Chapter Text
It was late evening, and Raquel was sitting on the comfortable patio bench with a book in her hand reading a novel about love, while Sergio was on her lap, also reading a book. Paula was staying at her friend’s home just two houses away. Absentmindedly, she stroked his thick dark curls and lost herself in the texture. How she loved to lose herself in his hair. Every now and then, she glanced at him and noticed a radiant smile on his lips as she moved her fingers. She felt happy in her home.
Philippines, Palawan to be precise. Their old home.
After they successfully completed the robbery in the Bank of Spain and were considered dead to the world, they were able to return to their beloved home on the island Raquel and Sergio choose after just five days of knowing each other.
Of course, everything was a huge mess when they came back. Broken furniture, clothes everywhere and they had to replace and repair a lot of things. But it was worth it, they were back, happier than ever and most important free.
During the repair work, the idea came up for Marivi to build a small new house for her next to their house. Everyone accepted this idea with goodwill and put it into practice. This gave Paula the opportunity to move into her grandmother's old and larger room, which was further away from Raquel and Sergio's bedroom. What a wonderful beckoning of fate and for the two adults a reason to be finally free, and from time to time a bit louder as usually, in the bedroom. Raquel smiled broadly at this thought.
Hearing footsteps behind her, Raquel came back from her thoughts, she turned to see her mother walking across the beach in her direction with two books in her hands. At her movement, Sergio got up, sighed deeply with contentment, and looked at his mother-in-law.
“Hello Marivi,” he greeted happily, giving her a smile.
“Hola, guapos!” Her mother greeted back. Without further words, she dropped two heavy books on Raquel’s lap and sat on the back of the bench. The book she had been reading just seconds before was now on the floor.
“You didn’t?” exclaimed Raquel, her voice full of surprise. “You saved our photo albums? How? I thought we had lost them during the escape and the vandalism.” Raquel expressed in pure amazement. She grinned like an idiot towards her mother and then at Sergio.
“I just couldn’t leave them here and later in Mindanao. They are my tiny treasure.”
“You took them to Mindanao too?” she asked, even more amazed.
“Of course, and when the transporter told us we have to escape Mindanao within five minutes, I almost forgot them in my room. We were already in the car when I yelled at him to wait three more minutes.” Her mother’s expression darkened at the memory of that day. “He refused at first, saying it didn’t matter what I wanted to take, but when I yelled back that I was going to cut off his testicles that night, he immediately shut up and let me back in the house without another word.”
Raquel chuckled and stroked the cover of the first book, already feeling the number of stories on the tips of her fingers. “That was mean, mama, but the best decision ever. I’m sure you scared the hell out of him.” She turned to Sergio, “You know how scary she can be, right cariño?” Sergio suppressed a laugh and tried to control his facial expression.
“I’m in no position to agree, otherwise she will cut of my testicles.”
“Hey,” her mother said with a wink.
Raquel had forgotten about those albums through the stress of the second heist and her earlier life in general, though she had many fond memories associated with them.
When she was little, she had looked at the first album with her father. Over the years, each page was filled with so many memories, good and bad, and lots of love. When the first album ran out of space, her mother created a new one.
“Cariño,” she began, turning to Sergio and opening the first album, “do you want to look at them with me again?”
“Sure, is there still the embarrassing photo from you, naked in the puddle?” he asked jokingly.
“Shut up,” she countered, leaning over and gently kissing his cheek. Raquel snuggled close into his side and felt warm and content with him so near.
They looked at every picture in the first album, and her mother had a particular story in store with each one. It was a feast for Raquel, and she felt like she was traveling back in time. Thirty years back when her father was alive, and her life was carefree.
“Raquel,” her mother called her, and she got out of her train of thoughts. “Do you remember this day?” Her mother asked, pointing to a sepia-colored picture where Raquel was sitting on the plushy carpet, a heavy crying Paula beside her and she imitated her daughter’s tantrum. Both wore old rock’n roll dresses her mother used to wear when she was younger. For Paula the dress was much too big, and she almost got lost between the fabric. Raquel held the dress she wore tight between her breasts. It was visible that the dress was cut at the back and hung loosely from her sides. It was a view for the gods. It had been such a chaotic day, which had ended with so many laughers, a destroyed dress and burning cheeks from all the fun they had had with the makeover.
