Redemption (Reunion Book 1)

by Adrienne Ruvalcaba

  “I’m so glad you’ve decided to come stay with us,” Cyrus turned to her and said as Cheryl pulled away from the curb.

  A smile lingered in his eyes as Lilah gently squeezed his hand and smiled at him. “Thank you guys so much for inviting me into your home. I know I’m all grown up now, but I feel a little bit like a kid again,” she said.

  “Don’t worry, Lilah. We’ll take good care of you,” Cheryl said. Lilah couldn’t help but notice she drove at a much more sedate pace when her parents were in the car.

  “Have you spoken to your mother recently?” Cyrus asked.

  “Not since I started my book tour. Now that things have settled down some, I’ll give her a call and tell her the news,” Lilah answered.

  “You mean she doesn’t know yet?” Cheryl exclaimed.

  “Nobody knows yet, except for you guys and my publisher,” Lilah admitted.

  “You still haven’t told Diego?!” Cheryl and Cyrus demanded at the same time.

  Lilah slouched down in her seat and mumbled, “No.”

  “Give it a rest, you two,” Heather said. “Lilah will get around to it when the time is right. This move was a big transition. Let’s deal with one thing at a time.”

  The talk she needed to have with Diego was not a conversation she was looking forward to at all. He had broken her heart. She still felt a pang every time she thought about the endearments and charming words he had whispered to her on multiple occasions.

  Cyrus glanced back at her and offered her a look of sympathy. “It will be okay,” he said quietly.

  The ride back to Bay City was very quiet, and Lilah had plenty of time to stare out the window and reflect on the state of her life. The future was one big question mark right now, but she knew she had to try to make stronger family connections. She didn’t want her baby to grow up feeling isolated as she had. She was going to stay in Heather and Cyrus’s house until she found a suitable place of her own. She considered refusing the book deal her publisher offered, because she knew she would need time off to focus on her child in the near future. She also knew she would need time to focus on her child’s father. The thought sent a shudder of distaste through her body.

  Lilah’s hands shook as she walked into Diego’s office. She attempted to quell her unease by repeating Heather’s advice to herself. Don’t slouch. If your body language looks weak, you give up half your power before you even open your mouth. She tried to look at this as just another professional visit; that might be the only way she could get through it.

  Mrs. Horta was surprised to see her, but Lilah raised a finger to her lips. “He’s not expecting me, and I’d like to keep it that way,” she whispered.

  Mrs. Horta nodded and took her finger away from the intercom button on her phone. “Go right in, mija. He just got here, and he doesn’t have anything scheduled for about half an hour,” she whispered back.

  Lilah opened his office door, slid in, and closed it behind her—all before Diego looked up from the neat stack of papers atop his desk. She stood there, fighting to bring her emotions under control and waiting for him to notice her. He seemed to be in a pensive mood as he tapped his pen against his lips, full lips whose feel had been permanently imprinted on her memory. She tried to discard the sensation of those lips whispering endearments and promises of a future together; it hurt too much to keep remembering those things. She cleared her throat, and he looked up. Her name fell from his lips, sounding like an accusation.

  She spoke before she lost the nerve. “I guess you’re wondering why I’m here, so I’ll try to keep it brief,” she said as she straightened her posture and raised her chin. “Last time we talked, it didn’t really go that well, and I haven’t heard from you since, so clearly you want nothing further to do with me…”

  She paused and took a breath to calm her nerves before continuing in the same cold, detached tone. “Normally, I’d gladly keep my distance, but this time it isn’t up to me. I’m pregnant.”

  He looked startled, and he opened his mouth to speak, but she pressed on before he could say anything. “I wasn’t planning on becoming a mother while I’m still single, but I guess what I had planned for the next few years of my life has taken a detour. The timing may not be ideal, but I do want to be a mother, so I’m keeping the baby. Since you are the biological father, I would like for you to be a willing participant, but I also realize that this is all coming as a shock to you. I don’t expect you to give me any input today. I just hope you’ll take the weekend and think about what level of involvement you feel comfortable with. I don’t want to force anything on you, but I also don’t want my child to grow up without a father, like I did.”

