by MJ Summers
“Oh. She didn’t fall for me. It was more the other way around.” His face grew serious.
The sensual moment had evaporated.
“How did you two end up together? I hate to ask, but I don’t think Gabriela’s version is adding up exactly, and I think it might be good for me to know the truth. For the court case, I mean.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That Tomas’s father owns a luxury ranch in Colorado and that he threw her over for a chef.”
Trey’s face fell. “Oh, well, she was hoping he was Tomas’s father. He would have been in a much better position to take care of them both.” He blew out a puff of air, hating what he had to say next. “He is my cousin. I worked for him.”
Alessandra’s eyebrows flew up. “Oh.”
Shame filled Trey as understanding crossed her face. “Yeah, not my finest moment. Pretty much tore my family apart when the truth came out.”
“Why did you do it?” she asked quietly.
“That’s a question I’ve asked myself about a thousand times. She made the offer one night and I took her up on it, like an idiot. We were really drunk at the time. She was very . . . attractive, and we’d spent a lot of time flirting during the year she lived at the ranch—which I now see wasn’t harmless at all.” He paused, hating the look of disappointment in her eyes. “I’m sure you’ll think much less of me now that you know what happened.”
Alessandra nodded her head. “It’s a very bad thing to do, but I can imagine a woman like her would be hard to resist. She was gorgeous and very sexy.”
“Ahh, it wasn’t her fault. I knew better, no matter what she looked like.”
“That’s true.”
“You know, the other question I’ve asked myself was why someone like her would want to sleep with me. I was only twenty at the time, just a ranch hand with a high school diploma. I think she might have been looking for a way out. She had been complaining about how bored and lonely she was. My cousin, Cole, was gone a lot, and she didn’t have any friends there. I think she had grown to hate it and needed to do something to make it impossible for her to stay.”
“So she used you?”
Trey tilted his head. “Maybe. But I don’t want to make it sound like it was all her fault or anything. If she did use me, I was definitely a willing victim.”
“I see.” She stirred at what was left in her bowl. “But after, were you hurt?”
“I was. I thought I was in love with her. I tried to convince her that we should tell Cole and we could run off together. Dumb-ass.” He stared down at the table.
“She didn’t feel the same way?” Alessandra asked quietly.
Trey let out a little scoff. “Not at all. She told me I meant nothing to her. That it was a mistake. She went back home a couple of days later, before Cole even got back from the cattle drive he was on. She told everyone her father had had a heart attack and she needed to rush home. She broke up with Cole from here.”
Alessandra shook her head. “That’s terrible.”
“Like I said, it was my own damn fault. I did my best to forget about how I’d betrayed Cole until one day she showed up with Tomas. Then it was time for me to face what I’d done.”
“And you did. You took responsibility for what you did. That shows your true character.”
“Don’t give me too much credit, Alessandra. I’m not such a good person. I kept working for my cousin for over a year after, right up until I started school. I somehow managed to justify it in my mind, you know? I told myself that telling him what had happened would only hurt him. I told myself there was no point, since she’d left him. I even flirted with his new girlfriend, that chef you heard about from Gabriela.”
“Why would you do that?” Alessandra gave him a hard look.
“I don’t know. Part of me was just always used to flirting with girls. I liked it. But deep down, I think I was envious of Cole. He had everything I wanted. The ranch had been in his dad’s family for a long time. My dad is an accountant. I grew up in the city but spent as much time as I could out at their place. But it’s not the same, you know. It was in his bones. Cole’s one of the best horse trainers in the state. He’s ten years older than me, so he was always tougher, stronger, better at everything. Everyone who meets him loves him. And then he had Gabriela, and she seemed to want me, and I think maybe part of me felt like that made me as good as him for once.”
Alessandra shifted in her chair uncomfortably. “Why are you telling me all of this?”
Trey suddenly realized that he himself was confused as to why he was unburdening himself to her. “I don’t know, actually. I’ve never told anyone that before. Not even my brother. For some reason I feel like it’s important for you to know the truth about me. I guess because you’re investing so much time helping me, I feel like I owe you the truth, no matter how ugly it is. Maybe it’ll make you hate me, but I’m not going to live a lie ever again. No excuses, no omissions. Just the truth of who I am.”
She sat quietly for a minute before saying anything. “This is a lot to absorb. To be honest, I’m not sure what to think.”
Trey looked over at her, feeling a bit sick about having just told her so much. “You’re a really good person, Alessandra. It’s clear in everything you do. I hope someday I’ll be a man that someone like you can respect, a man that my son can look up to.”
“You are a good person, Trey. I can see that in how you are with Tomas and in how you’ve even tried to take care of me these past weeks, even though you don’t really know me. You already are someone Tomas can look up to. It would be different if you hadn’t learned from what happened. But you have.”
“You’re being too easy on me.”
