by Marie Force
“They’re a great couple.” A short time later, we arrive at the Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, located on the northern part of Miami Beach. I’d told Maria to pack a bag to stay somewhere tonight, and after turning over my car to the valet, I carry both our bags inside and go directly to the elevator.
“We don’t have to check in?”
“I took care of that earlier.”
“Look at you, planning ahead.”
“I wanted tonight to be special for you.”
“It’s special for me because I’m with you. I hope you know I don’t need anything else.”
“I do know that, which is why I want to give you everything.”
She leans her head against my chest. “I only need you.”
And that, right there, is one of many reasons I know for certain that I’ll love this woman for the rest of my life. In the elevator, I keep my arm around her as we go to the sixth floor, where I’ve booked an oceanfront suite. We’ll get to enjoy the view tomorrow.
“This is awesome!” she says of the room.
I was hoping it would be okay to bring her here. I’m a little unsure of myself when it comes to surprising her with anything luxurious after her reaction to the homes we toured, but tonight demanded something special.
I follow her onto the patio, where we can hear the ocean crashing against the beach and breathe in the scent of sand and salt water. “How about some champagne?”
“In a minute.” She wraps her arms around my waist and gazes up at me. “I just need this first.”
“I’m always happy to provide this.” I kiss her the way I’ve been dying to since the second I first saw her in the sexy dress. There’s nothing in the world that can compare to the high I get from kissing her. “I need to talk to you about this dress.”
“What about it?”
“You made me hard in a church, Maria. If I go straight to hell, it’s completely your fault.”
She giggles helplessly. “That did not happen.”
“It did, too! I was afraid I’d be struck by lightning or something.” I nuzzle her neck and bury my face in her fragrant hair. “You were so, so, so stunning today. I mean, you always are, but today was just wow. And watching you dance… Mmmm, so hot.”
“Do you ever think that this is all just a dream? That any minute now, we’re going to wake up and discover it was all a very lovely dream?”
“That’s how it feels to me, too, like how can something this amazing actually be real? But it’s so real. It’s the realest thing ever.”
She flashes a big smile. “Is realest a word?”
“If it isn’t, it ought to be.” I take her hand. “Let’s check out the rest of this room, shall we?”
“Lead the way.”
I grab the bottle of champagne that’s chilling on one of the tables and lead her into the bedroom. After I pop the cork, we both drink right from the bottle.
“Look at us. Bringing the class.”
I laugh and take another drink. “Why put it in a glass when it comes in one?”
“Good point.” She takes another sip and then burps.
We crack up laughing. It feels so good to laugh with her, to be completely myself with her and vice versa.
“Here’s to you and me and Everly and forever together.”
“I’ll drink to that.” She hands the bottle back to me. “Austin, do you think maybe, at some point, I could adopt her?”
“That’d be…” My throat tightens around a lump of emotion. “Yeah, baby. Let’s make that happen.”
“Only if it’s what you want, too.”
“Of course it is. You’re already her mother, Maria. You’re the one she loves.”
“I’m so happy,” she says on a sigh. “Happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life.”
“I am, too. I never knew this kind of happy existed.” I kiss her shoulder, along her collarbone and up her neck before capturing her lips in another of those sweet, sexy kisses that have become so necessary to me. “How do I get this stunning dress off you?”
She lifts her arm to show me the zipper that runs down the side.
“I’m going to need lots of pictures from today so I never forget how you looked in this dress.”
“I can make that happen. I know people.”
Underneath the dress, she’s wearing only a low-cut strapless bra and matching thong.
“I just want to look at you forever.”
“I can make that happen, too.” She reaches out to unbutton my vest and the dress shirt under it. “Give me that sexy chest, and hurry up about it.”
I pull off clothes as fast as I can, popping off one of the buttons on my shirt in the process, which makes Maria laugh.
“I’m handy with a needle and thread. I can fix that for you.”
“Least of my worries at the moment.”
“You have worries? What are they?”
“For one thing, I’m worried I won’t be able to last long after being hard for you since the church.”
“We’re not talking about you being hard in church. I’m not going to hell with you.”
“Oh, come on! It won’t be any fun without you.”
“What else are you worried about?”
“Truthfully?”
“Always.”
“That you can be happy anywhere but here with your people. I saw you in your element today, and it just… It gave me pause. The last fucking thing in the world I want to do is anything to make you unhappy—and I worry that taking you away from them will make you unhappy.”
“I love you so much for being concerned about that, but I’ve been doing some research on Seattle, and it looks like a really fun place to live. I think it’ll be good for me to live somewhere else for a while and to experience life outside Miami. I’ll miss my family, but we’ll get home to visit, and when you’re done with baseball, maybe we can move back here?”
“We can. Absolutely. Give me six to ten years elsewhere, and I’ll give you forever here.”
“That’s a pretty good deal.”
“I want you to be happy, Maria.”
