Their Surprise Daddy

by Ruth Logan Herne

  It felt good.

  He hadn’t expected that.

  It felt right.

  That was a bigger surprise.

  And when he turned and spotted Lily tucked along Rory’s side, something went warm and soft inside him, and Cruz didn’t do warm, soft emotions. Ever.

  But the sight of Elina’s daughter snuggled against Rory seemed more right than he would have imagined.

  His phone buzzed. He pulled it out, glanced at the display and grimaced when he saw his boss Rodney’s name. The man was micromanaging while on an extended vacation with his wife and kids. “I’ve got to take this.” He set Javier down, and didn’t dare make eye contact with the boy, because he’d feel guilty if he did and phone calls with Rodney rarely went well. Rodney wasn’t the kind of man who took family seriously, unless it was his own, and personal time was a nonexistent concept at Randolph & Gordon.

  “Come on, honey.” Rory took Javier’s hand in one of hers, and Lily’s in the other. “Javi, you get to pick out the story tonight. What will it be? What’s your very most wonderful favorite?”

  “Where the Wild Things Are.”

  His answer stopped Cruz cold.

  That had been his favorite book, too. Did most kids love that story or was it a sign that he and Elina’s children were connected by more than legal attribution and international law?

  You are connected by blood. You are family.

  He hurried away to take the call, wishing it wasn’t necessary. His work might not seem vital in Grace Haven, a town that boasted the best frozen custard in the state and a sectional championship baseball team, but in Manhattan, people made choices because of moves he engineered on a daily basis. And while his expertise might not seem crucial to a country schoolteacher, it was of vital importance to him.

  * * *

  “I wuv that his supper was still hot,” Javier declared when Rory finished the beloved story of a naughty little boy who got sent to bed without supper. “I fink that means his mommy still wuved him.”

  “Mommies never stop loving their children,” she whispered to him. “Here on earth or up in heaven, our mommies love us forever, just the way God wants them to.”

  “You found us!”

  Lily’s happy voice made Rory turn.

  Cruz was standing in the oak-trimmed doorway, one hand braced against the frame, watching them. He moved forward in an easy fashion, but his face belied his movements. He looked sad, and then Rory realized what he’d heard, that mommies love kids forever.

  His face shadowed, or maybe it was a trick of the fading light, but she had the oddest impulse to reach up and smooth his cheek, to caress the anxiety away.

  Clearly she was sleep deprived.

  He tucked Lily in, teased her a little, then leaned down and kissed her good-night. He didn’t hurry the process. It was a kiss that clearly meant something to him, and to the little girl. He turned, grinned at Javier and growled, deep and low. “And now, it is your turn, my little monster!” He crept forward, reciting lines from the book, and Javier sat right up, applauding when he gnashed his terrible teeth, and looking the tiniest bit worried when Cruz began to roar.

  Then Cruz sank down on the edge of the twin bed, right next to her. He smelled wonderful, a touch smoky, a little spicy with a hint of some amazingly wonderful aftershave that made her long to move closer.

  She resisted the urge and stood instead. “Shall we say prayers?”

  “I’m so sweepy,” Javier protested, but when he saw Rory’s expression, he folded his hands. “But not too sweepy!”

  Rory led them through two evening prayers, neither one too long, and when she was done she leaned down to kiss each one good-night.

  Cruz didn’t move. He sat right there while she smooched Javier and ruffled his hair, and when she was done kissing him, Cruz leaned in and kissed him, too. They said one last good-night, then Cruz followed her out into the hall. Before they were halfway down the stairs, she paused and looked back. “You surprised me in there.”

  “Because I knew prayers?”

  “Not that.” She stayed on the second step and faced him. “You kissed them good-night.”

  “I believe that’s customary with small children, isn’t it?”

  “It is, but you don’t have small children, do you?”

  He shook his head.

  “And I don’t expect you do a lot of babysitting in Manhattan.”

  “No again.”

  “I just thought it was nice, that’s all. You made them smile.”

  She started back down the stairs to rejoin the others. Five little words made her stop again.

  “That’s why I did it.”

  She turned and looked up, and when she did, her heart did that shuffle-step dance once more.

  The man was gorgeous. Four steps up he commanded a presence like a Gothic hero, aching from mental and emotional wounds.

  “Little kids should always be tucked in. And kissed. And hugged. It should be a law. Or at least a rule.”

  “I agree.”

  He descended the stairs separating them. He stopped when he reached her level and faced her, serious. “A long time ago I promised a little boy that if I ever had children, I would be nice to them all the time, no matter what. I would tuck them in and read them stories, buy them ice cream and make their favorite supper as often as they wanted it.”

  His expression magnified the sincerity of the promise. “Who was the little boy?”

  “Me.”

  She saw it then, what she’d noted upstairs, and in the judge’s chambers. A hidden longing for something. Or someone.

  He carried his wounds well. Originally she’d thought that Rosa had exaggerated the stories of her time with Cruz, the dreadful mother she’d been. Looking at him, she read the truth in his gaze.

  It disappeared quickly, but Rory knew what she saw. A wounded soul and a fractured spirit.

