When Aaron tentatively suggested that Mateo spend the week after Christmas with them in the bay, she was happy to agree. She assumed that Mat had told his mother about her, but Aaron said Nita never mentioned her, and for that Bridget was thankful. The courts were taking their time in making their decision on whether Nita could leave the country—the whole of New Zealand closed over the summer—and while the hot, dry weather took over, Bridget’s relationship with Aaron and his son became a blur of long summer days and sultry nights, while Aaron’s relationship with his ex settled into an uneasy truce.
Bridget was aware that at some point she and Aaron were going to have to make a decision about their future, but for now she was happy to wait, certain that things would develop of their own accord once the courts decided Mat’s future.
A warm January turned into a humid February, and one Wednesday lunchtime, she was shopping in the large bookstore on Lambton Quay, standing in the queue waiting to pay, when she heard a voice behind her say, “It’s Bridget!”
She turned in surprise and pleasure spread through as she saw Mateo’s grinning face.
“Mat!” she exclaimed. “Hello! What are you doing here?”
“Shopping for new school books,” he said. “And I’ve just got a new Rick Riordan story.”
“Excellent. You’ll have to read it to me,” Bridget said.
“I will.” Mateo turned. “This is my mum.”
Bridget’s heart shuddered to a stop. She’d not yet seen a picture of Nita, but it was obvious as soon as she saw her from whom Mateo had gotten his dark curly hair and slightly darker skin. Bridget had expected her to be exotic—she hadn’t expected her to be so beautiful.
Nita moved forward, looking at her curiously. “You must be Bridget,” she said with a strong Spanish accent.
“Yes, that’s right.” Bridget’s heart hammered. Unsure what to do—was there a right way to greet your partner’s ex-wife?—she held out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
To her relief, Nita shook it. Then, to Bridget’s surprise and shock, Nita said, “Do you have a moment? Would you like to have coffee with me?” She gestured at the coffee shop at the back of the bookstore.
Bridget opened her mouth, about to refuse. Having coffee with Mateo’s mother was the last thing she felt like doing. But Nita didn’t look angry or resentful—she just seemed interested.
“Okay,” Bridget said hesitantly.
Nita nodded and turned, holding her hand out to Mateo, who took it and followed her obediently toward the café. They queued and ordered their drinks, then took a table by the window, Mateo sitting by his mother, across the table from Bridget.
“So,” Nita said. “You are the woman who has captivated my husband so much.”
“Ex-husband,” Bridget said, unwilling to let that go.
Nita’s lips curved up. “Yes, you are right. I am sorry.” She took the paper napkin in her fingers and turned it around, but her gaze stayed on Bridget, light with curiosity. “So… you have been dating a while now?”
“Nearly four months,” Bridget replied with some surprise. “I hadn’t realized it was so long.”
“You live here?” Nita asked.
“Yes. I work in Cuba Street.”
“Mateo told me. The Four Seasons, no?”
“That’s right.” Bridget wondered whether Nita was going to scold her for telling her son about lingerie, but she didn’t.
“I like the new Mediterranean collection,” Nita said. “Pretty colors. I have bought several sets from the catalogue.”
Bridget’s eyes widened. “Oh? That’s nice. Um… thank you.”
The waitress arrived at that point with their coffees, Mat’s lemonade, and his chocolate brownie, which he tucked into with gusto, causing crumbs to fall off his plate onto the table. Bridget pushed her serviette over to him, and he mumbled his thanks and mopped them up.
She met Nita’s gaze, not sure what the other woman was thinking. “Is there a problem?” she asked, determined not to let Nita intimidate her. Was she angry that she was spending so much time with Mateo?
But Nita shook her head and sipped her coffee. “So… tell me about Aaron. You live here. He lives in the bay. What are you going to do about that?”
