Choosing You: The Pierced Hearts Duet: Book Two

by M. Robinson

  My worst fear, I was losing her too.

  Except it was in another form.

  She ran.

  From me.

  Taking something I said while I was dreaming completely out of context. I was so fucking furious she didn’t give me the chance to explain. I didn’t hesitate jumping in my car and hauling ass over to her parents’ where Danté said she was.

  Never in a million years, thinking it would be Mario and Eva’s home. The family that loved me like I was their own.

  She was their daughter.

  The first baby I ever held.

  The first person to ever hold her.

  My hands brought her into this world.

  Feeling an instant connection to the baby girl the moment I held her in my arms. She was the reason I became a doctor.

  I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I didn’t know what to say or where to even start.

  My girl was right in front of me, she’d been in front of me all this time. Everything made so much sense now, why I felt like she was mine since the moment she stepped into my house. And why she felt it too.

  I named her.

  Mine.

  She’s my Faith.

  “When we heard about Bailey, our hearts broke for you,” Mario shared, bringing my sudden confused stare back to him. “We loved her like she was our own, Aiden. You were both ours.”

  “She was such an amazing mother,” Eva added, caressing the side of my face. “Your son Jagger is so handsome. Reminds us of you.”

  “How did you—”

  “Bailey visited us with Jagger a few times. You know, before the—” she did the sign of the cross. “—took over. It’s how my brother Feto got the job as your gardener. She hired him before he left to go back to Venezuela. You didn’t know?”

  “No. She never told me that.”

  “I brought her to you through sunflowers. My favorite.”

  “Oh my God,” I whispered, remembering Bailey’s words from my dream.

  We talked about Mario and Eva often, but life got in the way and we’d lost touch. Faith always stayed in our hearts, she’d always been a part of me, and Bailey knew it too.

  Bailey’s words now made sense. More than I could have ever understood before, as if she was saying them to me right then and there.

  “I love her. I’ve always loved her, and you have too. It’s why I chose her for you.”

  Chapter 25

  <>Camila<>

  I sat there in a state of shock, trying my hardest to take everything in. I was beyond confused and had so many questions with no answers. My parents always had a love for children. Half of my siblings were blood related, and the other half were foster kids, but they never felt any different.

  When Aiden shared he’d grown up in foster homes, I never imagined my parents were the family he was talking about. The only home that loved him for the first time in his life.

  Watching the way they were together, the way they all looked at each other.

  The love.

  The family unity.

  The connection between them.

  I felt it all deep in my bones. Only adding to the emotions running high in my body. I watched with a captivated regard, wanting to know what the hell he was thinking.

  What the hell was going through his mind…

  His scent masking the air all around me. Working my nerves into a frenzy. Feeling the anxiety for what was to come flourishing, breathing, living inside me. It soared in my veins, stirring memories I didn’t know I had.

  “Hola, mi amor,” Mom greeted, “Hello, my love,” as she tucked me in bed.

  “Mama! Tell me again! Tell me the story again!” I shouted from the rooftops, practicing my English with her so the kids at school wouldn’t hurt my feelings anymore.

  I hated school. Kindergarten was so hard.

  “Baby, I’ve told you this story so many times. Que tal y te digo otro cuento?” she asked, “How about I tell you another story?”

  “No, Momma! Please!” I gave her my sad puppy eyes, they always worked.

  She sighed. “Okay, Faith, let me get the photo album.”

  I smiled, feeling happy I won. I waited for her in my bed like a good little girl, running my fingers through my hair. Trying to make it more straight and less Fraggle Rock like the kids at school teased me.

  “Faith, stop messing with your hair. Mi vida, eres hermosa tal como eres,” she complimented, “My love, you’re gorgeous just the way you are.”

  She always said that. I rolled my eyes when she wasn’t looking while she turned the pages of the oldest photo album in the world. Going right to my favorite pictures. They were hard to see because our camera wasn’t the best, but it didn’t matter. I loved them anyway.

  “That’s you when you were born, and that’s who delivered you.”

  I wish I could see his face better, but I pretended anyway.

  “In the shower.”

  “Yes, you came one afternoon while I was going to take a shower and your sister Everly went and got help for me.”

  “Everly is so silly.”

  “She is.”

  “And the ambulance, Momma! The ambulance came and went vroom, vroom, vroom! With big bright red lights!”

  “Yes, and then they rushed me to the hospital.”

  “And Daddy met us there!”

  “He did, he was very happy to finally meet you.”

  “Because I was the angel baby.”

  “You are our angel baby.”

  I smiled. I loved this story.

  “Tu inglés está mejorando,” she celebrated, “Your English is getting better.”

  “Momma, am I ever going to meet him?”

  “No lo sé, mi amor,” she replied, “I don’t know, my love.”

  “Where is he?”

  “We lost touch over the years.”

  “But I thought he was family.”

  “Sometimes family loses touch, but he loved you very much, Faith.”

  “He named me.”

  “He did. It’s a very special name.”

