His Brother's Son

by Jennifer Taylor

  Felipe allowed himself a small smile as he followed her to the door. It was obvious that Rebecca was surprised by the way he’d acted and it was encouraging to know that he was still able to disconcert her. In the past few hours, he’d had the uncomfortable feeling that the balance of power had shifted in her favour and it was a relief to see that he’d been wrong. He needed to control this area of his life as much as the rest of it.

  They had just reached the door when a red-haired man came into the bar. Felipe saw Rebecca stiffen as they all stopped. Instinctively, he put his hand under her elbow and he saw the man look at him before he turned to Rebecca and smiled.

  ‘Fancy seeing you here, Becky. I didn’t realise this was one of your haunts.’

  ‘It isn’t. I’d arranged to meet Felipe here, but it ended up with me being late,’ she said quickly.

  Felipe saw her glance nervously at him and frowned. It was obvious that Rebecca was uncomfortable about the encounter, but why? Who was this man?

  ‘Aren’t you going to introduce me, Rebecca?’ he said smoothly.

  ‘Yes, of course.’ She sounded flustered as she set about making the introductions. ‘Felipe, this is Simon Montague, the senior registrar on the IC unit. Simon, this is Josh’s uncle, Dr Felipe Valdez.’

  ‘Oh, I see. That explains it.’ Montague smiled but Felipe could see the hostility in his eyes. ‘You’re the guy who’s trying to persuade Becky to move to Mallorca. Do you really believe that it’s in her best interests to leave everything she knows and move to a place where she has no friends?’

  ‘I imagine that is for Rebecca to decide,’ Felipe said calmly, trying not to let the younger man see that he was annoyed.

  No wonder she was on edge! She had obviously discussed her plans with Montague but it was the reason why she had done so that infuriated him. Had she sounded him out to see if he could come up with a better idea perhaps? After all, if Montague could come up with the money she needed, what reason was there to uproot herself? The truth was that there were always options for a woman like her, always another man gullible enough to help her.

  The thought angered him even more but he refused to let either of them see how he felt. He turned to Rebecca and smiled, but maybe he wasn’t as adept at hiding his feelings as he’d thought, he realised when he saw her frown. It was obvious that she had sensed something was wrong and it bothered him to know that she’d picked up on his mood so easily.

  ‘We should go. Josh will be wondering where you are,’ he told her, deliberately blanking out that thought because it wouldn’t help.

  ‘Of course.’ She gave him the ghost of a smile before she turned to Simon Montague, and Felipe had to steel himself not to react when he heard the entreaty in her voice. ‘I’ll catch up with you tomorrow, Simon. Promise. Take care, now.’

  ‘You, too, my sweet.’

  Montague gave him another hard stare before they left, but Felipe ignored him. He still had hold of Rebecca’s arm but he released her as soon as they were outside. The meeting had left him with a bad taste in his mouth and a feeling of dissatisfaction which he knew was a dangerous indulgence.

  So what if Rebecca was looking for ways and means to avoid having to do as he wanted her to? What if she was trying to keep Montague sweet in the hope that he would help her? Surely it was only what he would have expected of her?

  ‘All right, you may as well tell me what’s wrong.’ She stopped and glared at him, giving him no choice but to stop as well.

  Felipe glanced round, feeling uncomfortable when he saw people staring at them. Rebecca had both hands placed on her slender hips and it must have been obvious to anyone who was passing that she was furiously angry.

  ‘I have no idea what you are talking about,’ he said shortly.

  ‘Rubbish! That’s just a cop-out because you either don’t want to or can’t answer the question.’

  Her grey eyes shot sparks at him. ‘You might be able to fool most people with that ice-man routine, but you don’t fool me! Something has upset you and I want to know what it is, although why I am even asking is beyond me. Just the fact that I’m still breathing is probably your worst nightmare, isn’t it?’