“I promise I can be happy in Seattle if you and Everly are there.”
“Will we be enough?”
“God, Austin, yes. You guys are everything to me. You have to know that by now.”
“We’re not everything. Your family is such a huge part of your life.”
“And now you guys are, too. It’ll be okay as long we’re together.” She draws me into a kiss that has me forgetting about everything other than what’s happening right here and now, which is pretty damned awesome.
I release the clasp of her bra and take in the sight of her spectacular breasts and the nipples that tighten before my eyes. I love her unreasonably, and the only thing that matters to me is that she always knows that. I worship every inch of her delicious skin, her tight nipples, her flat belly, which quivers under my lips. With her legs on my shoulders, I kiss and caress and coax her to a series of orgasms that leave her panting and me desperate to get in on the action as I slide into her.
She wraps her arms around me and holds on tight as we move together in the kind of perfect harmony that had eluded me until I found her. Nothing has ever been like this, like her.
“God, Maria… I love you. I love you so much.”
“Me, too. Love you.” She’s breathless and flushed, so fucking sexy and all mine forever.
I’m so high on the magic we create together that I’m under the mistaken belief that nothing could ever come between us.
I’ll find out soon enough how wrong I am about that.
Chapter 25
MARIA
My parents want to see me and my siblings after brunch and won’t say why. The cryptic text from my dad asked that we come by the house—just us—after brunch.
Dee texts me right after. Um, what the hell?
No idea.
Are they getting divorced?
No! If there’s one thing I’m sure of, that’
s it. My parents are solid. Always have been, always will be. I refuse to believe anything other than that.
I wish I had nowhere to be and nothing to do today so I could loll around in bed with Austin all day, but today’s brunch is the end of the wedding weekend, and everyone will be there to see Carmen and Jason off on their honeymoon to Turks and Caicos. They’re staying in some super-cool resort, and I’d be green with envy if I wasn’t so thrilled for both of them.
But now this thing with my parents is hanging over me as Austin drives me home to pick up my car. I’d planned to spend the whole day with him and Everly at their house, swimming and chilling by the pool. And now I have no idea what this day will bring, and that’s left me unsettled.
“I’m sure it’s nothing horrible,” Austin says. “They were both in good spirits yesterday.”
“I know. I can’t imagine what this is about.”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
“It won’t be soon enough for my liking.” Brunch, which is usually the highlight of my week, is going to be torturous today.
At my house, he waits for me to run in and grab my keys, and then I follow him to the restaurant where his parents and Everly are meeting us. I get caught up in introducing them to people they didn’t meet yesterday and manage to forget, for a minute, the family meeting that’s cast a pall over a day that should be all about celebration.
Nico and Milo corner me when I come out of the ladies’ room.
“What’s up with Mom and Dad?” Nico asks.
“I have no idea. I know as much as you do.”
“You always know what’s up,” Milo says.
“Not this time.”
“Are you freaked out?” Milo asks.
“Kinda.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Nico says.
“Sorry.”
He squeezes my shoulder. “Dee thinks they’re getting divorced.”
“They are not. That’s one thing I’m not worried about.”
“Let’s get them out of here soon,” Milo says. “I can’t deal with worrying about what’s going on.”
“Agreed.”
It’s after two by the time we arrive back at my parents’ house. I was so wound up that I could barely eat at brunch, but my stomach is upset anyway. There’s no way they’d do this to us unless something is wrong, and part of me doesn’t want to hear whatever it is, especially when everything has been going so right for me lately.
We gather in the family room, my parents sitting next to each other on the love seat, which I take as further proof they’re not getting divorced.
“Sit, Maria,” Dad says.
“I’d rather stand. What’s this about? You’ve got us freaking out.”
Dad glances at Mom, and she nods as he takes hold of her hand.
“We wanted to wait until after the wedding to tell you that your mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer.”
As if someone has opened a trap door beneath me, the world seems to tilt on its axis as I listen to him say words no one ever wants to hear associated with someone they love: triple negative, stage three, mastectomy, reconstruction, chemotherapy, radiation.
My brain shuts down, and my heart shatters. I know enough to be seriously concerned about the battle that looms ahead for my mother, and one very clear thought occurs to me—I won’t be going to Seattle, or anywhere, for that matter.
Dee is sobbing as Nico and Milo stare blankly at my parents, who’re making a big effort to be strong for us.
“We’ve got the best doctors, and we feel very confident that we’re going to beat this,” Dad says as Mom weeps silently next to him.
“I’m so sorry to do this to you kids,” she says.
We all move at the same instant, going to her, hugging her, reassuring her.
“We’ll be with you every step of the way, Mama,” Nico says. “Don’t worry about anything.”
“I’ll move home,” Dee says. “I’ll stay here and help with everything.”
“I don’t want you to upset your lives for me,” Mom says.
“Too late,” Dee replies. “It’s already done.”
