After that dinner, they met more often. They did some footing together or went to the theater and they talked a lot about their hobbies; music, literature and animals. Both wondered why there were no animals allowed in Sunset Valley and they hoped that the law would soon be changed because both of them loved to have a pet.

They got to know each other quite well. Now and again there still were moment that there was a sensual loaded silence between them but then they used to start telling some jokes until the moment passed.

They became common “huggers” because there still was nothing of a kiss. Not because Ilona didn’t want to. By this moment she was ready for it but she hadn’t told Chester and Chester had promised himself to be respectful with her. So their eyes, their hearts and their bodies were hungering for each other in a more intimate way but they still behaved as “good friends”.

A certain day, Ilona came back from work and she found her trashcan being tipped over and it was clear that somebody had done some investigation there. She just thought that it would have been some hungry person and paid no attention.

Then, during many days she didn’t receive a phone call from Chester. She wondered why. She called him but he didn’t pick up the phone. As she wanted to know if something odd had happened, she went to his house.

Once ringing the front doorbell, the door was opened but Chester was very bad humored. She didn’t understand why he acted like that and asked him to tell her his problem.

Then Chester threw a letter on the table and said: “read it, it will explain everything”.
She took the letter and read: “My friend, I know how much you suffered in your life and I would like to avoid more suffering. I have to warn you because I know the history of that Ilona Picasso. That woman gave birth to twins and she abandoned them at the same moment. She wanted to go with another man but one is not enough for her; she is using them by the dozens.
As you can understand, that woman is not the kind that you need. I know she was born in a neighborhood at Simland, she studied there at university and afterwards she went to the Simish Islands where she really was known by all of the men. I suppose that you know which steps to take.”
The letter was signed by “A friend who wants the best for you”.

After reading the letter, Ilona felt sick and almost vomited. Quietly se put the letter on the table and she said with a voice, cold as ice: “If you want to believe an anonymous letter, you don’t deserve my friendship”.
She turned around and she left his house high-headed but with a broken heart. Chester was left behind and started doubting.

He thought: “It’s true; I shouldn’t believe an anonymous letter. At least I could have asked her if there was any truth in all this history but I didn’t even give her an opportunity. Besides that, we are not even engaged. She has no need to justify in my eyes.
He understood that this was a very delicate question and he decided to write her a letter.

At home, Ilona cried and cried. She couldn’t deny that some part of the letter was true. She had given birth to twins but you couldn’t consider that she abandoned them.
She wondered if she cried over her past or her present time. Because she surely didn’t have a future; at least not with Chester…
She was unable to sleep but she had to go to work. She did the impossible that people wouldn’t notice her state of mind and, apparently it worked because she got a promotion. Even so, she felt horrible.

Coming home, she noticed that there was a letter for her. It had no stamp so the writer of the letter had brought it there personally. The letter was Chester’s and it said:
“My dear friend, I hope that you don’t feel offended when I call you like this. It’s true what you said last evening; I don’t deserve your friendship. I have been thinking about it all evening and night.
I know you as a person with real sound habits and I know you’re not an easy woman for a man. I understand that I should not be forgiven for believing an anonymous letter. Besides that, I don’t have the right to know anything about your private life.
I beg you from the bottom of my heart to reconsider accepting me as a friend and please forgive me”.

Ilona felt much better after reading the letter y she understood that he had to feel horrible so she phoned him to say that he had been forgiven.
When he asked her to have dinner together at the Bistro, she said: “No Chester, not today. I practically did not sleep last night and at this moment I’m more sleepy than hungry; perhaps tomorrow”.
Chester felt very relieved for being forgiven and he didn’t sleep very much either. For him it was also better to stay home and have an early night rest.

A few days after, Ilona called him and invited him home. She said that 6:30 pm would be all fine.
Chester wanted so much to see her again that he was there already at 5:30 but he understood that he had to wait. He didn’t dare to go inside before the date time.
So, just like a scholar in love, he waited outside looking at the front door.

At half past 6, he rang the bell and Ilona opened the door. She greeted him if though nothing had happened and had prepared already something to eat. After that she invited him to play chess at the terrace. That’s how they spent the evening.
There were moments that they were not just playing chess. Ilona had decided to tell Chester about her life.

She told him about her parents: Mateo and Jessica who passed away a long time ago. She told him about her older brother Marvin who was married to Melissa and about their wonderful children.

Her other brother is called Jackson and he married the girl he had been living with during many years. They had already two children as well but Ilona hasn’t seen them until the moment. The distance is quite big and often people forget each other…

Then she told him that she was engaged during the last year of her universal studies until the boy left her for another woman.

She explained that after university she wanted to have a nice quiet year before she would start to work and she went to the Simish Islands where she was presented to a couple of nobles; Lord Valdemar and Lady Jane. They were very unhappy. Although being in love with each other, Lady Jane was sterile. She couldn’t have any children.
They told her that in their family they could only have children with Celtic blood.

They had observed that Ilona could have Celtic blood and investigated on her finding out that Ilona’s father Mateo (Matthew) was born in Simscotland and his mother was Celtic. That’s why they asked Ilona to give her consent for implanting her (clinically) the sperm of Lord Valdemar in order to give birth to a heir of their family.

Ilona told Chester that she was scandalized by this proposition and told them “no”. But a few days later her fiancée Guillermo called her to say that he wanted to stop their engagement. She felt so sad and nothing mattered anymore. So, she made the decision of her life: If she couldn’t be happy, why not make that noble family happy…. They had offered to give her money but she didn’t want anything for it. Only the costs of the pregnancy were paid by them.
In hospital they implanted the sperm of Lord Valdemar and after 9 month she gave birth, not to one but to two babies. She told Chester that she was tempted to keep one of them but the personal doctor of the nobles didn’t allow her to.

After the birth of the babies she felt very unhappy. She really was passing a bad time and in order to flee from her past, she emigrated to New Simland.

Ilona: “Now perhaps you can understand how I felt when you received this anonymous letter. Who could know about it? Not even my brothers know about the babies…”
Chester hardly could believe his ears. What a good hearted girl, wanting to help these people without receiving anything but gratitude! That must have been very difficult for her!
He told her that he was very grateful that she had decided to trust him.

To be continued…