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  t was an affair to remember – their first Valentine's date – and Mrs. Richard Gomez, nee Lucy Torres, distinctly recalls every little detail. “It was in February 1998, barely two months after we got engaged in December 1997, I was in Manila busy preparing for our wedding (April 28, 1998).
Richard and I watched the show of Gary Valenciano and Zsa Zsa Padilla at the Westin Philippine Plaza. No, we were not by ourselves. We were with my aunt, the one who has passed away. After the show, we stayed in my house. Then, some friends dropped by, including Willie Revillame.”
Did Richard give her a card, a box of chocolates, or what?
“No,” smiled Lucy, “he did not. Flowers, yes. He gave me flowers. Richard kasi is not your traditional Romeo. I would discover later on that it didn't take a special occasion for him to give me flowers. He's the type who would give me flowers for no reason at all. Sometimes, he's come home from work with a bunch of flowers for me.'
One Valentine's Day, four years after they got married, Lucy woke up to find their house virtually turned into a flower shop, Flowers, flowers, flowers everywhere!
“I woke up and the whole house was full of flowers. My bedside table was full of flowers. I went to the bathroom and I found it full of flowers. All the way to the kitchen, full of flowers! I'd never seen so many flowers at home in my whole life! There was a big vase full of flowers for me and a small vase full of flowers for our daughter, Juliana.”
So what did she do with all those flowers? 
“I wanted to dry them all but there were just too many! So what I did was bring some of them to the Blessed Sacrament in the church near our house. Up to now, I still keep the dried petals.”
Last year, Lucy begged off from celebrating the Day of Hearts in deference to her friend, couturier Joe Salazar, who had just died.
“I told Richard, ‘I'm not in the mood to celebrate.' Richard was off somewhere, buried in work, so we just stayed home.”
How are they going to spend Valentine's Day?
“Surprise!” said Lucy, who is being interviewed solo for this piece because she is, after all, the speaker of the house. “Honestly, I don't know. I always tell Richard, ‘I don't want to be the one to plan.' For me, kasi , it's purely a man thing. It's the woman's day and she expects to be pampered, doesn't she?'
Since their marriage, solemnized at a fairy-tale wedding in Ormoc City, Lucy's turf, it has been Valentine's Day every day for the couple deemed the most ideal in showbiz, untainted by any scandal or gossip, a perfect role model for every Filipino family, founded on true love and unwavering faith (in God and in each other).
Theirs is a love story straight out of an Emily Loring novel.
How did Richard win Lucy's heart? Did she play, uh, hard-to-get? Was Richard an “action man”?
“Play hard-to-get? No, I did not. Well, now that I look back, I think that was partly due to fear and apprehension of going out with a celebrity. Guwapo, eh ! Used to beautiful women. My mo would always remind me, ‘A guy as a accomplished as Richard is used to women, especially beautiful women. Sanay ‘yan sa babae .' I bear that in mind.”
Brought up conservative in a family that is so religious every member stands still at the Angelus (6 p.m. when, in the provinces, the bell rings six times) and makes the Sign of the Cross, Lucy was not, however, the type who would wear her heart on her sleeve.
“We were brought up in the ‘old school.' I don't remember, for example, ever calling up a guy. If he's a friend, its okay to call him up; but never, never if I was even remotely interested in or had a crush on the guy. You know, just pray that he'll call but never take the initiative.”
 Not even Richard?
“Not even with Richard,” said Lucy, laughing at the memory.
At that point in the courtship was she convinced of Richard's sincere intention?
“You know, there was never really a formal courtship. It was as if everything was up in the air. He was just calling me on the phone; he was always been that way. When we first met in 1993 during the shooting of the Lux commercial, he got my phone number and then he called up everyday for two weeks straight. And then he just disappeared. I didn't hear from or see him again until next year when we did another shoot. Then, he would call me again every day for two weeks straight, and then… silence! He would just say ‘Hi!' and that was all. I got used to that routine.”
At that time, Richard was seeing someone else and so was she. But when they did the last shoot for the Lux commercial in 1997, Richard didn't just call, he started courting her, going as far as flying to Ormoc City (where Lucy lived with her parents and siblings) just to visit her and fly back to Manila the same day.
They're celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary in April. How often does Richard say “I love you” to her?
