Chapter 2-New York! New York!

Elena told her parents she was going to a concert and was spending the night at her friends house. That is the only way we could do this kind of thing. Her parents would never have allowed her her to stay at a hotel with me even though she was already already self reliant and on her way to getting her doctorate. Of course it was I who was more at risk than Elena if her parents ever found out. They are from Cuba and her father would have to defend the family name. I don't want to have to get into that problem for him or me.

I was lying down on the bed sound asleep for hours by the time she finally arrived. It was about 6 pm when she knocked on the door of the room. I groggily dragged myself out of bed not bothering to put on my clothes. I slowly opened the door as the light was going to kill me. She slipped in with a little difficulty as her bag for an overnight stay was quite large. She kissed me as she entered the room and proceeded to set her things down.

I told her to give me a few more minutes in bed and asked her to get ready to go out first. As she set her things about the room and entered the bathroom I got back into bed.

She was moving so quietly in the room I had forgotten she was with me. I drifted off into a deep sleep.I began to have a wild dream about the markets and what was going on in the office. Then my dream started to shift into one of pleasure and I felt myself getting excited. My crotch was suddenly on fire. Then I was waking out of my slumber and realized it wasn't all in my head. Elena was touching me gently and was passing her body over mine. It was like a cool breeze that blows with passion. It was mere seconds before the blood was throbbing through my whole body. There was no longer any sleep left in my eyes.

My body was aching as I drifted on top of her. The smell of her perfume filled my nose and drove me wilder. We made love as if tonight was the last night of our lives. In my mind I desired to get her pregnant which excited me more than anything in the world. I wanted her to bear my child. It made my love making more pertinent, more real, and more alive. She felt that passion emanate from my soul. I could see it in her eyes. We had become one, there was no separation. That is when I realized it was time to get married. We already had become one person. Why not declare it publicly? Though it is no longer in fashion to be in love with someone other than yourself I had realized then I would never want to be without her.

After the culmination of our love she fell asleep with her head on my chest. I could feel her breath against my body and it made me feel loved and useful. I knew she wanted me to be her husband though she never actually brought it up in conversation. She would have that look in her eyes of longing when we would see a happy family in the park. I also felt the same but it just didn't click with me until this evening. I had finally realized it was not only time to get married but time to grow up.

We woke up about an hour later. I jumped in the shower first knowing full well that I would need to get out of her way. Then Elena went into the shower and I told her I was going out and would be back in half an hour.

I walked down the street and stopped at a small jewelry store a block off Broadway.I saw a nice Cubic Zirconia ring in the window for a couple hundred bucks. I went in and took a look at the rest of the assortment he had. It ended up he had a beautiful ring that had colored stones on the side I couldn't resist. I just wanted to get engaged tonight I couldn't wait. So I bought it and though I would get here a real diamond later during the week from a jeweler friend, I knew she would love this just the same.

I got back to the room opened the door and she was standing in front of the mirror in all her glorious splendor putting on her earrings. The slender black dress clung to her body in a very flattering manner, which of course drove me crazy. She looked at me and said "Just one minute sweetheart. I am almost ready." It was less than ten minutes and then we went down the together in the elevator as we discussed where we would go.

The hotel was a few doors down from my favorite Cuban restaurant Victor's Cafe. We went straight there and we were sitting down within minutes. Of course I like going there since I am a regular many of the employees that work there know me by name.

"Hola Mike!" Sandra the hostess said as she saw us walking into the restaurant. Elena gave me a dirty look because it seemed to her that she was overly friendly in her greeting. But the reality is I sensed a hint of female rivalry. Luckily Sandra interjected and asked "Is this the beautiful girlfriend of which you are always telling us about?" That was not only a life saver but helped pave the way for a wonderful evening. She led us to a table in the back room to what was is probably the most quiet spot there. Though there aren't many, it is a very lively restaurant.

