Fate (43 page)

Rose giggled tilting her head. “Really now?”

Vincent opened his playful eyes
,
smiled even bigger
,
and squeezed her behind with both hands now. “And let me tell you. It was worth every broken bone.”

She leaned in to kiss him
,
laughing softly but laughed outright when she felt him squeeze her ass with both hands like he was kneading dough.

One of his hands finally left her behind but only to cover her mouth. “Shh! You’re gonna wake Sal
,
and he’s gonna come out here and break my other arm.”

Stifling her laughter
,
she got off him and hurried to the bathroom to clean up and brush her teeth then made a pit stop at her room to grab a certain teddy bear she’d become so accustomed to sleeping with. By the time she made it back to the family room, Vincent was dozing off. He woke when she climbed in under the blanket next to him.

“You’re gonna sleep with me?”
h
e asked already adjusting himself and pulling her body even closer to him
,
so he could spoon her.

“Yes,”
s
he said
,
making herself comfortable on his big arm with a grin. “I mean really, Vincent. What can they possible think we’d do on this crowded sofa?”

Slipping his hand between her legs
,
he kissed the side of her face. “I can’t imagine.”

As if they weren’t close enough
,
Rose snuggled into him even more
,
and he pulled h
is arm around her
even tighter. “You know I really do own all this,” he said kissing her ear and neck.

“I know
.
”

“No, you think I’m kidding
,
b
ut I plan on making it official.” Rose turned to look at him
,
not exactly sure what he was saying but feeling excited already. “Oh yeah,” he said tracing her lips with his fingers. “I’m getting the papers and everything. You and I have whole lot to talk about.”

Rose lay back down
,
and they assumed the snuggling position again. All that time she’d spent theorizing about his reasons for leaving
,
one of the them being that she’d scared him off with her moving
-
in talk
,
she dare
d
not bring
up
that or any talk of marriage unless he specifically used those words himself. Even now those were not the words he was using
,
but she would say one thing. “You’ve owned me completely from that very first summer, Vincent
,
and I think you knew it even
back
then.”

“
Not really
, but I do now
.” He kissed her neck again. “I still want it in writing.”

Rose laughed. “God
,
it’s good to have you back. I love you so much, Vincent.”

Squeezing her even tighter
,
he buried his face in her neck. “I love you too, Rosie.”

~*~

Rose held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut as she waited to feel the needle on her lower back. “All done.”

She turned around thinking
Vincent
might be kidding
,
but
he
held an empty syringe and wore a big proud smile. “See I told you I could do this.”

“That was awesome
!
I didn’t feel a thing.” Vincent finished wiping the area with a cotton ball still smiling proudly. “Even with Ben I’d at least feel a tiny pinch.”

The instant frown on Vincent’s face had her immediately regretting bringing up Ben
,
but then she remembered. “He’ll be there today. You’ll be nice
,
right?”

Vincent’s frown morphed into an evil little grin. “You know me.”

She turned all the way around
,
and his arm came around her waist
pulling her to him
as if by habit now. Rose loved the way she felt in his big strong arms. It was exactly where she belonged. “Yes, I know you, Vincent. So promise me you’ll behave. He’s my friend
,
and he knows and respects that you are my boyfriend. But this is the final
,
and he wants to be there.”

Vincent didn’t respond to that
;
instead he just kissed her. Rose knew he’d never make any promises about this kind of stuff. But she trusted him now—completely—trusted that he’d never again do anything to jeopardize their relationship or their time together.

With the kiss getting a little too heavy and very much aware that they were still in her bedroom with her mother only a few doors down
,
she pulled away breathlessly.

Vincent leaned his forehead against hers. “I gotta go. But I’ll be right there front and center. You got this
,
babe.”

Rose kissed him one last time and walked him out
,
not mentioning that he completely ignored her request to behave around Ben. She went back inside and finished gathering her thing
s then headed out
of
her bedroom.

With all the excitement of Vincent being back and
her
team making
it
all the way to
the
state
final
, Rose hadn’t put much thought into how often her mother wasn’t around lately.

She’d been
so caught up with Vincent
,
but the finals
and
the extra practices for them were also taking up a lot of her time
.
S
he stopped at her mother’s bedroom door. Her mother was sitting on a chair staring out the window.

“You okay?” Rose asked.

Her mother turned to her with a smile and nodded. “You have a minute?”

Rose looked down at the phone in her hand. She had a few
,
so she walked in the room
,
and her mother motioned to the bed. Rose sat on it feeling a little nervous. Talks with her mom were so rare. “I’ve been a fool, Rose. I owe you not only an apology but an explanation. I wasted my entire life waiting to die
,
and here I am an old woman
,
alive and kicking. I should’ve enjoyed my life—my daughters. Instead I never allowed myself to get too close to anyone
,
t
o you,
”
s
he stopped looking down at her hands as she intertwined them nervously
,
“
e
specially you
,
and it was so unfair.”

