7. Chapter Six
Chapter Six
F ive words he had never imagined hearing from Sky.
Five words that would irrevocably change their lives.
Yes, she would marry him—but would she ever love him?
He didn’t know, and he couldn’t bear to dwell on that troubling question right now. This wasn’t about his selfish desires. This was about protecting Jasper and honoring his brother’s wishes for his son. Whatever happened with Sky, he would always put Jasper’s welfare first.
“Where?” Sky looked up at him expectedly.
“Here,” Rafael said, throwing himself into CEO mode. He was good at making decisions and delegating tasks. “I’ll call my personal lawyer as soon as we finish talking. When I take you two back to San Antonio, we’ll get married there again, just in case.”
“But not in a church?”
He heard the hopefulness in her voice and hated to dash it. “That will take too long. There are so many classes, a retreat, and whatever else they require for the sacrament. Plus, there’s no divorce.” Regret gripped him as soon as he said the word. Her expression crumpled, and he hated himself for inflicting more pain. “I didn’t mean—.”
“It’s okay, Rafa.” She smiled wanly and gave his arm a reassuring pat. “I understand.”
Did she? He meant for her . She deserved to go out and live her life, to find a man she adored and loved to marry. He wanted her to have that someday. He wanted her to have the fairytale church wedding with the right man.
And that’s not me.
Knowing that Jaime had chosen someone else to raise his child was like a slap in the face. It hurt, but it was also eye-opening. Rafael didn’t want to admit it, but he understood why his brother had made that decision. He was a workaholic who put business before everything. He had never had a long-term relationship. He had never given any inclination that he wanted to be a father or a family man.
Jaime would never know that Rafael had been envious of his brother’s happiness. Seeing Jaime become a husband and a father awakened a deep and painful yearning to have that life. He didn’t want to waste his entire life on the business and die an old, lonely man surrounded by nephews and nieces he adored. He wanted a wife and children of his own.
Well, now he would get what he wanted, but not in the way he had hoped. A marriage of convenience with the most incredible, vibrant woman he had ever known. A woman who had haunted his dreams with her tempting smile and sweet laugh for the last six years. A woman he would never be able to touch or kiss or tumble into bed.
“I should talk to my mother,” Rafael said, suddenly needing space.
“Okay.” Sky glanced at the door. “Do you think Dina would mind watching Jasper a little longer? I’m tired, and I could use a nap.”
“Sleep as much as you need.” He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I’ll take care of Jasper. It will be good training for later.”
Her perfectly shaped eyebrows lifted, but she kept whatever snappy remark she was thinking to herself. Instead, she grabbed a diaper bag from the foot of the bed and handed it to him. “This has extra diapers, wipes, pacifiers, clothes, and toys. There is formula and breast milk in the kitchen. Jovita cleared out a shelf in the refrigerator for the milk.”
Rafael experienced the worst twisting sensation in his gut at the mention of the milk. Bringing that milk with them from San Antonio had been an ordeal. Sky had wanted Jasper to have his mother’s milk that Maddie had been pumping and storing. He understood why. Each drop was a precious link to Maddie. Soon, the milk stash in the freezer in San Antonio would run dry.
“I’ll be careful with the milk,” he promised, knowing she was sensitive about it. “I won’t waste a drop.”
“Thank you.” She bit her lower lip. “For everything.”
There was so much he wanted to say, but he wasn’t brave enough. Not in that moment, at least. He leaned down and tenderly kissed Sky’s forehead. “Get some rest.”
As he left her room and shut the door behind him, he exhaled a rough breath. Proposing a marriage of convenience to Sky was nothing compared to the interrogation that awaited him with his family. Some of them would be supportive. Some would be concerned. All of them would have loud opinions that he would be forced to hear.
He was saved from the inevitable confrontation by the crowd of friends and family still milling around the house. There was enough food and drink for a small army and light, sorrowful music to cover the buzz of conversation. He spotted Beto standing beside their mother, supporting her like a dutiful and loving son.
Beto had been the wildest of the Farias siblings. Thrown out of prep school. Refused to attend college. Ran off to sail the world on a leaky old boat. Seven years after leaving, Beto had returned a changed man, more mature, more confident, and ready to make a commitment to the family’s business.
After a year of proving himself, Beto had asked Rafael to help him purchase a failing Puerta Vallarta resort. It was a classy old place that had fallen into disrepair and needed a revamp. Rafael had been wary, but Beto had been passionate about the project. He had given Beto the help he needed and stepped back, letting his brother sink or swim alone.