“Oh god, yes. What a crazy day, and I’m still impressed by how many dresses you had. One funnier as the other.” Raquel laughed and beamed at him. “I’m quite a view, right?” she snickered and nudged Sergio with her shoulder.
“Totally. You had to cut it?” He asked and joined the laughers.
“Don’t ask, the zipper was broken. And that’s the result, ”she laughed again heartly. “Imagine me, cursing like a sailor because of the zipper. This little monster over there,” she pointed at Paula in the picture, “repeating all my swear words. But when my mother started to cut the dress Paula started to cry like there was no tomorrow.”
“The poor little Paulita. She was so sad, but the picture is still one of my favorites.” The older Murillo snickered.
The laugher died slowly, and they kept watching the photos. She glanced at Sergio and with each glance she noticed that he was getting quieter and quieter. His once so radiant grin was fading away, and the smile in his eyes disappeared. And she had to admit that he looked sad. But why? When Raquel closed the first album, he excused himself, pretending to be tired.
Raquel frowned and watched him go until he disappeared into the house. She shook her head and turned to her mother, who was already holding the second album. Time flew by with all the pictures and stories, and Raquel was simply having a wonderful time with her mother. Before her mother closed the book, she looked at her.
“Cariño, these last pages are for the three of you,” she smiled broadly and nudged her on the shoulder, “maybe one day you’ll add a wedding picture of the two of you, or Paula’s 18th birthday, or my funeral.”
“Mom, you’re not even thinking about a funeral yet,” she said, snubbed.
“I’m not, but you never know.” Her mother shrugged her shoulders.
“I know. There will be a wedding picture one day. At least we are engaged since April,” she beamed heavily at her mother. And the thought of his clumsy proposal popped up in her mind. Chained to the ceiling of the bank of Spain. She, telling him to let his last mask fall and before she said the last word, he proposed to her. It was definitively not the best situation to ask for her hand in marriage, but it felt so incredible right, so incredibly good. For her it was the perfect moment.
“Sergio is so different and such a treasure. I never told you, but the first time I saw him, I noticed his kind brown eyes. He was the kind of person I didn’t know, but I liked him immediately when he walked into our house back in Madrid.” Raquel raised her eyebrows at her mother’s clarification. “And to be honest, Alberto was the opposite of him. After that, I wondered what you wanted from him.”
“Mom, in retrospect, I did not know why I married him in the first place. And you’re right, Sergio is so different from any partner I’ve had before. Speaking of him, I’m going to go see where he is. He’s been gone a long time.”
“Yes, my dear. I’m going to my house too, it’s getting late.” Her mother rose from the bench and walked toward her house.
“Mama don’t forget the albums!” Raquel called after her mother.
“No, no. Keep them for a while, and fill them with your memories.” She winked at Raquel one last time before disappearing into the darkness.
Raquel took the two books and walked back into the house. She placed the books on the coffee table and headed toward their bedroom. When she opened the door, she found him lying on the bed. Shirtless, wearing only a comfortable pair of pants and a book in his hands. Oh, she loved him so much.
“Hey, stranger,” she purred, leaning against the doorframe. “You left so quickly, are you okay?” she asked, motioning in his direction.
Sergio lay the book he was reading on his chest and looked at her uncertainly. “I ... I just had ... um ... I’m okay, yeah.”
Like a cat, Raquel crept up on all fours on their bed. “Cariño, you seem anything but fine. Tell me what’s going on in that clever head of yours.” She reached her destination and snuggled up to him, pressing her nose deep into his neck. She took a deep breath and let his scent wash over her. Sergio wrapped his arms around her and pressed her tighter against his body.
“How do you do it?” he asked with awe in his voice.
