by Tia Kelly
“Just three more images,” Teresa was instructed. A knock on the door interrupted them.
“One sec. Usually we don’t disrupt anyone, so I better get this,” the tech explained. After speaking softly with another employee, the technician returned to Teresa. “Your husband is in the waiting room. He’s a little frantic, but we assured him he can see you after we are done in here.”
Husband? Teresa questioned silently. “I’m not married.”
Her faith in the hospital was quickly deteriorating and Teresa now questioned how reliable her test results would be.
Confused, the woman instructed Teresa how to lean while manipulating Teresa’s breast into the proper position. “He told the receptionist that you were his wife.”
Teresa nodded and held her breath, while the plates pressed together slowly. She resolved to just do whatever it took to get her out of there.
“Querida.” She heard as soon as she stepped into the hallway.
The man leaning against the wall looked different than the one she walked out on a week ago.
He stepped toward her, pulling a lock of hair that escaped her hairclip behind her ear. “Please tell me you’re fine, mi amor.”
The technician subtly cleared her throat and nervously looked between the couple. “It will be just a few more minutes until we can take you back for the ultrasound. Normally you would wait over there, but I can take you to a room so your umm partner can wait with you.”
“No.”
“Thank you.”
They both spoke at the same time, but Javier pulled Teresa so close with a tender embrace that she relished in his comfort. She needed something to help her after the nerve wracking twenty-four hours since her doctor’s appointment.
“That would be fine,” Teresa finally said, allowing the technician to escort them to another room.
Once the door closed, Teresa stepped away from Javier.
“Why are you here? How did you find me?”
“Teresa, we have to talk.”
“Not about what you think we do,” she countered. “What we had is over, so why are you here?”
A knock on the door interrupted them and another technician entered the room. She looked at Javier and then at Teresa.
No longer feeling the energy to fight and wanting to get the test results as quickly as possible, Teresa nodded to acknowledge she was fine with him staying in the room.
For the next half hour, Teresa tried to focus on the grainy images of her breasts on the monitor and not the man at the foot of the bed nervously observing the wand being rubbed over her exposed chest. After a doctor walked in to explain their findings when the technician was done, Teresa swallowed back her tears and nodded.
“Can we go somewhere to talk?” Javier asked quietly after she left the changing room. He rose from his seat in the main waiting room and walked with her to the exit door.
“Now is not a good time.”
Teresa tried walking on shaky legs and hated that Javier’s presence was what kept her from collapsing to the ground.
Once they were outside, he pointed to a pavilion across the street. “We’re going over there.”
Taking her hand in his, he led her to a bench and waited until she looked at him before he started to speak.
“I never loved her.”
Teresa chortled and rolled her eyes. “Of course not.”
Javier slowly shook his head. “No, our arrangement was meant to be for business.”
“Okay, then go back to your wife or business partner or whoever the hell she is and leave me alone.”
Javier leaned back on the bench. He quietly replied, “I can’t unless I plan to visit her grave.”
Feeling her eyes on him, Javier continued. “Isabel died ten years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We never should have married, but it was what my father required for me. She was a nice girl, a pretty girl, but I never loved her. I didn’t know how to love her,” he explained. “A lot of the sites were in remote locations and Isabel claimed she didn’t like being alone. She insisted on going with me when I had to be away from home for months at a time. I was okay with it, but it grew tiresome. Isabel wanted children and I didn’t want any. So every day she would remind me and every day I would tell her why children were not an option for me. That was until I came home to find her collapsed on the floor.
“I found out later that Isabel had breast cancer. She knew for some time, but kept it from me. She thought that once I found out, I would definitely refuse having children with her.”
Teresa held onto his hand and felt it tremble inside hers.
Javier looked away, fighting to mask his pain. “We were hours away from proper medical facilities and she had been seeing a woman that relied on herbs and crazy potions up until then. By the time I could get her to a doctor that evening, it was too late. The cancer had metastasized and it was my fault for not realizing my wife was so ill.”
“You didn’t know,” Teresa explained. “You can’t blame yourself.”
Javier shook his head and released his hand from her grasp. “She died unhappy. I was too selfish to give her what she wanted because I was still angry about my own existence.”
“Javier,” Teresa started.
“No, querida. It’s fine. I know different now, but for a long time that’s how I felt. That’s why I vowed never to let another woman get that close to me. I refused to get in a relationship, because women expect things when you’re in a relationship. I didn’t want to put another woman through that so I avoided dating altogether. Then when you called yesterday, I knew I couldn’t lose you. Not the woman I love.”
“I didn’t call you,” she replied.
