Chapter Two: Family

“Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it’s the place where we find the deepest heartache.”

- Ilanya Vanzant

Althea wakes up sweating profusely. She holds herself to calm her down and ease her shaking. She takes a few minutes before she completely stops trembling. She stares at the clock. It was exactly three am. She sighs, and instead of going back to sleep, she stands up, and heads towards to the kitchen. From the refrigerator, she grabs some ingredients for her mother’s favorite cake, Lemon-Raspberry Curd Italiano Semifreddo, which is originally a cake with three layers, namely Praline, Cream, and Genoise.

Instead of making it traditionally, she experiments, by making an additional layer in the cake, by adding raspberry-lemon curd. She first puts them in the oven, toasting them ever so slightly. Then she crushes the pralines slightly, making sure, to just break the pieces. She then starts to whip the egg whites and egg yolks separately until they form soft peaks. She then combines the two and adds a mixture of normal flour and almond flour on it, as her purpose is to make an airy crumb, so it can absorb more syrup, and will result to a great texture. She then places the cake inside the oven and proceeds then makes the syrup next. Once the cake is done, she brushes the syrup on top of the cake, spreading it evenly, and making sure the syrup is well absorbed by the sponge cake. She then makes the cream by whipping egg whites, mascarpone cheese, and heavy cream, making it a lot richer. She then makes the twist in her semifreddo, a fourth layer in her cake. She makes the raspberry-lemon curd, and she assembles the cake, as she sets the genoise or the sponge layer first on the bottom of a square mold, then she places a think spread of the lemon raspberry curd, then she spreads the cream layer on top, and she adds the crushed pralines. She lets it sit on the freezer just enough for the cream to be able to hold its own shape, while she works on drying the lemons and raspberries that she sprinkled honey on. Once cool, she takes it out, and drizzles the cake with more of the syrup she made and tops the cake with the dried lemons and raspberries. She then places it back to the fridge to cool.

Ignacio walks inside the kitchen and seeing her skillfully work her way into the kitchen, he smiles and walks towards her. “I’ll take things from here, you shouldn’t be overworking yourself too much.” She smiles at him. “Good morning.” Then she remembers her cake. “Great. You can taste my cake, I’m just finishing the normal, recipe, but I made two of my new recipe. Taste it for me, will you?”

He laughs and sits on a chair, while Althea takes the cake and makes careful slices on it. She then gives Ignacio a small cake slice, and she then finishes the normal cake recipe for an Italian semifreddo. She also serves a slice to Ignacio so he can taste test both. Ignacio smiles and pats her head. “Your creation is outstanding, it’s enough to make a grown man cry. You’ve outdone your creation last year.” He tells her smiling. “Now, aren’t you quite early to be baking? It’s already six am, to bake three cakes, you must have started at three am.” She sits down beside him. “It’s just that it’s mom’s death anniversary today. Louis and I promised to visit her together. I even made her favorite cake, but I was afraid to make mistakes.” He smiles gently at her and squeezes her hand. “Niña, I’ve been with you for quite a while. It’s not the real reason.” She sighs. “Is it another nightmare?” She nods meekly.

He then stands up and makes a truffle mushroom spaghetti. “Words may never be enough to soothe someone, but at least, I know, that with this dish, I can convey what I want to say when words are inadequate.” He serves it to her. “Eat up, Sebastian will wake up soon. Did you ever fix your argument?” She shakes her head, as she eats her spaghetti voraciously. Ignacio laughs as he wipes away a bit of cream on the side on her lip with a napkin. “But, I’ll talk to him today. It’s just that he didn’t gave me a chance to talk to him last night. I know he’s upset because he thinks just after that incident, I’m already too reckless. Befriending a lot of people, trusting, he doesn’t like that I’m making myself so, vulnerable to others. I know he’s concerned about my welfare, but if it continues, I might as well continue living my life like before.”

