“Carla,” he said and bowed slightly.
“Bécquer?”
“I thought you’d refuse to see me if I called first, so I just came. I hope I’m not interrupting.”
I swallowed hard. “No,” I mumbled, not sure what his question had been.
“I brought you flowers.” His smile had spread over his face now, so his eyes twinkled with mischief.
I looked at the flowers to hide my discomfort at his sudden appearance. They were roses, red roses in a sea of green.
“Roses?”
His smile disappeared. “You don’t like roses?”
“Yes, I do.”
Bécquer brought the bouquet forward and as I, instinctively, took it from him, a door slammed upstairs and Madison came rushing down calling to me in the hurried voice that announced yet another crisis in her life.
“Mom. Can you drive us? Abby’s mom can’t take us to the movies — ” She stopped as she reached the bottom of the stairs. “Wow! Those are nice! What’s the occasion?”
“An excuse to come and see your mother,” Bécquer said.
Madison turned to me. “Does that mean you cannot drive me?”
“Actually, I can. Bécquer is leaving.”
“Bécquer?” Madison’s eyes swept over him with interest. “Ryan’s Bécquer?”
“I guess so,” Bécquer said, looking amused.
“Ryan’s upstairs. Do you want me to get him?”
“No,” Bécquer and I said at the same time.
But Madison was already half way upstairs screaming at her brother that Bécquer was waiting for him.
I turned toward Bécquer. “Why have you come?” I asked, risking his stare. “You know it’s not safe.”
“Please, Carla. Let me talk to you.”
“Not now. Not while my children are home.”
“Ryan’s coming,” Madison said joining us again, and, oblivious to my warning stare, invited Bécquer in.
Bécquer shook his head. “Actually, I was leaving.”
Madison looked past him to the driveway where his blue BMW was parked. “Is that your car?”
“Yes, it is.”
“That is soo cool!”
Bécquer smiled at her. “I can take you and your friend to the movies if you want.”
“If your mother agrees,” he added as I glowered at him.
“Are you serious? Can I drive?”
“Madison!” I said. “You’re fifteen. Of course you cannot drive.”
Madison sulked. “I don’t know why not. Ryan does.”
“Ryan is eighteen and already has his driver’s license.”
“So what? I know how to drive too and I’m much more mature than him.”
“Sorry, Madison. But your mother is right. I’ll do the driving.” And before I could argue, he took the keys from his pocket and threw them at her. “Wait for me in the car. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“You can’t take Madison,” I told him after she dashed out, already punching numbers on her cell “I don’t want you to be around my children.”
“Because I’m immortal?”
He smiled as I nodded. “Then, there is no problem, because I’m not.”
“You are … not?”
“No. I’ll show you.”
Without further invitation, Bécquer came into the house and pulled one rose free from the bouquet I had set upon the table. He winced, set the rose down, and presented his hand to me. A single drop of blood had formed on his thumb.
“You’ll see,” he said brightly. “I heal slowly, as humans do.”
To take this as proof that he was human was ridiculous, but his eagerness had convinced me he was telling the truth. Or was it my own desire blinding me into believing?
“Alexander said your sentence had been revoked,” I argued faintly.
Bécquer brought his finger to his lips to stop the blood from spilling, then nodded. “And it has. But I chose to remain human.”
“Why?”
The shrill sound of a horn blowing covered his answer.
“I’ll tell you later,” Bécquer said after the noise stopped. “If you let me come back.”
“Are you leaving?”
Ryan’s voice startled me. But Bécquer, who had been facing the stairs and must have seen him coming down, only nodded. “I promised to drive your sister to the movies. Unless … unless you would drive her for me?”
“Sorry, I don’t have time. I have to pick up Rachel in half an hour.”
“If you drive your sister, you can borrow my car.”
“Really?”
Bécquer nodded. “If your mother would give me a ride home, that is.”
Ryan smiled blissfully, and then turned to me. “Thanks, Mom,” he said with a quick hug that silenced my complaints.
“You don’t mind?” I asked as I watched Ryan disappear inside Bécquer’s car.
Bécquer closed the door. “Why? Is he a bad driver?”
“I meant that he’s going out with Rachel.”
“Why should I? Oh!” He blushed. With a swift movement he grabbed my hands. “What can I do to make you forget my childish behavior of that day? I asked Rachel to be my blood giver only to prove to you that I didn’t need you. I never cared for her.”
“You used her,” I said, releasing my hands from his. “And you hurt her.”
“No. I did not. I did not encourage her after that day. I was hurting for you, Carla. I wanted you. I had no desire to seduce her.”
“But she cried after you fired her.”
“She must have guessed I wanted to kill myself and felt frustrated that she could not help me.” He smiled coyly. “Give me some credit, would she have forgotten me already had we been lovers only last week?”
“So irresistible, do you think you are?” I teased him.
“I was, when I was immortal,” Bécquer said, serious now. “I am not proud of it. I know my behavior was often selfish and immature. But I’ve changed since I met you.”
“You have?”
“Yes. I brought you flowers.”
I frowned. “What is that supposed to prove?”
“It proves I care for you.”
“How so?”
“You know how embarrassing it would be for me if you rejected me after I told Ryan that I love you?”
“You told Ryan?”
“Yes. He gave me his permission to ask you out.”
“I see,” I said. Although in truth, I found the idea of Bécquer asking Ryan’s approval beyond ridiculous.
“Ryan loves you,” Bécquer said when I didn’t elaborate.
“Did he tell you that?”
“No. He mainly complained that you were crazy when he came to see me last Sunday. And by the way, you were not supposed to tell anybody about the immortals, you know? The Elders were not pleased.”
“Sorry. Is that why you’re still human?”
“No. I told you. That was my choice. I chose to have a human life.”
“You had one already.”
“Not really. Meeting Lucrezia when I was eleven spoiled it for me. I was her puppet. Or so I used to think. I’m not sure anymore. Maybe I was weak. Maybe things would have been different had I fought her harder. I’m not proud of who I was or what I did during my first human life.”
“I think you were brave.”
Bécquer frowned.
“I read your journal. I think you were pretty decent as a human. I’m not so sure how I feel about your behavior when you were immortal, though.”
“Because of what Beatriz said?”
I shrugged. “And Federico.”
Bécquer started. “You discussed my life with Federico?” He seemed dismay.
I nodded.
“Then, there’s no hope for me, is there?”
“If I say there is not, would you leave?”
Bécquer stared at me, a deep frown in his forehead. Finally he shook his head. “No. I wouldn’t leave. I love you.”
“So you said to every one of your many lovers.”
“So I may have,” Bécquer agreed, then continued eagerly, “I’m sorry, Carla. I can’t change the past, but, please, don’t reject me just now. I only ask that you give me a chance to show you that I really care.”