by Annie O'Neil
“Amor... I haven’t seen him. No one has.”
She doubted that. Part of Diego’s strength of character was his unerring quest to keep her safe and out of the reach of Axl Cruz.
Well, being kept in the dark wasn’t good enough. She was going to have to get used to looking after herself soon enough, so why not start now?
She stared at Diego, a mixture of frustration, betrayal and love gnawing a raw black hole in her belly.
How could she have let herself fall in love?
“Fine.” She squared herself off to Diego. “Compromise. If you won’t tell me what you and Axl have been up to, let me treat Paz. If he’s actually here for an appointment.”
She wanted to look the man in the eye—the man whose life she’d helped save. See if he knew how much pain he’d caused her father.
Their daily video calls were...complicated. Her father would pass on reams of instructions, she’d pass them on to Gloria... But until today, when they’d finally felt it was safe to open the sanctuary, she’d been completely powerless to help.
Diego shook his head. “That won’t be necessary.”
“I think it will.” She gave him her best I’m not going to budge smile. If she was going to leave this island with a broken heart, she was also going to leave it with her head held high.
“Different compromise,” Diego parried, taking a step closer toward her.
Which was clever. He knew she got all wobbly-kneed the closer he was.
Her pulse quickened as she waited for this alternative compromise.
“We do it together.”
She pretended to consider it and saw from the smile teasing at the corners of his mouth that he knew damn well she was vulnerable to that cheeky smile of his. This man... There was no staying cross with someone who made her laugh, made her feel protected, not to mention feel as if she were the only woman in the world he wanted to hold in his arms.
Even if it was all a lie.
Tick-tock.
“Right, then.” She peeled her eyes away from his. “Let’s see Paz.”
* * *
“It looks good.” Isla took out some fresh bandages. “No swelling. No discharge. You’ve clearly been taking care of it.”
Paz nodded. He hadn’t said more than two words since he’d entered the exam room with the pair of them.
Diego gave Isla a sidelong look. One that was trying to gauge if she was irritated because he was there or irritated because of their patient.
Easy enough to see she wished he would leave. Tough. They’d made a deal. The fact he’d insisted upon being there was... Well, he’d hoped it would be more reassuring than annoying. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to let Isla be hurt. Not tonight. Not ever again.
This isn’t a forever game.
A weight landed in his gut.
It wasn’t a game at all.
He needed to talk with Axl. Clear the path for Isla to go home.
Don’t let her go. Tell her how you feel.
A buzzing began in his ears. That was precisely the problem. He didn’t know how he felt. Teasing away fact from fiction had proved too difficult. The only thing he knew was real was how perfect it felt to hold her in his arms. How well they worked together. How, as a team, he felt they could conquer anything they wanted to.
He looked at Isla, wondering if she felt the same. From the face of it, it was impossible to tell. She was a picture of concentration.
“It looks like the Steristrips have all done their jobs. Did they naturally disintegrate or did you take them off?”
Paz muttered something he couldn’t quite make out. Diego could tell the lad was uncomfortable. Whether it was because of Isla’s presence or his was unclear.
“I know you’ve met with my husband a couple of times since you received your injury.” She nodded toward Diego, but didn’t meet his eyes. “How did those appointments go?”
Again, Paz muttered something largely unintelligible. No overt thanks, but neither was there any hostility. Or bravura. One might easily have imagined him swaggering in here, making threats, showing his strength—his father had bullied Isla’s father out of the country.
“You were lucky. This could have been much worse. I believe my father was always pretty clear with Security that if things ever turned violent he would prefer they not make full use of their marksman skills.”
Paz shot her a look.
“You probably already know this, seeing as it’s such a small island, but all the security guards here are ex-military. Men who know the true value of life.”
Diego was about to jump in, smooth things over, but Paz wasn’t bridling as he thought. Perhaps he could see what it was he hoped Isla was doing. Showing Paz the same amount of respect they had shown him and his family.
They’d saved his life. His own government had refused to do the same. Fair enough that she would want some common courtesy in exchange. She would be such an asset to the island’s community. A true role model.
What’s stopping you from asking her to stay?
“I presume Dr. Vasquez has already given you a timeline, but I expect we’ll be able to take these staples out in the next week or so.” Not that she would be here. “We wouldn’t want them leaving any permanent marks, would we?”
“My father’s dead.”
Diego did a double-take.
Isla looked just as shocked.
“What did you say?” Diego asked.
“Axl. My father. He was killed three days ago, on an island off of the coast of El Salvador.”
“What was he—?”
Isla’s question remained unanswered as she and Diego silently listened to Paz explain how Axl had left El Valderon on the off-chance that Isla called the police or Interpol. When he’d arrived on a new island he’d tried to establish his authority in a place that had zero tolerance for pandilleros.
Axl Cruz was dead.