  He saw tears well into her eyes as she turned and began hurrying along the street. He went after her, his long legs quickly making up the distance. He put his hand on her arm to stop her, feeling a ripple of raw awareness shoot through him. It was as though he could suddenly feel her pain. He had an overwhelming urge to take her in his arms and comfort her, promise that he would never do anything else to hurt her. Maybe they could find some way to compromise. He didn’t want to keep fighting with her…

  He took a deep breath as Rebecca shrugged off his hand and carried on walking. He felt quite sick as he realised how foolish he was being. How could he ever compromise? How could he ever forget what she’d done? She deserved everything that happened to her because she had brought it all on herself!

  Oddly enough, it didn’t make him feel better to realise that. By the time they’d collected Josh and arrived at her flat, he was beginning to feel like the lowest form of pond life. Rebecca hadn’t said a word to him all the way home. She’d totally ignored him as she’d chatted to the baby.

  Felipe wasn’t used to being ignored and it irked him that she seemed able to blank him out like that. He stood to one side while she juggled the baby and the key before opening the front door. It was clear that any offer of help would be rejected.

  He followed her up the three flights of stairs and went into the sitting-room when she disappeared into the bathroom with Josh. What made him feel even worse was that it was all done in a silence that said far more than any amount of angry words.

  He sank onto the sofa and closed his eyes. He had known all along that Rebecca had the power to manipulate men. He just hadn’t realised that he would be as susceptible as all the rest.

  ‘And here comes another bubble…Pop!’

  Becky smiled when Josh chortled with laughter. He was obviously enjoying the fact that she’d let him stay in the bath far longer than normal. He was usually tucked up in his cot by now, but the extra playtime had given her a chance to calm down.

  It was silly to get upset but it had been obvious what Felipe had been thinking when they’d met Simon. He believed that Simon was the latest in a long string of men who had come and gone in her life. He wouldn’t believe her if she told him the truth, that there were no men in her life, so why get upset? She needed a clear head when she laid down the rules that would have to be met before she agreed to move to Mallorca.

  ‘You will both be waterlogged soon. Do you usually let him play for so long?’

  She felt her heart bounce against her ribs when she looked round and saw Felipe standing in the doorway. There was a faint smile on his mouth and a softness about his eyes which she hadn’t seen before. She found herself thinking how wonderful it would be to have him look at her that way all the time before common sense reasserted itself. Any softening in his attitude was because of Josh, not because of anything she had done.

  ‘Not usually,’ she said coolly, trying her best not to let him see how much that thought had upset her. ‘I thought he deserved a little treat tonight—didn’t you, poppet?’

  She went to kiss the top of Josh’s damp head and gasped when he suddenly slammed both chubby little fists into the water. A wave of soap suds lapped over the side of the bath and landed in her lap.

  Felipe laughed throatily when he saw what had happened. ‘It is truly amazing how much mess one small child can make, sí?’

  ‘It is.’ Becky grabbed a towel from the rack and mopped at her skirt, but the water had soaked right through it. Tossing the towel aside, she pulled a face at the little boy.

  ‘You’re a monster, Joshua Valdez! I’m going to splash you back for doing that.’

  She gently patted the water and sent a soapy wave cascading over the baby’s tummy, much to his delight. He rapidly beat his hands up and down in the water to show his appre
ciation. Becky groaned as another little tidal wave slopped over the side of the bath and once again landed on her. ‘Well, I’ve only got myself to blame, I suppose.’

  ‘Would you like me to stay here and watch him while you change into some dry clothes?’

  She stared at him. ‘You?’

  A little colour ran up Felipe’s cheeks when he heard the surprise in her voice. ‘I think I am capable of looking after him for a short while. I assure you that I know all about the dangers of leaving a young child unattended in the bath, so you can trust me not to wander off.’

  ‘I didn’t mean that you weren’t capable. I just meant that it doesn’t really seem your sort of thing.’ She shrugged, wishing that she’d simply refused the offer rather than try to explain how she felt about it. ‘I mean, how often have you ever bathed a baby?’

  ‘Ah, now, let me see.’ He stared at the ceiling and there was an expression of such intense concentration on his face that she found herself holding her breath.

