Colonel Ponce, that's what he liked to be called and that's how it would appear in his obituary, said that the rank of General reminded Franco and some people would show a certain rejection. Don Emilio was such a good person that he couldn't bear to live without his XANA. He knew that Doña Carmen Garcia Alonso would stop breathing one day, without suffering, without pain, without anguish, like an eel out of water, and that he would leave before her…his mother-in-law Elvira already predicted that he would die of grief for his Carminina . 

Esther was at a high point in her career, her home phone kept ringing, this time it was from the office of Rafael Aguilar, choreographer of the National Ballet of Spain, who ran his own international Spanish dance company. Him offering her a three-month contract in Paris as a prima ballerina. Sharing the stage with the first dancers of the National Ballet of Spain, Aida Gomez and Joaquin Pedraja Cortés.

Esther spent months away from home on tour after tour. But she found the time to be with her grandfather, the Colonel. They really enjoyed being together and that's when Esther brought out the most masculine side of her, she liked to give orders, discipline and respect. She devotedly admired his military green uniform and looked at his medals again and again. But when they was happiest, was in their pajamas in the living room cracking nuts with a little glass of wine. That on this occasion , Esther drank with him , who toasted his wife XANA with whom he would meet very soon and for the voice of Naranja , his daughter Elvira who had given him so much joy, especially the day she gave birth to Sarah Esther. The Colonel filled his granddaughter with unforgettable and irreplaceable emotions from a very young age. He instilled in her to help those most in need, to give thanks and to value what God had put in her way. A great man who fought for his country, a teacher of kindness and humility even having it all. A husband in love and dedicated to his family... but without a doubt, the motto that he taught the princess of Kapurthala; — Short step, long sight and bad milk! She would carry it around the world tattooed on her heart for the rest of her life.

One June 11th, the Infantry Colonel, Don Emilio Ponce Cañas, who already saw XANA almost out of breath, longing to disappear into the depths of the water of an Asturian fountain, began to feel how sorrow was slowly taking over him… and in the Military Hospital of Valencia, he died sweetly embracing his Carminina. 

Being secretary of Radio Nacional de España took away a lot of aunt Blanche's time, but everyone loved her and helped and supported her in the worst moment of her life when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she overcame thanks to chemotherapy and her father who helped her. He operated and killed the bug.  In particular, she was of great help to her lover, a fellow Radio with whom she lived secretly for more than twenty years, the most passionate and intense love of her life. Since then, aunt Blanche took her vacations more calmly and traveled to Madrid with her brother Carlitos, who was looking forward to going to El Corte Inglés with Esther to look at leather handbags. Carlitos needed help twenty four hours a day due to the acute mental retardation that he suffered from since he was born.

 Elvira was already repairing the trip to Valencia with Esther and they were leaving the next day. Blanche would stay helping Elvi, especially with the Filipina. XANA didn't like leaving her alone with Angel, she was still thinking that she couldn't be trusted. XANA had the idea of ​​sending Blanche to rest in the chalet. Esther, who increasingly enjoyed her journalistic facet, interviewed aunt Blanche to find out the reason that caused Doña Blanca so much pain with her second child. 

It was 1942, Doña Blanca had her private doctor at home, her husband, Dr. Osvaldo Alvarez. But that didn't stop either of them from realizing the child they were expecting. Doña Blanca had a high fever and vomited. The doctor Alvarez, in addition to working at the General Hospital of Valencia, with his colleague, Dr. Barcia Goyanes, had his own clinic at home and a laboratory where he analyzed the blood of his wife. She was pregnant, but the most alarming thing was the hemolytic anemia that the analysis indicated. She suffered from malaria, caused by a parasite, Plasmodium, which is transmitted by the bite of infected females of the Anopheles mosquito genus. It was essential to stop this malaria or she would die. She was given some American ATP pills that affected the fetus that did not develop a brain cell well. They realized that Carlitos was not normal because he did not talk or walk until he was five years old. 