He swam. Like an Olympian. There were problems in the early days of the renovations and remodeling. There was friction with some of the larger resorts in the area, which didn’t want to lose customers to a new and more modern hotel. Staffing had been an issue, with local gangs applying pressure on employees not to show up for work unless Beto paid them protection taxes.
Rafael had suspicions about what Beto had been up to while sailing around the world, but seeing his youngest brother deftly handle every problem that arose convinced him that letting Beto go and not forcing him back home as their mother had begged him to do had been the right choice. Beto was now the CEO of a thriving chain of intimate, high-end, all-inclusive resorts up and down the Pacific coast.
Certain his mother was in good hands, he nodded in his brother’s direction and moved through the crowd. He was stopped every few feet by people who wanted to pay their respects or tell him how lovely the funeral service was or how sad they were about little Jasper. It was hard to swallow the endless stream of sympathy, but he held it together.
Lola seemed to be struggling the most with losing their brother. She had been the closest to him, having gone to a private school in San Antonio a few blocks from their US headquarters. Jaime had been her guardian while she was there and had guided her through those hard and awkward teenage years. Maddie had been equally as close to her.
“Are you okay?” Rafael asked gently upon finding his sister standing alone on the patio, idly stroking the petals of a bright pink blossom on a tall stalk. There were dozens of flowers packed into that corner of the bed bordering the patio stones. They were his father’s favorite blooms, and Lola had been propagating them all over the property since she was eight or nine.
“These dahlias have slug damage.” She trailed her finger down the thick stalk to the thinner branches and out along the leaves. Holes dotted the leaves, the edges chewed and messy. “I asked Checo to put down slug repellant and diatomaceous earth.”
“It’s a busy time of year.” Rafael defended their longtime head gardener, knowing he wouldn’t have forgotten to treat the plants if things hadn’t been absolutely crazy around here. Preparing the house for the funeral had been the only priority. “The flowers you chose for the funeral were beautiful, Lola.”
“It was the least I could do,” she murmured, plucking the chewed leaves from the plant and dropping them onto the mulch.
“Mama appreciated it.”
Lola bristled. “If you say so.”
There had been so much friction between their mother and Lola since she had graduated from college. Mama wanted her to get serious about finding a good man and settling down to marry and have kids. Lola was focused solely on breeding newer and stronger agave plants and more eye-catching dahlias and zinnias in her private greenhouse and cut flower field.
“She loves you so much, Lola.”
“She has a funny way of showing it.”
Jasper’s wail interrupted their chat, and he left Lola brooding on the patio. He tracked his nephew’s cries through the open French doors and into the house. There were fewer guests now, and Jasper’s cries had scattered them away from Dina, who struggled to calm him. When she noticed him walking toward her, she said, “I think he needs to be changed and fed.”
“I have his diaper bag in the kitchen.”
Dina seemed surprised. “You spoke to Sky?”
He nodded. “I’ll tell all of you about it later.”
She narrowed her eyes with suspicion and gently placed a squirming Jasper in his hands. “Why do I get the feeling that you’ve done something reckless?”
“Because you know me better than anyone,” he remarked truthfully. After settling Jasper against his shoulder, he left the parlor and went to the kitchen, where he had dropped off the diaper bag earlier. Jovita heard him coming and told him she was already warming up some milk. He grabbed the bag and carried Jasper to the nearest private room with a couch.
Managing a hungry baby with a wet diaper and a changing pad that seemed too small to be useful proved to Rafael that he had to step up his game. He was woefully underprepared for being a father and didn’t want Sky carrying the full load of parenthood. He was marrying her to help, not be a burden.
Eventually, he changed the diaper and convinced Jasper to take his pacifier. He lovingly shushed him, rubbing his little back and rocking the baby as he cleaned up the mess he had made. In the kitchen, he handed Jasper to Jovita, who happily snuggled him and scrubbed his hands at the sink. Jovita popped the bottle into Jasper’s mouth, and Jasper greedily grasped it.
“He eats just like Jaime,” Jovita remarked, her eyes shining with tears. “He’s going to be a big, healthy boy like him, too.”
Jovita had been with their family since Rafael was a baby. Like his mother, she was devastated by Jaime’s death. She might have been the family cook, but she had been like a second mother, always available to the Farias children when they needed a hug or attention.