  “You want to know what level of involvement I’m comfortable with?” he asked as he stood up. Determination set his features into an intimidating mask, and she fought the urge to back up as he approached her. “Come with me,” he commanded in an uncharacteristically stern voice.

  Her curiosity wouldn’t allow her to disobey the silent directive in his eyes. She followed him out of the office past Mrs. Horta. He continued taking resolute strides across the building, not caring that she had to jog to keep up with him. She was about to demand an explanation when the sign for the county clerk’s office loomed ahead of them.

  “What can I do for you, Mayor Gonzales?” the young man behind the counter asked when they stopped.

  “We need a marriage license,” Diego answered.

  The man looked taken aback for an instant before he replied, “Sure thing. I’ll just need to see one of the official forms of ID listed on the sign behind me, and the two of you will need to fill out an application form.”

  Diego removed his driver’s license from his wallet and placed it on the counter. When she did nothing but stand there, he raised an eyebrow and said, “Lilah, he needs your ID too. Don’t you, Paul?”

  Heart pounding, she reached into her purse and pulled it out.

  “Congratulations. I’m sure your parents are excited. When is the wedding?” Paul asked as he picked up their IDs.

  “This evening in my office,” Diego said.

  Paul cleared his throat and shot an uncomfortable look in their direction. “You do realize there’s a mandatory seventy-two hour waiting period before you can go through with the marriage?” he asked.

  “I know, but I was hoping you could give us a waiver.”

  “I think that’s only allowed for active duty military people with deployment orders. Let me ask Mr. Sanchez,” Paul replied before walking away from the service counter.

  While he was gone, Diego finished his part of the form and pushed it toward Lilah. Not to be outdone by his bravado, she took the pen and wrote her information and signed the form. She finished just before Paul returned with Mr. Sanchez.

  “Diego, what is this Paul told me about you getting married today, mijo? Do Maria and Carlos know about this?” Mr. Sanchez asked.

  “No, Señor Sanchez, my parents don’t know yet. We are going to surprise them. I couldn’t get the license early, because I know my mom would have found out and ruined the surprise,” he lied with a smile.

  Lilah could tell from the tension around his lips that he was uncomfortable lying to Mr. Sanchez. She almost felt bad for him. Everyone standing at the counter seemed shocked when she spoke up with, “We’re really sorry we didn’t come in earlier. Diego really wanted to, but I insisted on waiting so we didn’t ruin the surprise for his mother. Do you think you could help us out just this once?”

  Diego glanced down at her with a hint of a smile in his eyes, but the tension around his mouth remained.

  “You could have come to me a few days ago; even I can keep a secret for three days,” Mr. Sanchez said with a friendly smile and a chuckle. “Let me see what I can do.”

  “Gracias,” Diego said to him. After Paul and Mr. Sanchez left the counter again, he turned to Lilah and said, “I hope this answers your question about what level of involvement I’m comfortable with.”

  A
few minutes later, Mr. Sanchez returned with a wide smile and said, “You can go ahead and have your ceremony tonight.”

  Once the paperwork was completed, Diego took the marriage license and escorted Lilah back to his office. Several older men in business attire were waiting in the reception area when they returned. He took a moment to greet them before joining Lilah in his office again.

  “What on Earth was that all about? After the reception, you acted like you never wanted to see me again. You even called me a bitch” she reminded him as soon as he shut the door.

  He opened his mouth to respond just as his phone started beeping. “Obviously, I didn’t mean that,” he said as he leaned across the desk and pushed the button.

  “Your nine thirty appointment is waiting,” Mrs. Horta said over the speaker.