He held out his phone and touched the screen to play the voicemail message. After she heard part of the accidental message, he added, “We need to get you another phone, amor.”
“Did you say you love me?” Teresa asked, pressing her hand to her chest nervously.
Javier reached for the hand and kissed it. “I more than love you. I want to spend my life with you. I want to marry you.”
“Is this because of what the doctor said in there?”
“I’ve known that I loved you for a long time now,” he assured her. “We will get the best doctors and you will be fine, Teresa. Trust in me.”
Teresa nodded.
“And marry me.” He lowered himself to the ground before her and waited for her response. When she nodded, he reached to brush the tears from her cheeks and kissed her.
Epilogue
“Allie?” Javier said, answering his door. He wasn’t expecting to see his sister, but stood aside to welcome her inside his home.
“How’s Teresa?” Alejandra asked following him inside.
Javier nodded. “Upstairs resting.”
His fiancée had a biopsy and later had several cysts removed. After further examination, Javier and Teresa were relieved cancer was not detected.
“I won’t keep you long,” Alejandra said quietly. “I just stopped by to tell you I need new business cards.”
“Business cards?” he asked, leaning against the foyer wall.
“I can’t hand out my old project manager cards if I am the new COO of FCT.”
Javier reached out to hug her tightly, before pulling back. “Are you sure this is what you want to do? I understand if you walk away from the company and you will still inherit a decent share of father’s estate.”
Allie shook her head. “This isn’t about the money. Perhaps it’s about the legacy I never knew, but right now I want to make sure people keep their jobs. I received confirmation that we got the Markell solar contracts. That will help us stay afloat a little longer and I am certain the other two will be finalized soon. I’m going to make certain we close those deals.”
Javier nodded. He pinched her cheek and winked. “I’m proud of you.” He watched her eyes fill with unshed tears. “Did I say something wrong?”
Alejandra shook
her head and wiped her eyes. “No, big bro. You didn’t.”
Wrapping her arms around him, she caught him off guard with the hug. He soon relaxed and hugged her back, kissing the top of her head.
“So I guess I better brush up on my tormenting technique. Any prospects I need to size up?” he teased.
Alejandra swatted at him and then followed him into the kitchen.
Teresa reached for her glass of caipirinha
and took a sip while watching Javier entertain their guests.
The backyard was filling up quickly with people in the pool frolicking around and a game of volleyball on the grassy lawn. A blend of Teresa and Javier’s family mingled like they often did the first weekend of every month. Even her son was home from college for the weekend. The only person missing was Evelyn, but Teresa had faith that Javier and his mother would make amends.
Alejandra had urged her brother to get to know the family she grew up with. It had taken some time for Javier to warm up to the idea, and Teresa knew her husband was still reluctant, but watching him joke with his newfound cousins brought a smile to her face.
“What’s so funny?” Javier asked her, walking toward her and bending down to kiss her cheek.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
Javier looked behind him toward the large paella pan that had a crowd standing around it. “Thank you.”
“For what?” Teresa asked. “I haven’t done anything all day.”
He smiled because she really didn’t. It was her birthday and Javier had instructed his wife not to lift a finger. “You loved me. That’s a feat in itself.”
Javier knew it was her love that changed him, making him a better man. He changed so much that he reorganized the company so he could spend most of his time in the States.
A squeal behind them got their attention.
“¡Mi princesa!” Javier exclaimed, taking their granddaughter from Amber’s arms. He hugged his stepdaughter and shook her husband’s hand. Kissing the baby’s chubby cheek, Javier smiled.
“Your paella’s burning,” Teresa chided, as she watched Amber and her husband walk away leaving the baby in their care. “Nobody likes burnt socarrat.”
“That’s not going to work, amor.” He winked at her knowing Teresa was hinting for him to hand her the baby. Nobody made paella like him and the crust on the bottom of the rice dish was always perfect. Instead of passing her the baby like she secretly desired he would, Javier just wrapped his arm around her and held both females close.
While taking in all the people around him, the sounds of happiness and the love swelling from his heart, Javier reached for her hand. He kissed the back of it and squeezed it. “Always yours?”
Teresa smiled and responded like she did every morning, noon and night. “Siempre tuyo.”
She was forever his and he was forever hers.
Also Available from Tia Kelly
Love Sessions series
Love’s Rebound
Give Me You
Save Me From You
The Love Sessions
The Love Sessions (The Complete Series)
Coming Soon – Summer 2013
The Wilkersons In Love series
Playing for Love
Table of Contents
Yours
Dedication
Chapter OneJavier
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Epilogue
Also Available from Tia Kelly