“Every day! Never does a day pass without us saying ‘I love you' to each other. Richard is an early riser and he wakes me up with a kiss. How sweet to wake up to a kiss, ‘no? Then, I go back to sleep again. Before he leaves for work, he kisses me again and hugs me. Now, he has two people to kiss, Juliana and me.”
Do they ever fight?
“Oh yes, we do. Not really fight but just tampo-tampo . Over what? Over little things. Like, he spends too much time in sports and I get a little peeved. You know, the girl thing. I'd say, ‘Oh, you don't take me out dinner anymore, huh! Little things like that.”
 And how do they kiss and make-up?
“You know, when we're in bed, Juliana usually stays in the middle. Somehow, Richard and I always end up beside each other. Either Juliana crawls out of bed or if she wants to linger in bed and lies between us, some parts of Richard's body and my body get connected, they touch each other, like our feet or our hands. That's on a daily basis.
“But during a tampuhan , we talk things out. Richard can be very cariñoso . He would hug me and make me laughs; he even dances in front of me. I'd laugh and laugh and my tampo would be gone.”
Marriage, they say, is never-ending adventure of discovering each other. Richard and Lucy's is no exception.
“We have some differences and a lot of similarities,” said Lucy who is a confessed hypochondriac.
(Which mysteriously disappears the moment I talk to my doctor and he tells me that it's all in the mind”) while Richard, although health conscious, doesn't magnify the little aches and pains.
“Dressing up, for example. Richard can do it in five minutes and me, hours at times. If we're going to the mall or to the grocery, it takes me less time. But when we have to attend a big affair, like an awards night, I would tell Richard,” ‘Give me a little time to prepare myself, Honey.' He understands,” says Lucy. Both husband and wife are signature models of Bench and have the form to show for it.
In bed, Richard stays to Lucy's right, amidst several pillows, one of them Lucy's favorite which she never lets anybody touch or hug.
“We want to have several pillows to protect Juliana. We don't want her to roll off the bed.”
They have their own desks, right in the bedroom.
“Richard prefers the light dim, mood lighting and I prefer bright lights because I work on a computer. But it's okay because I have a lampshade on my desk. The lights have to dimmed because we want Juliana to sleep early. What time do we sleep? A bit late, usually after midnight.”
 Who snores?
“Richard – sometimes. But softly. It sound like music to my ears. When you love somebody, it's like that."
The last thing they do before sleep is pray and the first thing out where he is.”
In the bathroom, they have “His” and “Hers” sinks, with their respective sets of toiletries. They have separate cabinets, too.
Juliana is turning six years old on Sept. 8 (feast day of Our Lady of Nativity; Lucy is a Marian devotee). Isn't it high time her parents had another child? Or are they into birth control?
“No, we're not. I want to have six children and Richard wants only four. Am I taking birth control pills? I haven't taken one in my whole life. Neither am I taking any fertility pills.”
Mothering, according to Lucy, is a full-time job, a career in itself. “There's no day off. Even when you sleep, you don't stop being a mom. Just like being a wife.” Asked how Richard is as a father, Lucy said he's “very hands-on.”
What's the best thing about being Mrs. Richard Gomez?
“You know, I married my dream man. I've been blessed with more than what I've ever dreamed of. Somehow, growing up, I was made to believe that you never end up with your dream man; that it only happens in the movies. But you know, in my case, it happened. Up to now, I continue to discover many wonderful things about my husband. He has the character to match the dream.
Doesn't being married to such gorgeous husband turn her into a jealous wreck?
“No. I'm not the jealous type. There has never been any reason for me to be. I'm human, though, and I know when a girl has her eyes set on my husband. Maybe I'll get jealous if Richard acts on a woman's initiative. I could spot a girl making pa-cute to Richard. I can tell. You know, the girl thing. I would nudge him and say, ‘Look, that girl is making pa-cute to you!' I don't believe in making bantay , in guarding my husband. You know, I'm not God who can keep an eye on my husband 24 hours a day. You know. If a man wants to do it, he will do it. It's between him and his conscience.”
Okay, now, how would Lucy describe Richard in three words?
“Passionate. Sexy. Kind-hearted.”
There you are. The speaker of the house has spoken.
(Articles lifted from People Asia Magazine) -  -  |