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Chapter Thirteen
For the last hour, Rafael had pondered the day’s big news, the missing piece of the puzzle. Arianna had lost a daughter, a baby only a few months old. Of all the suffering on earth, that was the worst, one Rafael could strongly relate to.
Images of Arianna’s tear-filled eyes popped into his mind. She’d probably buried her pain as deeply as he had, and yet it had resurfaced today when her past had caught up with her.
Confused, his brow furrowed, Rafael threw a sideways glance at his companion, somehow mystified by her change of mood. An hour ago she’d practically collapsed at the mention of her late daughter, but now she appeared to be in complete control.
In addition, Rafael hadn’t missed Cody’s different attitude, either. His previous arrogance gone, the surgeon had responded to Arianna with a new deference. How had she converted him from lord to subject?
She didn’t talk during the drive home. Rafael respected her silence. While riding up in the elevator, he simply asked, “Are we having dinner?”
“Yes. Baked salmon with saffron rice and asparagus on the side. Healthy, low calories, and great tasting.”
“Sounds good as usual.” He matched her light tone.
Should he avoid questions?
Before, when she’d opened up about her past, she’d skimmed this subject, omitting important points. And what a point—a child. Would she have revealed her daughter’s existence and death if Cody hadn’t mentioned the baby?
After five months of friendship and semi-cohabitation, Arianna still couldn’t completely trust him, even though he’d trusted her with his own tragic story.
“Can we have some Chardonnay?”
“Of course.” Suppressing a smile, he opened a bottle and poured the white wine into two fluted glasses. Under his coaching, she’d learned a lot about wines. “Are we celebrating anything special?”
“Several things in fact. First, I want to toast the one and only man who’s ever really cared about me. You, my dear friend.” She touched her glass to his. “Second, I learned some fantastic news today.”
“Really?” No wonder she’d recovered her smile, a radiant, almost smug smile after she’d returned from visiting Baby Annabelle. “I’m dying of curiosity.”
She placed the big oval plate on the straw trivet at the center of the table she’d set for two and served him. “Start eating before it gets cold. I’ll tell you all about it.”
She related her discovery about the scholarship for nursing school. “For years, I thought I owed them my tuition. I felt like a slave forced to repay them in the only way I could. Today, I realized I’d done it on my own. I don’t owe them anything.Nothing, Rafael, can you imagine? And Cody got a bucket-full of ice in his face when he tried to kiss me. I had to spell it out to him that I only kiss my one and only man.”
A heavy load lifted from Rafael’s heart. Reaching across the table, he squeezed her hand. He wouldn’t have to worry about the arrogant surgeon cozying up to Arianna. She knew how to keep him at bay.
“What about your lodging and food? You said—”
“They let me sleep at the clinic because it saved them hiring a nurse when a patient was kept overnight. I wasn’t paid for that. As for the food, I have to admit that Dr. Mason Sr. was a generous man. His receptionist was in charge of ordering donuts, bagels, or muffins for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and often dinner when he stayed late. He insisted we should eat well to work hard. We never lacked food at the clinic.”
Yeah, the generous doctor had fed her well to make her work harder—sort of like fattening the turkey before slaughtering it. When she’d become a hindrance, he’d thrown her to the wolves. For ten years, she’d struggled to make it on her own, yet she seemed determined to ignore her years in hell.
His lips stretching into an angry line, Rafael gripped his fork tightly to avoid banging the table. “So now, you’re relieved and debt-free. I’m glad something good came out of our visit to the hospital.”
They had finished their meal without her mentioning her daughter. Rafael remembered his inability to share his own pain and decided not to push her.
“Yesterday, I made peach cobbler for dessert. We’ll have it on the sofa. Bring plates, please.”
Peach cobbler was one of his favorites. He hastened to clear the table and join her.
She served him a generous portion and tasted her own.
“Succulent,” he said between bites.
They savored the dessert quietly. He guessed her mind had traveled to the past and observed the gamut of expressions betraying her emotions. Her eyes glistening with tears, she peered at him, and he understood the moment of truth had finally come.
“Rafael, this evening you heard about...”
He set his plate on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around her, gathering her against him to lend support as she opened up about her pain.