Rose didn’t understand. “What do you mean waiting to die?”

“My mother died when I was very young
,
and it tore me apart. Then my oldest sister
,
who like you and Grace I’d become so close to after my mother’s death
,
died also of the same thing—cervical cancer.
I
wanted to die, Rose. And I almost got my wish too. I was also diagnosed with cervical cancer at age twenty.”

Rose was stunned. She had no idea
,
but she was speechless
,
so she stared at her mother and continued to listen silently.

“I was certain that like my mother and my sister I’d share their same fate and die young
,
but then it went into remission. I was still very bitter because I just knew it would come back. Why would it take my mother and my sister but not me? Then I met your father
,
and I got pregnant.” Her tired eyes looked away from Rose and she continued to stare out the window. “I didn’t want to have you, Rose. Not because I didn’t want you
,
but because I was afraid I’d pass on my curse. I begged your father
.
I told him he already had Grace
.
I’d help him raise her
,
and that would be good enough
,
but he insisted I have you.” Her mother turned back to Rose. “I was angry for a very long time. I let him and your grandmother and Grace do all the nurturing because I was certain that I was going to die and leave you devastated the way I’d been
,
or worse you’d get the curse and I would have to endure losing someone I loved and was so close to again.” She sat up at the edge of her chair and reached for Rose
’
s hand. “I couldn’t do it. Then just when I began to believe that maybe
,
just maybe
,
we’d be okay, your father was murdered. I can’t even begin to explain to you what that did to me. So like a coward I retreated back into my world of not letting anyone in—not even you, or I should say
especially
you.”

Her mother took a deep breath before going on. “I helped raise Grace from the time she was a little girl
,
but I knew deep inside you
we
re all I really had. I pushed you away. I refused to let you get close. I wanted you to have all the love you needed
,
but not from someone that was going to leave you suddenly. It was a terrible thing to do
,
but it was the only way I could think of to protect you from having to go through
the hell I had
.” Pa
tt
ing Rose’s hand
,
she said the next sentence like it was no big deal. “The cancer came back earlier this year.”

“What?” Obviously her mother’s plan to keep her at bay so that she wouldn’t care was bust
,
because Rose
did
care. This terrified her. “It’s back?”

Her mother smiled. “Just like the
first
time, it came and it went, Rose. It’s taunting me. After months of chemo and treatments
,
it went into remission again. I still have to go in often to be tested
,
but so far it hasn’t come back.”

Rose’s heart was still beating against her chest
,
but the relief was enormous.

“That’s when I decided to move back here and be with you
,
but I keep thinking maybe it’s too late.”

“It’s not,” Rose said quickly.

“You have your life. Grace has hers.”

“And you’re part of it. You should’ve always been
,
and now we’re gonna make sure everything is different.” Rose frowned. “But you’re right. It
was
a terrible thing to do
,
and it was completely unfair to me. For the longest time
,
I thought you hated me.”

Her mother held her arms open
,
and Rose hugged her
,
feeling warmth from her mother
for the first time
. “
Corazon
,
it feels so good to finally be able to hold you like this. I may’ve never told you this, Rosie, and I’m so sorry now that I didn’t,” she said smoothing her hair
,
“
b
ut I love you, baby girl
,
and I’ve never been more proud of anything in my life than you. I’ll make sure you know this every day of your life from here on.”

Hearing her mother say she loved her was more overwhelming than she could’ve ever imagined. She cried into her mother’s shoulder, but much like the tears she shed when Vincent held her for the first time since he’d left
,
they were tears of pure and utter bliss. Suddenly she felt seven-years-old again. “I love you too,
M
ommy
.”

Pulling out of the firing range parking lot, Vince turned to look at Rose. She was shaking her head like she was trying to shake water of her ear. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said without looking at him.

“What’s wrong with your ears?”

“They’re still buzzing from all the shooting in there.”

“You must have sensitive ears. We’ll get you stronger ear muffs next time.”

His stomach churned as they made their way back to the
m
arina restaurant. He told Rose they were meeting with Romero for dinner
,
so they could finalize his contract with him. Now that Vince was finally completely certified as a trainer and had done all the legwork on getting his business together
,
h
e’d be training all of Romero’s employees in firearm tactics. Vince had only started to get the word out about the business at the firing range, hoping he’d pick up a few clients. Now he had a slew of them with Romero’s security firm. He’d be booked solid for months now.