by Christina OW
“I was being an unappreciative brat,” she finished.
Ruiz wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug as they walked around the pool. “Hey I don’t think that anymore. Now that I know Antonio was practically holding you hostage, I don’t blame you for choosing to lay low.” He was silent for a moment before he said, “So, what did he have on you?”
Melody chewed her lower lip with uncertainty before she finally blurted out, “After he tricked me into thinking we’d slept together I tried avoiding him until one day he cornered me…he knew all these things about Allan and if I didn’t do what he asked he was going to hurt my brother.” She blinked back tears, tightly hugging Ruiz’s waist. “Then, my brother was all I had left and I didn’t know what kind of reach Antonio had so I didn’t risk it. I did as he asked hoping that I would find a solution out of my predicament soon. Then I found out I was pregnant and I felt even more trapped. I didn’t know if she was yours or his—though I hoped she was yours and it turns out she is. I was having a baby and he had another hostage, someone else to threaten to keep me in line. So I let him have the run of the place and he left me alone and I just hid in the manager’s house and pretended nothing else existed except me and the life growing inside me.”
Ruiz didn’t respond to her confession. In fact, when she looked up at his face it was completely blank of emotion. She would have thought he hadn’t heard a word she said if it wasn’t for the twitch in his jaw and how tight his grip on her shoulder had gotten as he held her to his rigid torso.
She knew better than to fish for a reaction. She already knew what he was thinking. Why didn’t you call me, or your brother? Did you think I wouldn’t help you? And more accusations along those lines.
“You already know what I’d say?” he finally spoke, his voice as hard as steel.
She nodded against his chest then whispered, “Yes.”
“I should spank you for being so—but that wouldn’t erase the year he had you under his thumb.” And in a whisper he said, “And God, I don’t want to dwell in the past any more. I’ve had enough of the damn past.” He stopped and moved her to stand in front of him. He pinched her chin and pushed her head up so that she was staring right in his eyes. He didn’t need to speak because she could already see the warning in his eyes.
“Don’t ever do that again, do you understand?” he ordered in a harsh tone.
Melody nodded her response then he pulled her in a hug and kissed her forehead.
“Come on, I think it’s time I held my daughter.”
Melody wanted to scream and jump like she’d won the lottery, but instead she cheered silently, biting her lips together to suppress the threatening grin.
Ruiz pulled her away from him and stared at her with an amused smile. “Such restraint. Has motherhood cooled you down?”
She shook her head. “Nope, I’m just saving it for the moment I see Esme in your arms.”
He took a deep breath and blew it out. “Can you believe I’m nervous?”
Melody hooked her arm through his and pulled him towards the exit. “Don’t sweat it; you’re a natural. Besides, I haven’t met a lady who has resisted your charm yet.”
Ruiz’s bark of laughter was heartwarming. It was nice to hear the lightness in it after that dark cloud he’d been carrying around since the previous night.
“Thanks for the boost of confidence. Let’s just hope that’s true when she’s sixteen and I have all her dates tied up in the basement with my barely fed Rottweiler as a warning to keep away from my daughter.”
Melody laughed, not because of how ridiculous he sounded, but how plausible that was. There was nothing he believed in more than protecting the ones he loved, she saw it first hand when he ran into danger without a thought to himself when Tyler called crying for his uncle to go help his daddy and mummy. She still got the chills from that night.
When they got to the suite, Ruiz went straight to Jackie, where she stood in the middle of the living room with Esme on her shoulder. She was wide awake, her big brown eyes staring intently at Ruiz as he approached her. Her pink lips hang open, a few drops of milk hanging on her lower one. First he pulled off his jacket his eyes fixated on Esme that he missed the chair when he tossed it. Melody picked it up and held it to her chest as she watched Ruiz take Esme from Jackie, cooing and speaking softly to her.
“I think it’s time for you and me to get to know each other, don’t you?” he asked and Esme responded with her wide eyed stare. Melody was worried that she’d burst out crying. Her daughter was one of those who’d go off with anyone and not make a fuss until she was hungry, wet, or ignored.
He sank onto the couch, Esme on his chest still staring at him like he was the eighth wonder of the world. Ruiz kept whispering to her, kissing her rosy cheeks and pressing her little hands to his lips. It was so beautiful to watch that it brought her to tears and it was good to see she wasn’t the only one. Jackie was using Esme’s spit-up blanket to wipe her tears. Melody took her nanny’s hand and they quietly slipped into Melody’s room to let father and daughter bond alone.
“Vraiment! You did it. You finally brought your family together!” Jackie cheered.
