubt if he’ll remember anything you told him.”
Valeria nodded with relief. “I hope you feel better,” she told him as she stepped over to Lorenzo’s side, promptly shutting the curtain between the two patients.
“I can take it on from here,” Lorenzo told the nurse, refusing her help as he stumbled up and sat on the bed.
“Do you need anything?” asked the nurse as she started wheeling out the wheel chair.
“No, I’m fine. I've got what I need,” he asserted, giving Valeria a broad smile.
“Call the nurse’s station if you need anything,” the nurse threw out as she stepped out the door.
Lorenzo turned his full attention to Valeria. “I was getting X-rays,” he informed matter-of-factly. “That’s why I wasn't here.”
“Are you okay?” she asked with concern, her eyes sweeping over the array of purple bruises not covered by his hospital gown.
“Yes, just very banged up. It’s good that you’re here. You can take me home.”
“You’ve already been released?” she asked, surprised.
“Not exactly.”
“Not exactly?”
“The doctor wants to keep me overnight for observation. It’s unnecessary. I don’t want to be here, and I’m going home.”
“Lorenzo,” she said sternly, “I’m not taking you anywhere without the doctor’s permission.”
“But—“
“Don’t even try to change my mind.”
He frowned, his dark eyes rolling. “You can be so bossy.”
“You’d better believe it.”
“Is it my fault that I’d rather be with you and Ofelia at our home instead of here?”
“You’re staying,” Valeria declared, no room for argume
nt in her voice. “You’ll be able to see our daughter when you get out.”
“Where’s Ofelia?”
“She’s with my mother. I ran over here when I got the call from the hospital.”
“So you dropped everything and rushed to the hospital?” he questioned, grinning.
“Why didn’t you call me yourself and told me you were okay?” Valeria asked, irritated. “Instead of worrying me to death?”
“My cell phone got busted in the accident and then they did a whole bunch of tests on me. The receptionist said she’d call you. I’m sorry. I didn’t think there would be a misunderstanding.”
“I thought the man in the other bed was you,” she said, water forming in her eyes. “The poor man is in really bad shape.”
“I’m sorry, Valeria.”
“You should be,” she said, sniffling.
He gently rubbed the tears away from her eyes. “I am,” he said tenderly.
“I even kissed the poor man. He must’ve been terrified seeing a perfect stranger smooch him.”
Lorenzo’s chuckle lit his whole face. “You kissed him—lucky man.”
“What is it that happened, anyway?” Valeria asked, her eyebrows knitted together.
“A van didn’t see me and turned to my lane, crashing into me.”
“A van?” she gulped, her voice suddenly dry.
“My car is totaled. I’m lucky to be here,” he stated, his eyes shot to hers.
Valeria nodded disconcertedly and placed her hand over her pounding heart. “Very lucky.”
“Is there something you want to tell me?” he asked gently.
“What a huge relief that something more serious didn’t happen to you,” she blurted.
“No, not that.”
“What do you want me to say?” she asked, puzzled.
“Tell me what you told my neighbor,” he entreated firmly.
“How much did you hear?”
“Enough to have made this accident worth it if I can get those words out of you.”
“Listen, Lorenzo,” she said nervously. “It was just the emotion of the accident speaking.”
“Then you don’t love me?”
“I . . . I—“
“Because I love you.”
“You do?”
Lorenzo sighed deeply. “I’m sorry I hadn’t told you yet. I’ve told you that I have feelings for you, but I’ve never said I love you.”
“You love me?”
“Yes, I love you like I’ve never loved any woman.”
“But—“
“The first time I saw you was it for me. I’ve never been the kind of person who believes in love at first sight. Before you came along it seemed like a silly idea. Unrealistic. I’ve never gone for all that giddy romance stuff, but then it happened to me.”