The DJ she’d hired began to play a recent pop track Cerys knew Ana loved, while the disco lights on the temporary dancefloor set up under the trees began to throb in time with the heady tune. The teenagers began to cheer again, pairing off to dance.
‘Is this our chance to slip away?’ Santiago murmured against her ear, his hands still caressing her belly in that slow, seductive way he had that made all her pheromones throb in time with the music’s bass beat.
Cerys grinned, even as the anxious little knots in her belly tweaked.
Once they were alone tonight she would have to tell him about the test she had taken that morning. The test no one but María knew anything about—and only because she’d had to ask the housekeeper to procure it for her while she’d been busy in the last week organising Ana’s party, as well as developing a new banqueting roster for the autumn.
The test she had been sure, before she took it, she wanted to be negative.
It was too soon, they hadn’t discussed children, she wasn’t even sure how the heck it had happened, given that she had been on the pill. But there had been that one incident two months ago when she had forgotten to renew her prescription. She’d only missed a couple of days though, and Dr Mendoza had reassured her she would be very unlikely to conceive, so she hadn’t even mentioned the lapse to Santiago…
But when she’d taken the test that morning—just as a precaution, because she’d been feeling so tired lately and had even been sick one evening, after work—and the extra red cross had appeared, her somersaulting heart had told a very different story.
Apparently, she was overjoyed. But when she glanced over her shoulder now, to press a hand to her husband’s cheek and whisper, ‘Absolutely, María said she’d keep an eye on things…’ all her nerves about her news reappeared…
Santiago grunted. ‘Gracias a Dios.’
Holding her hand, he headed through the crowd of gyrating teenagers until they reached Ana.
‘Feliz cumpleaños, Ana. I’m so proud of you,’ he said, pressing a fatherly kiss to his sister’s forehead.
Ana grinned, flushing with pleasure at his praise. Then she threw her arms around them both to thank them for the party.
‘We will leave you now to enjoy yourself. Be good, okay?’ Santiago added.
Cerys had to blink back a sudden rush of emotion. He would make such a wonderful father. He was so protective, so sure and steady, but also so kind and so affectionate in his own gruff way.
Ever since he had begun to let his guard down, he had begun to understand how much he had to give and to gain by letting people in. And she had seen him grow into the man he had always been meant to be. And it made her so happy.
But even as the joy burst in her chest, the knots in her stomach remained…
She was worried about how he wasreallygoing to feel about this new responsibility, when he’d already had so many other responsibilities thrust upon him in his life. She knew he would accept it instinctively, and if he knew how excited she was about the pregnancy he would keep any misgivings he had about the baby to himself.
But ever since that scary, beautiful day on Isla de la Luna, when they had made a commitment to each other to let go of the past so they could build on their future together, trust had been the key. And admitting what you needed, as well as what you wanted, however terrifying it was.
But if she was going to discover what he really thought about becoming a dad, she would have to bend that promise a little and keep her own reaction to the news neutral, so he wouldn’t feel the need to hide his true feelings again.
‘Don’t worry, Santiago. I won’t do anything you two wouldn’t,’ Ana replied cheekily, breaking Cerys out of her thoughts, and making Santiago curse softly under his breath.
‘Dios,’ Santiago said as Ana skipped off to join her friends. The mix of concern and compassion and pride in his eyes as he watched his sister disappear into the crowd made Cerys’s heart melt even more. ‘That does not reassure me in the least,’ he grumbled.
Cerys laughed.
But as he grasped hold of her hand to lead her through the orchard to their private villa, away from the raucous party, the throbbing pop music and teenage exuberance was soon drowned out by her erratic pulse… And she had to swallow to contain the prickle of anxiety once more.
* * *
‘I love you so much, Señora De Montoya,’ Santiago murmured as he pressed his wife back against the closed door of the villa, unable to keep his hands off her. ‘I hope you know that…’ he added, cupping her face as he kissed her lips.
She kissed him back, with hunger, with love, but when he eased back and she smiled at him, he could see the flicker of uncertainty, even panic, in her eyes, too.
And his heart got trapped in his throat, right behind the words which he had been so desperate to say to her all day long… Ever since he had returned home from the fields to take a shower before Ana’s party and spotted the corner of the box half buried in the bathroom trash.
And of course, once he’d realised what it was, he’d had to dig out the test itself, then avidly read the instructions…
The burst of joy in his heart and the rush of pure masculine pride and pleasure had been so immense, once he’d realised exactly what he was seeing, he’d been lightheaded. In fact, he’d had to sit down on the bed and spend several moments forcing himself to breathe… He’d never fainted before in his life, but he’d been so giddy it had been touch and go there for a while.
All he’d wanted to do in that moment was find Cerys, throw his arms around her, lift her up, spin her round and then probably never let her go again in this lifetime.