He was not operable and the only solution to extend his life was to give him electroshock currents. Blanche said that it was horrible to see that and that after two hours they had to give him a lot of sweets and cakes and Carlitos loved it, but she shed tears remembering her mother suffering . 

Carlitos began to go to a school for subnormal children advised by some friends of Dr. directed by D. Alejandro López. Until one day the boy began to behave very strangely at home, he would go into the bathroom and not come out for a long time. Osvaldo began to investigate Alejandro and discovered the secret school he had in Malva Rosa in Valencia with mentally retarded boys and girls, where he forced them to have sex with each other. He was a pervert and a bastard. Thanks to Blanche's father, they closed his school and put him in jail.  

The Bishop of Valencia and the Archbishop gave Carlitos his first communion in his own home. They brought the crucifix from the chapel of the Palacete del Paseo del Cisne in Madrid, to which they still went from time to time. It was very tall from the 15th century, they put it next to the painting of the Virgen del Socorro that presided over the room and that saved Carlitos from an acetone attack that he had when he was thirteen years old. They didn't even give him six months to live, but Osvaldo asked for the best blood and gave him a blood transfusion even against all the doctors who claimed either that he would die trying or that he would live at most ten more years. He lived to be seventy-five years old. He was a member of the Valencia Philharmonic, he was passionate about music and he knew by heart all the scores that he sang with joy and a great sense of humor. He dressed very elegantly, and was in love with Elvira... he told Angel to go to Plaza de la Reina to find a girlfriend because Elvira was his. 

Doña Blanca not only suffered from her son's illness, but also thanks to her daughter Blanche who, at only twelve years old, went by bus chasing her father, she found out that he was entering Margarita's house, Carlitos' babysitter. The Dr secretly had a son with her. But since she didn't have a job, the juvenile court was going to take him away and put him in an orphanage. It was Doña Blanca herself, an example of her kindness and elegance, who accepted him in her own house so that he could grow up with his brothers and give him a family. 

That afternoon would be the last rice pudding that the three of them would have together... Esther approached her mommy XANA and holding her hand with overflowing love, she began to recount the incredible adventure in Paris with a tycoon of Arab origin who falls madly in love with her. After seeing her dance, in the caves of a hunting estate belonging to one of the most prestigious families in Madrid. 

It all begins in Madrid, 1991. Ángel tells his daughter Esther that Raphael the singer is looking for a dancer for the four-month tour he is preparing for South America and Miami. Esther would travel with an entire orchestra of about twenty musicians where the Music Director Rafael Rabay was a friend of Angel and that gave Angel and Elvira more peace of mind. Esther would be twenty-one years old in a few months, so she was still a minor in the United States.She had to know how to sing flamenco choirs within the group made up of Enrique Pantoja, his wife, his sister-in-law, and a flamenco guitarist, Pansequito. That when he wasn't on tour, he played private parties for famous and influential people. And he was also musical Director of the flamenco part of the show of the biggest famous in Spain, the singer Rocio Jurado. Raphael first auditioned Esther as a live singer, on Spanish television in the program of the famous presenter Jose Luis Moreno, which was shot every week in San Sebastián.  The contract said that Esther would have to dance daily in the best television programs on Telemundo and Univision, as the end of the promotional interview that the most influential presenters of the moment would carry out with the Divo. 

Getting to know South America and Miami, singing and dancing in front of twenty-five thousand people in a single night, five-star hotels, shopping, glamour, culture, travel, contacts... was very attractive and perfect for her career advancement. Not counting her huge salary that she would bring home to continue financing her studies. Four times mora than what she earned in a dance company. But professional dancers didn't see that type of contract as important enough for a bailaora with the category that Esther Ponce already had, and when she told several teachers and directors, none of them congratulated her. Compared to the difficult staging Esther was used to, and her technical demands, this was like going on vacation. In addition, since the dates coincided, she would have to reject a three-month contract to dance pure flamenco, as a soloist, in Tokyo with her teacher, Raúl. Married to a Japanese woman, one of the most important and sought-after flamenco dancers in Japan at the time. Raul never forgave Esther to choose working with Raphael. Raul was convinced that she had conquered Japan and that she would have become a millionaire with her way of teaching. 