“What do you mean?” she asked back, lifting her head to look at him.
“You can tell right away when I’m not feeling well.”
She nuzzled his shoulder again, raised her arm and stroked his cheek with her index finger, drawing patterns on his beard. “Hmm,” she murmured, “I’d say I’m starting to know you. I mean, we’ve been together for almost three years, we’ve robbed the Bank of Spain, we’ve lived with your gang in Italy, and we have so much gold behind the house that no one could ever count it.”
She heard him chuckle, which turned into a deep sigh. “I really can’t hide anything from you.”
“No, not really.”
“I’m glad you’re the only person who can see through all the masks I wore.” He whispered and softly kissed her temple. There was a long silence between them, but Raquel gave him time to open up. She knew it was hard for him.
“Do you remember when we had to go to that house in Toledo during the first robbery?” he asked her suddenly, and she did not know what direction that question would take her.
“Yes, but I can’t remember all the details.”
“I mean the moment when your ex-husband found a tiny piece of paper in the chimney.”
“Ah, yes. The one you made disappear while my idiot of a husband was unconscious.”
“Exactly,” he replied, sighing again. “Do you know what that piece of paper was?”
“No, tell me,” she said, snuggling closer to him. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him staring at the ceiling, deep in thought.
“Before we left Toledo for the heist, I burned every single picture from my old life, every single piece that the police could link to me. I thought it would be safer to do it. Even my brother told me not to burn all of them. But I did.” Sergio paused and was silent for a few seconds. Sergio took a deep breath before continuing. “They were my last visual memory of my father, my brother, my mother, my former life.” He fell silent again, and Raquel suspected what had happened to him while they were looking at the album. But she didn’t say a word. “I know it’s stupid to think that way, but I was a little jealous. You still have all those pictures and all those stories behind those pictures. I will never have a family album like this because I don’t have a family in this way. Of course, I will have them in my mind and heart as long as I live, but I will never be able to pinpoint on a picture and tell you the story behind.” He smiled sadly cradled his nose into Raquel her, breathing her in. “I remember the one time my father showed me their wedding picture, just after my mother died. Oh Raquel, she looked so happy, and she was so...” his voice broke and he stopped speaking.
Raquel listened to him intently and with every single word he said, tears welled up in her eyes and almost spilled over. She knew he was incredibly sad because he had lost his entire family. Of course, he was. But she never thought he would be so touched by looking at old family photos of her. She thought he wouldn’t have a problem with them at all, but the opposite was true. And her heart wrenched for her smart fiancée. She was sad for him and what had happened in his life. “Oh cariño. I’m so sorry,” Raquel whispered in a trembling voice, “if I had known you were going to be so affected, I wouldn’t have asked you to look at the album with me.”
“No, no no no Raquel. It was so wonderful to see all those pictures of you, Paula, and your family. Not to mention hearing your mother’s stories to all of them. They were hilarious and she’s such a good storyteller. It just reminds me I don’t have anyone left in my life to tell the three of you any anecdotes from my youth, or how an aunt burned her apron, or how my father danced all night with my mother. I’m just the last one.”
Raquel lifted her upper body, wiped a running tear from her cheek, and looked into his glazed eyes. “Sergio, please look at me,” she gently touched his cheek and pushed his head in her direction. She looked into his watery, brown, warm eyes. “You’re not alone. Never again,” she whispered tenderly, brushing away his tears. “You have my mother, you have Paula, you have your nephew and his questionable girlfriend,” Raquel raised one of her brows, while he shortly glanced at her and chuckled slightly.
“I know, my love. I know.” He sighed deeply one more time. “The best and most stable family I’ve ever had. For that I am infinitely grateful to you,” she saw a tear slip from the corner of his eye and she wiped the salty thing away with her thumb. Before he could say anything more, Raquel leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his. With the kiss, she showed him how much she loved him, how touched she was, that he was not alone anymore. Raquel moved a few inches away from him and looked lovingly into his eyes. “And yet I wish I could tell my brother how I fell in love with the inspector of the first robbery. I wish I could tell my father that I found the one person, that I have a so to say daughter, and a mother-in-law extraordinaire. I wish I could ask my mother what I should do to be the best husband for you.” He smiled at her, and a sob escaped her throat.