  Maybe that’s why he did so well in New York, because he pushed himself forward while he shoved pain back.

  “Cruz, I—”

  He walked past her then, down the stairs and toward the back door. “I’m going to drop in on my mother again tomorrow afternoon. Examine the situation there more closely.”

  “You’ve seen her then?”

  He didn’t look at her. He gazed out over the twilight-lit village. “Briefly. Yes.”

  “Would you like to take the kids?” Rory asked. She moved closer. “They’d love to see her and they’d be great icebreakers.”

  “Is it allowed?”

  She shrugged. “No one said it wasn’t, so let’s not ask, okay? She does have a court order to not be alone with the kids, so as long as you’re there with them.”

  “What time shall I pick them up at school?”

  “Twelve is good. Unless you’d like to wait until I’m done with my work tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll go with you. Provide a buffer.”

  He winced slightly. “Which means you understand my relationship with my mother quite well.”

  How much should she say? Rosa had told her things in confidence concerning Cruz, so it wasn’t as if he was walking through life, unaware. “Yes.”

  “It might be good if you were there.” He gazed out again, thinking. “I’ll come get the kids at noon, anyway. We can spend a few hours together, then we’ll pick you up and head out to Casa Blanca when you’re done. If you’re sure you don’t mind.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  “Good.” He turned then, looking at her.

  His eyes were dark and somber, nothing like they were during the teasing grin he’d aimed at the children. His expression was drawn and serious, as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Maybe it felt like that, coming back here. Facing his mother.

  He broke
the connection and drew open the door. “Good night, Rory. Thanks for letting me come over for supper and to spend time with your family.”

  “It was nice, Cruz.”

  He turned just long enough for her to catch that sense of longing one more time. He nodded. “Yes. It was.” And then he walked out the door.

  Chapter Five

  It wasn’t Cruz’s fancy car that pulled up in front of the White Church the next afternoon. It was Rory’s worn and weathered sedan, but somehow the slick financial wizard made the car seem less lackluster. Rory climbed into the passenger seat and tapped the dashboard. “And the current score is car seats—two. Hedge funds manager—zero.”

  He scowled and the fact that he did it so well showed he’d had his share of practice. “Bested by safety technology.” She climbed into the passenger side, laughing. “I expect lack of practice slips in someplace,” she teased. “Hey guys.” She leaned back over her seat and handed each child a puffed mint. “One each. Do not ask for more, at least until later. Okay?”

  “Yes!” Lily unwrapped hers, popped the mint into her mouth, then reached to help her brother.

  “I can do it.”

  She folded her arms, much like Rosa would do. “I was just trying to help. You don’t have to be a grumpy pants.”

  “I’m not a gwumpy pants! Don’t call me names!”

  Rory cleared her throat. Both kids paused, then got quiet.

  “Neat trick.” Cruz slid her a quick glance. “Although they’ve been good up to this point. I barely had to lock anyone up.”

  “What did you guys do?”

  Lily ticked off her fingers. “First we had lunch and Javi had to use the bathroom. Then we took a walk, and then Cruz had to call somebody, so we went to the playground and then he called somebody again, and then we went to visit Mags and took her out and then we came here.”

  Cruz sent the intelligent five-year-old a cool look of assessment through the rearview mirror. “Clearly my clandestine business calls didn’t go unnoticed.”

  “And yet, they lived.” Rory winked at Lily and Javier.

  “No lecture?”

  “About multitasking? Not from me. Grown-ups have to do it all the time. And I don’t believe in hovering over children. That would have driven me crazy as a kid, so I’m going to pay it forward and not be a helicopter parent.”

  “Helicopter parent? What is that?”

  She made a buzzing sound while pretending her right hand was a chopper. “The kind of parent that never lets a kid breathe without them being aware of it.”

  “There’s a name for that?”

  She nodded. “There is now.”

  He looked like he was pondering her words. “You’d agree there are dangers around us, correct?”

  “Always have been. Always will be. Part of life.”

  “I’m kind of amazed.” He paused at a stop sign before heading right to West Lake Road. “I’ve got a few friends with kids, and they’re like that. For all the faults my mother had, maybe it was good that she was so busy building her party business and organizing wine tastings and vineyard weddings, because other than school, I pretty much ran free.”

  “There were good times?” She kept her voice soft so the children wouldn’t hear.

  “My father was one of the kindest men ever born. I always knew he loved me and wanted what was best for me, but when neither one of us could please Rosa, it was best to just stay out of her way.”

  “You’re an overcomer.”

  He made a face. “I don’t think of people who come from solid financial circumstances as overcomers, necessarily. I got through, did what I had to do. It worked.”

  “Why would money matter?”

  His quick frown said he didn’t understand the question.

  “People with money have problems, the same as those without.”

  “True in theory, but you can buy a lot of comfort if you have the cash to do it.”

  “But money doesn’t buy happiness.”

  “Maybe not in theory, but in real life?” He raised a brow as Casa Blanca came into sight on his left. “It sure can help.”

  “We’re going to see Mimi!” Lily screeched the words as he turned into the driveway. “I’m so excited! There she is!” She stretched up as far as she could, happy to come back to the only home she remembered, and as soon as Cruz pulled the car into the front loop, she scrambled out of her seat, and out of the car. “Mimi!”