That would be his last tour. Returning to Madrid, Raul died at the door of his house in unfortunate circumstances. People commented that he had left the keys inside the chalet where he lived with his wife and his two children, who had stayed in Tokyo. When he went out at three in the morning to buy cocaine, which he was hooked on. Not being able to enter, he became so nervous trying to open a window in the living room by force, that he had a heart attack and died on the spot...

Esther, neither Elvira, nor XANA, could even imagine the surreal car accident that would happen in Puebla, Mexico. Where once again, the Virgen del Socorro saved the lives, this time of four artists. It happened just a week before the end of the tour and Raphael fired them from the company, having to return to Spain early. They arrived at Barajas airport Pansequito, the pianist, the modern dancer and Esther, in wheelchairs and in plaster. An incredible anecdote that Esther herself tells you (Put a link to the anecdote with Raphael). 

Una anécdota increíble que te cuenta la misma Esther  (See anecdote of the accident). 

Pansequito, who had broken his ribs and was already recovered, offered Esther to dance a flamenco solo at a private party. A fairytale setting, in a cellar all made of stone in the moonlight of a spectacular Finca in the Sierra de Madrid. Where the guests of one of the most prestigious families in Madrid who had traveled from different countries of the world to hunt were staying. Esther didn't like to dance in Pettit committee, she needed the space and silence of her own dressing room. And she distanced herself from the public that they couldn't touch her or speak to her. But Pansequito convinced her that she would only dance for ten minutes, that he had spoken with the owner and they would invite her to have dinner at the table with the guests, and not in the kitchen with the waitress as they normally put artists. 

Esther Ponce asked not to eat while she danced. She knew that she had to charm the guests with her dance so they wouldn't talk and interrupt. That is the difference between a theater stage, where they pay to shut up, and a tablao, restaurant or private house where you have to shut them up with your art. Esther asked about the number of guests who would attend and she asked for five times more than what Pansqeuito offered her, who, like an old dog, already took his commission. Pansequito told her that it was impossible for them to accept that budget, that they didn't understand flamenco and that she wasn't famous. Esther remembered the advice that Alfredo Kraus gave her, that being able to say no in this profession was a luxury and she was so sure of what she wanted that she told the guitarist that if the owner did not accept what she asked for, she would dance for free. ; — For her position, which she accepted!, Elvira, who was listening very proudly, interrupted Esther, while XANA asked her granddaughter to continue that she was wanting to know the ending… ne of the guests who lived in Paris sat next to Esther at dinner. He had sea blue eyes, tanned skin, and wavy hair. About forty years old, that he was talking with his partner about the airline he owned, and about the planes they would charter to bring to Paris the guests at the exhibition that his five secretaries were already preparing. 

The magnate Monsieur Olivier Dassault was also a photographer and composer and had an art gallery in the best neighborhood in Paris. When the important conversation was over, he rose from his chair raising his glass; — I want to make a toast to the most elegant danseuse et la plus belle que j'ai vue de ma vie! To the most beautiful and elegant dancer I've ever seen! Esther did not expect it, they all got up and raised her glass while they said; — By Esther Ponce! . Everyone was delighted with the flamenco touch they heard after a long day of hunting. Esther was different from other dancers, she always put flamenco on a high level and with elegance. On and off stage. For her to be respected as another dance discipline like ballet. It seems that flamenco sounds more like a party and chaos and young women and above all beautiful, are the target of businessmen who mercilessly seek her body in exchange for success. But Esther had no need to sell herself.

