Chapter Three
Agustin had never been so out of his depth. Lost and confused and wholly uncertain of the next right step.
No, that wasn’t true. When his father had died, he’d felt this same sort of paralyzing confusion. He’d gone from taking his final university exams, looking forward to a little break before he started working in earnest at Sosten to…being in charge of everything.
Even with his unexpected heart attack, Father’s last wishes had been especially clear. Agustin was to handle everything. Mother and Felipe were to be taken care of.
He’d had to tell Felipe the news himself. Mother had been too distraught, a surprise considering their marriage had not been particularly happy. But Agustin had handled it.
He’d had to step into his father’s role at Sosten immediately instead of learn by working his way up. He hadn’t been able to stay in that paralyzed, lost, grief-stricken state. He’d had to act. Everything had depended on him.
It was what had made dealing with Felipe’s death so… Easy wasn’t the right word. Rote. He’d developed a system for unexpected deaths. He’d developed systems for anything his business life threw at him. He’d even developed systems for cleaning up Felipe’s uglier messes.
He had not developed a system for unexpected children though. He wanted to believe this was a scam—that would be more easily dealt with. And he could not discount the possibility.
But he could not discount the possibility his brother had a child. The man had been the dictionary definition of reckless. It was perhaps more surprising no one had ever approached Felipe with a child before.
Except, maybe this woman had and Felipe had turned her away? Agustin hated to think Felipe would have turned his back on a child, but perhaps he didn’t know.
Perhaps it isn’t true.
He so desperately wanted that to be the case, but even looking at the baby seemed to twist something inside his chest into uncomfortable knots. So he needed to act, instead of let emotions and feelings keep him rooted to a spot.
Everything depended on him, as always.
“Have a list made of what you need.” Why was his voice so hoarse? “Senor Silva has a granddaughter who lives with him on the island. She has a few children. She may have what we need and procure whatever we do not without drawing attention.”
“Wonderful.” Mara glanced at the old estate manager. Grimaced a little. “I don’t suppose I could email him my list?”
“I will find you a pad of paper and pen.”
She sighed but nodded. “Very well. But, Agustin…” She trailed off, looking pained.
For a moment, she didn’t finish her sentence, then she leaned in a little close.
Close enough he could see the flecks of gold in her eyes and smell whatever scent she wore—something subtle with just the hint of floral.
There was something about the way she pronounced his name. It didn’t sound like anyone else when she said it. He couldn’t put his finger on it, and it made him want to lean in closer.
“What are we going to do about the countess?” she asked, dark eyes concerned.
The baby in her arms made a gurgling kind of noise like she was also asking what they were going to do about the…
The countess. The proposal. The wedding that was supposed to be a distraction from Felipe’s death. And now…potentially Felipe’s child.
What an absolute disaster this was.
If anything, he needed the distraction now more than ever, but he would need to know… He needed to know if the baby was a Delgado first. Nothing could happen until he determined that.
Maybe this was unexpected, but he had to take it one sensible step at a time. Noticing Ms. Valdez’s perfume was not a sensible step.
“Put her off for one week,” Agustin managed.
“Tell her I’ve had to attend a pressing business matter that could not be ignored.
We will delay it until next week when we know…
” He looked at the baby. She had a rosebud mouth and big brown eyes.
Her cap of hair was lighter than his or his brother’s had ever been, but that could have come from the mother.
Or this was a scam, and this poor child was not his responsibility at all.
“We will reevaluate when we have all the necessary information,” he said stiffly.
“Very well. You will handle the doctor and getting me that pen and paper. I will handle everything else.”
He stared at her for a moment. Handle everything. Except she couldn’t. Not if the baby in her arms was Felipe’s child. If this was true, even he couldn’t handle everything, because as Mara had said…
The baby was a human being. And he’d learned the hard way there was one thing he could not control.
Anyone with Delgado blood running through their veins.
After Mara wrote out the list and handed it off to Senor Silva, she went through everything in Julia’s bag. She found formula, bottles, diapers and wipes, changes of clothes and blankets. A pacifier, a few toys, a big board book and then a little folder full of important documents.
All signs she had been well taken care of and that this drop-off had been thought out in advance.
Mara tried not to think about what must have befallen the poor mother to be so desperate as to drop off her daughter on someone’s doorstop.
On a private island’s rarely visited castle.
She must have gone to great lengths to get here undetected.
Did she know the Silvas? Had she simply hoped someone would come along?
Mara considered what the letter had said. Without Felipe, we are nothing. Perhaps Felipe had given the mother all the information she would need to get here and leave undetected.
Mara pressed a gentle kiss to the baby’s soft temple. Well, no matter what, she would ensure the child was well taken care of while they sorted things through.
One-handed, she flipped through the papers in the folder. A recent physical including what shots she’d had, and a birth certificate. No, not a birth certificate—because there was no official seal, no parents listed, but it listed a birth date.
Mara frowned at it. “Five months? Dios mío. You’re much too small. Well, we will have to do something about that, won’t we?” Then she held out the paper to Agustin, who was glowering in the corner. “Her birthday. But no parental information or location of where she was born.”
He merely grunted. He glanced at the paper but did not touch it. “It does not list Felipe as the father.”
“It does not list anyone,” Mara replied. She wanted to scold him, but Julia was getting more and more fussy. “I bet she’s hungry. Come. Show me the kitchen.”
