She slipped through the crowd and into the kitchen, where the kitchen staff and the wait staff both were lined up for their final orders. “All right, it’s show time,” she said. “Remember, we’re serving the shrimp puffs and the mini tostadas for the first ten minutes, and then we’re moving on to the caviar and the brie. Circulate through the room like Florence showed you. Bart, keep that chocolate fountain flowing. Let’s do this thing.”
The wait staff picked up their trays, the kitchen staff pulled more from the refrigerator, and Elena took a deep breath.
A long table of desserts had been set up along one wall, where the guests could select what they wanted for themselves. This meal was designed to entice the guests to return that night for dinner, where they would have the chance to order from the full menu. The dining room would also be open to the public that night, whereas right now, it was only open to those who had received an invitation. Elena just prayed it would all go smoothly and that they’d impress the people they needed to impress.
“Mr. Espinozo is asking for you, Chef,” Bart said as he came into the kitchen for more strawberries. “He says it’s time for your surprise.”
She smiled. In all the chaos of the last minute, she’d forgotten about her surprise. “Thank you. Going now.”
She was a little worried that she wouldn’t be able to find Tony in the crowd, but he was standing near the door to the kitchen, a sweet-looking older woman with him and a taller, younger woman standing behind. “Hello, Tony,” she said, holding out her hand to greet him. “Who have you brought with you today?”
“Elena, this is my mother, Maria, and my sister, Anna,” he said. “Mama, this is the girl I was telling you about.”
Elena turned to give Maria a smile, but the older woman’s face seemed frozen in a look of shock. “Rosa?” she gasped. “Rosa Santiago?”
What on earth . . . “My mother was Rosa Santiago,” she said slowly.
Maria reached out and clasped Elena’s hand in both of hers. “Where was your mother from? Where was she born?”
“Guadalajara,” Elena replied. “She married Eduardo Morales and moved to Kansas thirty years ago.”
“It’s a miracle. It’s a miracle,” Maria said in Spanish, bringing Elena’s hand to her face and kissing it. “How can it be . . . after all these years . . .”
Elena glanced at Tony and then at Anna, hoping for any sort of clue, but they both looked as startled as she felt.
“Mama,” Tony said, “what’s going on?”
Maria blinked a few times. “I’m sorry. I’m not making any sense, and you all think I’m a crazy old woman.” She let go of Elena’s hand and pulled a tissue from her pocket, wiping her eyes. “Many years ago, when I was a little girl in Mexico, I went to school with a girl named Rosa Santiago. She was from Guadalajara, but the schools there were on dangerous streets, so she came out to our smaller village. She and I were best friends, and she even lived with us sometimes. Then she got married, and she and her husband, Eduardo Morales, moved to America. We stopped writing to each other—I don’t know why. We were busy with our families, maybe. When my husband and I came here, we looked all over for my good friend, but we never found her.” She smiled into Elena’s eyes. “You look just like her.”
“You knew my mother.” Elena shook her head. “It really is a miracle.”
“Where is she?” Maria craned her head, looking around the room. “Is she here?”
“I’m sorry to tell you this, but she passed away.”
Maria’s gaze came back to rest on Elena’s face. “She did? But she was not so old.”
“She had a stroke after my father and then my brother died. Her life was hard.”
“Oh, but she had such a beautiful daughter. Her life was not all hard.” Maria smiled at Elena through her tears.
“And I have a younger sister too. Her name is Gabriella. She’ll be here in a little while, after school.”
“Two beautiful daughters. What a blessing.” Maria dabbed at her eyes again. “I know you have to work, but tonight, when you’re all done, please come to Tony’s house. I need to talk to you more and share all the stories about your mother. We will miss her less as we remember her.”
“Yes. Yes, I will.” Elena didn’t even know where Tony lived, but she’d find out later. She gave Maria’s hand another squeeze, then ducked back into the kitchen. The caviar was going quickly, and she grabbed a spoon and started portioning out the next tray.
Tony came in right behind her, and she gave him a look of incredulity. “How . . . How is this possible? Millions of people in Mexico, and our mothers were best friends. You honestly had no idea?”
“None whatsoever. It explains a lot, though.”
“It does?”
“Yes. Like how familiar you seem to me. It must be the connection our mothers had with each other.”
Elena raised her eyebrow, but lowered her voice. “Are you saying I like kissing you because our mothers were friends? I’m sorry, but that’s a little weird.”
He grinned. “You like kissing me?”
“Didn’t I make that completely obvious at the time?”
“Yeah, but I like hearing it again.”
“Fine. I like kissing you.”
“Thank you. And no, that’s not what I meant.”
“Good. Because that would be a little weird.” Elena passed off her tray to one of the wait staff and started on the next.
“You said that already.”
“And it’s still true.” She grinned at him. “Now, I either need you to grab a tray and start feeding people, or to leave the kitchen so I can get to work.”
“Well, I’m willing to help feed people, but Andrew had said something about introducing me to some potential investors, so I’d better go find him.”
“Yes, go. And text me your address so I can come see your mother tonight.”
“Yeah. Unexpected houseguests—my favorite. It’s for a good cause, though.” He gave her a wink, which made her heart flutter, and then he went back out to the dining room.
She handed off the next tray of caviar, then took a moment to breathe. So much chaos . . . but in the middle of it swirled a bright bit of promise. She’d get to hear stories about her mother when she was young. She couldn’t wait for Gabby to show up so she could tell her.
Chapter Ten
Tony had mingled all he could mingle, and he’d schmoozed all he could schmooze. He was worn out, but he could only imagine how Andrew must feel, being the man of the hour and all that.
The VIP reception ended and the doors opened to the public with hardly a seam in between. The wait staff had changed out the table linens and place settings so quickly, Tony hardly even noticed as he stood in the corner and chatted with Andrew about how he thought the day had gone so far.