The dinner dragged on and the tycoon asked her if she knew Paris. Esther understood French but she didn't speak it yet and she changed the language to English; — The good thing about these dinners is that everyone has to speak the same language out of politeness, Esther told XANA with a mischievous face, remembering how she climbed the famous Montmartre stairs at night. Barefoot and with the effect of the French champagne they drank at the Moulin Rouge. Esther replied that she was preparing a two-month tour of Paris precisely and that she would stay in a hotel right on the famous 130-meter-high hill, Montmartre. And what would be inspired by the neighborhood of the painters as Picasso did in his day... Olivier looked at Esther with admiration and passion and he didn't want this moment to end. He invited the musicians to a bottle of the best champagne to lengthen the evening and not to take the dancer so quickly back to Madrid. The driver would take care of taking them to the capital. Olivier looked at Esther with admiration and passion and he didn't want this moment to end.  The tycoon had just published a book with his distorted photographs of ballet dancers and while he gave her his card, he invited her to the Paris office to give her one book . It was the first business card that Esther received and it was made of PVC on top with a printed photograph of him — At least, and for that night, the cardboard ones did not interest the princess, Elvira interrupted Esther again.

Esther had arranged to call Monsieur Dassault upon her arrival in Paris, but she didn't need to because as soon as she entered the charming hotel lobby, a bouquet of twenty-one red roses was waiting for her, occupying almost the entire reception table. The entire company, including Esther, thought that it was an admirer of the first dancer of the National Ballet of Spain. And while they were waiting for the room keys, they discovered that the bouquet was for Esther Ponce. It was carrying a note that said; Tomorrow night I will go to the theater to see you. With admiration, Oliver. 

When she entered the room, there was a huge box of chocolates with a short story about the transition from liquid to solid chocolate with Queen Marie Antoinette as a protagonist. Her roommate began to look at her with envy and Esther had to repress her joy once again so that her roommate wouldn't suffer so much.

— It's not fair XANA! I am not to blame for the good things that happen to me. XANA calmed her down by telling her that she was too elegant to be a flamenco dancer. She warned her that in the world of entertainment to succeed without envy, you had to be mediocre, lesbian or whore. And that since she was none of the three, that she should enjoy to the fullest the moments where she was admired for her art, because that would be the precious thing that would feed her soul, since fame had a price and that she was too talented to pay it. . 

On stage, Esther couldn't get the gypsy out of her mind. His first cousin was the first dancer and Esther had to dance with him. They had the same look and looked a lot alike. That night between the two began to be born a feeling beyond friendship. Esther was always the last to leave the dressing room. She didn't like going to dinner with the exaggerated make-up of the theater, but she didn't like to go to dinner with a washed face either. She removed her makeup and she put her makeup back on, then she showered and talked to her parents. At the door of the dressing room was Olivier with another bouquet of roses, this time white, her favorite. He was accompanied by a painter friend of his who asked Esther to paint her one afternoon in his studio.  When she arrived at the hotel she had a note from Olivier at the reception, to arrange for her driver to pick her up the next day after lunch and take her to his office to pick up the book he had given her. 

They were all eating at a huge table for twenty people, which occupied the entire window of the restaurant, when suddenly they all see a movie limousine pull up. Esther began to reconsider and understood that the hunter knew not only the hotel where she was staying, the theater where she was performing, but also had found out where she ate... The singer who appreciated Esther very much was from the south of Spain and was very funny. , but suddenly he became serious and very flamenco, seeing so much power in front of a twenty-one-year-old girl who was just beginning to live. The entire company was waiting for Esther's reaction. First her roses, then the painter who would take her to the studio for hours to make a portrait of her and apparently he was well known in Paris. And now the limousine that had been waiting for forty minutes. The envy of the others, especially the "most important" invaded the space that became increasingly tense. 

The first dancer Joaquin Pedraja Cortés, who was sitting next to Esther and who continued to fool around on stage and off it, and who also had a strong concern about becoming famous above all else, pulled back his long hair with his hands of a Christ, super similar to those of his cousin brother, the gypsy, and approaching his mouth to Esther's mouth with great sensuality, he warned her that if she did not get in the limousine, he would get in. 