Bridget also sipped her latte. They hadn’t discussed it yet, so she wasn’t sure what his thoughts were, and she didn’t think he’d appreciate her talking about their future with his ex. But Nita’s eyes were gentle, and her interest seemed genuine, and to Bridget’s surprise, she found herself opening up.
“Actually… I’ve been thinking about opening up a shop in Russell,” she admitted. She glanced at Mateo as he raised his eyebrows, and she lifted a finger to her lips. “Don’t tell your dad yet, okay?”
Nita’s lips curved up. “He doesn’t know yet?”
“No. We’ve not discussed it. I think he might say he’ll move here to Wellington, but I know he doesn’t really want to, even though he’d love to see more of Mat. He loves the bay, and his boat and his practice, and I wouldn’t want him to give those up. I like it up there—I love the way of life. I’d miss my friends, but we could still visit regularly.”
She stopped, feeling that she was rambling, but Nita just nodded. “You would move in with Aaron?”
“I… don’t know.” Bridget glanced at Mat, then back at his mother.
Nita lifted her chin. “Will you marry him?”
Mat’s dark eyes glanced at her, and Bridget’s cheeks warmed. “I don’t know. He hasn’t asked me. I don’t know if I could go through that again.” She knew that Aaron had told his ex what had happened on the day she’d met him.
Nita sipped her coffee. “You should. He would never… what is the word? For leaving at the altar?”
“Jilt,” Bridget said, somewhat flatly.
“Yes, jilt. He would never jilt a woman. He is far too honorable for that.”
“Hmm.” Bridget began to feel slightly surreal. Was she really having this conversation with the woman he’d been married to? And was Nita implying that he might have had second thoughts about marrying her all those years ago if he wasn’t such a gentleman?
“I think he loves you very much,” Nita said softly. “I hope you will be very happy together.”
“Um… thank you.” Bridget now felt completely flummoxed and embarrassed.
“Come on, Mateo, we have to go.” Nita stood, her coffee only half drunk, and beckoned to the boy. He picked up the last spoonful of brownie and crammed it into his mouth, waved to Bridget, and then they left, leaving her sitting there completely stunned, her mind spinning.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Aaron knocked on Nita’s door, conscious of the pounding of his heart, loud in his ears.
Bridget had told him about her unusual meeting with his ex, and shortly afterward he’d had an even more mysterious phone call in which Nita had asked to meet him, the first time she’d ever requested his presence at her house since they’d broken up.
Mateo was currently with Bridget in the hotel room, which felt rather like a Greek play. He had no idea what Nita wanted to talk to him about, but he couldn’t imagine it was anything good.
To his surprise, though, when she answered the door and led the way through to the living room, she appeared calm and reasonable. She offered him coffee, and when he declined, she took a seat opposite him in the living room.
“What’s this about?” he asked as gently as he could, unable to read her. She seemed melancholic, but there was a strange light in her eyes.
She looked out of the window. For a brief moment, he was reminded of how he’d felt when they’d first met. She was breathtakingly beautiful, in a different way to Bridget. Nita was like night—dark, moody, and exotic; Bridget was the exact opposite, day personified, all brightness and sunshine. Both women were striking, but in completely different ways.
He knew that Bridget was nervous about him going to see her, as if worried that Nita might somehow cast a spell on him that would make him
go back to her. Even though he could acknowledge her beauty, that wasn’t an issue now, if it ever had been. Bridget owned a hundred percent of his heart, and there was no room in it for any other woman.
“I’ve made a decision,” Nita said. Her gaze came back to him. “I’m moving to Spain.”
Aaron went cold. “You can’t. The court hasn’t made its decision yet.” Anger flooded his veins. “It’s illegal, Nita.”
She held up a hand. “I’m leaving Mat here.”
His fury drained away as quickly as it had arrived. “What?”
“I’m going to sign over custody of our son to you.”
He stared at her. “I don’t understand.”
A small smile touched her lips. “He belongs here, Aaron. He’s a Kiwi, through and through. He doesn’t want to go to Spain. And he doesn’t like Wellington much either. He wants to live with you, in the bay, and I’m tired of finding excuses to say no.”