“I want out,” Paz said now. “I don’t want to fill his shoes.” He met their astonished faces head-on, shoulders back, eyes unblinking. “You saved my life.” He held up his hands as they both began to throw questions at him. “I want to honor the sacrifices you’ve made in your lives by changing mine.”
Tears sprang to Isla’s eyes. “Do you...do you have a plan or—?”
Diego cut in, putting a hand on his wife’s back in a form of apology. This was game-changing stuff. The son of the island’s terrorist was doing an about-face and choosing peace.
“Does your mother know about this? Have you told her anything?”
Paz looked away, then back at the pair of them.
It struck Diego that the young man was addressing them as a couple. He hadn’t seen them being married at gunpoint. Hadn’t seen the fear in Isla’s eyes when Axl had threatened to kill her and her father. He’d only known them to be two people brave enough to step between warring factions and save his life.
A bolt of understanding hit him with lightning-strike precision.
He hadn’t cared about putting himself in the line of fire before because he hadn’t seen any reason to preserve his own life. Did he have a death wish? No. But did he have a reason to live?
He looked at the woman who stood beside him. Fierce. Brave. Compassionate. Loving.
Yes. Yes, he did.
Dr. and Dr. Vasquez. A married couple. A couple who served their community the only way they knew how: together.
He channeled the man he wished his father had become when their lives had been torn apart after Nico’s death. A man who absorbed grief and turned it into good. Genuine, goalless good.
“What do you want, Paz? How do you see yourself changing?”
“I want to study medicine.”
Isla looked across at Diego. He saw she was thinking the same thing. This was clearly a turning point and they would
be fools to let any momentum they’d gained fade away.
He heard commitment in Paz’s voice. Strength. He saw the change in his body. A different type of voltage fuelling his path in life.
Diego was also feeling a fresh surge of energy. The same invigorating charge he’d felt the night he’d pulled his grandmother’s ring from his neck and slipped it on to Isla’s finger.
It was the energy of change.
Paz was clearly expecting to be laughed at. Mocked. Turned away. Instead Diego took his declaration seriously. He pulled up a stool and sat across from him. Eye to eye. Man to man. He sat taller when Isla came up behind him and swept her hand along his shoulders. They were a team now. An indivisible team.
“You’ll have to go away to study if you want to become a doctor. The university here isn’t equipped for anything beyond nursing degrees or emergency medicine for paramedics. You can go to the States or...elsewhere.”
He pointed vaguely in the direction of Latin America. He began talking to Paz about school options, the courses he’d have to take, the subjects he’d need to study to put himself on track for a medical degree.
The young man was like a sponge. Absorbing it all. Asking questions. He was completely engaged in finding the best way to make his decision. The right decision.
“At that point you’ll have to choose a discipline...” Diego pulled out a blank piece of paper and started writing lists.
Isla gave him a nudge with her elbow. “The poor man’s eyes are glazing over!”
“It’s a big decision. He needs all the information.”
“True...” She drummed her fingers along her mouth.
Heat shunted through him at the memory of her hands on his body, her mouth kissing his. Each night they shared together was better than the last. The memory of those sensations was so powerful it took him a moment to tune back in when she started speaking.
“...an idea I think could work.”
They both looked at her, a bit shocked as she had been so quiet before.
“Diego, you’re working at the hospital these next few days, right? The accident and emergency ward?”
“Sí...” He drew out the word, unsure as to where this was going.
“That means I’ll be on my own. So...why don’t we park the mobile clinic up here at the sanctuary on a more permanent basis? It’s near the villages, easy to get to. Paz can help me make it a sanctuary for people as well as turtles. I’m in if you are.”
She put out a hand to shake on it.
Paz stared at it.
It was a big ask.
Everyone in the room knew it.
It would tell the island that they were united in their mission for peace.
“You want me to come here?” Paz sounded utterly flabbergasted. “To the sanctuary?”
Diego couldn’t stay out of the discussion any further. “I don’t know if it’s wise, amorcita.”
He knew his body language was defensive. Protective. Only this time he wondered if what he was really protecting was the status quo.
“If my father can’t be here,” Isla said, “I want to be here. And who better to make this place a genuine sanctuary for the islanders than Paz?”
There were about a thousand different options he could offer here, but Diego was struck by the fire of possibility brightening his wife’s eyes.
She crossed her arms and gave Paz a solid look. “I presume you won’t be advertising free turtle eggs to your friends?”
He had the grace to look ashamed.
Isla pulled up the other stool so they were all sitting at the same eye level. Paz had obviously come here in good faith. He was trusting them. Isla was trying to do the same.
“What does your mother think about you being here?”
“She’s the one who told me you might be able to help.”
He was looking directly at Isla. The penny dropped.
This was why Serena had come to the clinic the other day. They both wanted change. They were frightened of Axl...or at least of who he’d become. And they’d been brave enough to ask for help.
