Tuesday, August 28, 2018

How Do You Say I Love You? #OurAuthorGang

When a man confesses his love


I love blending the past and present into a fantasy tale with intriguing tribal secrets, magical heritage, love triangle, and an exciting and dangerous life in a secret society. The inspiration to write Ilona’s story came from reading about my ancestors, the ancient Huns, and from my experience working in the medical field all my life. My grandma told me stories about the ancient flower language they used when she was a young girl and I incorporated the meaning of flowers into the story. In this excerpt, the red tulip is the symbol of everlasting love.

Excerpt from Turmoil, book 2 of the Ancestors' Secrets, a magical realism, alternate reality epic fantasy trilogy
Chapter 15
Confessions

Ilona and Bela took their coffee out to the porch, and they sat down on the comfortable wicker chairs to enjoy the afternoon sun. They watched Gypsy trailing behind Elza. Gypsy was born without a left hind leg, and his custom-made artificial foot was making clicking sounds on the gravel. Tui, of course, was right beside him. It was so comical watching them go. While Gypsy took one step, Tui had to take twenty running steps on her tiny feet. The calf-sized Saint Bernard and the two-pound Chihuahua were best friends for life.

They don’t care about size, breed or pedigree; they just like each other, Ilona thought. The sun tickled the skin on Ilona’s bare arms. Bela was deep in thought, fidgeting in the chair as if he wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to begin.

Ilona asked lazily, “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, no trouble, I just wanted to talk to you about something,” he answered, looking away.
Ilona sipped her coffee, “Okay. Don’t hold back.” She was anticipating a gazillion questions about being a Hunor and her abilities.

“It’s not that easy. I’ve wanted to talk to you about this for years, but always thought there was enough time,” he whispered, eyes dropping to his lap.

“What is it, Bela? You are scaring me. You know you can talk to me about anything,” Ilona said feeling alarmed and sat up straight.

He shifted in his chair, “Well, yes, but this is something that’s not so easy to talk about. Anyway, here goes.” Turning towards Ilona, he began, “You know that I love you, right?”

“Yes, I know,” Ilona replied while the worst possible things that could happen were running through her mind.

Bela reached behind him and then extended his arm toward Ilona. In his hand was a red tulip, the symbol of true love, a representation of adoration and devotion. Ilona’s heart thumped loudly in her chest as he started talking very fast, “I love you, but not only as a friend. I know you don’t want to be more than that, but I have to tell you. I’m in love with you Ilona. I’ve been in love with you since fifth grade. At first, I thought it was puppy love, and I didn’t want to say anything as I didn’t want to risk losing our friendship, but when I saw the way you looked at Zoltan, I couldn’t take it anymore. It nearly broke my heart. It was easier before because you only played with the idea of a relationship with guys. You had nothing serious going on, but he is different. You are different. You have to know how I really feel.”


“What are you saying? Are you in love with me? Really in love with me?” Ilona asked, confused.
“I have always been in love with you, but because you wanted only to be my friend, I never told you. I pretended just to love you as a friend. I’ve tried to let you know, but I couldn’t. I felt as if you had built a wall that I wasn’t allowed to climb over.”

Now he tells me! Ilona was dumbfounded. It was as if lightning had struck her right in the middle of her chest.

Although Bela noticed her distress, unknowingly, he continued turning the knife in her heart. “Didn’t you ever notice how I truly felt about you?”

“No, I thought you wanted only to be friends. You made it very clear so many times that I lost hope a long time ago, and now I think I’m falling in love with Zoltan,” Ilona whispered.

“What? Do you mean that? What a stupid idiot. I didn’t know. I thought that...” Bela mumbled. 

“Ilona, I love you! You’re the love of my life! If only I knew… If I knew I had a chance, I would have told you a long, long time ago.”

“Why didn’t you?” Ilona whispered.

“It’s not too late! Please tell me it’s not too late,” he begged, still holding the red tulip in his trembling fingers.