Sebastian clears his throat. “And what’s wrong with that? You are successful, and people fear you. Isn’t that enough?” She looks at him sadly. “No, because, I am not happy with what I am doing.” She then pushes the plate of unfinished pasta. “I’ve lost my appetite, Ignacio. Besides, I ate just enough for the medicine to work on my body.” Althea then stands up and takes the cake from the refrigerator. She cuts a piece for Sebastian then she goes back to her room to freshen up. After wards, Sebastian wordlessly drives her, along with Ignacio and Isabella back to the café.

After a few moments of pre-cleaning and fixing the tables for the customers, Althea flips the sign from ‘Closed’ to ‘Open’. Soon enough, customers started pouring in. Isabella bids her good bye, as she has to manage those who want to check into the lodgings situated beside the lake, and those who want to take a swim. Althea greets the customers with happy smiles and somehow, they couldn’t help but smile as well. They leave her big tips and satisfied stomachs. After lunch time, Louis drives by the café, carrying bouquets. He kisses the cheek of his sister. “This is for you, I’m sorry I wasn’t here when your café opened and when you had your first big event.” Althea shakes her head, smiling. “It alright, what matters is that you’re here now. Let’s have lunch first, I prepared something you might like.”

She then snaps her fingers and two female employees hold him down. Louis laughs. “Wow, how am I supposed to like this?” They sit him down and one blindfolds him. Althea wheels out each dish and with a small spoonful, she feeds them to Louis. “Guess what I made you?” He smiles. “This is chicken parmesan!” Althea laughs. “Correct!” She then makes him taste more dishes, and he more or so guesses them right. She then places a slice of lemon-raspberry semifreddo on his plate. He then takes a bite. The blindfold gets damp, as tears fall from his eyes. “This is… mother’s favorite cake.” Althea smiles. “It took me a long time before I can master it, and I didn’t want you to taste so much of my failures.” He removes his blindfold, revealing his glistening eyes, with unshed tears. He then takes another bite of the cake. “Despite that, it doesn’t taste the same as when mother made it.” She makes a silly face at him. “I made renditions of course. Mother wouldn’t want us crying every time we eat her favorite cake. She reveals him a small package. “I made one for mom as well. Once we finish lunch, let’s go visit her then, okay?” He nods, and they both start finishing their lunch and exchanging stories.

In the cemetery, Louis kneels on the grave of his mother. “Mother, see? Every year, we manage to visit you together.” Althea touches her mom’s tombstone. “Mom, I brought you your favorite cake.” She then places the package beside her tombstone. Louis continues. “Mom, we miss you. We’ve kept our promise. If not for our lifestyles, we’ll be inseparable.” Althea chortles. “Ignacio even teases me that my brother has a sister complex. That’s how inseparable we are.” She then tears up. “So, please, don’t worry about us. We are living our life well. Wherever you are right now, please be at peace.” Louis pats his sister’s back. “Know, that we will always have each other’s backs.”

They then start to tell their mother stories of how they were doing, until a man approaches them. They stare at him and anger permeates their system. The man stares away awkwardly. Louis is the first to act up. “Why are you here! You don’t belong here!” He stares at Louis and Althea. “Children, I just—” Louis raises his voice. “Just what? Aren’t you happy she’s dead? You even married someone else just a few months after she died!” He then laughs depreciatingly. “Or are you feeling guilty? That’s good! Feel guilty! Because you have a hand at her death!” With adrenaline coursing through his veins, he drags the man back to the grave. “See that? She died because of you! She died with a heavy heart!”

The man pushes Louis off angrily. “I am still your father! How coul—” Althea slaps him, the sound reverberating in the silence. “Don’t call yourself, our father. What kind of father leaves his children alone to face the world? You don’t know how we fared! You didn’t even care!” She pushes him away. “Go away. Don’t show your face here, ever again.” He sighs and leaves. Althea crumples down and Louis catches her. Tears fall from her face. “How dare he come back.” Louis silences her. “Not a word. It’s detrimental to your body if you become too emotional. Come on, stand up and let’s go home.” Louis says. She stares at the man’s back, disappearing from a distance. And she walks away, with the help of her brother, back to their car. Louis drops her off at the café, and instead of working, she sits by the serene lake, skipping rocks on its surface.