“Do you think you being here on a daily basis, helping with the clinic, will provoke the other members of Noche Blanca?” Isla asked.
The question was a serious one. There was no chance this would work if it would bring more violence.
Paz looked them both solidly in the eye, “Without my father there is no Noche Blanca.”
“Right, then.” Isla gave Paz’s arm a squeeze. “I’ll see you here tomorrow. If you like we can get you some scrubs to wear. Make you look like part of the team.”
She and Diego both smiled as Paz’s eyes lit up. “Really? I can wear scrubs? That would be amazing! It’ll be just like on TV.”
“Better than TV,” Isla corrected. “You will be helping real people in your community.”
Diego watched his wife say her goodbyes to Paz with a warm hug and that big, beautiful smile of hers.
Just for that perfect moment he let himself believe it was all real. That they were a real married couple, making changes in their community step by proud step. And, just for that instant in time, he felt as if he could leave his anger from the past behind and face the future with a smile. With hope.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DIEGO THANKED THE waiter for the nibbles and gave Isla’s hand a squeeze. “Help yourself, amor. The meal shouldn’t be too long.” He popped a few salted peanuts into his mouth and then, after they’d both enjoyed the setting sun for a few moments, said, “I have to admit I’m still a bit shell-shocked.”
“About Paz wanting to work with us? Or about his father?”
They’d each had a few hours to process and confirm the news. Axl Cruz was dead. For Isla it changed everything. She could go home now if she wanted to. Or, if she really wanted to drag her heart through the coals, she could wait until her father’s inevitable return.
He’d not want to stay in Craggen anymore. Not now that he was free to work at the sanctuary again.
She watched as Diego’s features softened into a philosophical expression. With every fiber of her being she would miss this man.
“I’m not surprised about Axl. Relieved, in a way. Saddened that he never had to stand up in front of a court of law, but to have Paz come forward the way he did... Amazing.”
He started to drop her one of those winks she had expressly forbidden, then stopped himself.
“I think it’s a real credit to you that he chose you to work with.”
She bit her lip. Why was he pretending it was going to be for anything more than a handful of days? Her plane ticket was booked.
“He’ll learn every bit as much from you.”
Diego reached across and squeezed her hand, then drew it to his lips and kissed it. Warm fuzzies blurred any lucid thoughts she might have had about how her leaving now was actually a good thing.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll be off soon, won’t I?”
She said it casually enough, but the air between them grew taut with tension.
Diego’s eyes told her everything she needed to know. He was ready for it. Ready for her to go.
Which was why it came as a complete shock when he said, “You could extend your stay. For a while.”
And there it was. The final nail in the coffin.
She needed to go home. The sooner the better. Prolonging this agony of a love that was so obviously unrequited...it was too painful. Besides, Diego might have made huge strides toward making peace with his own demons, but being here had allowed her to push hers into a cupboard and do her best to forget about them. Disguise them with the adrenaline rush of survival. Of falling in love.
“Before I came here...” Her hands began to shake at the flood of powerful memories, so she set down her fork. “Before I came here I was engaged to someone els
e.”
If she hadn’t had Diego’s full attention before she had it in triplicate now.
“And you ended it?”
“No. Quite the opposite. He chose another woman over me.”
“Obviously the man is an imbecile.”
She wanted to say, Yes. Absolutely. A liar and a cheat. Those were the facts. But the reality was she couldn’t let Kyle bear the brunt of the responsibility that the clarity of hindsight inevitably allowed.
Instead, she said, “I probably owe him a thank-you card, to be honest.”
“Que?”
She drew little gratification from Diego’s indignation.
“Seriously. I could throw him to the lions, but...but I was probably every bit as responsible for the relationship being a disaster as he was.”
“If anyone should thank him for being such a fool it should be me. I won the bride.”
She shook her head. “No, you didn’t. Axl did. Fear did.”
“You think fear was what made you say yes? Go through with the marriage?”
She nodded. “Of course it was! I was fearing for my life. My father’s life.”
As she spoke, the memory of how she had really felt shunted through her every bit as powerfully as if she were reliving it.
“Cariña...” Diego protested. “Only a woman shot through with bravery would have done what you did.”
She fought the bloom of warmth and strength his compliment elicited. “There was some courage involved. Courage I wouldn’t have felt if it hadn’t been for you.” She hesitated. “I should thank Kyle, though. I went back to Loch Craggen after my mum died because I thought if I had the perfect job, the perfect family, gave my father grandchildren...” She paused only just catching Diego’s infinitesimally small flinch. “Like an idiot I thought grandchildren would be enough to make my father come home. Now that I’ve seen him here I realize he’s doing what he loves. That he wasn’t built for traditional parenting...whatever that is. So, yes. I do owe Kyle a thank-you.”
“For what? Making sure you didn’t have children?”
“No!” she snapped, a bit more grumpily than she’d intended. “For forcing me into a place so vulnerable I only had two choices.”