Agustin led her down a hallway that was on the dark and crumbling side. Senor Silva had not been exaggerating about the state of the staff side of things. Mara did not know how she was going to manage all the things she’d need to do and help care for a baby.
Mr. Delgado would not allow them to bring someone in. Not at first, she knew. It would be up to the two of them and Senor Silva to care for Julia until Agustin decided his next steps.
Thinking of the man with the cane, she amended that. It would be up to the two of them.
When they entered the kitchen, Mara breathed at least one sigh of relief. It was in beautiful shape. Modern appliances gleamed across clean surfaces from the warm light of a big window that looked out over the sea.
She deposited Julia’s baby bag on the table, then turned to Agustin. “Take her.”
He took a step back as though she were offering him a bomb. “I cannot take her.”
“Of course you can. There is nothing particularly difficult about holding a baby. Simply do as I do.” She stood to the side so he could see how she had one arm scooped under Julia’s diaper and the other on her back.
Then she held the baby out to him. He looked horrified, but something in his pride must have kept him from stepping back again. Carefully, with Julia voicing her opinions on being moved and not being fed, Mara transferred the baby into Agustin’s arms.
Their bodies brushed in the transition, the heat of him a surprising blast of electricity. No, despite their intertwined lives, they did not often share space like this. They certainly didn’t touch.
Once Mara was sure Agustin had Julia, she turned away quickly and reached for the bag. She could not dwell in heat or electricity. Ever, but especially at the moment. There was simply too much to do.
She pulled out a bottle and read the instructions on the package of formula. She did not have an exact current weight for the child, but the immunization records had been from only a month ago so she could make an educated guess based on that.
Julia was beginning to cry in earnest, and Agustin made the oh so helpful observation that “she is upset.”
“Yes, so let us get her fed. Now, watch me. The instructions are on the package to remind you, but you will need to learn how to do this.” She measured out the formula with the scoop it came with.
“Why?”
She stopped mid pour and turned to him, trying to keep her frustration in check. “I am not a nanny, Agustin. I will help, but so will you.”
“You cannot honestly expect me to take care of a baby.” He held Julia, even though she had begun to squirm. His grip was tight, a little awkward, but he was doing a fairly good job.
Mara took a deep breath to keep herself calm. Or at least to sound calm. Mostly because he was holding the baby, and she didn’t want to scare Julia.
“I can. I do. If you expect me to contact Paulo, make his travel arrangements, construct an email to the countess, put off the proposal arrangements for a week and ensure there are suitable accommodations for everyone, all while keeping the existence of this child a secret from nearly everyone, then you will need to do your part.”
“I have work to attend to as well.”
“This is why we will be sharing duties. One of those duties will be feeding. So you will watch and learn how to make a bottle so you may feed her when it is your turn. I will take this first turn since I know how, and then you will figure out how to get a doctor here. You’ll want to do a paternity test, will you not? ”
He had nothing to say to that, so she measured the water after checking the temperature, then poured in the formula and gave it a good shake. Then, perhaps a bit loftily, but she was annoyed, she moved over to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair.
She would have preferred a more comfortable seat, but this was a better space to teach him in. “Come. Give her to me.” She held out her arms.
Agustin moved carefully, like he was afraid every step would jostle the bundle he held. There was something almost endearing about it. No matter what he said about paternity, he was concerned and careful.
When he reached her, his frown was puzzled.
“Just bend over and keep your hand supporting her. I’m sure you’ve played a sport before. Think of her as some kind of ball or racquet you must hand off and not drop.”
“A ball,” he muttered disgustedly. But he did as he was told and transferred the baby. Once again, their bodies brushed, and hers reacted in ways she most assuredly did not sanction. She was going to have to find a way to get her racing heart and heating blood to listen to her mind.
“Very good. You’ll get more accustomed to it the more you do it,” she told him, with an encouraging smile. Perhaps this was not usually their dynamic since she had never seen Agustin out of his depth even once, but she always thought encouragement did wonders for people who were learning.
But his eyes were flat and cold. He crossed his now free arms over his chest and stepped back, surveying her in that king of the manor kind of way she was used to. “Ms. Valdez, need I remind you that you are my assistant?”
“And need I remind you, Mr. Delgado, that my job duties do not extend to childcare?” She held the bottle to the babe’s mouth, and Julia eagerly began to suck.
Mara kept her gaze on the baby and her tone mild, though fury twined with that…
odd electricity feeling. “I’d be happy to hire a whole team of people to help with Julia while we are here, but you do not want that.
So you will either be involved, or I will hire a nanny. ”
He had nothing to say to that, and Mara relaxed in spite of herself. She couldn’t say she looked back on all the ways she’d had to help raise her little sisters with a lot of fondness, but she had always enjoyed certain things. Feedings, cuddles, reading bedtime stories… The connection of it all.
“It is not so difficult,” she told him, speaking softly so as not to disturb Julia’s meal. “You make sure her head is supported, and that the bottle is tipped enough so she’s not sucking in air. She’ll set the pace. You’ll only need to relax and watch.”
She glanced up to see if he was paying attention. Their eyes met. Held. And something happened in that odd moment of connection. A flutter of awareness, of interest. Not wholly new, but the whole baby thing meant she wasn’t as on guard as she needed to be.
“I will go see about a doctor,” he said abruptly, then turned on a heel and left.
Missing out on his first lesson in how to burp a baby.