“I’ll go to every appointment, every treatment, everything,” I tell her as I try not to break inside at the thought of Austin and Everly in Seattle without me. “You’ll have your own private-duty nurse.” It’s all I can do not to sob all over her, but she doesn’t need that right now. She needs us to be strong for her and to support her as she fights for her life.
“We’re not telling the rest of the family until Carmen gets home from her trip,” Mom says. “We don’t want to do anything to ruin this happy time for her. Please promise me you’ll keep it between us for now.”
We all agree to her wishes and hang out for another hour, until Mom says she’s feeling tired and would like to lie down for a bit.
The four of us walk outside, numbed by shock and the bone-deep fear that always accompanies a cancer diagnosis.
“How bad is it?” Dee asks me.
“It’s not great. Stage three means it’s already spread to the lymph nodes, and triple negative is a bitch. No way around it.”
My sister breaks down again at that news.
I wrap my arms around her, and our brothers join the group hug. “We’ll get her through it. We’ll get them both through it.” I tell them what they need to hear, what we all need to hear, even as I spin with despair on the inside. Everything was perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
Because our parents urged us to carry on with our plans for the day, Dee decides to go meet her high school friends as planned, and my brothers head to a local park to play pickup basketball with a group they play with almost every Sunday.
I get in my car, intending to drive to Austin’s home, but instead end up back at my place, needing some time alone. I crawl into bed and sob into my pillow, heartbroken and terrified for my mother, but also a little heartbroken for myself and Austin, too. It was too good to be true. That’s all I keep thinking. Just when everything was falling into place for us, this bomb goes off in my life that’ll keep me in Miami—and that’s not even the most upsetting part of it. Thinking about what my mom will endure breaks me.
My cell rings in the other room, and I’m sure it must be Austin, but I can’t bring myself to move or do anything other than weep. In a matter of a few hours, I’ve gone from as high as I’ve ever been to as low as I hope to ever be. Though I know I’ll lose them both at some point, I simply can’t picture life without my parents at the center of it. She’s fifty-two. This can’t be happening.
But it is, and I’m simply devastated for her, my dad, our family and for myself, too. I’d begun to wrap my head around the idea of Seattle, to picture myself there with Austin and Everly. And now…
I hurt like I’ve never hurt before.
AUSTIN
It’s been three hours since I left Maria after brunch, and I expected to hear from her by now. I’m starting to get worried, especially since she’s not picking up her phone. Everly’s down for a nap, and my parents are watching golf on TV to avoid the afternoon heat.
“Do you guys mind listening for Ev?” I ask them. “I’m going to check on Maria.”
“Of course,” Mom says. “I hope everything’s okay.”
“I do, too.” It’s very strange that she hasn’t texted or called or come to the house like we planned. She can’t still be with her family hours after they left the restaurant, can she?
I take a guess and decide to try her place first, and when I see her car in the driveway, my anxiety spikes even further. What the heck is going on? I take the stairs to her place two at a time and knock on the door.
There’s no answer, so I take a chance and try the door. It’s unlocked, and that worries me because she once told me no one leaves their door unlocked in Miami. Concerned, I step inside. “Maria? Babe, are you here?”
Her purse is on the floor next to a chair, her keys on the floor next to it, sending a tri
ckle of unease down my back. I head straight for her room, where I find her on the bed asleep.
Relief floods through me when I see that she’s okay, or at least I think she is. Why is she here and not with me at my house like we planned? I sit on the edge of the mattress, and gently place my hand on her shoulder, careful not to startle her.
Her face is puffy, as if she’s been crying.
“Maria, honey.” I kiss her shoulder and then her cheek.
Her eyes open, and I see they, too, are red and swollen.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” I brush the hair back from her face and notice new tears filling her eyes.
“My mom has breast cancer.”
“Oh no. Maria…”
“It’s pretty bad. Stage three and an aggressive form. She didn’t want to tell us until after the wedding.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.” I kick off my shoes and stretch out next to her, putting my arm around her and wishing there was more I could do besides hold her. “Does she know yet what the treatment will entail?” I can’t deny that my own PTSD surfaces at this news.
“Mastectomy, reconstruction, chemo, radiation. A long and complicated ordeal.”
I hear what she doesn’t say, loud and clear—she’s not going to Seattle. She can’t be anywhere but right here with her mother and family. “We’ll figure it out, sweetheart. Don’t worry.”
“What will we figure out? You’re going to be in Seattle for at least three years but probably longer, and I’m going to be on the exact opposite side of the country, unable to go anywhere.”
“I haven’t signed with anyone yet. Anything can still happen.”
“You’ve worked so hard for this moment, Austin. You shouldn’t let anything get in the way of the best possible deal for you and your daughter.”
“And not my fiancée, too? What about what’s best for her?”
“It’s not about me. This is about you and your career and this exciting time.”
“Don’t you know by now that without you, there’s nothing exciting about anything?”
