by Jamila Mafra
"I know, the doctor explained everything to me.
“You don’t have to go on circles, Brianna. Tell me what you got to tell me.”
"All right, I'll tell you soon because I cannot stand another minute in this hospital," she said harshly. "Albert, I do not want to get married any more. I would never be able to take care of you. I do not have the psychological conditions of having a crippled, motionless husband in a wheelchair.”
“What are you saying to me? What about our son? You are pregnant! Do you want to be a single mother?”
"I was thinking of the best way to tell the truth, in a less cruel way. But there is no other way.”
"What are you talking about?"
"Albert, I'm not pregnant. I've never been pregnant. I invented this pregnancy story just to force you to marry me. I did it to separate you from Ana Lucia.”
"And the exam you showed me at the best New York clinic?"
“I faked that pregnancy test. A friend of mine who is a doctor helped me to forge it.”
“What? No! This cannot be true! You cannot have done this to me! You're ruining my life. Brianna, you separated me from the woman I love and now you're abandoning me because I'm sick! Is that right or am I going crazy?” He did not want to believe what was happening.
"That's right; I'm ending my engagement to you right now. My bags are already in the car, I'm leaving to New York right now.”
"You tricked me, you lied to me. You kept me from being with the woman I love and now you're abandoning me. You're horrible, you're a snake! Ana Lucia told me so many times that you were no good and I did not believe you. I should have asked for another exam. Should have accompanied you on an ultrasound examination and so discovered your farce. Get out of here, Brianna! Get out of here now! I do not want to see you ever again!” Albert shouted with all his soul.
Brianna hurried off, crying hard.
Annette and Matthew witnessed the moment Brianna ran out, heard the son's screams, and hurried to the bedroom to find out what had happened.
"Albert, my son, what happened? Why did your bride run away from here?”
"She's not my fiancée anymore, Mother.”
"What do you mean; you're not your bride anymore?" Matthew asked, startled.
"And you still ask, Father? What woman do you think would agree to marry a man who's going to be lynched in a wheelchair, huh?”
"I cannot believe Brianna has abandoned you because of your illness! I can’t believe she did this to you.” Annette was indignant.
"I'm not crying because she abandoned me. I want more is that Brianna sums up my life forever. I do not want to see that woman anymore! I did not even want to marry her.”
"I know that, my son. You did not even want to go down to your engagement party. So what is the reason for your pain?” Annette questioned, still not understanding.
"I'm crying because, because of Brianna, I stopped being with the woman I really love. I felt compelled to marry Brianna because she invented this pregnancy story and even faked an exam! All of that just to make me marry her. Just to separate me from Ana Lucia.”
"But that's terrifying. How was Brianna able to play with your feelings? How could she fake a pregnancy test just to force you to marry her?” Matthew was more and more outraged.
“Brianna's a viper. She broke up with me because of my illness, said she could not bear having a crippled husband! I told Ana Lucia that I loved her and that I would not marry Brianna even though she had a child of mine. But Ana Lucia did not accept the situation, claiming that she could not bear to stay with me knowing that I would have a child of another woman who would torment her life forever. Ana Lucia was quite right. Brianna is evil, she is treacherous.” Albert let it out.
“What a horror! How could she have left you, Albert, my son? I do not suppose anyone fools a son of mine that way!” Annette was disgusted.
"I feel so relieved to have Brianna no longer in my life, and even more relieved to know that the pregnancy was false. But because of her I lost Ana Lucia forever. I love that Brazilian with all the strength of my heart.” Albert said, crying.
“My God! But how was she able to do that? It's awful!” Annette repeated, still not believing.
"Her attitude is pitiful. She faked a pregnancy test.” Matthew recalled.
"Actually, the woman who just walked out the door is a snake. She's no good. And now I'm here alone, without the woman I've loved most in my life. By the way, the only woman I've ever really loved.” Albert cried once more.
"My son, what Brianna did was deplorable. I'm so sorry you're suffering like this.” Annette hugged her son warmly.
"I'm going to talk to Brianna. She owes us explanations. How could she lie like this and then just leave you? I'm going after her right now. That woman needs to hear some good truths. How could she come up with such a lie? Pregnancy is serious, not a joke.” Matthew repeated his disgust in words.
“Don’t my love. Don’t make scandals.”
"I'll go after her, Brianna will hear me. She cannot play that way with people's feelings.” Angrily, Matthew withdrew, slamming the door behind him.
"It's all over for me, Mother.”
“Albert, hold me. I'm here to take care of you. Your sister is out there, she wants to see you. Meg misses you.”
"My little sister is so innocent.”
"Son, you're going to have to call Ana Lucia and tell her everything that's going on. She needs to know the truth.”
"No, Mother, I do not have the courage. By now she must be with someone else and I do not want to make her suffer even more.”
TRUE FEELING
“Ana Lucia.” She was sitting on the balcony reading a Physics article on the tablet.
