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And though she knew he was speaking the truth, though she could tell how genuine he was being, she met his eyes with a silent challenge. And her words were only slightly weakened by the smile that spread across her face. “Okay, Mr Rodriguez. Prove it.”
EPILOGUE
IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG for Addie to see that Guy meant what he’d said. For her to remember what it was like to be loved by him. But it was a different kind of love, the second time around.
They had been through so much together, they had weathered so much, and they had come terribly close to losing the love they shared. The knowledge of that kept them bonded in a way that was unique and robust.
Guy understood what a gift Adeline’s love was, and he knew he would never do anything to risk losing it; he knew that he would respect their connection with all that he was.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Guy leaned across the golf cart, his fingers squeezing Addie’s. Her wedding ring was a simple gold band, at her insistence, and his fingertips grazed the smooth jewel distractedly. I can’t have you thinking I’m marrying you for your money, now, can I? Addie had teased, as they’d strolled through Tiffany & Co in Manhattan, eyeing off rings.
She teased him a lot.
She laughed with him a lot.
She had cried only once, in the two years since they’d married, and they had been happy tears – only six weeks earlier.
She had resisted all of the gifts he’d offered her, except flowers, which she adored.
“Why wait?” She lifted a brow, her meaning clear, and for a moment, Guy’s happiness was tinged with something like grief.
Santiago was ill once more. His time was close. Guy wasn’t sure how he was going to weather the loss of his mentor and beloved grandfather, only he was sure that he would, with Addie by his side.
“Si.” He nodded. “Why wait, indeed?”
A contemplative silence settled between them, as the cart drew closer to the house.
“How is your mother today?”
Addie’s laugh was like a whisper on the breeze. “She is convinced she is a Renoir in the making I think.”
It had been Guy’s suggestion to get Sylvie into art therapy after she came out of rehab. A new obsession to fire her blood. Guy had made all of it so easy – he’d set Sylvie up in one of his properties in France, and though she lived an idyllic lifestyle, his staff kept an eye on her, making sure she was happy and well, and that old habits didn’t reemerge. And they hadn’t. Sylvie had been given a new lease on life, thanks to her daughter’s persistence and Guy’s devotion, and she wasn’t about to gamble it away.
The cart stopped out the front of the house and Guy stepped out first, moving to open Addie’s door for her, then putting an arm around her shoulders, drawing her close.
“He is thinner than you will expect. Paler, too.”
“I know.” She blinked up at him. She saw his pain and kissed him, gently, hoping to take it away. “Let’s go watch the sunset with him, querido.”
Hours later, as the last of the day’s color bled into the night sky, with Santiago on the brink of sleep, Addie told him what they’d come to Acantilados to share. “You’re going to be a great grandfather, Santiago.”
The older man’s eyes fired with renewed life, with pleasure and relief, and for a moment, colour shone in his cheeks. He reached out, placing a hand on Guy’s and a hand on Addie’s and he nodded, as though he had personally ensured their happiness, as though he had played matchmaker in some way.
It was Santiago’s last sunset. He passed away in the middle hours of that night, joining his beloved Rafaela, but he took with him to heaven the knowledge that the family line was to continue, and he was never forgotten. When Guy and Addie welcomed a chubby little boy into the world, months later, they knew, without even speaking on the subject, what he would be called.
“Santiago is every bit as strong as his namesake,” Addie said, as she clutched her newborn son to her breast and his fingers wrapped around her thumb, tight, squeezing her until she laughed.
“And every bit as perfect as his mother.”
Their ruse to fool an old man had turned out to be only the absolute truth – and all that was left was to live happily ever after, which they both had every intention of doing.
THE END
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FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT FROM THE SHEIKH’S BABY BARGAIN, BOOK ONE IN THE BESTSELLING ‘THE EVERMORE SERIES’.
THE SHEIKH’S