The spell chased her to Paris, but the reaction of her platonic love was so brazen and surreal for Esther, that she rose like a star and with only her gaze turned the singer into her bodyguard, the roommate who was becoming more and more delighted to be, she would pay her bill, and crossing the imaginary red carpet with her back very straight and her head very high as when she carried the basket in Asturias with XANA, and without looking back, she entered the tunnel of the unknown.

 Olivier really fascinated with the passion of the dancer, he would have had the limousine at Esther's disposal for as long as necessary. 

The limousine entered the building's garage, the driver opened the door for Esther and escorted her to the elevator, pressing down on the top floor with a white glove and informing her that he would wait for her there to take her back to the hotel. 

The elevator opened and there was the Eiffel Tower in front of it, entering the room. It was a suite on the luxurious Avenue Montaigne, the bed to the right, huge and fit for a king, and which Esther hurried past just in case. Olivier was sitting waiting in the living room of his house with the gift ballet book in his hand. The office and study were two floors below, but the pressing point was that Esther's favorite actress, Marlene Dietrich, was living her last days on the first floor. It seemed like a dream, Esther chose her favorite photograph of his book … a plane from the thirties that would take them around the world; Je veux voler! I want to fly ! Esther shouted with open arms from the balcony defying the work of art by the architect Stéphen Sauvestre. They spent hours laughing remembering how they met in Madrid. The chef made them the most exclusive goose foie gras in the world and… — I arrived at the theater just for the show! . You would be capable of anything as long as I forget about the gypsy, right XANA? Esther said. You already knew the ending Mamaíta right? I love you ! . Esther looked at her and saw Mamaíta with the kind of mole in the middle of her forehead, like a fascinating and magical Disney character. Full of stories and wise as life itself. A purebred Asturian, a big woman who lived intensely, who saved lives and those that she would save from heaven! .

All the XANAS united by the Cantabrian Sea that rocks Asturias. Maria represented antiquity, closeness to true history, to the roots of a family of strong and fighting women. Benjamina was always surrounded by fish that brought her the messages of life. Elvira was good like her father and she gave off sweetness and nobility. Carmen had the power of water in her hands that attracted beauty, love and faith.—During hard times, think that God squeezes but doesn't suffocate, XANA told them. I'm leaving but not forever. I am going to meet my great-grandmother María, my grandmother Benjamina and my mother Elvira. On the night of San Juan look for us in the ocean, our face will be drawn by the waves and we will continue to protect you together with the help of God in joy and in sadness. And Elvira, my daughter, don't trust the Filipina! she will try to cheat on you with your husband, but I will help you from heaven and you will avoid it. Esther quickly reacted and with a lump in her throat that blocks her speech and trembles with sadness and uncertainty, she told her to go to heaven in peace that she would never allow it. XANA smiled and relaxed and calm, like the Asturian eel out of the water that moves a lot and loses intensity...

But she had no time to waste and she began to remind Elvira and Esther, what her mission would be the day she stopped breathing; — Always remember that your daughter Esther is bewitched and that way you will be able to understand her better. She still has many years to suffer. Upon your return to Madrid, Esther will live the most crucial moment of her life, her destiny will put the gypsy in her veins again. At eight years old the spell will disappear and Esther will return to her roots and her nature and Angel and you too.

— You will get pregnant and you will lose it, XANA told Esther… That will be the signal that I will send you to save you. From that moment you will have to start fleeing to a distant country and his son will help you, if you don't, you will die. I will protect you, I will manifest myself through water and light...

On March 6, 1992, the Illustrious Mrs. Carmen Garcia Alonso, XANA, from the Military Hospital of Valencia, was leaving this world... but not forever. 

A novena of masses was celebrated for such a sensitive loss, nine days praying for a great woman.