“Aunt.”
“Can I know what you read so much on this tablet? It must be something very interesting.”
“Yes, it's very interesting. I am reading the doctoral thesis of the physicist Alan Beventura. It's unbelievable. This is a study of time-closed curves.” she told Margaret.
"I do not understand anything about scientific language. Translate it for me.”
"It's a thesis about time travel. Especially travel to the past. It was published by USP.” Complemented the explanation.
“And, according to what this physicist wrote, is it possible to travel to the past?” She asked curiously to her niece.
“Well, the calculations say yes, it is possible to travel to the past. But it's not so simple to do. We would need an effective means of transport that is far from being invented. We do not know whether the human body would endure travel as fast as light. I loved this thesis, I just finished reading.”
"Ana Lucia, is there anything in the past that you would like to change if you could go back in time?"
“But of course! It would change many things. Who would not want to change something in the past if it could go back in time?”
“Speaking of going back in time, your beloved is down below waiting for you to walk on the beach.”
“Wow! I completely forgot that he would come today. I was so distracted reading this incredible thesis that I forgot. I'm going to change fast. We will take a wonderful sea bath in Pernambuco Beach.”
"Do not delay; do not go leaving your prince waiting.”
***
They sat on the sand of the Pernambuco Beach. That Saturday afternoon was sunny.
“I love this beach. It's the first time I've been here since I came back to Brazil. And this Jequitimar hotel is beautiful!” Ana Lucia expressed her joy.
"Looks like the hotels in the Caribbean," he said, admiring the sea.
"Have you ever been to the Caribbean, Gabriel?"
“I never have been there. But I see it on the internet. This married sea is fascinating. Maybe one day I'll go to the Caribbean with my girlfriend.” he suggested.
“You are very funny. When I was a kid, here was a magical place for me. I thought it was am
azing a beach with two seas.”
"Actually, it's just a sea divided by a strip of sand," he clarified.
"Yes, but in my child's head were two seas.”
"Now that we're dating, it's time for you to tell me what happened in the States that hurt you so badly that it made you agree to stay with me again.” He demanded an explanation.
“Wait, you're confusing things. We're not dating. We're going out, getting to know each other.”
“It's the same for me. Going out, dating, whatever. I want you to tell me now everything that happened.”
"Why spoil everything with a story that is not worth remembering?"
"So it was something that really hurt you. I need to know not to have any surprises later. You open up with me. Unplug. Whatever it is, I'm here to support you.”
"Gabriel, since you insist on knowing, all right, I'll tell you everything.”
"Tell me the name of the guy who hurt you so much that you agreed to date the man who deceived you."
“His name is Albert. I met him at the mansion where I worked as a maid. His father promoted me to the desk, on merit. I got French businessmen in their absence, I translated the conversations, I made the negotiation.” She began the narration of the facts.
“Congratulations! And what did Albert do that hurt you so much?”
"He already had a girlfriend when I met him. A proud woman, very rich and beautiful, but arrogant. At first, I began to make my observations on the telescope at the top of a hill, on the farm. I went there every day after work. Until one day...”
"Until Albert got very curious and went up the hill to learn more about what you were doing. Am I right?”
“How do you know?”
"That's what I would do, too. Who would not be attracted to a beautiful woman who spends hours watching the night sky and the stars?” Gabriel explained to him about the men's attitudes.
“And that's how it all began. He went other times up the hill. Then the second time, he marveled at astronomy, asked me to admire the sky with him, took my hand. And the drama started because he wanted to be with me, but...”
“But he did not dare leave the millionaire bride to be with the poor girl he really loved.”
“Exactly; he even started studying astronomy in college because of me. We got even closer on campus. But when, at last, he decided to end it all with the bride, a terrible truth came to light.”
“What truth?”
"She said she was pregnant with him and so Albert gave up on abandoning her. However, he turned back and came to me, said that if I accepted that he was the father of another woman's son, he and I could be together forever.”
"But you did not agree to be with a man who would have a child with another woman who was extremely unbearable, who would make your life an eternal torment that would never leave you alone with him and use his own son as an object of threat. Is that it?”
“Yes, that's right! You took the words out of my mouth. Do you believe that at the time of farewell Albert begged me to kiss? But I did not. More than once he wanted to kiss me, but with great difficulty I refused. I did not want to be the other, the one who came later, just as I was the other in her life.”
"Ana Lucia, do you love this guy?"
"Look, all I know is that I need to forget him. At this time he is already marrying the other. I do not want to talk about this anymore.”
“Okay, I got it. Now I want to know how you feel about me.” he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
"That question is very easy to answer. The passion I felt for you is still here inside my heart. When I met you at the beach that day I was all creepy. You still mess with me a lot, Gabriel.” She stated her true feelings.
"I just want to kiss you and make you forget for a moment all you've suffered.” He said, stroking her hair. At last he kissed her.
THE PAST IS BACK
Freddy accompanied his niece to the United States consulate in the city of São Paulo.