  “Thanks, Mrs. Horta. Please tell them I’ll be with them in less than five minutes,” he said with a harried look. He then turned back to Lilah and said, “Obviously, I didn’t mean what I said that night. It was stupid. Didn’t you get that from the number of times I called you? All of which times you chose to ignore, by the way.”

  “I never got any messages from you, Diego. Also, I’m sure I’m not the first person who ever got poor cell reception inside a hotel room. I would have answered if my phone had rung,” she said.

  He looked like he wasn’t quite sure whether or not to believe her. His phone beeped again, and he said, “Look, I don’t have a lot of time to talk about this right now, but we are going to talk about it. I am sorry I called you a bitch. You can be a little hothead sometimes, and you can be very judgmental on occasion, but you are not a bitch. I know you are still mad at me about it, and I’m still upset with you for leaving so quickly and ignoring me, not to mention that fact that you called me a jerk. So, where do we go from here?”

  “I don’t know. Why even bother to get a marriage license when you don’t even like me anymore?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

  “Who says I don’t like you anymore. You are the one who doesn’t like me anymore, or maybe a better way to put it is that you never liked me at all. Lilah, I love you. I want to be with you for better or for worse. I get that it’s worse right now. And guess what? I still want to be with you. We can work this out tonight, but I don’t want to wait to get married.”

  “I wasn’t expecting this response when I came here today. I don’t want you to do this because you feel like you have to,” she replied carefully.

  “Delilah, I could say the same thing to you. Actually, the thought that you would marry me just for the sake of appearances terrifies me, but I would still want to go through with it just because I love you so much. I guess that makes me desperate, right?”

  “Or maybe just crazy,” Lilah whispered. “I think we both need to take some time to think about this.”

  “I agree. Why don’t you take the day to think about what you really want from me? Do you want me in your life, or do you just want to make sure I’m going to be a responsible father when the time comes? I already know what I want. I’ll be here at six, ready for whatever you decide.”

  They stared at each other for a moment. Lilah was on the verge of agreeing with him when someone tapped on the door. She placed her hand on the knob to open it, and he said, “This is me meeting you halfway. I’d really like for you to meet me in the middle on this one, querida.”

  Lilah opened her mouth to reply, but words failed to come. She was afraid of the prospect of being a single parent, but she was even more afraid of marrying for the wrong reasons. “You’re right. I should go,” she said before slipping out the door and ducking past Mrs. Horta and the group waiting to meet with Diego.

  ***

  Go big or go home, Diego told himself as he took his seat at the head of the conference table. He watched as the gentlemen seated around the table adjusted their clothes, shuffled their papers and settled in for the meeting with looks of outright hostility. His proposed ordinance to raise the minimum wage was popular among the citizens, but business owners, including his mother, were staunchly against his proposal. After the last council meeting, his proposal had been tabled again. He smiled at the President of the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce, Thomas Bricker. There was no surprise when his smile wasn’t returned. Next Diego smiled at Hanley Smith, the Executive Director of the Matagorda County Economic Development Corp. This time his smile was returned. Everyone else at the table was affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce, but he was chiefly concerned with the major players, the men whose support had the power to sway the council vote.

  “Good morning, gentlemen,” he began with another smile after he had organized his thoughts. He then launched into his presentation. As he spoke, he imagined Lilah sitting beside him, giving him the look that said she was proud of him. Her visit this morning had been a nice bolster for his flagging confidence. He felt like anything was possible today, even getting the businessmen before him to see a minimum wage hike as a way to improve the local economy.

  By the time the meeting ended, Diego had answered an exhausting barrage of questions and managed to coax a statement of tepid support for his plan out of several board members.

  On his way out the door, Randy Thorpe, Vice President for the Chamber of Commerce, turned to Diego and said, “I really like the way you have the incremental increases structured in your proposal. I also like that you have written in a paragraph for separate minimum wages for part-time teenaged workers who are still dependent on their parents, but I still think hiking it from where it is now to twelve dollars an hour in four years is too steep. You’re asking too much out of the small business owners in town, and national chains will avoid you like the plague to build somewhere with a cheaper labor base.”