“You would ask your mother how to be the perfect husband?”
“Yes, I would. I might rob the bank of Spain and print my own money,” he winked at her. “But when it comes to you, I’m just Sergio. Shy, sometimes at a loss of words, and deeply in love,” he said tenderly. “But she’s not here, so I can’t ask her. Which means you’ll have to tell how I can be the best husband. The one you deserve, and believe me, you deserve the world, Raquel.”
“God, cariño. I don’t know what to say?” Raquel sheepishly hid her face between his shoulder and neck. Silent tears streaming down her face.
“You don’t have to say anything. But be rest assured, I will try my very best and one day you will be legally mi mujer.”
“Tu mujer, sounds quite nice,” she chortled, giving his neck a long smack. Sergio took a deep breath and got serious again.
“But you know what I regret the most?” He asked Raquel, and in confirmation, she brushed her nose along his neck. “That I hadn’t burned those pictures back in Toledo, and I could show them to you now. What my mother and father looked like and put them in my own album. I really regret this decision,” he sighed deeply, looking back up at the ceiling and wiping the moisture from his eyes.
“Hmm,” Raquel murmured tenderly. “I understand. Maybe we should start our own album as a family. Create our own memories together,” she whispered against the skin on his neck.
“That’s a good idea, but not today” Sergio said, stifling a yawn. “Do you mind if we sleep? I’m pretty tired.” Raquel knew he wanted to change the subject and lying-in bed and pretend to be tired seemed the best excuse. She let him have it, it was an emotional roller coaster for him that would probably never heal. But she couldn’t be prouder of him for opening up to her.
“Yeah, let’s go to sleep. I’ll change and brush my teeth, and then I’ll cuddle with you until you’re breathless,” Raquel joked, smooching his cheek several times.
Sergio chuckled slightly and gave her a tired smiled. “Come back soon.”
Raquel went to the bathroom and put on her pajamas. She brushed her teeth, deeply in thought and the whole time his words run through her mind. She wished she could bring some of his precious pictures back to him. A smile appeared on her lips, still with the toothbrush in her mouth. She loved the thought to look at his family pictures together. With his family.
***
Many months later...a few days before Christmas.
“Raquel?” called Sergio after her.
“I’m here, in the kitchen,” she answered, cutting a mango into small pieces for dinner.
“Here,” he said with a smile, placing a thick white envelope addressed to her on the kitchen table. She took a quick look at the envelope and turned back to the mango. ‘Could this be?" she thought, her stomach tingling with excitement what could be inside the envelope.
“Thank you,” Raquel answered with a smile.
“Don’t you want to know what’s inside?” asked Sergio, looking at her with undisguised curiosity.
“I’m sure these are the flyers for Paula’s theater play I ordered.” She said casually and smiled. At least she was trying to sound casual. But inside of her, she was screaming at him to leave her alone. Raquel wanted nothing more at that moment than to tear open the envelope. She really hoped it was the shipment she had been waiting for months.
“Oh, all right. I’ll go to the market. Do you need anything other than mangoes, mangoes and uhm mangoes?” he asked playfully. Sergio walked behind her and run his hands around her waist and slowly kissed up her neck until he reached the little spot behind her ear. Goosebumps run down her arm, and she wanted to melt in his arms. This man really knew which buttons he had to press to make her a tingling mess.
With her head laying against his chest, Raquel had to play along, of course. “I think you could bring some mangoes, cariño.” She chuckled as his breath tickled her neck while he suppressed a laugh.
“Mangoes it is then. Whatever you wish is my command, mi mujer.” He released her waist, stepped a few steps back and bowed to her. Raquel had to punish the mango with ignorance and turned to Sergio. She reached for the towel next to the sink to dry her hands and sent him a seductive smile.
