Little Havana Nights

From A Girl To A Woman

The last year of the 80s was also the year that Cassandra and Danielle would finish highschool. The girls were both only modelling at this point so that they could continue their education, but after graduation and senior prom, the girls would go to Paris for their very first runway show!

French fashion designers had seen these girls' pictures in various clothes catalogues and TV commercials, and soon word got round to fashion designers in Italy and other parts of Europe, and they wanted these Cuban beauties to guest star on the runway.

Aunt Alice would be sent to chaperone the girls because they were still minors, and they also had several younger siblings who needed their parents.

The girls were so excited! They would spend most of the Summer in a beautiful apartment in Paris, before going to Italy for a few days, then spending a week in Spain. Aunt Alice was very excited as she'd never been to Paris or Spain before. She went to Italy when she was a young girl, and couldn't wait to visit again.

A week after their wonderful senior prom, the girls were on their way.

"Don't worry ladies, I'll take great care of your daughters. I love them like they're my own." Said Alison.

A stretch limo took them to their apartment where they would reside for 2 months. Alison was also going to spend her birthday in Paris, which was on July 14th, so the girls wanted to do something special for the "non-Latina" aunt that they loved so dearly.

"Good thing we speak Spanish and she doesn't." Said Cassandra. "That makes things easier doesn't it?"

"Very true." Said Danielle. "If she overhears us she can't understand what we're saying!"

By this they meant that they wanted to surprise their Aunt Alison, hence they didn't even want her to have a clue as to what they were planning for her special day, and that was easy to do since Alison didn't understand them when she heard them talking. She just assumed they were talking about "girl stuff".

They took her to the exclusive Le Meurice restaurant for dinner. It was a gorgeous restaurant, and they felt like they were in the Palace of Versailles!

"You did this for me?!" Said Alison, as her eyes filled with tears of joy.

"Of course!" Said Cassandra. "We love you, and you deserve this!"

"You always took such great care of us." Said Danielle. "You were always like a second mom to us."

Alison each gave the girls a great big hug and they then went to their table. They enjoyed a dinner, and when they got back to the apartment, the girls presented Aunt Alison the dessert - French chocolate cake - her favorite. While doing so, they sang "Feliz Cumpleaños" to her as the candles on the cake created ambience.

"My precious angels!" Said Alison. "Gracias, muchas gracias!"

"De nada, Tia!" Said Cassandra as Alison hugged her and Danielle again.

Alison blew out the candles and they all enjoyed a piece of the delicious cake. It was truly the best birthday celebration Alison had ever had, and she couldn't wait to tell everyone about it.

The girls made sure Alison got a VIP front row seat at the fashion show, and she cheered them on when she saw the beautiful young women catwalk in the beautiful designer dresses.

There was another fashion show in Florida that the whole family was able to attend once the girls returned from Paris. They were so proud of the girls.

"I'm also very pleased at how well you & Danielle took care of Tia Alison." Soledad told Cassandra.

The girls were starting to become well-known and popular runway models in the fashion world. They weren't famous supermodels like Cindy Crawford, but they still made great living with a large fan-base of teenage girls, especially Hispanic teen girls. And now that they were finally out of highschool, they could now pursue singing and dancing!

Since they were teenagers the girls often sang at the restaurant with a backing band. Other singers would come and go. They sang mostly covers of popular songs, both in Spanish and English. The girls' specialty was Spanish ABBA songs!

In 1992, there was a new girl who'd recently been hired by Emilio and Safira to sing for the live entertainment. Her name was Linda and she had just moved to Miami from Atlanta, Georgia (where she was born, her background was originally from the Dominican Republic so she, too, was a Spanish-speaker).

Danielle and Cassandra listened to her sing, and she had a very unique voice. They were impressed by her, and they decided to make her the lead singer of their newly formed girl group.

Linda was obviously excited because she knew of both Cassandra and Danielle after watching their Miami fashion show on TV, and it was one thing to have been hired to sing at the famous Cuba Pasado restaurant (which was now a very competitive position for young singers, as so many would apply) but for these models to have invited her to be the LEAD SINGER of their band!

"I won't let you down!" She promised.

Linda phoned her parents in Atlanta to tell them the exciting news. They were thrilled for her, and glad that she was able to prove them wrong and make something of herself.