Chapter 88

GABRIELA

Right now, we were going in my car to pick Ana up from school since today she leaves early and it's the last day for her too. My cousin, Carlota, Marcos and Ana were in the car and the latter driving. I kept thinking about the reason why both Carlota and Kevin were a little tense. Marcos and Ana were the only ones who were not tense and honestly, I don't understand anything.

"You guys get on my nerves. What's going on? Why are you so tense?" I asked for the tenth time a day. "I think you see things where there's Gabriela." said my best friend and I rolled my eyes. "Don't lie to me, Carlota, because I know something is happening." I assured, because I knew something is happening and no one was telling me anything. "There's nothing wrong with us, I think you're getting paranoid."

"Now I'm getting paranoid, okay wonderful. But I know something is wrong with you." I started to look out the window because I would get angry for not understanding what they were hiding. I had the impression it had to do with me, but I have no idea what it could be.

"Mommy, are you angry?" Ana asked next to me "No honey, I'm just thinking." At that moment I noticed my cousin, who was looking at me with a face of not understanding anything, I guess it was because of Ana, I had gotten used to everyone looking at us with that face when Ana called me mommy.

"Moeder? (Mommy)" my cousin asked and I looked at him "Lang verhaal te vertellen. (Long story to tell)" I replied "Heeft mama je echt gebeld? (Did she really call you mom?)" he asked again as if he didn't hear what he had told him "Ja Kevin, en zoals ik al zei, het is een lang verhaal. (Yes Kevin, and like I told you, it's a long story)"

"Hoe lang het ook is, je zult me ​​Gabriela vertellen, want ik wil weten waarom de zus van de jongens die jij als broers beschouwt, je moeder noemt. (No matter how long it is, you'll tell me Gabriela, because I want to know why the sister of the boys you consider brothers calls you mom.)" he answered "En ik zal je erover vertellen, maak je geen zorgen, we hebben tijd om te praten (And I will tell you, don't worry about that, we'll have time to talk)"

"Guys, I'm sorry to interrupt, but may I know what you're talking about?" My best friend asked. "Nothing." I answered "Gabrielaaaa." she protested and I rolled my eyes "Gabriela nothing, now you know what it feels like to have things hidden from you." I countered, "Cousin, don't be resentful, you're not a bad person."

"Mommy isn't a bad person, she's so kind and good." defended Ana "Sorry Ana, I didn't mean that." Kevin apologized. "Gabriela, it's okay you don't want to tell Carlota, but you can tell me, I don't even know what she's talking about, you know I would tell you if I knew." Marcos defended himself "It really nothing, it just happened to Kevin like what happened to you and the rest when hearing what Ana, that's all."

"It's shocking when someone call you mom so suddenly." My cousin defended himself. "She's Ana's legal guardian, so yeah, she's her mother." Marcos said without further ado "Wait, what? What are you talking about?" he asked "A long story to tell." Marcos answered, "That's what I told him." At that moment we arrived at Marcos' house and just Ana and I got off to go get a dress for her. It didn't take us long, ten minutes at most, and then we got back in the car to head to my house where everyone would be waiting. When we got to my house there's almost no place to leave the car since it my father's car, my uncles' car, who were two more, my grandparents' car and now mine.

We got out of the car and headed inside the house where everyone is chatting, but between Carlota, Roberta, Nerea, both of whom are my cousins too, and my grandmother, made me go upstairs. We walked into my room and I could see things were out of place, making me wonder what they had in mind to do.

"Come on Gabriela, we have to make you beautiful." My cousin said with a big smile on her face. "Mommy is beautiful." the girl protested and my cousins' face was the same as Kevin's, but my grandmother prevented them from asking, as she would tell her the reason later. "Grandma, I know you won't hide anything from me. "

"Of course not." She responded quickly, "So can you tell me what's happening that makes everyone tense?" I asked and I saw how she denied, "I can't tell you that." Grandma answered and I frowned. "How could you not?" I questioned, "No, I can't, I promised." She insisted, "You're getting on my nerves with so much secrecy."

