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Daniel took a deep breath. This was the opening he needed. “Isabella, I feel the time has come for you to understand my feelings toward Diego.”
“I’d like to.”
His pain and weariness were increasing, and Daniel knew he needed to head back. He turned his horse around. “I hope you don’t mind, but I need to start the journey home.”
“I understand, Papi. Please do whatever you need to do.”
“Thank you.” He got the horse back on the path, and Isabella easily caught up to him.
He pondered what to say. It wasn’t his desire to hurt her or push her away when they had just shared such a tender moment, but Daniel knew she needed to know the truth.
“Diego has disappointed a lot of people. He has failed to keep his word on many occasions.”
“So have I. We all, as you pointed out, make mistakes.”
“Yes, that’s true, but Diego makes no attempt to correct those mistakes or even to clean up the aftermath. You need to understand the truth about him, Isabella. He is not an honorable man.” Daniel had never wanted to share the truth with her, but there was no choice. “He has debts. He spends a great deal of time gambling and is not very good at it. His father has often had to come to his rescue and pay those expenses.”
“Like I said, we all make mistakes. Surely even you have made poor choices.”
Daniel didn’t know whether the pain in his chest was his lungs struggling for air or his heart breaking for Isabella. “He has made more than poor choices. His indiscretions include spending time with ... women of questionable character. He has even fathered children.”
Isabella said nothing for several moments. The silence was almost more than Daniel could bear.
“If they were women of questionable character,” she finally said, “perhaps they lied and the children aren’t Diego’s at all. Perhaps they tried to entice him, and he rejected them. This in turn made them want to seek revenge.” She looked at her father. “It might all be lies.”
“I suppose there is always that possibility, but Diego didn’t deny what he’d done when his father confronted him.”
“Even if he did those things, he wants to do better now. He wants to marry me.”
“But I cannot allow that, Isabella, and perhaps not for the reasons you think.”
Her knitted brows and frown had returned. “But why, then? Why can you not allow me to marry the man I love?”
Daniel knew the time for truth had come. “Because he is already married.”
