Chapter Text
For Valentina, visiting her grandmother was one of the best ways to spend her weekend.
Since she was little, she was always attracted to that place like no other one.
While Eva and Guille preferred Valle or some other beach destination, Valentina would always rather travel the hour and a half between the Carvajal mansion and Yaya's house just to enjoy the forest that surrounded it, the stables that still had a couple of horses that granny and her employees cared for with such devotion, the mild weather, the chirping birds, and the beauty of the fog sneaking through the trees, covering everything with its whiteness causing Valentina to gladly wear comfy clothes, and sit by the window, with a cup of steaming coffee in between her hands.
Lucia used to joke about how Valentina apparently liked spending time at Yaya’s more than at her own house, and well, the youngest Carvajal never had anything to say to that because it was, basically, the truth.
There was no place in the world where Valentina would feel more at home than that one.
Why?
Well, that was undefined, but she attributed it more than anything to Yaya and her famous butter cookies, to the coffee that Rolando, Tiberio's brother, and her grandmother's right hand, roasted for everyone in there, that cozy air that she found between those walls and that nature that surrounded the mountain.
Well, that plus her family, horseback riding, and old movies.
And if life was kind enough to give her the opportunity to drink hot artisanal coffee, while enjoying an old film wrapped up next to her granny. who was she to say no to such a perfect day?
“Honey,” called Yaya, while she watched her settle next to her, as she spread the blanket to cover them both. “Are you sure you don't want us to watch something else?”
Valentina smiled.
“No Yaya, this movie is perfect, you know that I really like vintage movies,” she assured, using the remote to turn up the volume. “Nesides, this was one of Grandma Rebeca's favorites, wasn't it?”
The face of the elderly woman turned into a gesture mixed of joy and melancholia.
Yaya’s mother had already passed away years prior to Valentina’s birthday, but that didn’t stop her from loving the person both her own mother and her grandmother talked about with so much love.
The next day marked Valentina’s great grandmother’s birthday, Yaya's mom, and to celebrate, it had occurred to her to watch one of the movies Grandma Rebeca used to love so much.
The ending as was Rebeca’s favorite part, Yaya always said her mom would even shed some tears watching those final minutes.
This was not the first time that Valentina had seen this particular film and she never understood the reason for that. Because aside of how cheesy it was, she didn't find anything extraordinary about it. Great-grandmother Rebeca must have been a hopeless romantic.
"Yes, this one she liked the most."
“Perfect, then let's watch it.”
Yaya and her granddaughter made themselves comfortable on the sofa so they could start their movie night.
For Valentina, doing this with Yaya was a different experience, because she could ask her questions about the past and her granny was always ready to answer. This time, however, Yaya had fallen asleep due to tiredness and also probably because of her age.
The brunette smiled when she heard Yaya’s soft snoring and rearranged the blanket over her body to prevent the cold from waking her. Valentina then returned her attention to the screen where the main couple was in a park after the main conflict had been solved and they could finally move on to take the steps towards their 'happily ever after'.
The male lead had organized this whole event in the middle of a park just to declare his eternal love to his girlfriend and ask her to marry him, before the eyes of several extras playing the role of passersby.
Too public, in her opinion.
Way too many strangers witnessing something that she considered should be intimate, exclusive between two people who love each other.
She giggled imagining herself in a similar situation. Because surely, she would be more concerned about those outsiders watching than the proposal itself.
Her blue eyes instinctively swept over the people behind the main characters and suddenly something caught her attention.
Well, not something but someone.
The first thing she noticed were her eyes. Even through the limited details that the grayscale image gave her, Valentina was able to distinguish its brightness and the darkness in his irises that invited her to lose herself in them. Her face was also very pretty and the smile she wore as part of her performance was tender and captivating; so much, that Valentina found herself looking only at her during the remainder of the scene, but to Valentina’s disappointment, the girl with the pretty eyes didn’t show up again. The film ended barely fifteen minutes later with the main couple saying their vows at the altar. It was a nice ending, but she still couldn't understand why Great-grandmother Rebeca always ended up crying.
