Chapter Twenty-Four
R aquel lay in bed next to Alexandre while he spoke of his bond with Leandro, who chose to befriend him even when the rest of his family had refused to acknowledge him.
“Why did the news of Leandro’s wedding anger you?” she asked after he told her about his strong bond with Leandro.
“Because I was jealous.”
She raised herself on one elbow and peered down at him. Alexandre looked angry, but his eyes were sad.
“Why?”
He sat up, and Raquel followed suit, curious to know why he was jealous of Leandro getting married.
“Because Carlos arranged it.”
Frowning, she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
He was quiet for a long time and Raquel had a feeling he was debating whether to open to her or not. She understood his reluctance—opening to another person was giving them ammunition to hurt you, but she would never hurt Alexandre. She wanted him to trust her, like she had come to trust him.
“Leandro has my grandfather’s love,” he whispered, the words revealing his pain. “He is the golden boy—the Monteiro heir Carlos adores. Whatever Leandro wants, Carlos brings it to him on a golden platter. While he merely tolerates me, my brother’s always had Carlo’s undivided attention.
“I don’t hate Leandro, but I envy him. I want what he has—Carlos’s admiration and respect. For years I tried to win his affection, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t please my grandfather. So I stopped trying—instead, I did everything I could to annoy him.”
“Why would you do that?” Raquel asked, puzzled, his words making no sense to her.
“Because it got me Carlos’s attention.” He grinned with unholy humor. “Everything I did angered him. The parties, the women, the daredevil acts—they all annoyed Carlos. He would often summon me and rebuke me, but I enjoyed our meetings.”
“Why would you enjoy being reprimanded?”
“Because this way, I got to connect with my grandfather.”
“You’re crazy!” She shook her head with disbelief.
He shrugged. “For a man who’s never succeeded in gaining Carlos’s attention, getting it any way was good enough for me.
My parents didn’t care about me, so I didn’t court their affection.
But growing up, Carlos was kind to me, and I wanted more than kindness from him.
I wanted him to care about me, respect me. Love me.”
I love you.
The silent admission was swift and silent as her heart echoed the sentiment. Warmth radiated from her heart to every part of her body, uplifting her spirit. Yes, she loved him. She had fallen in love with Alexandre!
But she was nowhere near ready to confess her feelings to him, so she looked away, not wanting him to see the truth in her eyes.
“I was happy as long as I had my grandfather’s attention because I believed one day, he would begin to care for me,” Alexandre continued, unaware that Raquel had fallen silent, shaken by the intensity of her feelings for him.
“Every time he did something for Leandro, I would do something equally outrageous to annoy him. One time, he gifted my brother a Lamborghini and I crashed it, knowing it would drive the old man bonkers, but it was Leandro who was upset with that crazy stunt.”
“What happened?” she gasped, unable to believe that every outrageous thing reported in the papers about Alexandre had all been intentionally done to evoke some—any—reaction from his grandfather!
“I almost died.” His serious tone had her catching her breath. “Carlos was livid that I totaled his precious gift to Leandro, but my brother was devastated. I later learned that he sat vigil by my bedside till I regained consciousness.”
“The marks on your body... are they... from that accident?” she asked, aghast that he had suffered such a violent accident but was infinitely grateful that he had survived.
He nodded somberly. “Brother read me the riot act the moment I came to, and I knew that night that I didn’t want anyone else’s love, not when I had my brother’s. Or so I believed. When I heard about Leandro’s wedding, I realized that I could never be what Leandro is to Carlos.”
“What about the arrangement bothered you?”
“That Carlos cared enough about Leandro to acquire himself the perfect bride. He cared about every aspect of my brother’s life, and though some might find his meddling frustrating, it certainly is because he loves Leandro very much. And it shattered me.”
Raquel clasped one hand around his tattooed arm.
“Carlos didn’t get your brother a perfect bride,” she reminded him, hoping her words would offer him some consolation.
“Ana refused to marry Leandro and he got saddled with me. Boring, mousy Raquel, unwanted by her own mother. I think you should be glad that your grandfather didn’t arrange a marriage for you,” she laughed, self-deprecatingly through her tears.
“You would have ended up with an unwilling bride.”
Alexandre pulled her to him, tilting up her chin so she had to look at him. “You are not boring or mousy, Raquel,” he was quick to shoot down her insecurities. “You are an intelligent, sexy woman who I care deeply about. And I’m proud to call you my wife.”
It was as close to a declaration of love she would get out of him, Raquel realized as she cupped his face before kissing him on the lips. She may never get to hear the word ‘love’ on his lips, but she would take whatever he was willing to offer her, because she loved him with all her heart.
****
T he next morning, they went back to the mainland, both relieved and happy for having shared the most intimate of their feelings and emotions with each other. It was an emotional night but cathartic, nonetheless, bringing them closer than ever before.
Raquel began to enjoy her marriage as they settled into an easy and wonderful partnership, with restful days followed by passionate nights.
Her baby began making its presence known as her bump grew and the morning sickness gradually abated. The thought of motherhood though, initially terrified her, she was confident that with Alexandre by her side, she would manage just fine.
In the first month of their marriage, her brother flew down for a visit. Ana accompanied Arcanjo, and the three of them had a wonderful day together, followed by a memorable dinner with Alexandre, who her brother pronounced was a decent man, much to his relief.
Her sister, Tahlia and their mother, however, remained distant, though they did arrange for her clothes and personal effects to be delivered to her. It hurt her deeply that her sister and mother nursed a grudge against her, despite her various attempts at getting back together.