“Tu mujer, huh? It’s the sixth time you say this to me within the last 24 hours. Should I get used to this?” Raquel asked Sergio with a slight flutter in her stomach.
“You better get used to it, mi mujer. I like how this sounds,” he nudged his glasses back on to his nose and stepped forward and hugged her tightly.
“Hmm,” she murmured, “I like how it sounds too.” Raquel said in a low voice, wrapping her arms around his neck. “And I like it more when you would say it all night long.” Raquel playfully raised one of her eyebrows.
“Is that so?”
“Uhum.”
“Mi mujer and all night long. A few words close to my heart,” he whispered with a wide smile against her lips. Raquel hummed appreciatively and stood on her tiptoes to close the tiny gap between them.
The feeling of his lips on hers always set off fireworks inside her, and she had to kiss him more intimately to satisfy her constant craving for him. She loved how his warm lips moved against hers, how he pressed them in the softest way on her own lips, how he opened his mouth to intensify the kiss, and how his tongue explored hers in the most sensual way. A feeling of utter warmth run through her bloodstream. As a few minutes passed, they were both breathless, and they had to stop to breathe in much needed oxygen. “Wow,” she beamed, kissing his lips again, “why do I deserve such a kiss?”
“Because you are mi mujer and I want to kiss mi mujer like this whenever I want. Beside that you deserve to be kissed like this every single time.” Sergio chuckled slightly, breaking away from her, only to place his hands on her cheeks and look deep into her eyes. “Raquel, I love you.” He leaned forward and placed his warm, soft lips on hers, which lingered there without moving. “One day you will be mi mujer,” Sergio whispered tenderly against her lips.
“Hmmm,” she hummed in appreciation. “You’re such a hopeless romantic.” Raquel gently pushed him away and gave him a bright smile.
“Sometimes it comes through.” He beamed at her. Raquel stepped forward and kissed him one last time on his warm soft lips and pulled away from him.
“Thank god, my man of ice is sometimes melting,” she winked at him. “By the way, what else do you need from the market?”
“Your mangoes, we need coffee, some vegetables and I need to visit the do it yourself store.”
“What do you want in a do it yourself store? Raquel asked in disbelieve.
“I need a piece of glass that I can wrap into gift paper.”
“What do you need a piece of glass for?” She asked more and more confused.
“Your mother told me already a few times that she wants to look at the ocean when she’s laying in her bed. I thought we could arrange to rebuild the back of her house,” Sergio muttered insecure, scratching the back of his head.
“Oh cariño,” Raquel said completely touched with his idea and gazed with teary eyes back into his. “This is probably the best Christmas gift ever for her, she will burst of happiness.”
“You think so?”
“Hell yes, I would bet my ass that she will love it.”
“But I love your butt, could you bet on something else?”
“Hmm, my little toe?”
“I love your little toe too.”
“Then I bet on a special treatment towards you if I’m wrong. Hmm, how sounds that?”
“A special treatment? What would that entail?”
“This is something I can’t tell you, otherwise it wouldn’t be special. Let’s say my hands are part of this treatment,” Raquel smirked at him, and chuckled with a lost facial expression. “And now leave me alone, or your mother-in-law will be on the threshold of our house demanding her dinner, which won’t be ready if you distract me further.”
“Now it’s my mother-in-law when she drives you up the wall?”
“Of course, that’s how it works in a relationship,” she muttered with a hint of jest in her voice. “Now go on, or I won’t be able to finish dinner,” she countered impatiently. “And don’t forget the mangoes,” she called after him, to which he laughed out loud and left the house with a huge grin on his face. She loved these tiny verbiages with him.
When Sergio finally left, she hurried after him, making sure twice that he drove away with their car. With quick steps, she run back to the kitchen, picked up the envelope and tore open the top page. A quick look inside confirmed her suspicions, and she took the contents out of the envelope with trembling hands. Carefully unfolding the package, she couldn’t believe it. Tears burned behind her eyes and she couldn’t wrap her mind about Christmas Eve.
This would be indeed a very special Christmas this year…