“Yaya,” she whispered, shaking her grandmother's body a little, “Yaya.”
The older woman slowly came to herself.
“Hmm ... What's the matter, sweetheart?”
“Movie’s over”.
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, you fell asleep,” she whispered her explanation.
“Oh”
“We better go to bed, Yaya. If we stay here, we will wake up with back pain”.
Granny rubbed her eyes in agreement before standing up and walking up to her room with Valentina’s help, who later went upstairs to her bedroom and settled on the soft bed ready to sleep.
She had to drive home tomorrow morning and she needed to be well rested as the road here was a bit on the curvy side.
However, as the time passed by, she wasn’t having any luck with falling asleep.
Her eyelids felt heavy but she just couldn’t let go of whatever was on her mind, which, by the way, happened to be the girl from the movie. Every time she closed her eyes, that woman’s face appeared behind them smiling in that pretty way she did during the scene and Valentina couldn’t help but smile a little with her.
OK.
Knowing a little more about her wasn't going to hurt.
The brunette couldn’t understand the reason for so much curiosity but she was sure that if she didn’t do this, sleeping was going to be impossible tonight.
Valentina took her phone from the bedside table, opened her IMDB app and typed the name of the film to investigate it’s cast and crew, but couldn’t find the credits. Damn, ok, it was going to be a little bit more difficult. Google would have to be her new ally in this quest,
After a very thorough search in every possible Mexican cinema’s golden era blog available on the internet, Valentina finally found her.
The image wasn’t the best, but that was her, those eyes were unmistakable and same with her chin.
Her gaze dropped to the caption finding her name highlighted on what seemed to be a link and it didn't take much time to tap her finger on it to access the information she was looking for.
The headline made her heart clench inside her chest.
'The tragic and brief history of Juliana Valdés'
There wasn't much there, so the site wasn't lying, it was brief and tragic.
Born in 1926 in San Antonio, Texas, daughter of Mexican parents, to her resume were attached the names of several equally small credits in a few films of the time, dead at 22, a few days before starting to shoot her first big role.
Knowing that made her really want to cry, life was unfair, sometimes.
With that bitter thought she decided to make one umpteenth attempt to sleep, knowing her name and a bit of her history brought her a little peace so Valentina figured her mind could finally let itself, and her, rest some hours.
Those expressive dark eyes accompanying the brightness of that perfect smile, that cleft chin and that distinctive beauty helped her succeed.
***
When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find the outside was still dark.
What time was it anyway?
She took the phone and tapped the screen.
3:20 am
Wow, apparently, she hadn't been able to sleep more than a few hours.
Valentina blocked the phone and settled back on the mattress ready to pick back where she had left, when a weird noise caught her attention.
Surely that was what had awakened her in the first place.
A noise like someone moving things somewhere on the lower floor reached her ears once again and she decided to go check. Maybe Yaya needed something.
Valentina turned on the light from her reading lamp, sat on the bed to try to get rid of the tingling behind her eyelids and walked down the stairs in complete silence, her bare feet helping to make her stealthy movements even more furtive even if wasn't her intention.
Step by step, the girl approached the source of those slight bumps and creaks until she realized that there was someone in the kitchen. The closer she got, the more she confirmed that whoever was there, wasn't her grandmother.
Valentina stood in the doorway.
No, it surely wasn't Yaya.
It was a woman, sure, but it was a very young one judging by her figure that was now with her back to her, standing still as she looked out the window.
The girl was wearing an elegant dress and her feet were completely bare.
Valentina’s body moved involuntarily and her equally bare feet made a squeaky sound as they slid minimally across the wooded floor, alerting the stranger about her presence.
Realizing she was no longer alone, the girl turned around quickly.
The blue-eyed woman was speechless and felt as if an invisible fist had been impacted against her solar plexus, stripping her of all the air she held in her lungs.