Alexandre, however, thought it was for the best. “People who don’t care about us, we don’t need them in our lives,” he told her one night when she confessed to him that Tahlia’s silence hurt her more than her mother’s rejection of her.
Six weeks into their marriage, on a Friday night as she relaxed on the patio after dinner, Raquel opened the envelope that had been hand delivered to her earlier that day. It was an invitation from the Monteiros—an invitation for lunch the following day at the family’s mansion in Pérola.
Her first thought was to decline. Alexandre was out of the country on business, and she was reluctant to face the Monteiros on her own.
The last time she’d visited the family home, things had gone horribly wrong.
She remembered Erica’s angry tirade that had echoed in the grand dining room, Leandro’s kindness to her and—her life-changing encounter with Alexandre.
It was a night of painful and shocking discoveries. A night that had forever changed the trajectory of her life. A night that had brought her wonderful lover back to her, leading to their hurried wedding.
As she sat out on the patio of Alexandre’s seaside house on Pérola, she deliberated calling him.
Their seaside home wasn’t as ostentatious as the mansion on the mainland, but Raquel loved it and Alexandre had been more than happy to make it their permanent home.
He chose to commute to the mainland for work while she dedicated herself to making the three-bedroom house, their home.
She spent all her time manicuring a flower garden in front of the house and planting a vegetable garden in the back.
They didn’t have an army of servants here—just a housekeeper who took care of the cooking and cleaning, which Raquel too, helped with, and a gardener who worked the gardens.
She spent her free time at the orphanage, helping the staff with their many chores, and conducting violin classes for the children on the weekends.
Her mother’s prolonged silence extinguished what little hope for reconciliation she’d had. But the invitation from Carlos, was it an indication that the Monteiros were finally ready to accept her into their family?
Though he spoke with Leandro often, Raquel knew that Alexandre hadn’t spoken to Carlos since their wedding.
Carlos’s rejection of him hurt Alexandre badly, although he never spoke about it.
Perhaps with this invitation, his family was showing their willingness to forget the past and forge a new relationship with them?
After all, she was carrying the next generation of the Monteiro clan in her womb.
Would Alexandre be okay with her accepting the invitation? Or would he disapprove? She wasn’t sure of Alexandre’s reaction, but she couldn’t turn down Carlos, either. It would be rude of her to turn her back on what could be a white flag.
So she decided to visit the Monteiro home without informing Alexandre. If things went well, then she would tell him herself. But if things went south... well she would deal with the repercussions then.
****
T he following afternoon when Raquel arrived at the Monteiro mansion, to her consternation, it was Leandro she saw first. Having never had the chance to apologize to him for the grief she caused him, Raquel immediately sought to make amends.
Leandro, who was on his way out to meet someone, stopped when he saw her. “Raquel! How are you? Is my brother treating you well?”
“Yes,” she answered, feeling guilty for having deceived this man who was kind to her despite everything she’d done. “I never got to apologize, Leandro.”
He frowned. “Apologize for what?”
“For what I did... marrying Alexandre when I...” She looked away as shame stung her cheeks.
“Don’t be,” he assured her. “You are better suited to my brother. I see how happy he is with you.”
Raquel’s gaze returned to him, her eyes searching his face, but she saw no latent anger or regret. He seemed genuinely pleased that she’d chosen Alexandre.
“I never meant to embarrass you like I did. I’m sorry, Leandro.”
He shook his head. “These things happen and I’m glad my brother has finally found someone to love.”
Leandro’s words stayed with her long after he’d gone. Why did he think Alexandre loved her? Had the brother’s discussed Alexandre’s feelings for her?
Lately, Alexandre had begun to spend more time with her, offloading much of his work to subordinates, choosing to work from home mostly.
He was always around to help with the chores and even the gardening.
They went for a walk every evening on the beach, and often when she got tired, she ended up napping on the sand with her head cradled in his lap.
She thought his care and attention was because she carried his child. Was it also because he’d begun to feel more for her?
Hope flickered anew. Perhaps her wish would be granted after all—to be loved in return like she loved him.
Brimming with hope and joy, she followed a member of the staff to the parlor where she was asked to wait for the Monteiro patriarch. But minutes later when Erica, Leandro’s mother greeted her, her ebullience died a swift death.
“So you came,” Erica remarked haughtily as she parked herself in a chair opposite her. “I didn’t think you would. Not after the way you left my son for that dreadful man.”
Raquel bit her lip as her eyes dropped to her clasped hands in her lap. She knew Erica was terribly upset by the upheaval caused by their hurried wedding. What mother would be happy if her son’s bride chose the illegitimate son of her husband instead?
“As a child, he was always jealous of my Leandro, wanting everything he had,” Erica continued disparagingly.
“His clothes, his toys—he wanted to be treated like Leandro, but we surely couldn’t, you know?
He is a bastard after all—Rico’s dirty mistake that came back to haunt this family.
What could you possibly have seen in him? ”
Raquel’s eyes blurred as every word pierced into her heart like a poisoned barb.
“You would have made such a nice bride for Leandro,” she remarked. “But he couldn’t tolerate Leandro finding happiness, so he took you for himself.”
Lifting her head, Raquel opened her mouth to protest. She understood that Erica thought Alexandre took her for himself because he wanted what Leandro had, but the truth was that she had met Alexandre and conceived his child long before meeting Leandro.
Certain that this information wouldn’t go down well with Erica, she chose to be quiet.
Erica looked derisively at her bump visible against the soft cotton of her dress.
“He’s like his father—he has a wandering eye,” she warned her, her head turned away as though loathed to look at her.
“It won’t be long before he finds another woman to share his bed.
You can’t trust Alexandre. He’s a bad seed. ”