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She gasped. What a horrible thing to say! “W-why? Father! Why would you do that?”
The man rubbed the back of his neck, pacing the little room. “So he’d leave. You said you didn’t want any visitors.”
While the honest words registered in her foggy mind—the first protective thing her father had done for her in ages—Virginia stared at the aging man. Her heart unwound like an old, twisted shred of paper.
For years, she had been so angry at this man. Maybe if she hadn’t changed, become pregnant, fallen in love, she’d still be. But now—she didn’t want resentment or anger. She wanted a family, and she’d take even one that had been broken.
Virginia leveled her eyes on the beautiful, thick-lashed cocoa ones she’d been seeing in her dreams and straightened up on the bed, clinging to that fine, strong hand. “Marcos, I’m not sure what he told you, but I’d like to assure you I’m all right. And so is the baby.”
When she pictured telling Marcos about a child, she hadn’t expected an audience, nor having to do it in a hospital room.
Still. She would never, in her life, forget this moment.
Marcos’s expression changed, metamorphosed, into one of disbelief, then joy. Joy so utter and pure it lit his eyes up like shooting stars.
“So we’re expecting, then?”
The term we coming from his beautiful mouth made her giddy with excitement.
He smiled, and it was brilliant, that smile, that moment.
Did this please him? Yes! She’d bet her life on it.
She nodded, her heart fluttering madly, a winged thing about to fly out of orbit. “I’d like to go home now,” she admitted, and although her father stepped forward to offer assistance, the words weren’t meant for him.
She gazed up at Marcos—quiet and mesmerizing—as she eased out of the hospital bed with as much dignity as she could muster.
His attention was no longer hard to bear. She wanted it; she wanted him.
Virginia Hollis knew this man. Inside and out, she knew him. How true he was to his word. How dedicated. How loyal. And how proud. She didn’t need any more proof than his presence here, his touch, the look in his eyes and the promise there.
Rising to her full height, she linked her fingers through his and squeezed, feeling flutters in her stomach when he smiled encouragingly down at her. “Yes, Marcos Allende. I’ll marry you.”
Epilogue
The day arrived three months before the baby did.
Walking up to the altar, with the music shuddering through the church walls, Virginia had eyes only for the dark, mesmerizing man at the far end of the aisle. Tall and smiling, Marcos stood with his hands clasped before him, his broad shoulders and solid arms and steely, stubborn jaw offering love and comfort and protection.
Virginia was certain that nobody who watched him would be blind to the way he stared at her. Least of all she.
They shared a smile. Then her father was letting go of her arm.
Soon Marcos was lifting the flimsy veil to gaze upon her face and into her eyes, eyes which she used to fervently tell him, I love you!
Their palms met, their fingers linked, and the moment they did he gave her a squeeze. She felt it down to her tummy.
I, Virginia, take thee, Marcos, to be my lawfully wedded husband…
When he spoke his vows, the simplest vows, to love and cherish, her eyes began to sting. By the time the priest declared them man and wife, she was ready—more than ready—to be swept into his arms and kissed.
And kiss her he did. The priest cleared his throat. The attendants cheered and clapped. And still he kissed her.
Virginia let herself take her first relaxed breath once they were in the back of the limo. Gravitating toward each other, they embraced, and tiny tremors of desire spread along her torso and limbs. She’d had this fool idea of waiting to be together again until they married—and she was dying for him to touch her.
As they kissed, Virginia found her husband already dispensing with her veil. “There we go,” he said contentedly. “Enjoy the dress because I assure you, it is coming off soon.”
Actually relieved to be without the veil and anxiously looking forward to Marcos dispensing with the dress, she leaned back on the seat and cuddled against him. “I never knew these things were so heavy,” she said. The skirt ballooned at her feet but thankfully there was no volume on top to keep her away from the man she most definitely intended to jump at the first opportunity.
