The Stranger

Chapter 23 - Cassandra

"Alejandrito!" a lady, maybe in her 50's, smiled and happily greeted Alex "Bienvenido".

"Hola mi Soledad" Alex gave her a warm hug "this is Cassandra." he switched to English, "Cassandra, this is Soledad. The soul of this house"

"Don't be silly!" She playfully slapped him on the shoulder and turn to me "welcome Cassandra" she said with a strong Spanish accent and gave me a kiss on each cheek. Soledad walked us in and said something to Alex before walking away.

"She's nice" I said to Alex "your aunty?" I asked.

"Actually, no. Even though she is like family to me, we are not related. She has worked for our family since I was a teenager." He took my hand and guided me toward the back of the property. There was a massive open gate that led to a veranda with a red floor made from bricks and a black metal fence. The view was spectacular. It was a massive field with cows and sheep on it. The background was green hills, clear blue skies, and the sporadic cloud. I stood still taking it all in, I didn't even notice that Alex had walked away from me until he called me.

"Cassandra. Come" I followed the sound of his voice to my right, maybe 5 meters away from me. An old man sat on a chair staring at the view too.

"This is my dad, Rodrigo" He introduced me "esta es la chica inglesa de la que te hablé".

"Oh, la inglesa," Rodrigo said with a massive, warm smile on his face "nice to meet you. You are way too beautiful for this guy" he switched to English "run away with me instead." He laughed.

"Very tempting sir" I joked. We talked for a while. He told me about his hacienda, how he met Alex's mother, how extremely driven, passionate, and successful she was, how happy and in love they were until the day she died. Alex would join in at times but seemed happy to see his dad talking.

"I am sorry to interrupt," Soledad interrupted our laughter "lunch will be served soon, and Señor Dominguez needs his medicine".

"What a party pooper she is" Rodrigo said to me cheekily "see you in a bit". He left with Soledad.

"Your dad is lovely" I said to Alex.

"He is. He is having a really good day" Alex smiled, grabbed my shoulders and kissed my forehead. "Let's go, I am starving", he took my hand and took me to the living room.

The living room had the same view, of the hills as the veranda where Rodrigo was before but through a massive window, in the middle of the room there was an already set massive wooden table with eight matching chairs, the walls were white and high, the ceiling matched the paint on the walls but had huge wooden beams all across it. The smell coming from the kitchen was amazing. I hadn't realised I was hungry until then. A different younger lady came with plates of food this time, white rice with a chicken stew. I could see red peppers, onion, tomato and bit of ham.

"Pollo Chilindrón" Alex said as if reading my mind "Chicken chilindron, that's what it is."

"It looks delicious."

Rodrigo and Soledad came back.

"Ahhh... Pollo Chilindrón. Mi favorito" Rodrigo exclaimed and then looked at me "Hi, I'm Rodrigo. Nice to meet you". He extended his hand, and I was confused.

"Papá, you have already met Cassandra. We were just talking". Rodrigo looked at Alex and seemed to space out for a couple of seconds.

"Of course! The beautiful English woman. You are too beautiful for this guy. You should run away with me" he laughed.

The dinner was delicious, and I could have had seconds, but I didn't want to seem rude. The conversation at the table flowed well too, but Rodrigo repeated some of the stories from our conversation from the veranda and I realised why he needed care.