“Ana Lucia, was everything okay? Renewed your visa?”
"Uncle Freddy, they denied my student visa! I do not know why, I presented all the college papers. They said that I worked harder than I studied there. I do not understand, I did not miss school so much.” she said quietly.
"You do not look so shaken by your denied visa. On the contrary, you seem very relieved to know that she will not be able to return to the United States.” Freddy made the remark.
"Uncle, I decided not to bother with this anymore. I can continue college here in São Paulo, USP. Astronomy is the same throughout the world. I have all the papers from Weber University here with me. I study two more years here and I take my diploma. In the second semester in the United States I advanced several subjects on Saturdays.”
"You dreamed so much about graduating from an American university. You fought so hard for this, Ana Lucia.”
“But what can I do? They just denied the visa for me. I prefer to conform and continue here even my studies.”
"It has to do with Albert, does not it? Your aunt told me everything.”
"Yes, you're right, Uncle. I'm relieved that they denied my visa. I do not dare go back to the United States, or meet Albert again, knowing he's with another woman.” She started to cry.
"My dear, you can cry. Cry on your uncle's shoulder. I'm just asking you to think it through. You can change university; you can go to another American state. There are so many good universities in the United States.
***
The bell of Margareth's apartment rang. She opened the door.
“Gabriel.”
"Margaret, is Ana Lucia there?"
“Sure, you can come in. She is in the bedroom resting.”
“Is she fine?
“Sad. She could not renew his visa.”
“What a pity. It is her dream to graduate as an astronomer at an American university.”
"You can go to her room, I'm sure Ana Lucia will love your visit."
“Excuse me, I'll talk to her.”
“Feel free.”
Gabriel knocked on the bedroom door.
"Come in," she agreed.
“Excuse me.”
"Gabriel, I'm glad you're here."
"You did not even call me to tell me what happened at the consulate." He sat down beside her on the bed.
"It's because the day was so tiring today, I just arrived from São Paulo.”
"Your aunt told me your visa was denied."
"Yes, I do not know why, but it was denied.”
"What about your college? And your dream of being an astronomer graduated from an American university?”
"Often parts of our dreams have to be left behind." She nodded.
"You seem quite content not to return to the United States."
"Yes, I'm very well adjusted. I will continue my studies at the University of São Paulo. Astronomy is the same everywhere in the world. You should be happy to know that I will not go back abroad.”
“What is it? I know you loved American very much, but being a university graduate is the great dream of your life! I would never be happy to know you gave it up.” he said truthfully.
“Let's change the subject?” She asked.
“That's right.”
***
It was Monday. Ana Lucia received a surprise.
“Gabriel! What a surprise! You here so early! I thought you were running on the beach.”
"I've come to get you to eat a pastel at the fair together. I know you love it.”
“Yes, I do! Pizza is my favorite flavor. Only here in São Paulo they make a special pastel with a unique flavor.”
"Then let's go to the fair! I’ll also step in the Japanese shop to buy an Itubaína that you also love.”
"I'm also in love with this tutti-frutti soda.” She smiled at her beloved.
***
The carnival was approaching and Ana Lucia planned a trip in the company of he
r uncles and Gabriel. That night he had just returned from the travel agency with Freddy.
"Auntie, we bought the packages for the trip. Northeastern beaches await us at this carnival.”
"I chose a wonderful hotel to spend the holiday facing a beautiful beach," Freddy told his wife.
"That's good, my love.” She kissed her husband.
CARNAVAL
“Auntie, I always wanted to be here in Fernando de Noronha! These beaches are beautiful. And this view from the balcony, facing this crystalline sea, is wonderful!”
“Where is your boyfriend?” Margaret asked curiously.
"He's gone to his room. He’s crazy to go to the beach and have a delicious sea bath.”
“Do not waste time. Live this love that is doing you so well, Ana Lucia.”
"True, this love is doing me very well. Soon I will resume my studies at USP and everything will return to normal in my life.” She said excitedly.
"Well, your uncle is already there in the hotel garden waiting for me. I'm going down; let's clear the beaches and the city.”
“Nice ride, Aunt. Have a good time.” Ana Lucia smiled.
"You as well, my dear.” Margaret kissed Anne's face and left.
Gabriel knocked on the door and Ana Lucia opened it:
“And then? Are you ready to know the beautiful beaches of Fernando de Noronha?”
“Ready. Let's go!” She said with a smile.
"I'm looking forward to the 90's carnival ball that will take place tomorrow night in the hotel lounge.”
“Really? I was not even aware of this dance! It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.”
“The DJ is well known. It will remix the biggest hits of the 90s.”
“I love 90s music”.
“Me too.”
***
The dance night came.
"The room is very ornate, the weather and the excitement are contagious." Ana watched, bouncing.
"Let's dance until you're tired, Ana Lucia. Tonight is ours!” He exclaimed excitedly.