  “I hate it.”

  “Faith, no digas eso,” she reprimanded, “Faith, don’t say that.”

  “But the kids at school, Momma! With their dumb song! ‘Faith, Faith, Faith is here. Don’t say anything in front of her or God will hear.’” I rolled my eyes again. “I don’t even know God.”

  “You don’t have to know God because he lives in your heart.”

  “Yeah… me and God are like this.” I crossed my fingers, making her laugh. “Wel,l I want to meet him.”

  “Oh yeah? Why?”

  “Because he brought me into the world, and I want to tell him thank you and that I love him too.” I stood up, jumping on my bed. “I love him! A lot! A lot! A lot! Forever and forever and forever!”

  Snapping out of it, I jerked back, loudly gasping, “Holy shit.”

  “Faith!” Mom scolded, bringing everyone’s attention over to me. “I don’t care—”

  “You’re him,” I interrupted her, knowing the truth in the core of my being. “Aren’t you?”

  There I sat in the chair in the living room, thinking back on the last seven months.

  His actions.

  His words.

  Everything I felt from the very first time I walked into his home, from seeing the pictures on the walls, to feeling his presence in the air, to the riveting connection of our first encounter.

  “Mario,” Mom nodded to my father as if she knew we needed to discuss this alone, “come check the food with me.” Winking at me, she read my mind. “Danté, you too.”

  “Naw, I’m good.”

  “Danté!”

  “Fine.” He stood, pointing at me. “I want every last detail later. No excuses.”

  Even Danté’s swagger couldn’t break my surreal state that was only focused on the truth. I needed to know.

  Now.

  Mom gave me another wink before shutting the panel doors to give us some priv
acy.

  In four long strides, he was over to me, backing me up into the wall from my chair with a hard thud. Caging me in with his arms. The expression on his face read nothing but love, while his words were filled with nothing but hostility when he growled, “Don’t you ever fuckin’ run away from me again, do you understand me?”

  My body jolted from the impact of his tone and demeanor toward me. The somewhat calm man that was present with my parents in the room was long gone and, in his place, stood a very, very, very, pissed off Aiden Pierce.

  I’d only ever seen him this way the first time we met with Journey and then Jackson. This man was fucking seething. I stood there for I don’t know how long, utterly speechless.

  “Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been about you? Do you even fuckin’ care?”

  “I… I… I…”

  “You what?”

  “I’m… I’m… sorry.”

  “Camila, you don’t ever do that to me again. I thought something happened to you, a fuckin’ car accident or worse, Sean.”

  “Sean was arres—”

  “I’m fully fuckin’ aware of where Sean is, and I didn’t drive all this way to talk about him,” he gritted through a clenched jaw, holding back his angry tone from my parents.

  How did he know about Sean?

  Not giving any time to think about it, he roared, “For fuck’s sake, I was ready to call every goddamn hospital in North Carolina looking for you.”

  “I’m sorr—”

  “I thought… Jesus Christ, Cami, I thought you were hurt or worse… fuck, I can’t even bring myself to say it.”

  Talk about a kick in the gut, I knew what he was implying. My thoughts were swinging back and forth along with my emotions. I was suffocating in them. It didn’t help that he was right. Hating myself further for what I put him through this morning.

  “I just didn’t think—”

  “Exactly. You didn’t think about anyone but yourself.”

  “Hey! That’s not fair.”

  “You want to know what’s not fair, I thought I fuckin’ lost you. Now that’s not fuckin’ fair.”

  “You’re going to make me cry.”

  It was like those six little words had a huge impact on his rage, he instantly pulled away and I felt the loss of his touch. Even if it was his fury that engulfed me, it was still him.

  Before I could apologize again, he knelt down in front of me, grabbing my foot.

  “Ah!”

  “I should spank your ass raw for this.”

  “I’m not one of your kids.”

  “You sure-as-shit act like one.” He pushed the heel of my foot back and I swear I almost passed out from the pain. Biting down on my lower lip instead.

  “On the scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, where is your pain level when I do this?”

  “Fuck!”

  “What about this?”

  “Oh my God! Are you trying to make me punch you?”

  He did a few more twists and turns, and I held back from doing exactly that.

  Reaching into his medical bag that I suddenly realized he brought with him, he continued chastising me, “If you wouldn’t have run from me, then you wouldn’t be here in pain.”

  “Well, maybe you shouldn’t talk in your sleep.”

  He ignored my rebuttal, stating, “It’s just a bad sprain. I’ll stabilize your ankle, but I’m going to have to give you a shot for the pain and swelling first.”

  “Is it going to hurt?”

  “It’s not going to feel great.”

  “Can we skip the shot?”

  “Not unless you want to stay off of it for the rest of the day.”

  “Ugh, I hate shots.”

  “How about this?” He held the needle up while staring into my eyes. “You take a little bit of pain, and I’ll fuck you with my tongue later to make you feel all better.”

  “Whoa.” My eyes widened. “You go from zero to a hundred in like seconds.”