Melody laughed through her tears. “Yes and I pray to God this is the start of something wonderful. We deserve to finally be happy, to finally have our dreams come true.” She fell onto the bed with a dreamy sigh. “Finally, we get our happily ever after.”
Chapter Eleven
Ruiz watched Melody in her element. Giving orders, dismissing and accepting whatever was brought to her for inspection with a wave of her hand and a slight head jerk, tapping on her iPad and speaking—it sounded more like rapping to him—into her Bluetooth in French before she yelled across the large hall at a staff member who was either hanging a drape wrong or doing something not to her liking. He was quite impressed with her multitasking skills and her impressive eye sight—she could spot mistakes twenty feet away. Like other countries in Europe that once had monarchies, the hotel had a grand ballroom replicated from the last documented image of the royal ballrooms. Riana said it added to the richness of the hotels and the ballrooms gave off a fairytale vibe that she was completely in love with. She may just fall into a depression when she saw what Melody had done to the place. The last he heard of the plans was she was turning the room to match her modern winter wonderland theme, moving most of the relics to storage. Not everything had gone up so there wasn’t much he could say, but for what he could already see, Melody was doing a great job.
“You’re mommy has quite the imagination Esme,” he spoke to the sleeping baby strapped to his chest.
Melody turned around and spotted them. The conversation she was having with Erin, the interior designer, came to a stop when she saw Esme. And like always, something he had come to notice and love, her eyes lit up and her lips spread in a beaming smile. He especially loved how she put everything on hold until she’d snuck a kiss and a hug with Esme.
“What are you doing here?” Melody cooed as she came to them.
Ruiz turned to the side to give Melody a better view of their sleeping daughter through the side gap of the baby carrier. “She was taking a tour of the hotel with her daddy, doing some final checks. I only noticed she was fast asleep when I asked for her opinion on the foyer center piece.”
Melody caressed Esme’s plump pink cheek. “Good job, buddy. The last thing we want is for daddy to make any decisions on décor.”
“Hey! I have style,” he retorted in feigned offence.
Melody looked up at him with a blank stare—something he’d come to learn the meaning of—and said, “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
He sighed. “Not this again. How many times do I have to apologize? I wasn’t ignoring you on purpose. I was busy tying up loose ends with the new management.”
He’d been running around the past month, working his ass off to keep the deadline Reno had set for him. It hadn’t been easy, especially finding a reliable managing staff a
nd settling things with the bank after Antonio’s mess, but with Jon Luc’s help, especially on the legal side with the bank, everything had finally come together. He was surprised and proud of himself. Along the way, Melody hadn’t gotten the amount of attention she’d wanted and she was stuck the entire day in the suite with Esme and Jackie because he didn’t want either of them going out, not with Antonio’s sudden disappearance from the face of the earth. Even the police were having a difficult time tracking him and his associates down. Now he was taking a well deserved rest and he wanted to do that with his family.
Melody pulled Esme’s little hand from under her chin and kissed it before gently placing it back. Esme loved sleeping with her fist under her chin no matter what position she was in and it made her look like the thinking man. Ruiz found it hilarious and emailed Reno a picture including that of the Thinking Man. He too found it hilarious and so did the rest of the family when Reno forwarded it to them. Well, everyone except Melody.
She shrugged, walking away from him. “I would know what you’re talking about if I knew who you were.”
Well it was a good thing Ruiz had a surprise and that was one thing Melody found irresistible. With a heavy sigh, he set the bait. “Too bad you don’t know me because I had a surprise for you. Now I have to call and cancel everything.”
Like a bear to honey she ran back to him with a skip and a giggly cheer. “A surprise? What is it? I love surprises!”
With a cocked brow he said, “And who might you be young lady?”
“Ow, don’t be a pest!” She slapped his upper arm. “You knew how I was going to react when you mentioned a surprise now what is it and where are we going?”
“Now if I tell you, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” he teased, knowing the suspense would drive her up the wall.
They opted to walk, something they’d adapted to doing in Paris. The days grew warmer with spring settling in and everything seemed better and the air of doom lessened around him with each day he spent with Esme. The little girl gave him hope of better tomorrows and forgotten yesterdays. The lightened weight on his shoulders made him more open more accepting and trusting of Melody, which was great for their little family because with each passing day he couldn’t imagine a life without them.
Ruiz hoped Melody loved his surprise. It was another trip down memory lane, but this trip was one he was sure remained in both their hearts even during their separation. How could it not be?
“Do you think she’s warm enough?” Melody clucked like a true mother hen, pushing up onto the tip of her toes to peek into Esme’s little cocoon on his chest.
It was Esme’s first day out since the day Melody brought her from the hospital and mommy was acting a little neurotic.