She would have recognized that face wherever, it was her... She had just spent hours thinking about her, investigating her story and studying the black and white picture of her face she found in that website.
It was Juliana Valdés and she was looking at Valentina as if she was the one who couldn’t believe it was her.
This had to be a dream, right? This couldn't be real. Valentina was still asleep. Yes, that had to be it.
The girl then slowly raised her arm to place it over her lips in a clear expression of disbelief and then, with a trembling voice, she finally spoke.
— V- Val?
***
Valentina's heart skipped a beat when she heard the woman calling her name.
Her hand traveled to her arm and gave a hard pinch to try to wake herself up.
Ouch!
Nope
She was already very awake.
The other girl frowned.
"Val what-“
"Don't come near me!"
Exclaimed the brunette putting her hands in front to prevent Juliana’s very realistic dream version from taking a step further
“Stay there or I'll scream”.
“But-”
"I said don't move!" She warned pointing a finger at her.
"Val..." The woman implored again.
“No, no, no. You’re not, you are not real. And this, this is only a dream.” She said again, closing her eyes, urging herself to wake up, but when she raised her face and opened one of her eyes, the girl was still there, looking at her curiously, a faint smile on the right corner of her lips.
“What?” Asked Valentina, somewhat defensively.
“Your hair. It’s different. I like it,” she replied, smiling shyly, causing the brunette to blush a little.
Juliana was silent while scanning the room.
Her eyes carefully studied the microwave, the coffee maker, the blender, and the rest of the appliances.
"Listen, if you don't go now, I'll call the police," warned Valentina, interrupting her contemplation. “I don't know who you are, or what you want here, but I'm not alone. If I yell, someone is going to set off the alarm and the police will be here in minutes.”
A wounded look took over the black-haired woman’s face.
"Val, it's me, Juliana..." She said, placing a hand on her chest, her eyes pleading as much as her voice.
When the stranger, stepped forward, Valentina stepped backwards.
“Stay there, please... don't move”.
Juliana sought her gaze and then nodded, dropping her arms to her sides defeatedly, not knowing what to do with them or with her body at the moment.
"Val? What is this place?” She asked, scanning the room. “Why don't you recognize me? Your hair is different, your clothes, too. What's that over there? She pointed at the coffee maker.
“That?” asked Valentina, pointing towards the same home appliance.
Juliana nodded.
“A coffee maker,” she answered matter of factly. “And, and I don't recognize you, because you can't be who I think you are. I do not know who you are”.
The other girl's eyes were filled with fear, pain, and a bit of anger.
"Stop it, Val. You know I don't like it when you play like this. Where are we?”
“At my grandmother’s house”.
"Oh, did I make it, then? I only remember taking the car with Fernando, it was pouring rain but I needed to talk to you and also wanted to be at your party, give you your present and-”
The girl then started to look for something in her clothes.
“I don't, I don’t know where it is now”
Valentina's heart broke upon hearing that. Her description about the car and the storm fitted perfectly with the information she found on that blog. That was probably the night she passed away but, but that was impossible.
It couldn't be real right? It couldn't be that the girl from the movie was now in front of her. The one she had investigated a couple of hours ago, the one that had died way before whe was even born, in a car accident, in a stormy night.
No. Those things didn't happen.
Wake up, Valentina. C'mon. Wake up.
Against her better judgment, the brunette approached the girl, her gaze fixed on the frightened brown eyes suddenly filled with unshed tears.
Her dress undoubtedly belonged to the past, her makeup, hairstyle everything, everything seemed literally out of an old film, and that was the craziest thing in the universe, but ... it was the only answer. It was her face, her cleft chin.
Could it be?
“Valentina? Honey? Is that you?” Yaya could be heard from the hallway.
“Oh no”
Granny was approaching and she had a woman dressed as she was ready to attend to a 1940’s themed party, one who also happened to be part of the movie that Yaya had seen dozens of times before.
If this was a dream, now would the perfect time to wake up.