"Er is niet veel geheimhouding als de hele familie het weet. (There isn't much secrecy if the whole family knows.)" Nerea said "!!!!Nerea¡¡¡¡" Roberta exclaims "Nerea, mijn favoriete neef, waarom vertel je me niet wat de hele familie weet behalve ik? (Nerea, my favourite cousin, why don't you tell me what the whole family knows except me?)" I asked, turning on her direction "Ik ga het je niet vertellen, ik zeg alleen dat het een verrassing is van je vriend. ("I'm not going to tell you; I'll just tell you that it's a surprise from your boyfriend.)"

"Alex?" I asked confused "Ha. (Yes)" answered Nerea "Dat kan niet, de verrassing was dat je kwam. (That's impossible, the surprise was that you came.)" I muttered more to myself than to them, "Een van hen. De andere is de beste van allemaal, ik kan je verzekeren, ik zal je vragen... (One of them. The other is the best of all, I can assure you, he's going to ask you to...)"

At that moment Roberta's hand went to her sister's mouth to prevent her from saying what she was going to say. But now I had a doubt about what Alex was going to ask me for. If before I was curious to know what they were up to, now I wanted to know no matter what.

"Nerea, ga weg, je hoeft niet langer te helpen. (Nerea, go away, you are no longer needed to help.)" Roberta said serious "Ik wil mijn neef ook helpen mooi te worden, weet je, Roberta? (I also want to help my cousin be beautiful, you know, Roberta?)" Nerea objected "Dat weet ik, maar het is niet het beste wat je kunt doen je kunt je mond niet houden. (I know, but it's not the best thing you can do, you can't keep your mouth shut.)"

"Hij moet de waarheid kennen, Alex was van plan om hem te vragen of hij wilde zijn familie te ontmoeten, het is niet een slechte zaak voor zover ik weet dat hij erachter komt, voordat hij hem vertelt. (She has to know the truth, Alex was going to ask her if she wanted to meet his family, it's not a bad thing as far as I know if she finds out before he tells her.)" I noticed how Roberta relaxed at what her sister just said. Nerea, and I don't know why, I didn't believe what she had said, but I'm considerably nervous, and I don't know the reason either. What was Alex's surprise they were talking about? And no less important, why hadn't I found out until now?

"De jongen was opgewonden om het hem te vertellen, het was een verrassing, niet voor jou om hem Nerea te vertellen. (The boy was excited to tell her, it was a surprise, not for you to tell her Nerea.)" Roberta said this time calmly "Girls, here we have to do one thing, and speak all English, because I love myself find out what you are talking about."

I turned to Carlota, because she couldn't lie to me right now if I blurted out the question out of nowhere, I would catch her off guard and she would answer me with her expression, that's for sure. "Does Alex want to introduce me to his family?" I asked, knowing it more than likely I would catch her off guard. "What?... Ah, aaaah... yes, that's what he wants to do."

I turned in the direction of my cousins and I could see they had a relieved face, and that is what confirmed to me what they were telling me isn't true, but I would find out what they're trying to hide from me. "Je bent leugenaars, weet je. (You are liars, so you know.)" I pointed out "Gabriela, English please."

"Mommy, I want to learn that language too." Ana said with a big smile next to me and looking at me as if she's fascinated. "Someday I will teach you, but now why don't you go practice with the guitar?" I asked "Okay, I love you mommy." She said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "I love you, darling." I responded, giving her a kiss on the temple and with that Ana walked out the door, but not before grabbing the guitar and my cousins turned in my direction.

"Can you explain to us why the girl calls you mommy?" Nerea asked curiously. "Long story, and I shouldn't tell you since you don't tell me what you're hiding from me." I pointed out, "I can solve that for you girls." Carlota said, straightening up in the place she was sitting. "Well, say it." Nerea answered "She's Ana's legal guardian, and before that happened, she asked her if she could be her mother, which she accepted. From there Ana calls her mommy."

