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“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, honey. I’m sorry I never talked about him.”
“It’s okay,” Emily said. “Thank you.”
“For what?” she asked, tucking a strand of hair behind Emily’s ear.
“Telling me. I hated not knowing. I always felt... Well, that doesn’t matter now,” Emily said. But she’d always felt an emptiness inside her where a father should be. Now she knew. Their situation had been complicated. More so than her own?
She wasn’t too sure.
“Tell me about the father of your child,” Jessica said.
“He’s Rafael Montoro IV,” Emily said. Then she realized that she always used his full name when she told people about him so they’d get why he wasn’t with her. She was sort of making excuses for coming second in his life. “We had a weekend together and then I got pregnant. His family got called back to Alma to restore the monarchy before I knew I was going to have his baby.”
“Harry filled me in on a few of the details via our calls on the satellite phone.”
Jessica sat down on the end of the chaise longue and lifted Emily’s legs, drawing them over her lap. “Well, I can see why you said it was complicated. What did he say when you told him about the baby?”
“I caught him on his way out of town, Mom. We really didn’t have any time to talk. I wanted him to know he had a kid coming but I never expected anything from him.”
Her mom nodded. “You’re strong enough to raise the baby on your own, and you have me.”
“And me,” Harry said.
Emily smiled over at Harry. “I know. But I think he wants to be a part of the baby’s life.”
“And yours?”
She bit her lower lip. She’d been telling herself that he did, but what if she was just seeing something that wasn’t there? Emotions and bonds that she wanted to see because she’d started to care about him. And not just because he was her baby’s father.
“I don’t know. He’s been calling me every day while he’s in Alma. He sent me that beautiful mermaid that’s hanging in the kitchen.”
Her mom smiled. “Remember when you wanted to be a mermaid?”
She nodded.
“You told him?” her mom asked. “Oh, baby, I’d hoped you wouldn’t fall for a man who wasn’t available.”
She had, too. Of course until this afternoon she’d had no idea how much her own life might parallel her mother’s, but it was clear now that the Fielding women always seemed to go for men who were already spoken for.
“I’m not sure I’ve fallen for him.”
“You are starting to,” her mom said.
“Mom.” Her mom always had to push her when she wasn’t ready.
“Dinner’s ready, ladies,” Harry said, interrupting the fight that he could sense brewing.
They went to the table and Harry served the fish her mom had caught that morning and fresh mango with grilled green onions. It was delicious and Emily forgot her ire at her mother as they finished eating.
This was turning out to be one of the best days she’d had in a while. She’d talked to Rafe this morning and felt closer to him than ever. She’d learned the details of her own parentage and felt closer to her mom than ever before.
Her mom picked up the dishes and went into the kitchen to watch the evening weather forecast, something she did every night so she’d know what to expect on the water the next day.
“You better come in here and see this,” her mom said as she leaned out the window.
Emily got to her feet, looking up at the evening summer sky and wondering if it looked similar in Alma.
She stepped inside and noticed that that instead of the local fishing report the television was tuned to E! News. She’d been watching Keeping up with the Kardashians earlier. Now the words Montoro Baby Mama! were on the screen and Emily felt as if she was going to be sick.
Eight
Rafe turned his phone to flight-safe mode once they were getting ready to land. There was a tingle of excitement in the pit of his stomach as he made plans to bring Emily to his family. She was stubborn, so he knew it wouldn’t be easy to convince her to leave Key West, but he was fairly confident that he had his ways of persuading her.
They landed at the private airfield the Montoros always used. As Rafe got off the plane and started walking across the tarmac, he noticed there seemed to be a swarm of reporters waiting. Had something happened in Alma in the last ten hours while he’d been on the plane? He slowed down, as did the rest of the party, all looking at one another as they flicked on their phones and scanned headlines.
