Elliott pulled away slightly and worried his bottom lip with his teeth. “Will you tell the father — Rafe — about the baby?”
“Someday. Not now.”
He frowned.
“You disagree?”
“He has a right to know.”
She nodded. “Even if I wanted to, I haven’t had any luck locating him.”
“You haven’t tried in two months,” he pointed out, then added, “Have you?”
“No, I haven’t.” She kissed him lightly on the lips, seeing his jealousy. “And I do love you, Elliott. Someday, I hope to be ‘in love’ with you, as well.”
“C’mon, let’s finish decorating this tree,” he said in a choked-up voice, squeezing her to his side.
But all Helen could see was the blasted angel peeking out from the boughs at the back of the tree.
Three months after surviving an amazing skydiving accident, Rafael Santiago survived imprisonment in a Mexican jail. The latter had been the scarier event.
Twenty pounds thinner, bearded and long-haired, Rafe walked out to the waiting car, driven by his sister Inez. Ramon hurried to catch up.
“I don’t see why you’re so mad at me,” his brother said. “Everything turned out okay. We’re free. Big deal!”
Rafe turned slowly, set his briefcase on the ground, and punched his youngest brother in the jaw. Ramon fell to the ground with a thud.
“That woman has driven you crazy,” Ramon yelled after him.
“No, you and my family have driven me crazy,” he raged, slipping behind the wheel and shoving Inez over to the passenger side. As they pulled away from the curb with Ramon barely making it into the back seat, he demanded, “Where’s the telephone number?”
“Now? You want it now?” she asked incredulously.
“I want it right now,” he gritted out.
She rummaged in her purse, where he noticed at least a dozen American Express receipts, and finally handed him a scrap of paper. “Here. She’s living outside Sacramento now. Bought a townhouse.”
Before she had a chance to say more, Rafe swerved the car over to a skidding halt at the side of the road. A phone booth stood there like a miraculous shrine. He jerked his phone card from his wallet, praying it would work.
“I told you, Inez. He’s nuts. I been listening to him talk about this chick twenty-four hours a day for three whole months.”
“Screw you, Ramon,” Rafe said and jumped from the car.
Rafe’s hands trembled as he dialed.
It stopped on the third ring. “Hello.”
“Helen?” He felt as if his heart was lodged in his throat. “Is that you, babe?”
There was a gasp, followed by a throbbing silence.
Then he heard the dial tone.
At first, he just stared at the phone, blinking with confusion. Then he stomped back to the car and turned angrily on Inez. “What the hell is going on?”
Inez and Ramon exchanged significant looks. Apparently, they’d been talking while he was at the phone. “Tell me,” he yelled, and Inez jumped.
“She’s getting married.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Helen was not at all surprised to hear a pounding on her door at midnight. Nor was she surprised to look through the security peephole and see Rafael Santiago standing on her doorstep.
But she was shocked when he stepped inside — an angry, pacing animal who looked as if he’d as soon tear her limb from limb as crush her in his embrace. She ducked the arms that reached out for her. And he did, indeed, growl.
“Rafe, what happened to you?” She wasn’t talking about his hurtful absence from her life for three long months. His hair reached down to the shoulders of a rumpled, dark business suit. A months’ old beard covered his face. He’d lost a lot of weight.
Despite all that, he looked wonderful to her. He was still Rafe. And she knew in that instant that growing to love Elliott was going to take a long, long time. Because learning not to love Rafe was going to take a long, long time.
Quickly, she put the sofa between them, fearing her crumbling defenses. She had to be strong. Elliott had wanted to stay after Rafe’s call, but she’d declined the offer. This was something she had to handle herself.