“Not really. Some people use others, some get used. You got used. I know what that is like.” When Alessandra met Trey’s eyes, they weren’t just seeing each other’s faces, they were seeing each other’s hearts. “My first real boyfriend turned out to have several other girlfriends. It turns out he was using sex to pay us all for helping him keep his grades up. He was at the University of Chicago on a football scholarship, and he conveniently found a girl who could help him with each subject. I was such a fool not to see the truth sooner. I even did some of his homework for him when he was away on team trips so he wouldn’t get behind. Looking back, I can see that all the signs he didn’t care about me were there. I just chose to ignore them in favour of what I wished was true.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“Don’t be. It made me stronger. I won’t be used by a man ever again.”
“I’m assuming your next boyfriend was better.”
Alessandra’s face flushed as she glanced at the table. “That remains to be seen, actually. But I can say that now that I’ve had my eyes opened, I will never shut them again.”
“Good for you.” Trey stared at her, feeling completely unworthy of her. It was better that he hadn’t kissed her. “You deserve a really great man, Alessa. Someone who will treat you right.” Getting up, he cleared their bowls. “We should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day.”
“That it is. I’m very nervous. You are my first sort-of client.”
“Don’t be nervous. I have nothing but faith in your ability.”
“I’m afraid we’ll need more than that to win.”
Thirteen
Trey sat at the back of the small courtroom, listening to the hum of the air conditioner. Alessandra sat next to him, nervously looking through the file on her lap for the tenth time since they had arrived. They’d been waiting for the judge for the past twenty minutes, each one feeling like an hour. Trey turned his attention back to the papers in Alessa’s hands. They shook a little as she flipped from one to the next—the admission of paternity forms, the DNA test, his university transcripts and a character reference provided by one of his professors, all in English and translated into Portuguese.
Alessandra looked up at Trey, giving him her best attempt at a confident nod. She leaned in
and whispered to him, “It will be okay.”
Trey gave her a little nod back, then silently reviewed the advice Alessandra’s professor had passed along. Give complete answers but don’t ramble. Don’t get overly emotional but speak from the heart. Most important, tell the truth.
When the judge arrived, Trey broke out in a cold sweat in spite of the comfortable temperature of the room. Trying not to fidget, he smiled at the woman who had been randomly assigned as ruler over his and Tomas’s fate. Trey guessed she was in her late fifties, and she looked to be in a bad mood at the moment, unless that was just her general demeanour. She peered over the top of her glasses at him with a serious expression before looking back down to the forms in her hand.
“I am Judge D’Souza. I will handle your case. You are American. No Portuguese, yes?” she asked in a thick accent.
“Um, yes. I mean no, ma’am.”
“No? You speak Portuguese?” Her face lit up a little.
“No. Sorry. No Portuguese.” Damn it, I blew the first answer already. Way to make a good impression, butthead.
She pursed her lips together, then said something to the court reporter in her native language that caused the young woman to snicker. Turning back to Trey, she said, “No Portuguese? How can you raise a child if you can’t speak to him?”
“I’d like to learn, ma’am. Also, my son speaks English.”
Alessandra cleared her throat and addressed the judge in their native tongue, her voice shaking. The judge spoke back, her tone unmistakable.
“Is this woman your lawyer or your nanny?” Judge D’Souza asked Trey.
“Both, ma’am. She’s very talented.”
“You trust her?”
“Pardon me?”
She took off her glasses and used them to point at Alessandra. “She is a law student. You trust her to do this?”
“Yes, ma’am. I do.”
“Did she tell you that by law the proceedings must be conducted in Portuguese?”
“Yes, ma’am, she told me.”
“You can have a formal translator if you like, but we may have to reschedule if we can’t find one. Or you can trust your nanny and have the transcripts translated afterwards. What would be your choice?”
“I’d like to go ahead, ma’am. I trust her, and the sooner I can get home with my boy, the sooner I can get him settled.”
“Okay,” she answered, flicking her hands in the air in disapproval. She addressed Alessandra and the prosecutor in Portuguese.
Trey watched, temporarily grateful that he wouldn’t have to say anything for a while. He sat at the table for the next five minutes, a bundle of nerves as Alessandra handed the translations to the judge and the prosecutor and spoke on his behalf. Raking his sweaty palms over his lap, he wished he understood what was happening. He’d put his life and his son’s in the hands of a law student, someone barely old enough to drink back in the US. Now, as he waited on pins and needles, he wondered if that had been a mistake. The judge looked very serious for the most part, but at one point she gave Alessandra a knowing smile and the two women laughed briefly at something she said.
Things grew quiet as the judge wrote something down. Alessandra gave Trey a little wink as they waited.
The judge looked at Trey for a moment. “Tell me about your son’s mother.”
Trey stood. “Her name was Gabriela Ferreira.”
The judge nodded impatiently. “Yes, I know that. How did you have a child with her?”
“Oh, um, we met when she was in the US on vacation.”
“How?”
“How did we meet?” Trey asked.
“Yes.”
“She came to stay at a ranch I was working on.”
“So, you were her boyfriend there?”
“Not exactly, ma’am.”
The judge glared at him, clearly irritated. She said something to Alessandra in Portuguese. Alessandra turned to Trey and lowered her voice. “She thinks you are hiding something because you seem to be stalling and giving short answers. You need to give more detail.”