  She raced forward and almost barreled Rosa over with a hug of huge proportions. “I’m so very happy to be here, and look who’s here, Mimi! It’s Cruz, your son. He came from far, far away to help us! Come on, come on!” Lily tugged at Rosa’s hand, but Rosa didn’t move. She stayed right where she was, her feet planted firm against the wide concrete walk.

  Cruz climbed out of the car. He faced her from there. She watched him from her spot, and if Rory hadn’t helped Javier out of his seat, she was pretty sure the stubborn duo might have forgotten his presence entirely, but the busy boy broke their standoff by racing to Rosa’s side. “Mimi! Hi!”

  She bent and hugged him fiercely.

  Cruz’s hands went tight. His gaze narrowed slightly, almost not enough to notice if she hadn’t been watching. Then he relaxed his hands and adopted a nonchalant expression. “I wanted to take some time today to determine the property’s value. What’s left of it.”

  The truth of his words cut, because the decline of Casa Blanca had been a town topic for years, but Rosa didn’t go ballistic. She glanced around, more hurt than angry, then shrugged. “Some things matter more than others.” She palmed each child’s head gently. “Life goes on.”

  * * *

  Cruz might have to clean out his ears. Had his tough-as-nails mother just intimated that children mattered more than wealth, power and property? Because if she had, he was pretty sure an alien spacecraft had kidnapped the real Rosa Maldonado.

  “Cruz, can I show you my room?”

  “I want to show him my room first!”

  “I asked first!”

  “Mimi!”

  “Mimi!”

  His mother glanced at him, then Rory, then the children, as if assessing the situation. A quick realization hit Cruz.

  He had a say in the children’s future. His opinion would influence their placement, and his mother realized that.

  For the first time ever, he held the power. And it felt good.

  “Your rooms are next to each other, so Cruz can see them both.” Rory squatted to their level. Both kids got quiet and stopped jumping. “Behave yourselves or I will put you right back in that car and take you to my house where there are chores waiting. If you want to visit with Mimi, be good. Otherwise I pull the plug. Got it?”

  “Got it.” Lily looked somewhat insulted by the mild scolding, and Cruz glimpsed more of his cousin—and himself, he had to admit—in the girl.

  “Yes.” Javi looked humbled, as if embarrassed to have been naughty, and that tender nature won Cruz’s heart in a totally different way. One needed molding. The other, protection. The shaping of a child was a monumental task, one that should never be taken lightly. Knowing Rosa like he did, a fair man wouldn’t risk placing two lost souls into her hands, no matter how she pretended to change.

  He let the kids lead him through the side door.

  The inside of the gracious party house had fared better than the exterior. As the kids steered him through the household entry, memories swamped him.

  Racing down the wide halls with Elina and her brother, Juan. Scaling bannisters and dropping tiny parachuted soldiers from the balcony overlooking the Chardonnay Room. He and Juan used to hide their action figures in the plants around the smaller Cabernet Room, just to see if the housekeeping staff were on their toes.

  They were, but e
very now and again a wedding guest or visiting dignitary would notice the figures peeking out at them and smile.

  Rosa hadn’t found such things amusing, which was probably why they’d done it.

  He followed the children upstairs to the family bedrooms. Javier was in the room he’d shared with Juan when they were small. Lily was in her mother’s old room, small, quaint and pretty. The other rooms had belonged to his parents.

  As the kids showed him their favorite possessions, he couldn’t help but think of his parents. They’d built a business by sacrificing their life together, a business now eroding away. His mother should have taken a lesson from the dinosaurs—that which refuses to adapt will perish, and the family business was close to perishing.

  “Hey, guys! Cookies and milk on the veranda!”

  Rory’s voice made him smile.

  Why was that? He wasn’t sure, but his response was instant, and he found the reaction confusing.

  She was attractive.

  He wouldn’t have thought he’d be attracted to girl-next-door types, but he was wrong. He was attracted, and he was wise to notice that because he had a job to do in Manhattan, and he couldn’t afford to be distracted by a woman who lived in Grace Haven. Which meant he’d dismiss the attraction, but as he descended the stairs and spotted her, he realized that would be easier said than done.

  She seemed to sense things, and the last thing he wanted was someone assessing his character, because he was pretty sure they’d find it lacking.

  As the kids helped themselves to homemade cookies and hugged his mother again, Rory looked on, smiling. Her smile was probably the biggest warning of all. She believed in his mother’s apparent change of heart.

  He didn’t, and because of that, how could he reconcile the thought of leaving two innocent children with a woman who could revert to her old ways in a heartbeat?

  He wasn’t living in the past. That was a waste of energy. But he learned from the past, and these kids were never going to have to deal with the wrath of Rosa Maldonado.

  * * *

  Rory’s phone buzzed with an incoming text from Melanie Carson while Cruz inspected grapevines. The kids were dashing about the property they knew well, laughing and chasing each other in a funny one-on-one game of hide-and-seek, while Rosa stood at the crest of the hill wearing a face of regret. Was it for her lost relationship with her son or for lying about her relationship with these two precious children?