Our love is eternal, time will determine it. - The ink well fiction Promppt #130.

Source from pixabay

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Antonia since she was a child, she liked to go on vacation to Caripe, a town where apples are grown, and it was very cold when she was fifteen years old, she was there at her uncle and his wife Francis's house. They sent her on an errand to the Bodega, when she looked at the young man who was dispatching in the warehouse, their gazes crossed, and they said everything to each other. Neither of them could pronounce words, only their glances crossed and with them, they transmitted everything. What we call love at first sight was born between them.

From that moment on, she expected to be sent on any errand. Thus, their friendship and love was consolidated. When she turned 18, and he turned 23, they decided to talk to her mother. Rafael asked her for her daughter's hand. Her mother said no because he was studying engineering in Barquisimeto and Antonia was studying education at the Pedagogic de Maturín.

Mrs. Isabel, the young woman's mother, called her sister-in-law, who lived in Caripe, by cell phone to find out who Rafael was, that he loved her daughter. She did so, but her sister-in-law invented falsehoods about the young man, and she believed them.

Since her daughter had always been in love with Rafael and her mother did not like him at all, she invented the lie that from that moment on, Antonia never spoke to her boyfriend again. He would call her on her cell phone, and she did not answer. Several years passed, and Rafael got tired of Antonia's contempt. He got a young woman pregnant and married her.

Antonia suffered a lot when she found out. Because she still loved Rafael,

Over the years, she met Alfinger, a classmate who had just entered the high school where she works. He was suffering a love failure. His wife Maria had left him for another man. She has 2 children who were left in the custody of their mother.

After two years, Alfinger asks her to marry him, she accepts. Without wanting, it very much, Antoinette married.
From this union Antonieta and Mateos were born. Currently, the woman is 36 years old, she has a degree in pharmacy and the man is 30 years old, an engineer in hydraulic technology. Everything is going very well in their marriage, they have their house, their car. Their mother Isabel lives with them and is very ill.

Her husband is unwell. She accompanies him to the doctor. He undergoes medical tests and is diagnosed with prostate cancer. His eyes water, he hugs his wife, and they cry for a long time. Then he starts the car and they return home.

Several years have passed and Rafael has been divorced and remarried 3 times. He and Antonia resume their friendship.

Over the years, Antonia's mother, on her deathbed, confessed to her.

"Everything I told you about your boyfriend Rafael was a lie, I did it because I didn't like him" replies Antonia:

"Mother, why did you do that?" she replies.

"I didn't like him either, this one you married. There is something about him that tells me he is not sincere. But since I had already made a mistake, I didn't want to sin again."

"Daughter, I have wept so much in silence for that fault I committed. That I have no more tears to shed."

She took her daughter's hand. She could hardly speak, and with the snore that the voice emits, when one is near death, she said to her:

"Forgive me, daughter!"

His daughter reached to say to him.

"I have nothing to forgive you, give me your blessing!".

The dying woman. She raised her hand to make the sign of the Cross, but she no longer had the reflexes to do it.

Her daughter took her in her arms and wept inconsolably. Then she called the funeral service, and they took her there.

A few seconds later, her family and friends, among them Rafael, arrived at the funeral home. He approaches Antonieta, embraces her and whispers in her ear: "I will love you until eternity". Subtly she let go of his arms" and with a look, like the first time they met, she told him everything.

Antonia was very sad, for several months. After a year, Antonia found out from a neighbor that her husband Alfinger had been having extramarital relations for years with the neighbor next door, who claimed to be his best friend.

This bothered her so much that she complained to her husband about his attitude without taking into account her cancerous illness.

Years went by. Antonieta felt a lot of resentment towards her husband, she could never forgive him for this betrayal, even though she found out about this infidelity after so many years of living together. Alfinger's disease developed, quickly metastasized, and he died.

At his funeral, Antonia did not cry. She looked like a woman of stone, her face very fresh. Inwardly, she harbored in her heart, love for Rafael.

Years went by, and she confessed to her son that secret and the reason why she harbored a grudge in her heart towards Alfinger, his father. Mateo told her:

The day you want to restore your life with Rafael. You can do it whenever you want. You can count on our support.

Her children Antonieta and Mateo immigrated to Argentina.

Antonia was left alone and did not want to leave with her children. She preferred to stay at home.

The End

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In spite of all the difficulties that life offered them, Antonia and Rafael communicate daily by cell phone. He lives in close contact with her.

Today, Antonia is 65 years old and Rafael is 70, despite the distance. They love each other.

Today, Rafael was at Antonia's house. When he looked at her, he could not utter words, his face paled, like the pallor of the neon yellow butterfly's wings, His hands trembled like the leaves of trees in times of swirling winds. As he could, he took Antonia's hands, which were cold as ice floes. An expression of happiness appeared on her face, of she. When he could articulate words, he said:

"I have come to tell you that our love is eternal and that time has determined that we must be together. We are alone, the children have gone far away." She answered him:

"It is true that we were victims of many falsehoods, but fate separated us, now it will unite us forever."

They embraced and sealed their love with a kiss.

Second end