“The mayor and the historical society are thrilled,” Andrew reported, “and the food critic from the paper loved the refreshments this afternoon. She says she’ll be back for dinner. My board of directors isn’t convinced yet, though. They still think I’ve lost my mind.”
“I’ve known that for years,” Tony replied.
“Yeah, yeah.” Andrew nodded toward the corner where Elena had met Maria for the first time. “It was so good to see your mother today, but what happened between her and Elena? It looked like they were both crying.”
“They were.” Tony filled Andrew in. “Is that incredible or what?”
“Wow.” Andrew shook his head. “Absolutely unbelievable. What are the odds?”
“My abuela didn’t believe in coincidences,” Tony said. “She believed that absolutely everything happened for a reason.”
Andrew nodded. “Things like this make me believe it.”
After the last diner had been fed and the tables were cleared, Tony went into the kitchen to collect Elena. She looked bone-weary, but still beautiful. “You were amazing tonight,” he said, wrapping her up in his arms. “Everyone at my table raved about their food and said they’d
be back.”
“What did you order?” she asked, resting her head on his chest.
“I got the triple enchilada platter, and I have to warn you—my mother tasted it, and she can’t get over how good your tortillas are. She’s ready to march you down to the wedding dress store first thing tomorrow to make this thing official.”
“What if I’m too tired to march?” Elena said into his shirt.
“Then she’ll put you in a little red wagon and drag you there.” Tony kissed the top of Elena’s head. “Now, where’s that sister of yours? I’ve been waiting all night to meet her, but every time I peeked in here, you were all too busy to be interrupted.”
“She’s reorganizing some things in the walk-in fridge,” Elena replied. “She’ll be done in a minute.”
“Hmm. Well, I’ll just stand here and hold you while we wait. I think you’ll fall over if I let go.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my life—but I also don’t think I’ve ever been happier. So many compliments came back to the kitchen—we really did it.”
He hugged her a little tighter. “You really did.”
“Hey, no sappy stuff in the kitchen.” A teenaged version of Elena stepped out of the walk-in and closed the door behind her. “This is a place of business.”
Tony laughed. “You must be Gabby.”
“And you must be Tony. If you’re not, I don’t know why you’re holding my sister like that, so you’d better stop it.” She nodded toward Elena. “Was she great today or what?”
“She was amazing. So, are the two of you ready to head over to my house? My mother is almost eating herself alive, she wants to talk to you so much.”
“Yes, let’s go. We can’t have her doing that—it’s bad for the digestion.” Elena straightened and took a step out of Tony’s arms. “You’ll have to forgive me, though, if I’m not very good company. I’m so tired.”
“You’re always good company. And if you lag off, I have a feeling Gabby can make up for it.”
Gabby flashed him a smile. “Oh, yes. I’m very entertaining. Just ask me. I’ll tell you.”
***
“And then she picked up a clump of mud, and she threw it at the back of the boy’s head. I’d never seen her so angry, but she wasn’t about to let him talk to her that way. I thought he was going to be furious with her, but he turned around and apologized for being mean.”
“He did? Then what happened?” Gabby asked.
“Well, about five years later, when they were a little older, they got married,” Maria said, her eyes full of merriment.
“No! That was Papi?” Elena couldn’t believe it.
“Yes. He wasn’t the nicest boy to start with, but your mama changed him.”
The clock began to strike, and Maria’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, no. It’s three in the morning—I’ve kept you up all this time.”
“That’s all right,” Elena told her. “This has been one of the greatest nights of my life. I feel like you’ve given us our mother back.”
“And you’ve done the same for me. Thank you for telling me everything that happened after she left Mexico. I was afraid I would never know.”
Elena reached over and took Maria’s hand. “We’ll visit again—and soon. There’s so much more I want to know.”
“It’s a promise,” Maria said, squeezing her hand in return.
Gabby and Elena stood up and stretched. They’d made themselves comfortable in Tony’s expansive apartment, sinking into his leather couches and letting their fatigue take over. It was hard to move after such a long night.
“I’ll take you home,” Tony said as they walked out. “And I’ll come back in the morning to bring you to the hotel. I’m pretty sure you’re too tired to drive tonight.”
“That’s the sweetest thing you could do for me right now,” Elena told him, threading her arm through his. Gabby walked up ahead, and Tony hit the button on his key fob that would unlock the door for her.
“Listen, Elena,” he said, gently tugging her to a stop. When she turned to face him, he cradled her cheek in his palm. “I’ve fought destiny tooth and nail, but I surrender now. We said no expectations, and I’m still perfectly all right to live that way, but I’m not going to build up any more walls to keep you out. I’m letting you in, and that means telling you that I’m falling in love with you.”
“You are? Already?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I know it’s only been a week, but we have time. We don’t have to rush into anything, and if we decide it’s not working, we can put the brakes on it. I just want to spend time with you. I want to eat Mexican food and go for walks and listen to you laugh. I want to eavesdrop while you talk with my mother like two teenage girls back in school. I want . . . I want you.”
“I don’t care that it’s only been a week,” she told him. “I want all those things too—the food and the walks and everything. Plus movies. I want movies.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t say anything about movies.”
“I’m sure you meant to. And we’ll eat popcorn and snuggle, and we’ll cry at the romantic parts—”
“I didn’t say anything about crying.”
“Oh, but you were going to.” She curled her fingers around his lapels. “I’m all in.”
“You are?”
“I am.” She slid her hands up his shoulders and around his neck, grinning as he lowered his head to kiss her. She’d never been so tired in all her life, but she’d also never been so happy.
Revelations (Brody Hotel Book 4) Page 7
