" Aling Busyang is dead Mama, nobody will know now... the truth will be buried with her!" desperation lingered within Fausta's voice when she spoke, and when she dragged on her cigarette, her long well manicured fingers shook.
"Callese! Calm yourself Ustang!"
Dona Rosa admonished her daughter and after a quick glanced around the the ancestral mausoleum at La Carlotta cemetery where all the De Gracias Clan were buried, she looked at her and added, "Now is hardly the right time to fret nor celebrate!" Turning to her trusted chauffeur, she signalled with her fan and beckoned.
" Let's go... Vamonos!"
Fausta was worried. She has missed her monthly period for over two months now. She never had such a delay before, and it has been barely three months after her big Debutant ball. She could possibly be pregnant!
"This could turn into a huge disaster!" She said to no one in particular. She stood up and gazed at her own reflection through the full-size mirror. She turned sideways, and tried looking at herself from her back.
" Oh no, this would be obvious in a few more weeks! This is bad, very bad indeed, bad for my impending marriage to Mariano!" She cried out.
" What am I to do? Should I go and tell Mama? Or should I go see Armando and let him know about it instead?"
She felt nauseous and a bitter taste of vile started to populate her throat. The room seemed to feel higher and started spinning around. Her hands felt damp and sweaty. Fausta blacked out.
When she awakened. Dona Rosa's disapproving face welcomed her.
" It's all done Hija." She said flatly.
Fausta turned her gaze to the old woman standing on her bedside across from Dona Rosa.
" Thank you Aling Busyang for coming straight away." She approached the kindly Hilot and gave her a handful of one peso bills. " Here, I trust that this matter will not leave this room Aling Busyang!" Dona Rosa said with finality.
" Opo. Yes, for sure. No one will know about this miscarriage! Not a single soul Dona Rosa."
" Sige... Via con dio!"
The matriach waved the elderly woman goodbye.
Turning towards her bedridden daughter, she said evenly "Get a good rest Fausta... your wedding with Don Mariano will pushed through as planned!" and with that parting advise, Dona Rosa left.
Fausta, still dazed from the herbal concoctions the trusted Hilot gave her, slid her body upwards from the comforts of the soft pillows and stared at the massive mahogany door.
********************
" You lied to me Armando! How could you have lied to me?" Metring asked him as tears flowed down from her eyes.
" But... but it's you I truly love! " Armando justified.
" Am I supposed to feel better with that? " said the distraught Metring.
" that you loved me more than you loved Fausta doesn't change the fact that you lied Andoy!" She started to walked away from the pristine river. She wanted to be as far away from where Andoy was sitting. " And of all people, it had to be Fausta, the daughter of Dona Rosa? What was he thinking?" Questions kept coming to her.
How could today turned out to be such a horrible one when it started so beautifully? Warm tears on her face blurred her view. If only I could erase all the bad things that happened and start the day all over...
Metring woke up particularly early today. She looked down at her two small brothers, Pepito and Joselito, both sleeping soundly, hurdled together on a small woven mat, by the wooden floor, with their glaucoma blinded mother- Maria.
Maria had been partially blind since after the birth of her youngest son- Pepito.
It didn't help that her husband, Ruben left them for another woman, as rumoured to her by her "concerned neighbours".
Now it has become Metring's responsibility to raise the family.
Her mother stirred and started to get up. " Hush... Inang, go back to sleep.
I will take care of our breakfast!" Metring reassured her. " I'll let you know when its ready."
The morning rays cast its golden hues inside the small bamboo kitchen of the Lopez's Nipa and bamboo hut.
Metring was decidedly chirpy this morning. Andoy had promised a surprise for her today. "What could it be? " excitedly, she started cooking Sinangag, left over rice fried with fresh garlics, and Tuyo, Inang Maria's favourite dried herring fish.
As she chopped away the vine ripened tomatoes from her vegetable garden below, she sighed and looked back to the special times she and Armando has shared since their first encounter months ago.
Armando pursued Metring until she finally relented and she agreed to go on a picnic with him accompanied by her brothers to the city of Talisay.
Talisay city was founded in 1648 as an estate owned by the Augustinians.
Together they prayed inside Sta Teresa De Avila Church, and vowed their love for each other.
This church was built in 1836 with unique Graeco-Roman architecture.
Works on the church started in 1836 and It was only completed by the year 1848.
Lovers often come to this church to pledge their love and to the saints' Devotion to Ecstasy, as Santa Teresa is revered as the Doctor of Prayer.
" Oh dear beloved Sta Teresa De Avila... How could Andoy betrayed our love for each other like this? " prayed Metring.
"How can I ever face Dona Rosa with this knowledge and with this deceit in my heart? In fact, how can I accept her offer to work as Kitchen Maid in their Mansion and risk seeing Fausta on a daily basis?
Oh dear me, this is not good at all!
What am I to do??? She prayed some more.
YOU ARE READING
FOREVERMORE ( Simula Ng Walang Hanggan)
Historical Fiction" According to stories, which may or may not be true, this was half of a whole. This used to be a tiara, a mini crown when Nana Sepa got it. She was awaken one midnight by a voice calling her name...Sepa! Sepa! So she followed the calling, well thr...