  “What can I say, you bring out the best and the worst in me.”

  “I said I was sorry.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Umm, yeah.” I bowed my head, feeling my thighs clench, thinking of him going down on me again. “That works.”

  “I need you to pull down your pants for me.”

  “My parents are—”

  “I would never disrespect Mario or Eva. I didn’t as a boy, and I won’t as a man. The shot needs to be injected through your hip.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  He helped me up, but before I did what he said, he tugged my pants down for me. I hissed as soon as he poked the needle into my skin, holding onto the chair.

  “Grab onto my shoulder.”

  “I’ll hurt you.”

  “Not any more than you did this morning.”

  I sighed, feeling much worse.

  Once he finished injecting me with the longest needle ever created, I instantly felt the relief in pressure and sat back down.

  “Thank you.”

  “Well look at that, I got another thank you and this time it wasn’t because I was eating your perfect pink pussy.”

  My eyes widened again, but he didn’t pay me any mind. Continuing to wrap my ankle.

  “How about you answer my question from earlier? Why does your driver’s license say Camila Jimenez?”

  “Alright, so you want to start there with the questions.”

  He glared at me with a low growl.

  “Fine. Whatever. I told you at dinner, remember?” I mocked, resisting the urge to call him old man. It wouldn’t earn me any brownie points, and the last thing I wanted was to piss him off more.

  “I was teased as a child. I didn’t know how to speak English, but yet I had a very American name. So after I came home crying for like the hundredth time, begging my parents to let me change my name. They knew what I went through in school, the bullying, the taunting. They finally agreed before I went into middle school. We drove to the government building on my twelfth birthday and I changed my name from Faith Camila Jimenez de la Ramirez to just Camila Jimenez. My mom still insists on calling me Faith.”

  Even though he was intently staring at me, he didn’t say a word. He was looking right through me and I don’t know why, but I found myself wanting to stay lost in his eyes.

  He was luring me in with his dominating stare, pulling every emotion from my body in the way only Aiden Pierce could do. As if we were the only two people in the world. It felt like every passing second was another memory for him. He was physically there with me, but his mind was somewhere else entirely.

  Making me question what or who he was truly seeing in front of him.

  Was it me or his wife?

  “It’s you, Camila. It’s been you since you walked through the door of my house.”

  My breathing hitched, and my heart started racing at rapid speed.

  “From the moment I carried you in my arms the day I delivered you, it felt like you were mine. I remember thinking those exact words, feeling such a profound connection to you in a way I’ve never felt before. It was the beginning of so many life changing moments for me. You’re the reason I became a doctor, why I wanted a baby girl so badly. You were so pure, so innocent, and I wanted to keep you,” he paused, allowing his words to sink in before he continued pouring his heart out to me.

  “Through the years I thought about you often, but life got in the way. Don’t think for one second I ever forgot about you or your parents. You and your family are a part of me. You always have been, you always will be. Do you understand me?”

  I nodded. “I do. This all explains so much. I just don’t understand why Bailey would want me in your home.”

  “She knew I loved you.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “You heard me.”

  “But you said… I mean… this morning, you said you’d always love your wife.”

  “I will, Cami, but you took what I said in the wrong context and instead of ta
lking to me about it, you ran from me.”

  “I honestly don’t know what you want me to say, Aiden. I just feel in my heart that I’ll never be good enough for you. And I refuse to be second place in anyone’s life. I deserve someone who can love me wholeheartedly and someone whose wife won’t be a shadow in our relationship. Bailey will always be an obstacle between us. You know it as much as I do… and as much as it kills me to have to say this to you,” I halted, taking a deep breath. Needing the strength and willpower for what I was going to divulge next.

  With tears in my eyes, I declared, “I quit, Aiden.”

  <>Aiden<>

  “Like fucking hell you do.”

  “Please, just hear me out.” She put her shaking hands on my chest. “I will always be a part of your kids’ lives, always. I’ll visit, go to some of their functions, be an active family friend, but I can’t work for you anymore. It’s what I’ve been thinking about all morning, and now to learn that Bailey is the reason I even work for you in the first place. It finally all makes sense. She knew my family, our dynamic, our unity, where family is over everything. She brought me into your home to fix it. And I did. You’re back. You’re the father they always had. The man you always wanted to be. You’re a family again. You don’t need me anymore.”

  “You’re so fuckin’ wrong.”

  “I can’t do it any longer, Aiden. I can’t compete with your once-in-a-lifetime love. It’s not fair to me and I still don’t know what happened to Bailey.”

  I stood and grabbed her hand. “Come on.”

  “What? Where are we going?”

  “It’s time.”

  “Time for what?”

  There was no hesitation in my mind.

  In my soul.

  In my heart.

  When I replied,

  “For you to know our love story.”

  Chapter 26

  <>Aiden<>

  Then

  I made my way into her home like a man on death row with my two sons and daughter beside me. Jackson held our one-month-old baby girl in his arms as we silently proceeded down the narrow hallway.