We had a wonderful meal as we ordered the mix of appetizers. Elena had one of the Novo Cuban Cuisine dishes, something with Red Snapper. Me, I stuck with my classic, Vaca Frita con arroz y frijoles negros, absolutely delicious.

Then suddenly as I was talking to her and staring into her beautiful blue eyes I could hear only her voice. The din of the restaurant crowd just seemed to go away. It was as if we were floating into another world. We were alone, just her and I surrounded by people but alone nonetheless. You would have had to shake me physically to get my attention.

Then the waiter came over and was asking Elena whether she would like to order desert. He turned to me after she placed her order. I just ordered a double Cafe Cubano which is really just Espresso with lots of sugar.

As he left I couldn't wait any longer. I reached down into my pocket, I got down onto my knees, I took her hand in mine and looking into her eyes I asked her "Elena you are all I need in life. I can't bear the thought of ever losing you. Will you please marry me?"

I took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger. She began to cry and I remember it like it was yesterday. She said "I married you a long time ago the day I let you make love to me. This just means you have finally realized that I belong to you. I love you." She laughed and said "you don't think I would make love to a man I wasn't planning on spending the rest of my life with do you?"

Sure I knew that, somewhere in my heart. She is the classiest woman I had ever met, other than my mom of course. And now that my life was starting to look up I was finally feeling like a man and ready to move on with life.

Chapter 1-Looking Back

Well looking back is some times a very difficult thing to do. We see things we can't believe we did and we hope we learn from our mistakes. If you are lucky when you are growing up you are surrounded with good people that don't accept your shenanigans and lead you to the right path.

The year was 1982. I had just spent the entire night into the wee hours of the morning partying at the local dance club. I was with a couple of friends who were going to college full time. I on the other hand had a full time job working at a commodities trading company Baron & Sons. It was for this reason I was so popular at the time since I paid the bills at the end of the night.

I really like dancing and my girlfriend Elena did as well. It was a time of my life where I lived to the excess. I spent all my money having a good time, drinking booze and dancing like there was no tomorrow. Then comes the morning.

This particular day I didn't get back home until 4 AM after dropping Elena off at her parent's house. I also still lived home and was commuting with my older brother Jack. This was not the day to try to take another off day, but I did.

It would have been at least the third time that month that I was about to call in sick. Of course I was legitimately sick from drinking too much but my brother who often played the fatherly role was not going to put up with me calling in sick again.

He heard me pick up the phone and leave a message that I was not going to be in. He flipped out at that point grabbed me by my hair and threw me into the shower. This was no major feat for him since I was a pretty small guy weighing in at 145 pounds and only 5 feet 5 inches. Where he is 6 foot and weighs nearly 200 pounds.

As he threw me into the shower he shouted at me "Mike! You are going into work and when you get out of the shower you will call the office back and tell them. I will be waiting for you downstairs." I had no choice but to go along. Of course I knew deep inside he was right but I stilled muttered to myself "asshole". Luckily he didn't hear it or he pretended not to hear it because he didn't kick the shit out of me.

I went in that morning nauseous and with a pounding headache. My brother drove us into Manhattan in his black Pontiac Trans Am as he always did with the music blaring. It was Black Sabbath today. Boy was I not in the mood. But then again I think he was just teaching me a lesson. As the car swerved in and out of traffic, I just felt sicker and sicker. Then as we approached the last toll plaza we had to pull over so I could puke. Boy that felt much better.

The guys at the office cut me some slack and kept feeding me Alka Seltzer. By the afternoon I was feeling somewhat better.The only thing that kept me going that day was knowing it was Friday and that Elena and I were going to spend the night in the city. So I spent the day at work functioning at a 30 percent capacity. The guys like me so they let me leave the office early at 3 o'clock. I called Elena and told her to meet me at the hotel.

I took the E train up from the World Trade Center to 50th Street and walked a few blocks to the Novotel Hotel on 52nd and Broadway. Though I love the city it seemed exceptionally loud at that moment. I checked in and went straight to the room and quickly fell asleep.