Aaron’s jaw had dropped. His mind was spinning. “But… you’re going to leave him?”
Her eyes filled with tears, but she lifted her chin. “It is what is best for him. And what is best for me, Aaron. I am unhappy here. I want to go back to my homeland. I can fly here to see Mat once or twice a year, and when he is bigger and able to fly on his own, maybe he can come to visit me in Spain?”
She made it a question, and Aaron found himself nodding. “Yes, of course, but…” He couldn’t believe it. “Have you spoken to Mat about this?”
“Not yet.”
“I still don’t understand. What changed your mind?”
“Bridget,” she said simply. “I had already been thinking about it, and then I met her in town.”
“Yes, she told me.”
“She is lovely, Aaron. Young, beautiful… Mateo is always telling me how good she is to him, and to you. She lets you have time with him, but she takes care of him too. I watched her talk to him, be with him… It only took me minutes to see how good she is here.” She placed a hand over her heart.
Shocked, he felt his throat tighten with emotion. “Nita, I can’t let you do this…”
She waved her hand. “Of course you can. You have as much right as I to be his main caregiver, and he is getting to the age where he needs his father more than his mother. He will be fine, I know it. He will be happy living with you and Bridget.”
“Bridget and I aren’t living together, not yet,” he pointed out.
She smiled. “I think that maybe that will change very soon. Ask her,” she said mysteriously, and refused to say anything more about it. “It will be good for Mat to be in a proper family again, with you and Bridget, and your dogs.”
He found himself speechless, unable to believe all the heartache and arguments of the past two years were finally over. “What if the courts rule that you can take him?”
“They won’t—we both know that. He doesn’t want to go. I’m withdrawing the lawsuit.”
He couldn’t think—his brain had turned to mush. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
She got to her feet and came over to him, and he rose to face her. “It’s not what I want that is most important. Mateo is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I thank you for that, Aaron.” She kissed him on the cheek. “I know I have made things difficult for us over the years. I have had a lot of time to think about it, and I wish I had done some things differently. I was unhappy, and I took it out on you.” A tear ran down her cheek.
Aaron put his arms around her, and she rested her cheek on his chest. It felt odd to hold her—she was shorter than Bridget, and thinner. He’d loved her once, had tied himself up in knots because he couldn’t make it work. He’d tried so hard to make her happy, and yet with Bridget he didn’t have to work at all—it just happened.
He wanted to comfort Nita, but suddenly he missed his girlfriend with a pang that made him catch his breath.
He swallowed hard and rubbed her back. “It wasn’t just you. We should have taken our time to get to know each other better and make sure it was what we wanted before we got married. I fell in love too quickly, I suppose. But I don’t regret it. We had some good years, didn’t we? And we have Mat.”
She drew back and wiped her face. “Yes. He is a good boy.”
He dropped his arms. “He’s a lovely boy. He’ll miss you.”
“Yes, he will, but he’ll be fine. I want him to be happy. And this way, I think he might be.”
“I hope you meet someone,” he said. “Some nice Spanish guy.”
She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “Actually, I already have. I met him last time I went back there. His name’s Nicolas. He’s a lawyer—a few years older than me. He is divorced and has two children. He’s nice. Mat met him briefly, and he liked him.”
Aaron waited for a surge of jealousy, but none came. He could only summon up relief that maybe she’d be happy at last, and pleasure that she wasn’t going to be alone. “I’m pleased for you. I hope he takes care of you.”
She gave a little smile. “We had it good for a while, didn’t we?”
“Yeah. Let’s try to remember that, eh?”
She nodded. “Go and be happy, Aaron. You deserve it. Don’t ever let her go.”
*
He caught a taxi back to the city center, and walked the final few hundred yards in a daze. Slowly, he made his way across the lobby to the elevator, rode it up, and let himself into the room he was sharing with Mateo for the night.