Rafael didn’t try to stop her when she carried Jasper to the upholstered chair in the corner of the room where Jovita liked to read and have coffee on her breaks. She settled Jasper in her arms and adjusted the bottle’s angle. She smiled lovingly down at him, and Rafael’s heart nearly broke. There was no shortage of love in this house or family for Jasper, but none of it would ever come close to Jaime and Maddie's love for their son.
It was cruel and unfair that Jasper would be denied the chance to know how truly wonderful his parents were. At that moment, Rafael silently vowed he would make sure that Jasper woke up every morning and went to bed every night, knowing how loved he was. Jasper would always know how much his parents had loved him and how much his grandmother, his aunts, uncles, and cousins all loved him.
He had that vow in mind as he waited for a lull in their family’s private dinner later that evening to announce his news. Jasper sat in a highchair beside him, banging happily away at his plate and tray with a spoon. Very little of the food he had been served was making it to his mouth. Rafael had tried to coax his nephew to eat some of the delicious meal Jovita and her assistants had cooked, but he wasn’t interested.
Of course, that all changed as soon as Sky made her entrance. She apologized for sleeping so long and missing the beginning of dinner, but his mother wouldn’t hear a word. She gave Sky a hug and kiss and took her to the empty seat on the other side of Jasper, who immediately reached out for his aunt.
“Food first,” she said, carefully diverting his attention to his tray. She picked up his discarded spoon, scooped up some of the sopa de fideo, and playfully brought it to his mouth. Jasper ate it without a fight, and Rafael smothered his frustrated frown at how easy she made it all seem.
Over their nephew’s head, their gazes clashed. She blushed, and he forgot all about his frustration. She seemed more relaxed after her nap. There was a spark back in her eyes, and he couldn’t help but wonder if his proposal had anything to do with it.
Not that he would ever fool himself into believing she wanted to marry him. No, he was certain she felt relieved because she would have a partner in raising Jasper and an ally against Beverly.
After Jasper had eaten a few bites, he took his spoon and began to push the food around his tray again. Sky turned her attention to her plate, eating her dinner while conversations swirled around them. No one talked about the funeral. It was the elephant in the room, of course, but they were all too tired and emotionally wrung out to discuss it now.
When dessert was finished, another round of coffee was served. Sky removed Jasper from his highchair and let him sit on her lap. She fed him tiny dollops of the fresh whipped cream on her plate, keeping him happy and amused while she talked with Lola about a flower that grew in Iceland. This was the lull he had been waiting for, and even though he was suddenly nervous, there was no point in delaying his announcement a minute longer.
Rafael cleared his throat. “There’s something I need to discuss with all of you.”
Sky’s head jerked in his direction. Her eyes were wide like a skittish horse. She darted her scared gaze from his face to his mother’s and then back again.
Not wanting her to be scared or anxious, he gently grasped her hand. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed. He saw the looks Dina and Beto exchanged. His mother seemed bewildered, but Lola had a knowing smirk. Maybe she knew him better than he thought.
“After discussing the will Jaime and Maddie left behind, Sky and I have decided to get married.” He didn’t beat around the bush. He let it all out in one simple sentence. “I’m waiting to hear back from legal, but I suspect we’ll be married by the end of the week. We’ll proceed with an adoption after that.”
Dina’s brow furrowed. “You sound like you’re discussing the terms of a business deal, Rafa.”
“I am.” He felt Sky flinch but kept his gaze pinned on Dina. “Sky and I are doing this for Jasper to ensure he’s safe and protected from Beverly.”
“There are other ways to do that,” Beto insisted, his attention on Sky. “Ways that are better for Sky than being married to you.”
Beto’s words hit their mark. Rafael’s jealousy flared at the thought that Beto might be the better option for a husband. Beto was younger and had a wanderlust that matched hers. He had a big, open heart, and he was patient and friendly and loving. He wouldn’t be afraid to show affection and never put business before his wife and child.
“We made this decision together,” Sky stated, her voice clear and strong. “For Jasper.”
Even though she agreed with his reasoning, it rang hollow to his ears. Down at the other end of the table, his mother seemed torn between scolding and congratulating them. Her worried gaze lingered on Sky. Was she worried he would break her heart? Deny her a chance at real happiness?
When his mother’s gaze moved to him, he felt suddenly vulnerable and exposed. No, his mother wasn’t worried only about Sky. She was worried about him. She was worried that he would be the one who was hurt and broken by this arranged marriage.