Trey’s entire face heated up with humiliation. He swallowed hard before speaking. “She had lived at the ranch for about a year. She was my cousin’s girlfriend. One night, we went out and drank too much and ended up together.” His eyes were glued to the floor as he finished speaking.
The judge shook her head in disgust. “Your own cousin?”
“Yes, ma’am. It’s not something I’m proud of.”
“You go with your cousin’s girlfriend. For how long?”
Trey’s face was full of confusion. “Oh, well, I don’t really know. About fifteen minutes, maybe? Could have been ten. I was pretty intoxicated.”
The judge suddenly burst into laughter, her entire body shaking for a long time as she tried to compose herself. “No, no, I mean . . .” She looked to Alessandra for help.
Alessandra filled in the blanks for her. “How long were you in a relationship with her?”
Trey blushed, feeling foolish. “That makes more sense. Just the one night, ma’am. Sorry.”
The judge tried to hide a smile as she jotted on the pad again. She then gave Alessandra more instructions to pass along.
Once Trey was sure he understood what was expected of him, he continued. “I didn’t know about Tomas until he was eight months old. Gabriela had returned to Brazil a couple of days after our . . . time together. She brought him back to the US about a year and a half later. We had the DNA test done, then I had the admission of paternity form drawn up. She returned to Brazil with him so her parents could help her out financially. She told me to finish school. I thought that would be the best way for me to really contribute to his life in the long run. I was a student and before that I worked as a ranch hand, so I couldn’t help much.”
Trey paused, waiting for the judge to finish making notes. He decided to go on. This was the only shot he would get to convince this woman that he wouldn’t be a complete loser as a father. “Ma’am, I’m not proud of what I did. It was the worst mistake I’ve ever made. I hurt my cousin and the rest of my family and I’ll always regret that. But I’d never take back what happened. I love my son more than I thought possible. I can’t even believe how much, because I’m only just getting to know him. He’s a really special little guy, so smart and just cute as anything. And he gives the best hugs . . . If you give me a chance, I’ll make sure I give him the very best life I can. A great life, I hope.”
The judge tapped her pen on the pad of paper as she stared at him for a moment before turning to the prosecutor. In an instant, the conversation became unintelligible for Trey again. The prosecutor spoke for a long time, pointing at Trey as he did, presenting papers of his own. Trey heard him say something about the Ferreiras. The judge seemed angry, her hand flying wildly as she spoke back to the man.
Judge D’Souza paused, asking Alessandra to translate. “He said that the Ferreiras have done a background check on you and that you have no assets, no home, no job, and they are concerned about letting you have custody without those things. He said their lawyer has requested that Judge D’Souza intervene on their behalf and put strict orders in place for you to get a house and a job before you can take Tomas. If not, they intend to fight for custody. She said that she doesn’t like this type of coercion by the rich. And that there are many poor people in Brazil but the court doesn’t take their children away. She also said she hates that they have made this ultimatum because it gives her no choice. To ignore their demands will only hurt you and ensure that you end up in a lengthy custody battle.”
“You understand what the Ferreiras are asking?” the judge said.
“Yes, ma’am, I do.”
“So, you will need to find someone to keep him while you go home. But you can’t go yet. You need to stay in Brazil for a few more weeks until we verify that you are the father. I am ordering another DNA test, by request of the child’s grandparents. I will need time to look over these other documents as well. Do you have a
place to stay?”
Alessandra spoke up. “Your honour, he and his son can stay on my family’s farm in Bebedouro. I have spoken with my grandfather, and he will allow them to live there as long as they are required to remain in Brazil. I’m moving back home. If Mr. Johnson chooses, he can leave Tomas with us when he goes home. I have been his primary caregiver for over two years now, and Tomas and I are very close. I believe this arrangement will be better than finding some stranger for him to live with on a temporary basis.”
The judge turned to Trey. “You agree to this?”
“Yes, ma’am. As much as I don’t want to leave him behind at all, if I have to, I believe having him stay with Alessandra would be the best option for my son. He’s already been through more than any three-year-old should have to deal with.”
The judge continued in Portuguese for a few minutes, then made some notes. Finally, she looked up at them again and said, “You can go for now, but first give my assistant the address of the farm. We need to know where to find you.”
* * *
Walking out into the bright sunshine, he and Alessandra made their way down the courthouse steps before Alessandra burst into laughter. Trey looked down at her, his face full of confusion.
She laughed so hard she snorted, then grabbed Trey’s forearm to steady herself. “Fifteen minutes! Maybe ten!”
Trey started to chuckle along with her, and before long, the two were standing in the middle of the sidewalk, laughing loudly enough to attract the attention of passersby.
“I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t laugh!” Alessandra managed.
“No, it’s totally okay. I can’t fucking believe I said that!” Trey shook his head and chuckled a little more. “Sorry for cussing. I was just so nervous I couldn’t even think straight. Of course she didn’t mean how long it took to have sex with Gabriela! I sounded like a total idiot!”
Alessandra waved off his self-deprecating remark. “Not at all. It was a confusing conversation. I think saying that helped, actually. She seemed to lighten up a lot afterwards. Plus, it showed you were willing to be honest.”
