Right Choice?

Rafael

'Hi, Carmen, Woh, its been such a long time since I last saw you,' Pablo stopped her and gave her a big hug and kiss on the cheeks.

'Hay Pablo, gosh yes it has been ages, how are you? and Josefa, how is she doing?' Carmen asked as she stepped back out of his embrace. Pablo, his wife Josefa and Carmen had been friends for years, but lately with one thing and another they simply hadn't met up much at all.

'Yes she's great,' he answered, 'you must come over, look why don't you come over this evening,' he said turning round to include a shortish gentleman he had been speaking to as Carmen had walked up, ' Let me introduce you to Rafael, he is a friend of ours, from Cordoba, he has come down to spend a couple of months in Fuengirola, he has an apartment in Los Boliches, he is coming round for a bite to eat later, why don't you join us?'

'Hello Rafael,' greeted Carmen, 'Nice to meet you, well...', she said turning to Pablo, 'if I won't be in the way.....' Rafael immediately replied, 'No of course you won't, it will be lovely to have such a pretty face sitting across the table,' Pablo laughed, 'then that's settled, see you at ours around 8:30?'

Carmen laughed,'ok,' she replied, 'see you around 8:30.'

And that is how it all started! Rafael was not the normal man Carmen would have found attractive, he was a little short and a little over weight, but he had a heart of gold and seriously seemed to like her.  Perhaps she was still hurting after Hans, that had been such an emotional roller-coaster.  Whatever the reason, they had started to see more and more of each other during his stay in Fuengirola.

Then he had to go back to Cordoba, he was in the process of passing is silver factory over to his three children, but this would take awhile to train them.  His wife had died of cancer and he was slowly passing everything over to his children!

After his two month holiday in Fuengirola, he went back to Cordoba and for the next six years he came to visit Carmen every weekend.

This suited Carmen, she was in reality still trying to organize her feelings towards Hans, watching him die had been extremely traumatic. Rafael was the perfect gentleman, and each weekend he would come down, take her out, treat her to anything she wanted, and the truth was feelings started to develop.

Then the death of her aunt really affected her. After all, from the age of 15 Tita had been like a mother to her. Rafael was wonderful and helped her so much.

Shortly after the death of Tita, Carmen went to the USA to visit her elder daughter, Toni. She had gone to USA over 30 years ago, she had met her now husband, had married and stayed there. Carmen tried to go over every couple of years to see her. 

When she came back, she was greeted with the news that her remaining brother, Paco, had been diagnosed with cancer and had only a short time to live.

She immediately went over to Belgium to see him, cradled him in her arms, and upon her return to Spain received a phone called telling her he had died.

Rafael came over from Cordoba to stay with her and comfort her. And he stayed.

That was the beginning of the end.