“Dad!” His son jumped off the bed as he walked in and rushed over to show him his new Lego creation. Bridget stayed on the bed, legs crossed, her eyes holding apprehension as he walked over to her with Mat and sat beside her.
He looked her in the eyes, then leaned across and pressed his lips to hers. When he pulled back, she was smiling.
Nita had asked him to tell Mateo what she’d decided as she couldn’t bring herself to do it, so he took a deep breath and turned to his son.
“I’ve been to see Mum,” he said, glancing at Bridget, whose eyes were now curious.
“I know.” Mat had started working on another truck.
“She wants me to tell you that she’s come to a decision.” Although he’d made sure he’d never criticized Nita in front of Mat, and he’d tried to keep the worst details of their breakup from him, he’d always been very open about Mat’s role in their relationship. Mateo knew that she’d wanted to take him to Spain, and he was aware that they’d been waiting for the courts to rule.
Mat looked up at him, and Aaron saw fear pass across his son’s face. He thought Aaron was going to say he had to go to Spain.
“She wants you to come and live with me,” he said softly.
Both Mat and Bridget stared at him. “What?” they said at exactly the same time.
Aaron rested his hand on Mateo’s arm. “She wants you to stay in New Zealand with me.”
“All the time?” Mat asked.
“All the time.”
Mat’s face lit with joy. Aaron’s heart leapt, but he held up a hand.
“There is one thing though. You know Mum’s unhappy living here, don’t you?”
Mat nodded. “She misses Spain.”
“Yes, that’s right. Well, she wants to move there, and live there all the time.”
The boy’s smile faded. “I won’t see her?”
“She’ll fly back to New Zealand a few times a year. I’ll help her pay for the flights. And she said that when you’re older, if you want to, you can go and visit her in Spain.”
“But I don’t have to live there?”
“No. Not unless you want to.”
His son stared at him for a long moment, and then he rose up on his knees and flung his arms around his father.
Over his shoulder, Aaron smiled at Bridget, who had tears in her eyes. He reached out a hand, and she held it, squeezing his fingers tightly.
“I’ll miss her,” Mat mumbled.
“I know.” Aaron’s throat tightened. “I wish we could have stayed
together for you. But marriage is a bit like Lego—you can work really hard at it, but it doesn’t always fit together right, and sometimes it’s better just to start again.”
His son’s arms tightened, and Aaron shifted him to sit on his lap, keeping his arms snug around the boy. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “Everything’s going to be fine.”
“Where will we live?” Mat mumbled. “Are you going to move to Wellington?”
“Well, that’s what we need to decide.” Aaron looked up at Bridget. “Nita said something curious. When I said we weren’t living together, she said that was going to change soon, and that I had to ask you about it. What did she mean?”
Bridget looked down, and her cheeks flushed. “Oh. Well, she asked whether we were going to move in together. And I told her… I’ve been thinking, maybe, and of course you can always say no… But I thought I could move to Russell, and maybe open a new Four Seasons shop.”
His eyes widened. “Really?”
“Well, anyone can man the shop in Cuba Street—it’s not rocket science. The main work I do is online—ordering all the stock, researching current trends, that sort of thing. I’d keep in contact with the others on Skype, and Neve and I could still discuss marketing and promotion ideas. And I think a shop would do well in the bay, with all the tourists.”
“But your friends,” he said, knowing how much she loved them all. “You’d miss them.”
“It’s not the same as it used to be when we were younger. We’re all growing up now. Callie’s married with a baby. Rowan’s away a lot with Hitch—I don’t see either of them much. Neve and Rhett will be marrying soon, I’m sure, and no doubt they’ll have kids too. I can still fly down to see them—we won’t lose touch. But I have to think about my own life, and what’s best for me. And Mat.” She reached out and ruffled his hair.
Persuading Spring: A Sexy New Zealand Romance (The Four Seasons Book 4) Page 21