  ‘Twice, I think. Yes, that’s right, although I have to confess that one time it wasn’t a real baby.’

  ‘Not a real baby?’ she parroted, feeling her heart perform the most peculiar manoeuvre when he suddenly smiled at her. It felt as though it had performed a full three-hundred-andsixty-degree turn, which was a physiological impossibility. However, even knowing that didn’t negate the effect it had had so it was an effort to concentrate when he continued.

  ‘No. It was a doll, you see, a very ugly, very pink, rubber doll called Esmeralda.’

  His lips twitched when he saw her eyes widen but his voice remained perfectly composed. ‘I grew very fond of that doll, in fact. I was quite sad when the time came for us to go our separate ways.’

  Becky opened her mouth then shut it again because she wasn’t sure what to say in response to such an admission. The thought of Felipe ‘growing fond’ of a pink, rubber doll was rather too much to take in.

  She stared at him, hoping that he would tell her more, wondering why she should want to hear it. Why on earth should she be interested in a crazy story like this? And yet she knew that she was.

  He gave her another one of those highly unsettling smiles but this time she was prepared and her heart only managed half a turn not a full one.

  ‘My first job after I qualified was in a maternity unit. I do not wish to be unkind but the sister there was an absolute dragon—there is no other word I can think of to describe her.’

  Felipe laughed softly when her mouth twitched. ‘I can tell that you understand what I mean, Rebecca. Everything had to be done according to her rules and heaven help any member of staff—nurses or doctors—who failed to meet her exacting standards.’

  ‘I’ve worked with a few like that over the years,’ she admitted. ‘So go on, tell me about the doll.’

  He leant against the side of the bath, smiling as he watched Josh happily splashing. ‘It was one of Sister’s strictest rules that everyone who worked in her ward must know how to bathe and dress a baby as well as feed and change it. She didn’t trust us with any of her precious babies, of course, so she had purchased the doll especially for this purpose. I shall never forget the sight of grown men sweating as they struggled to put a nappy onto that bundle of pink plastic.’

  Becky burst out laughing. ‘Oh, I can just picture it! What a wonderful story, Felipe. It’s one of those tales that gets better every time you tell it, isn’t it?’

  ‘I wouldn’t know. It is the first time I have ever told anyone the story.’ He shrugged but she saw the uncertainty that had clouded his beautiful eyes. ‘I am not sure why I told you just now, to be honest.’

  ‘To convince me that you are capable of looking after Josh for a few minutes,’ she said quickly, because she didn’t want him to start regretting what he had done.

  She stood up, trying to hide how touched she felt because he had chosen to tell her that tale when he had told nobody else. Had he been afraid that people would laugh at him and not with him if he had told them? she wondered.

  She sensed it was so and it just served to make her feel even more confused that he should have confided in her when he’d made no secret of the fact that he didn’t like her.

  ‘Right, now that I know you’re fully qualified to care for babies, I’ll leave you in charge while I find something dry to wear,’ she said, adopting a deliberately bright tone because she didn’t want him to suspect anything was wrong. ‘Just don’t blame me if you end up regretting your impulsive offer. This little horror is a dab hand with the water!’

  ‘So I can see.’ He smiled, but she could tell that he was still rather puzzled by what he’d done.

  Becky headed for the door, knowing that it was pointless dwelling on it. She was just about to leave him to it when a thought suddenly occurred to her and she paused to look back. ‘You said that you’d bathed two babies. You’ve explained about Esmeralda, but what about the other baby? Was it a real one?’

  ‘Oh, yes, it was real.’

  He took off his jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeves before he crouched beside the bath. Becky saw him scoop up a handful of water and watched as he let it dribble through his fingers onto Josh’s tummy. She wasn’t sure how she knew what he was going to say, but all of a sudden her heart began to ache.

  ‘I helped my mother bath Antonio when she brought him home from hospital. He was just three days old and like most fifteen-year-old boys I had never touched a child so small before.’