“It seems like there’s something on your mind again. Was it me this time?” Althea snaps her head back, surprised and she gives Carson a gentle smile. “Hello to you, too.” He sits down beside her. “So, mermaid, missing the ocean already?” . She leans closer. “Did you know, that there’s an underground passage underneath this lake, that will take you to the ocean?” She whispers directly changing the subject. Her breath was warm on Carson’s ears and it makes him blush and he moves a few inches away from Althea. He bluffs stutteringly. “Re-really?” She laughs and shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe?” She laughs even harder when he tries to say something, but no words come out of his mouth. “You’re not so smooth after all.” She remarks, chuckling. He scratches his head. “This is a great embarrassment.” He then stares at the lake. “But earlier, you really felt so lonesome and sad. I thought you might need some company.”

She then throws a rock and watches it sink right to the bottom of the lake. “Well, I couldn’t just drive you away, so feel free to accompany me. But I’m not in the mood to talk, so I won’t be able to make idle chatter with you.” He smiles. “That’s alright, you can just listen while I talk.” She then skips rocks alternately, first with her left hand, then with her right. “Did you know when I was a kid I was the rock skipping champion?” She nods. “I suppose.” He takes a few rocks, aims a pose and throws the rock with a flick of his wrist. The rocks skip multiple times, before it sinks. Althea looks at it in wonder. “I could only at least make it skip three times.” He shrugs confidently. “See? Rock skipping champion.” She throws the rock again, watching it skip thrice, then sink. She sighs deeply.

“Here, let me teach you.” He then gently helps her up, and he helps her make her rock skip more than thrice. He notices that her glum expression hasn’t changed. He points towards a nearby boat. “Why don’t we take the boat? I’m sure the stars would look lovely tonight, plus, it’s a full moon. It’s quite the spectacle.” She simply nods, and they walk towards the boat. He helps her get on first, then he pushes the boat onto the water. He then lifts the oars, and he slowly rows until they reach the deserted pavilion.

They haven’t removed the fake grass they bought to make the pavilion seem like a garden. They both sat down and stared at the calm glow of the moonlight, that was further highlighted by the subtle twinkling of the stars. Fireflies alight the pavilion, making it less dim. Carson sees the stars twinkling in her eyes, and how the moonlight gives her hair a new shade. She was a mermaid in his eyes, a lonely mermaid, who was homesick, hoping that one day, she’ll find her home. He can see the hidden pain in her eyes, the hidden ache in her heart.

“You know, I lost both of my parents, at a young age.” He tells her. “Our favorite pastime was stargazing. My parents once said, despite how many times you see a certain beautiful landscape or scene, it will always be different.” He smiles reminiscently. “I’ve seen dozens of twilight moments, aurora borealis lighting up the skies, but despite that, nothing beats the simple beauty of the night, calming and soothing, urging people to calm down, to relax, and rest. To leave their troubles for tomorrow and instead, take some time for their selves to heal.” He then looks at her. “I don’t know what happened, but the best thing I could do, is give my company to those who need it, and do my best to cheer them up.” He stares at her serene eyes. “You can hide your own pain, but for those who truly experienced pain, despite how much you hide it, they know. It’s an unspoken understanding. So, for tonight, let me ease all your troubles.” He then outstretches his hand for her. “Will you dance with me?” She hesitantly takes his hand, and he gently pulls her up, and he takes her in his arms. He takes a whiff of her delicate but light perfume, he takes in on how the soft moonlight illuminates her figure, making her seem so ethereal but elegant, like the Queen of the Night has graced him with her presence. He intertwines his hand with hers, and he hums as they sway along. Her hands were soft, despite the roughness on some parts provided by her calluses. They stay like that, dancing underneath the beautiful starry lit sky.