Falling With Grace

Not that it mattered with the two large guards standing nearby like a lighthouse beacon.

I’d linger in this garden forever, day bleeding into the night, just to evade the harsh reality of my actions, to sidestep the searing sting of his rejection.

Elias and Nadia sauntered to the patio set, where Javier claimed the love seat. Elias claimed the chair, and with a glance oscillating between the two men, Nadia settled onto Elias’ lap.

A stifled snicker escaped through my nostrils, my top lip bearing the brunt of my bite as I resisted the urge to let the sound break free. In my mind, she became nothing more than the fluffy lapdog Rosa had christened her.

Last night, it was me enveloped in his arms, our chilled bodies pressed close as I shivered. Yet now, it was her perched in the lap of the man she was on the brink of marrying.

What is wrong with me?

I dropped my gaze, snagging Rosa’s eyes in my peripheral vision.

“He really is a good man.”

I raised abrow. “Elias?”

“Si.” Rosa settled on her heels as she peeled off her gloves, then plucked a cherry tomato, popping it into her mouth. “Even when he was just a young boy. He always made sure I was looked after. Always aimed to please his papi.”

She sighed, swallowing the tomato, while I cast a weed aside, my nails adorned with a layer of stubborn dirt.

“When he passed away, Elias made certain I had everything.” She nibbled another tomato. “That’s why he’s marrying her.” Rosa tugged her glove back over her weathered hands.

I frowned, a sheen of sweat building on my forearms as the sun peaked. “I don’t understand.”

“It had always been my dream for him to start his own family someday. But…” She shrugged, a sadness softening her eyes with a forced smile. “He became distracted.”

“But he’s going to have that family now, Rosa.” I reached out, my hand hovering over her shoulder, careful not to soil it with the dirt that clung to my fingertips. “He’s going to get married and have those little grandbabies for you.”

She shot me a sidelong glance. “She’s never going to give him that.” Rosa shook her head.

I offered her a restrained smile, my gaze fixated on him. She sat in his lap, sharing laughter with Javier, his hands resting on the armrests.

“Don’t judge him for the tough choices he’s had to make. No man his age has been where he stands.”

I diverted my gaze from him and gave Rosa a tight-lipped smile. “I’m glad you can see the light within him.”

Elias Hernández is not a good man.

He’d taken me hostage and locked me in the dark to endure physical and psychological torture. Her failing memory must have blocked the moment she’d rescued me.

“What the hell, Elias?” Nadia’s ear-piercing shriek shattered the stillness, snapping me out of my thoughts. My gaze shot upward to Elias, who walked through the French doors with Javier.

I frowned. “What just happened?”

Rosa shrugged. “After seventy-one years, I’ve learned to not ask questions.”

Nadia huffed and growled to no one standing beside her, then our eyes clashed. Her jaw ticked to the side as she took her first step my way.

My stomach somersaulted.

Shit.

Her heels sank into the grass with each unsteady step she took, her ankles wobbling in protest.

“Rosa. Please have a conversation with your son about etiquette.”

“I do not control my son just as Mother Mary didn’t control Jesus.”