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“Hey,” Jules reproached, “you and Crystal are my family, their family. There’s nothing more to accept. When are you going to stop regarding me as her stepdad? I’m her father. Period.”
“I know. I just can’t help but feeling that…well, they know. They all know that when we met up again, I was already pregnant.”
“So?”
“So…” Amber felt her throat close off with overwhelming emotion. Was it her hormones? Oh, heaven help her if she was going through post-partum depression. She prayed not. But she really must stop being so sensitive and self-conscious.
“Listen, Amber. You need to know that we, they don’t think that way. No one in my family thinks that way. Wait a minute! Has someone said anything to you?” Jules’s voice sounded defensive and sharp.
“N-no! No, of c-course not.”
“Good. Then please drop it, okay, baby?” he said gently. His voice so soothing, smooth and filled with warmth. “I know you’ve been through a lot feeling self-conscious and everything, but trust me, there’s no need around here. You and Crystal are a part of me now. I would lay down my life for you in a heartbeat. You’re my family. That’s all anyone has to know.”
But Crystal wasn’t his blood and for the first time since their marriage, she felt a piercing pain of regret over it. She really wished Jules was the father. She really prayed that no one or nothing could bring up anything in the future to tarnish what they were building. The painful memory of what happened to her was all too fresh in her mind when the kids at her school found out that she wasn’t really her stepfather’s daughter. Amber was made to feel like trash in her past. And now, looking at her angelic, chubby-cheeked, innocent-eyed, beautiful daughter caused a gut-wrenching feeling to creep into her soul. She would die if anything like that happened to her precious princess. But Jules was right. The Romeros were not judgmental. Lord knew they’ve had their own reputations grinded through the gossip mill by the media in the past.
And Amber and Crystal were part of the Romero family. They were Romeros. She would deal with anything that came her way—if it ever did. Until then…
“I’m taking Crystal to the café today.”
“You are?”
“Yeah, my aunt told me everyone has been asking to see her. I thought it would be nice to stop by for a few minutes and see the old gang. I really kind of miss them even though I’m on maternity leave.”
“I wish I could go with you but I have an important meeting later this morning,” Jules said. “You know, you don’t have to go back to work.”
“Jules, are you saying you want me to be a stay-at-home mom? What if I enjoy running the café with my aunt?”
He looked into her eyes and her body responded. He didn’t have to say anything, it was just the way his sexy, dark eyes filled with passion captivated her. A grin of amusement curled his sweet lips. It was the look of I-don’t-believe-that-for-a-second.
“All right, I confess. Maybe, I don’t want to go back to work right now. And I could think of a hundred different reasons why I don’t enjoy working with my aunt, but I do want to take a break and show off little Crystal in her new decked out stroller Toni and Shelly got for her.”
Jules laughed. “Yeah, just be careful with my daughter. I’ll have our driver take you guys there and wait for you.”
“But what if I don’t want to have a driver with me?”
“I think it’s a good idea, Amber.”
Was Jules going to be overprotective of her and the baby forever? Part of Amber appreciated his thoughtfulness but she really craved her independence. She didn’t mind driving herself to wherever she and the baby had to go. Plenty of new moms do it all the time.
“Yes, sir, Daddy!” Amber finally responded, giving in. He’d have his way. Just this once.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“So, big guy, where’s Amber and Crystal? Thought you’d bring them in to the office today,” Dion said to his brother, Jules, as he propped up he knee, leaning back in the chair opposite Jules’s desk at the headquarters of the Mayberry Hill Family Research Center.
It had been a few months since Jules Romero’s company had officially taken over ownership of the not-for-profit organization and added it to his portfolio of family-friendly affordable health centers in the province. As his grandfather would preach to him and his brothers, it wasn’t always about ways to make money. It was encouraged to think of ways to give back and help others in need. Jules could certainly relate to a time in his youth when he was in need before he became one of the wealthiest men in the universe.
He was getting ready to meet with his newly hired executive director who would oversee the organization in his place while he oversaw operations of the R.M. Fitness facilities. Did Jules really have his hand in too many projects? Amber had spoken to him about it before and he’d playfully tell her there’d be plenty of time to rest when he was dead.
Jules sighed, multitasking as he flipped through some paperwork on his desk to sign left by his assistant Brenda. “Amber’s at the café with Crystal. She wanted to see her colleagues and her aunt.”
“Ah, I see.” Dion did not sound impressed. “You sure you trust her around Aunt Mavis?”
“Hans, our driver, is with her. You know he’s a good detective and bodyguard. I told him not to leave them alone.”
“Good thinking.”
“So what did our men come up with? You said you had some concerns over her aunt and some other people in her life.” Jules dropped the files on his desk and looked pointedly at his brother, pressing his hands together as he leaned back in his leather executive chair. He was anxious to tie up some loose ends surrounding his wife and now his baby. He wanted to be sure Amber was not in harm’s way given the new developments in the accident case surrounding the deaths of her parents.
“Well, Miss Mavis is one unique character, I’ll tell you that,” Dion said.
“Why do you say that? What have they uncovered?” Jules knew in his heart that Mavis was a bit off, the way she would glare at Amber when her back was turned and just her aloof manner. At first he chalked it up to her personality but then he wondered about her. She had pressed, almost bullied, Amber not to dig too far into the investigation surrounding the demise of Amber’s parents, her own sister being Amber’s mother. They were apparently not very close growing up and then when Amber became an orphan, Mavis wasn’t too thrilled having to take over guardianship. Poor Amber had to feel as if she was a burden, losing her family like that.
Jules was fiercely protective of Amber. She meant the world to him. Just thinking about how fragile she’d become since the accident, yet strong at the same time, willing to put her neck out to save a friend, or hold her own ground. Always trying to be independent and stay intact. She was the real deal. Humble and sweet. He’d teach a lesson to anyone who tried to step into her life and mess it up any more than it already had been since the tragedy that befell her in the past.
“Well,” Dion continued. “You know your wife is seeing that therapist, right?”
“So?” Jules was defensive but then mellowed. This was his brother, Dion, he was talking with. “What about it?”
“Well, we have reason to believe that Mavis spoke to the therapist on several occasions regarding Amber’s memory.”
“Her memory?”
“Yeah, her memory of that night.”
“What are they getting at?”
Dion heaved a sigh as if wondering how to tell his brother whatever he had to say. “Man, something’s just not adding up.”
“Amber told me about her selective amnesia. There’s nothing that can bring her memory back of that night, so why does it matter?”
“Oh, but there might be.”
“You mean there could be a trigger that could make her remember?”
Dion shrugged, flipping through a magazine that he just swiped off the counter beside him. “Anything is possible.”
“You think Mavis might have had something to with the accident?” Jules was dubious.
“I know the cops won’t rule anything out. It wasn’t as if Mavis and her sister were close and loving. There must be some rivalry or something macabre going on. They’re still working on things. I just thought I’d keep you posted. You know we need to keep these things under wraps. Not too much phone discussion.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jules knew all too well. The brothers always kept a close eye on the safety of those around them and rarely spoke on the phone as to certain sensitive information. And he knew something was bugging him but couldn’t quite pinpoint it. The day Amber told him she thought she was being followed while going to the therapist’s office raised his defenses even more and he started to have security shadow her from a safe and discreet distance.
The Romeros might be popular but they also had haters amongst their so-called rivals. They left nothing to chance. Just having money and power made them anonymous enemies not to mention the crazies that stalked people like him in his position and those close to him. The investigative agency the Romeros used was highly discreet and very few people knew about the boys inside at the detective firm outside of the family circle. They liked to keep it that way.