  “Thanks for your advice Mr. Thorpe. I’ll keep your feedback in mind while I work on that amended draft of the proposal,” Diego answered with a friendly smile. He knew they saw him as brash young person who lacked experience, but he refused to let their opinion of him discourage him.

  He closed his door and sat down at his desk to think about his eventful morning. The news that Lilah was pregnant had come as both a shock and a delight. He would have taken the day off to talk to her if it had been remotely possible, but this morning’s meeting had been crucial to the success or failure of his proposal to increase the minimum wage. The support he received from them had been lukewarm, but Diego reminded himself that it was still progress.

  The message tone sounded on his cell phone, and he picked it up to see a text from Lilah. It read, “I love you too. I’ll be there tonight.”

  He texted back, “Why didn’t you say that when you were here earlier?”

  He was still waiting for her response when Mrs. Horta buzzed in with, “Tu Jefita esta aquí.”

  Diego barely had time to mutter a curse to himself before his office door burst open and his mother marched in.

  “What do you think you are doing?” she demanded when she stopped in front of his desk.

  “Have a seat, Mom,” he invited with a smile.

  She continued to stare at him like an enraged little bull, so he asked, “What’s wrong? Is this about the meeting I had with the guys from the Chamber of Commerce?”

  “No, mijo. What’s this I hear about you getting married today? Who is the girl? I didn’t even know you were seeing someone,” she said.

  “Oh, that. I guess Manuel Sanchez can’t keep a secret after all,” Diego responded with a sigh.

  “So it’s true?” she asked as she flopped down into the nearest chair. “Have we ever met her?”

  “You’ve seen us together, but you haven’t technically met her yet. I’m marrying the maid of honor from Hugo and Cheryl’s wedding. Her name is Delilah Johnson.”

  “The girl you were with when I brought Beatrice by your house?!” she demanded with a scowl. “I thought that girl was just some little floozy. Mi hijo, you need to cancel whatever you have planned and talk to me,” she pleaded.

  “I a
ppreciate your concern, but I am old enough to know what is right for my life. I love her.”

  “Dios mio,” his mother said as she fanned herself. “You give up a nice girl like Beatrice to marry some little slut who probably sleeps with every man she sees. I can’t allow it. I won’t allow it.”

  “Mom, listen to me,” Diego began in his most serious tone. “Don’t you ever refer to her as a slut again. We were doing nothing wrong. We were in private, and you are the one who barged in on us, and you still haven’t apologized! Do you have any idea how humiliating that was for us? For her?”

  He watched as his mother’s bluster melted away and she shrunk down in her seat. “You love her?” she asked quietly.

  “Yes.”

  They were still staring at each other when Diego’s father calmly opened the door and strode toward them. “I see you got here first, querida,” he said as he looked down at his wife of forty years.

  “If you’re here to talk me out of it, you might as well save your time, Dad,” Diego said quietly.

  Carlos sat down in the chair next to Maria and grasped her hand. He brought it to his lips and kissed it before he spoke again. “Maria, do you remember that little diary that Diego packed around with him all summer before his senior year?”

  “Sí,” she answered calmly.

  “Once you saw that it was some girl’s diary instead a damn grifo log, you told me yourself that it would be so romántico if they ended up married someday. Do you remember that?”

  “Sí.”

  “What was the name in the front of the diary?”

  “No me acuerdo,” Maria admitted.

  “I will jog your memory, querida. Diego, tell your mother the girl’s name.”

  “Delilah Johnson,” Diego said as he looked his mother in the eye.

  He watched in astonishment as her disgruntled expression melted into teary-eyed happiness. He glanced at his father, but all his father offered was a shrug.

  “You’re marrying the girl whose diary you kept all those years ago? I haven’t thought about that since you graduated from college. I thought she was long gone,” Maria said thoughtfully.