“A mother should not want what is best for her children?” his mami droned on.
“I didn’t say—”
“Bueno, since you refused to go see the doctor, I asked someone to come see you.”
If he didn’t feel like death warmed over, he might have laughed at her over-protective nature. “Mami, few doctors make house calls anymore. Not the ones my insurance company will cover anyway.”
“I didn’t call a doctor. I called familia.”
Fatigue weighing on him, Alejandro slowly shook his head, not following. They didn’t have any physicians in their family. “What do you mean?”
Her brow furrowed, his mami exchanged a worried glance with his abuela, then shot a “don’t say anything” parental warning at his brother, who in turn threw an apologetic grimace Alejandro’s way.
Why did he suddenly feel like everyone else shared some kind of insider info he wasn’t privy to?
Unease slithered down his spine.
“We only need someone with medical experience to properly clean your wounds and tell me if I should make you go to the hospital,” his mami said. “When the physical therapist comes later this week, I can ask any new questions I have.”
“Someone with . . . wait. . . .” Alejandro shot a “what the hell, how could you let her” glare at his traitorous brother.
Ernesto ducked his head, a sure sign he knew what their mami was up to but refused to, or more like was wise enough not to, get in her bulldozing way.
“Mami,” Alejandro’s voice sharpened. “Who did you call?”
Her eyes narrowed at his gruff tone. A warning for him to curb his disrespect.
The stubbornness tightening his mami’s lips and the calming hand his abuela laid on his forearm answered Alejandro’s question as if the two women had spoken.
Dread descended like a dark storm cloud rolling in from the ocean.
“Por favor, tell me you didn’t—”
A sharp knock on the front door interrupted him. Before anyone could move, the hinges creaked in protest as the door slowly opened.
The rich, lilting voice that haunted his dreams, no matter how hard he tried to banish it, called, “Hola!” as Anamaría Navarro stepped inside.
“Anamawía!” Lulu squealed.
Dark curls bouncing, his niece hopped off the love seat. Her pink sandals slapped the gray and white tile as she ran with open arms toward the woman he hadn’t spoken to since their last uncomfortable Skype video chat over a decade ago. The night she unequivocally confirmed his worst fear, discarding him like chum tossed overboard.
Lulu’s skinny arms wrapped around Anamaría’s thighs in a tight squeeze. Joy lit his ex’s hazel eyes, sucker-punching him with vivid memories of her greeting him with a similar glee.
She bent to rub a hand on his niece’s back, her long dark ponytail swooping over her shoulder. “Hola, Lulu, this is a nice surprise.”
Lulu craned her neck to peer up at Anamaría, adoration dawning over her cute face. Damn if Alejandro couldn’t help but understand exactly how the kid felt. No matter how often he called himself a fool for yearning for someone who obviously hadn’t felt the same.
“Tío Ale, tiene an owie,” Lulu announced. Like the Frankenstein contraption encircling his leg wasn’t clue enough.
“Yes, he does have an owie,” Anamaría answered. “A pretty big one. But your abuela and abuelita are going to take good care of him. Just like they do with you.”
“Will you come pway wif me soon?”
“I hope so. I need me some Lulu time.” Anamaría hunkered down and tugged one of Lulu’s curls, eliciting a sweet giggle from the child.
The closeness between the two—the niece he’d only seen the one time Ernesto and his family had visited him in Atlanta and the woman who’d basically said he wasn’t enough for her—felt like a poisonous lance in his side. He may not fit in here, but it was obvious Anamaría still did. Without him.
Holding her baby doll tightly against her chest, Lulu skipped back to her parents. “Anamawía gonna babysit me!”
“Not today. But we’ll see when, mamita.” Ernesto gave his daughter’s butt a nudge to help her clamber onto the love seat.
“Text me, Cece, and I’ll let you know when I’m free. I’m sure you two could use a date night before your bundle of joy arrives.”
Cece circled a hand over her huge, beach ball–sized belly that stretched the material of her yellow blouse. A tired smile tugged up the corners of his sister-in-law’s wide mouth as she murmured her thanks.
Anamaría sent Lulu a wink and rose from her haunches.
His shock at her arrival waning, Alejandro allowed himself to take in her figure, on gorgeous display thanks to a pair of formfitting black leggings and a tight pink tank, the words AM Fitness in a black scrawling font across the front. With her matching black and pink Nike sneakers and slicked-back high ponytail, she looked primed for an athletic photo shoot. She could have easily replaced one of the models for the Women’s Health spread he’d shot in the Bahamas last year.
The enthusiastic teenager he’d known and loved had matured into a vibrant woman. All lush curves and honed muscles, the latter no doubt hard earned from her work as a firefighter paramedic and fitness trainer.
Without acknowledging him, Anamaría made the round of hello kisses and hugs with Ernesto and his family, even tickling Lulu’s baby doll under the chin, eliciting another precious giggle from Alejandro’s niece.
His ex crossed to the sofa, the scent of the tropical lotion she had always preferred tickling his nose when she stooped to brush a kiss on his abuela’s wrinkled cheek. The two exchanged warm smiles as his abuela patted Anamaría’s hand with a murmured Dios te bendiga, nena.
The age-old wish for God’s blessing may be a trite phrase easily tossed out by many. But in this house, with the mini altar in the far corner, its pillar candle lit during his abuela’s daily prayer of the rosary, words of blessing held weight. His mami had already stopped at their altar earlier, giving thanks for her answered prayers for his return.
Anamaría hugged his mami, waved off the offer of a drink, set her black backpack on the tile floor next to the coffee table, and finally, finally, turned to him.
His body tensed, but he fought to maintain a neutral expression. To hide the anger, lingering bitterness, and disillusion of their past. All the while he greedily cataloged the features he had conjured in his dreams.
Her oval face with its high cheekbones, expressive hazel eyes, and slightly pointed chin remained as beautiful as ever. The faint crow’s-feet lightly raying out from her eyes, telltale signs of laughter and days squinting under the bright Key West sun, added to her allure. The serious slant of her full lips made him ache for the enticing grin she’d so readily flashed at him in years past. And now easily shared with others in his familia instead. The round dark brown beauty mark an inch below the right corner of her mouth made him itch to press a kiss to it. Only, he was no longer free to do so.
That right had been taken away from him the moment she changed her mind and chose to stay here. Refusing to follow him to Spain after her papi’s health had improved as promised.
The fact that Alejandro hadn’t been enough for her had gutted him.