  He looked up and there was a world of pain in his eyes when he looked at her. ‘I made a promise on that day that I would always take care of him, but I failed. I wasn’t there when he needed me most.’

  Becky didn’t know what to say. Anything sounded trite in the face of his grief. All the anger she’d felt about the way he had behaved towards her suddenly seemed self-indulgent. Felipe was tormenting himself because he hadn’t been able to do anything to help his brother, and yet he had nothing to blame himself for.

  She took a deep breath but there was only one thing she could say that might comfort him. ‘You’re here now and that’s what matters. Antonio would be so pleased to know that you’re going to take care of his son.’

  She didn’t wait to hear what he might say as she quickly left the room. She went into her bedroom and sat on the bed, feeling the fear uncoiling inside her. She had just given Felipe permission to play a central role in Josh’s life. Although she knew it had been the right thing to do, it still scared her. The more she involved him in Josh’s life, the greater the risk that the truth would slip out.

  She bit her lip but the facts had to be faced. She could end up losing this precious child if she cared too much about his uncle’s feelings.

  CHAPTER SIX

  JOSH was getting restless so Felipe pulled out the plug and let the water drain away. Reaching for a towel, he swaddled the baby in it and lifted him out of the bath. There was a changing table against one wall so he laid him down on it.

  Josh regarded him with big solemn eyes while his uncle carefully dried him. He didn’t seem at all alarmed about being looked after by a stranger, but maybe he had grown used to being handled by different people. Maybe Rebecca had entrusted him to the care of other men who had accompanied her home?

  Felipe shut off that thought because it felt wrong to think it. She had been both kind and generous in what she’d said to him, and it didn’t feel right to repay her by allowing such thoughts into his head. There was a stack of disposable nappies on a nearby shelf so he helped himself to one and placed it on the table. However, it proved to be incredibly difficult to get the baby into it when he kept squirming about.

  Bending, he gave the little boy a mock-ferocious stare. ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way, young man, so which is it to be?’

  Josh chortled as he grabbed hold of Felipe’s nose and tugged it hard. Felipe winced as he gently unfurled the tiny fingers. ‘Mmm, I see. You prefer the hard way, do you?’

  Gently grasping the baby’s an
kles in one hand, he cautiously raised Josh’s bottom a fraction so that he could slide the nappy under him. It had been a long time since those lessons with Esmeralda but it worked a treat. He smiled victoriously as he lowered the wriggling baby into position.

  ‘See. All it takes is a little co-operation, pequeño.’

  He quickly folded over the sections of the nappy and stuck down the tapes to hold it in place. There was a pile of clean baby clothes on the shelf as well so he selected a pale blue sleepsuit and set about getting Josh into it.

  He couldn’t help thinking how organised everything was—nappies and clean clothes readily to hand, baby wipes and talcum powder placed where they could easily be reached. It surprised him that Rebecca was so methodical because it didn’t jell with the image he had of her. He found himself looking for some small anomaly, something missing, but as far as he could tell she had thought of everything. The only slightly odd thing was that none of the baby things looked really new.

  Felipe frowned as he took another look around. He hadn’t noticed it before, but all of a sudden he realised that everything, from the changing mat the baby was lying on to the sleepsuit he was wearing, looked as though it had been purchased second-hand. Although everything was spotlessly clean, the signs of wear and tear were clear to see now that he was looking for them. The pattern on the mat was faded in places and the sleep-suit had a neat little darn in its heel.

  He felt a wave of anger suddenly surface. What the hell was going on? Why was his nephew wearing second-hand clothes when Antonio had left all that money?

  ‘Oh, you didn’t need to dress him. That was kind of you.’

  He spun round when he heard Rebecca’s voice. In a fast sweep his eyes skimmed over her, searching for evidence of her perfidy. If she hadn’t spent the money on Josh, she must have spent it on herself.

  It was the only logical explanation but, try as he may, he couldn’t find anything to back it up. Nothing she was wearing looked new or expensive, from the worn denim jeans with their frayed hems to the faded lemon sweatshirt with its baggy neckline.