He tried to hand it to Ilona; only she couldn’t take it from him. She loved him still, but it wasn’t the same as before. If he’d told her before she’d met Zoltan, Ilona would have been the happiest woman on earth to accept his tulip, but not anymore. In the past, Ilona had resigned herself to being rejected and ignored. Meeting Zoltan had opened the possibility of being loved in return.

Ilona’s heart was aching so much, she felt like she couldn’t take it. He didn’t release her face but stroked her cheeks gently with his thumbs, and then leaned closer and closer. Their lips touched softly. It felt wonderful. Ilona had been waiting for that real kiss for almost a decade and a half. It had to come when she’d found love in her heart for another man. Life’s irony, she thought, fate is probably rubbing its hands in glee that it could fool and confuse the living heck out of me, once again.


Book 1 eBook is free on various sites



Read an excerpt from Book 3, Destiny
Wedding in 406 in the Carpathian Basin

COMMENTS

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Shakyra

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
<3 Makes me envious. I love subjects of love.
 
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Eva Pasco

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
A beautiful excerpt!
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Tricia Drammeh

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Wonderful post and excerpt from Erika Szabo, who is one of our very talented authors on #OurAuthorGang
 
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Ruth de Jauregui via Google+

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Erika M. Szabo​ shares the language of flowers -- the tulip -- and a wonderful excerpt from book 2 of her magical realism/romantic trilogy on #OurAuthorGan.
 
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Ruth de Jauregui

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
What a lovely excerpt, Erika! Love is complicated and you expressed that so beautifully. Thank you!
 
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Joanne Jaytanie via Google+

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Enjoy an excerpt from Erika Szabo's book, Turmoil, book 2 of the Ancestors' Secrets Trilogy. #OurAuthorGroup
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Joanne Jaytanie

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Great post. Sounds like a good read.
 
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Joe Bonadonna via Google+

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Today on #OurAuthorGang, author Erika M. Szabo​ begs the question, "How do you say I love you?" and gives us a nice excerpt from her "Turmoil -- book 2 of the Ancestors' Secrets, a magical realism, alternate reality epic fantasy trilogy.
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Joe Bonadonna

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Very good, Erika. You made this very unromantic guy wonder and think, "Mmmmm...." Great excerpt, too!
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We all need a little romance in our lives :)
 
+Erika M Szabo -- I must be looking in all the wrong places. :)

Chris Weigand

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Great post. Loved the excerpt, can't wait to read the book. I like the symbolism you incorporate in your stories.
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+Erika M Szabo I already read the first book and I have the second and the third books on my Kindle and hope to read them soon.
 
+Chris Weigand Enjoy the story Chris :)

Chris Weigand via Google+

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Read an exciting excerpt and learn a little more about what inspires Erika
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Erika M Szabo via Google+

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
How do you say "I love You"?
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Toi Thomas

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
A lovely excerpt. I knew there was a reason the tulip was my favorite flower.
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My grandma told me about the flower language from the times when she was a young woman. She got her red tulip from grandpa, he was a romantic :) My hubby is too "macho" for gestures like that, he was raised differently
 
+Erika M Szabo My husband rarely buys me flowers because I have such bad allergies, but he knows that I'll endure it from time to time to have a bouquet of Tulips.

Nikki McDonagh

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Great post. Nice use of symbolism to get the message across.
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Thanks Nikki :)

Toi Thomas via Google+

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Today, Erika M. Szabo shares an excerpt that inspires love and romance and offers a fresh look at the red tulip. #OurAuthorGang
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Lorraine Carey via Google+

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
This post on TRUE LOVE will pull at your heartstrings. #love #flowers #symbolism #authors #writers #blog
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Lorraine Carey

5 months ago  -  Shared publicly
 
Love can be painful sometimes. What a beautiful post, Erika. I didn't know the tulip represented everlasting love. I just love how you blend symbolism and signs into your stories. This was the first thing I read this morning and now I have the urge to go get some tulips.
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+Lorraine Carey That's an idea! You love yourself, so give yourself a flower :)
 
+Erika M Szabo Iam. Headed to the store soon!

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