Havana Jazz Club Read Free Page B

objections, they would just end up angry at each other. That’s why she didn’t remind Billie about her own dreams of becoming a singer, crushed forever, vanished among the diapers and baby bottles. History was repeating itself, and she could do nothing to stop it. She could only hope that her daughter wouldn’t ever regret rushing into things, as she did.
    But there was something about Orlando that Celia didn’t like. She couldn’t put her finger on it. And it wasn’t the rumors—Celia didn’t pay attention to the nattering of old ladies. It was something more worrying, something like an intuition that the boy wasn’t being completely honest. He was handsome, sure, and charming. There was no doubt about that. She understood why her daughter had fallen hopelessly in love with him. But she found him arrogant, too pleased with himself, and she was afraid that he wouldn’t love her daughter the same way she loved him. She was afraid that he would cause her little girl pain. Blinded by love, her daughter heard only the seductive words that—she had no doubt—he whispered in her ear, eclipsing Billie’s ability to think rationally. Billie, whether she realized it or not, was still a little girl who had been sheltered by her family all her life. She was innocent and gullible, and he was already a man through and through, who knew very well what he wanted, whatever that may be; who, she’d heard, had lived a full life, despite his youth. It was rumored that he was a man of the night—that he had an affinity for everything that came with the darkness. Celia was sure he wouldn’t forgo a good bender even though he was engaged to her daughter. There was always a charitable soul ready to fill her in on his every movement.
     
    Billie, however, had made up her mind. That very same evening at dinner, she announced her engagement to the rest of the family. Her father was speechless and looked over at her mother for support, but she merely shrugged helplessly.
    Two days later, Orlando presented himself to Nicolás to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Aware that this was no more than a formality, and despite the whole business seeming too rushed to him, Billie’s father gave his blessing, knowing that his daughter would have her way, even if he opposed the union.
    He nonetheless tried to convince the boy not to hurry down the aisle. They should enjoy their engagement a little while longer.
    “You know how it is, boy,” he said to the suitor with a casual air of solidarity. “Once you get married, the babies come. Then there’s no time to enjoy being a couple. Life is to be lived, my friend! Enjoy it now! There will be plenty of time to be weighed down by responsibilities later.”
    Orlando listened attentively and nodded, a friendly smile on his lips.
    “Don’t worry,” he replied vaguely, after Nicolás’s long-winded speech.
    A few days later, the young couple announced the date of the wedding. There was hardly time to make the necessary preparations.
    “Such a rush, such a rush,” Celia grumbled. She turned on her husband and took out all her anxiety on him. “And you? You couldn’t have used your authority as the head of the family?”
    “What would you have wanted me to do, woman?” he said, struggling to defend himself. “I told them they’d be better off waiting. But love doesn’t wait. You know that, my love. They’re young . . . Like we were when we got married.”
    Nicolás took his wife in his arms and kissed her tenderly, trying to defuse the situation.
    “Bah! Enough fooling around!” She wriggled out of his arms, still clinging to her anger.
    But she was incapable of sharing any of her concerns with her daughter. Billie looked so happy that she couldn’t bring herself to disturb her with doubts. But that didn’t stop her from trying to prevent the marriage, albeit through veiled attempts. She tried to open her daughter’s eyes to reality while there was still time, or at least,