"Why didn't we know this?" Roberta asked, turning in my direction "Because I missed it. Plus, I thought you knew it from when you're talking to your grandma or something. I didn't knew you had no idea" I said "Well, let's leave that for later and let's get you ready Gabriela. Today is a great day."

"I'm just graduating grandma." I said rolling my eyes "Well that's why it's a great day, now let's go. We only have an hour and a half left, and we are going to need that hour." With that they made me sit in a chair and grandma began to iron my hair while Carlota tried to convince me to put on makeup, which she's not going to achieve.

A little less than an hour later grandma finished ironing my hair and Carlota had managed to paint my nails, I wasn't going to get anything else. "Well, it's time for you to put on your dress."

Roberta went to the closet and took out a dress that wasn't there in it in the morning, but the it's beautiful. It was white and short that would reach the middle of my thighs with a pronounced neckline, but covering what's necessary. On the back I had a pair of strings that would be responsible for closing the dress, allowing me to see parts of my back.

"You like it?" Grandma asked "It's beautiful, thank you Grandma." I thanked "You're welcome, but now put it on because it will take us a couple of minutes to close and in twenty minutes we have to leave." she reported "I'm going to go change, why don't you girls come with me?" Carlota asked, "Delighted."

Both Carlota and my cousins left through the bedroom door, leaving my grandmother and I alone who didn't speak for a couple of minutes, until I decided to ask her one last time what they were hiding from me.

"Grandma, what are you not telling me?" I asked now we're alone. "It's nothing, don't worry about it." She responded "How can I not worry? I know it has to do with me and Alex. He's been tense for a couple of weeks and can't get off his phone." I revealed "He will have some family problem." Grandma responded and I denied, because I know it would be something my boyfriend would have told me, "If I had it, Grandma would have told me."

"I really don't know what you think is happening to Alex, but if you stay calm with what I'm going to tell you now, Carolina told me he was a little stressed because he wasn't sure he would pass." reported "Of course he was going to do it, he has made an effort to finish the degree." I answered, completely convinced he would do it and not completely sure grandma is telling me the truth. "I suppose. Maybe that's why you notice him tense, not because of anything else."

"But that doesn't make sense either. We already know we've finished the degree." I answered, "From what Carolina told me, he had failed one of them his classes, and they didn't give it to him until today." Grandma reported, "Why wouldn't he tell me?" I asked more to myself than to her. "I really don't know, I'm sure not to worry you." Grandma pointed out, "I'm still not convinced. "

"Because you're stubborn and there's no one who can take away the ideas in your head, but I'll tell you what Carolina told me." she defended herself "I know I'm stubborn, but I can't help it. Also, what Nerea said left me nervous." I confessed, "You shouldn't pay attention to your cousin, you know she makes up stories in her head about nothing." Grandma answered and I nodded, because even though I knew it's true, I also know she said that the surprise had to do with Alex was true. "But her thing is what fits the most, she just didn't give the reason."

"You know what your cousin is like, she likes to make up stories in her head, and if what she said was that Alex wanted you to meet his family, Carolina told me something about that." Grandma revealed, "What exactly did he tell you?" I asked curiously, "I have to assume what your cousin told you, but now let's go, I'm sure Carlota is ready and I don't think you want to keep Alex waiting, he must be looking forward to seeing you. Just like everyone else down there."

"Okay, let's go." I said, standing up "Before I leave, let me tell you I'm proud of you. For everything you had to face this year and the fact you managed to forgive Alex is the best thing you could have done, now you are happy with the man you love and who also loves you and will do whatever it takes to make you happy, starting with today."

"He hasn't started today, since he returned to college, he has taken it upon himself to make me happy." I admitted and a big smile appeared on my grandmother's face "Yes, I'm sorry, that's what I meant. I hope you're happy with him, my girl," she replied, "I already am, grandmother."

With that we left the room and headed downstairs where everyone is, including Carlota and my cousins. They stayed for a while looking at me, but soon my grandmother is in charge of making them move so we could go to college, since there were twenty minutes left until the ceremony began.