late!
“Where have you been, Laura?” her mother called irritably, holding a squirming Robby in her arms. “It took me ages to find you. What on earth are you doing out here in the cold?”
Ripping her arm from Gabriel’s grasp, Laura gave her mother a hard, desperate stare. “I’m sorry, Mom. Just go back inside. Go back. I’ll be right there!”
But her mother wasn’t looking at her. “Is that—is that Mr. Santos?” she said tremulously.
“Hello, Mrs. Parker,” Gabriel said, smiling as he stepped towards her and held out his hand. “Congratulations on Becky’s wedding. You must be very proud of your daughter.”
“I’m proud of all my daughters.” She came closer to shake his hand. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Laura stared at them, her heart in her throat. Her mother had always liked Gabriel, ever since he’d paid for the family to take a vacation to Florida four years ago, one they wouldn’t otherwise have been able to afford. The Parkers had traveled in his private jet and stayed at a villa on the beach. It had been a lavish second honeymoon for Laura’s parents, a big change from their first at a cheap motel in Niagara Falls. Pictures of that Florida vacation still lined the walls, images of their family smiling beneath palm trees, building sand castles on the beach, splashing in the surf together. With that one gift, Gabriel had won her mother’s loyalty forever.
“I’m glad someone had the sense to invite you to Becky’s wedding,” Ruth said, smiling.
He smiled back with gentle courtesy. “I’ve always asked you to call me Gabriel.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t,” she said. “Not with you being Laura’s employer and all. It just wouldn’t be right.”
“But I’m not her employer anymore.” He flashed Laura a dark look before leaning toward her mother to confidentially whisper, “And I wasn’t invited to the wedding. I crashed. I came to offer her a job.”
“Oh!” Ruth practically cried tears of joy. “A job! You have no idea how happy that makes me. Things have been so tight lately and you should see some of the ridiculous jobs she’s applied for, as far away as Exeter—”
“Mom,” Laura cried. “Please take Robby inside!”
“So she’s looking for a job, is she?” he purred.
“Oh, yes. She’s totally broke,” Ruth confided, then her cheeks turned red. “But then, we all are. Ever since…since.” She turned away.
Gabriel put his hands into his pockets. “I was sorry to hear about your husband. He was a good man.”
“Thank you,” Ruth whispered. Amid the lightly falling snow, silence fell. Gabriel suddenly looked at
Robby.
“What a charming baby,” he murmured, changing the subject. “Is he related to you, Mrs. Parker?”
Her mother looked at him as if he was stupid. “He’s my grandson.”
Gabriel looked surprised. “Is one of your other daughters married, as well?”
“Mom,” Laura breathed with tears in her eyes, terrified, “just go! Right now!”
But it was too late. “This is Robby,” her mother said, holding him up proudly. “Laura’s baby.”
CHAPTER THREE
AS her mother turned to place Robby into her arms, Laura’s heart fell to the snowy, frozen ground. The six-month-old’s whine faded, turning to hiccups as he clung to Laura. Ruth leaned forward to hug her.
“Take the job,” her mother whispered in her ear, then turned to Gabriel and said brightly, “I hope to see you again soon, Mr. Santos!”
Laura heard the dull thunk of the door as her mother went back inside. Then she was alone with Gabriel; their baby in her arms.
Gabriel’s dark eyes went to the child, then back to her. The sound of his tightly coiled voice reverberated in the cold air. “This is your son?”
She held her baby close, loving the solid, chubby feel of him in her arms. Tears stung her eyes as she looked down at Robby. “Yes.”
“How old is he?”
“Six months,” she said in a small voice.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. “So tell me.” His voice was deadly and still as a winter’s night. “Who is the father of your baby?”
She’d wished so many times to be able to tell Gabriel the truth, dreamed of giving her son his father. With their baby squirming in her arms between them, the truth rose unbidden to her lips. “The father of my baby is…”
You. You’re Robby’s father. Robby is your son. But the words stuck in her throat. Gabriel didn’t want to be tied down with a child. If she told him her secret, nothing good would come of it. He might feel he had no choice but to sue for custody out of duty, resenting Robby, resenting her for forcing him into it. He might try to take their child to Brazil, away from her, to be given into the arms of some young, sexy nanny.
Laura would gain nothing by telling him. And risk everything.
“Well?” he demanded.
She flashed her eyes at him. “The identity of my baby’s father is none of your business.”
His own eyes narrowed. “You must have gotten pregnant immediately after you left Rio.”
“Yes,” she said unwillingly. She shivered, looking from father to son. Would he notice the resemblance?
But Gabriel turned on her, his dark eyes full of accusation. “You were a virgin when I seduced you. You said you wanted a home and family of your own. How could you be so careless, to forget protection, to let yourself get pregnant by a one-night stand?”
Gabriel had used protection, but somehow she’d gotten pregnant anyway. She said over the lump in her throat, “Accidents happen.”
“Accidents don’t happen,” he corrected. “Only mistakes.”
She set her jaw. “My baby is not a mistake.” “You mean it was planned?” He lifted a sardonic eyebrow. “Who is the father? Some good-looking farmer? Some boy you knew back in high school?” He glanced around. “Where is this paragon? Why hasn’t he proposed? Why aren’t you his wife?”
Robby was starting to snuffle. Even in his long-sleeved shirt, he was getting cold, and so was she. Holding him close to her warmth, she shifted his weight on her hip. “I told you, it’s none of your business.”
“Is he here?”
“No!”
“So he deserted you.”
“I didn’t give him the chance,” she said. “I left him first.”
“Ah.”