“How could she not be? She’s zipped under my jacket, and adding to my body heat she’s been bundled up like it was the middle of winter!”
Melody stopped walking on her tip toes and glared at him. “I just want to make sure she doesn’t catch a chill.”
Ruiz wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into him. He kissed her forehead and said, “It’s okay to be over protective, it’s a mother’s right. A little neurotic, but still okay,” he finished with a chuckle that earned him a pinch in his side.
When they got to the Latin Quarter, Melody fell silent. Her hands dropped from his arm and she stopped walking. He ended up taking tow more steps without her before he stopped and turned to her. Ruiz had expected a reaction, but he didn’t expect the shell shocked look she had on her face. It worried him. Had he made a mistake?
For the past month since she forced him on the Eiffel Tower had been sedated. He’d occupied himself in his work and daughter, and Melody had…he was ashamed to say he had no idea what she had been up to, but she did make sure they took meals together, like a family—breakfast, lunch and dinner—without fail. And when there were moments of doubt, when fear would suppress the courage Melody credited him for having in abundance. But in those moments she would go to him, their daughter in her arms, asleep or awake, and remind him he did deserve to be happy despite his past. He didn’t know how it happened, but he had moved into Melody’s room, the one she shared with their daughter. Lucky him, she seemed ecstatic about it.
One night, when Esme’s crying woke him, he witnessed the most precious thing. Melody was rocking in the rocking chair speaking softly as Esme nursed at her breast. He didn’t hear much, just enough to know it was a conversation about him, but the sight and sound of his daughter feeding drowned it all out. How were fathers not jealous of the closeness between a child and its mother during this critical age? He sure was. Knowing he and Esme would never share what she and Melody shared when she breast-fed. Thus, the very next day and each one that followed, he would take Esme to work with him for the better part of the day and the afternoon. She was strapped to his chest when he had to move around and he got a specially employed employee who carried the things he needed plus Esme’s baby bag. Then the tables were turned and Melody became the jealous one because of the bond he and Esme were forming and without her. Life was actually beginning to feel normal.
“I hate to say this, but it’s so much prettier in the spring,” she whispered with a shy smile.
He turned to look at the garden. It truly was more beautiful in the spring.
The trees were full and green, the lawns an immaculate emerald. The garden was full of blooming beds of different colorful flowers. The snow had been hiding beautiful sculptured flower beds and iron-pressed walkways. It was full today with the sounds of music and children playing happily. It looked like half of Paris was there to celebrate the warm weather as the gardens were filled with lightly dressed visitors having picnics and playing games and every tree bench and the benches lined on the paths and near the sculptures was filled with people either reading, cuddling and just people watching. People shared walkways with ponies and the water bodies were littered with sail boats—both human and toy size. The garden looked like it had come alive in the spring after a long sleep during winter. It was beautiful.
He turned back to her and held out his open hand to her, “Come on.”
She took it and they walked hand in hand into the Luxembourg Garden, the place where they were married. It was just the two of them, the priest, an American immigration attorney and God. It was beautiful and intimate. He knew she was sad their family wasn’t present, but Ruiz had been anxious to marry her especially after her lengthy complaint about him not moving forward. He’d noticed she’d been trying to get him to propose the day before he actually did. It was hard not to notice with her waving her left hand with her mother’s ring on her finger in his face and even harder to feign ignorance.
“I bet you didn’t expect it,” he said with a laugh. “I bet you didn’t expect me to ever propose.”
She playfully punched him in the shoulder. “I’d thrown out so many hints I was beginning to think you’re obtuse!”
He wiggled his left hand fingers in her face and said, “Really?”
Her jaw dropped and she punched him in the shoulder again, this time harder. “You rot!”
He laughed unzipping his jacket when Esme fussed. She was awake. Great timing. He pulled his jacket off and handed it to Melody. Then he took Esme out of the carrier, unclasped it from his body and also handed it to Melody.
“Put these in the bag and I’ll carry her in my arms. Don’t worry, she’s warm enough.”
She placed the bag on a chair mumbling, ‘I’m not neurotic’ and began stuffing the carrier and his jacket in it.
Ruiz kissed Esme’s forehead and watched as she completely came awake. She blinked a few times, looking around searching for something familiar before she turned to face him.
“Hey princess, you awake yet?”
She placed her head against his chest in response, her curly hair tickling him under his chin.
“Don’t fall asleep again. Mommy and I want to give you a tour.”
He turned her around so that her back was
to his chest and she was sitting on his arm while he held her in place with his other hand to her torso.
“This princess is Jardin du Luxembourg. You’re mommy and I got married here.” The only sign he had that she was still awake was the grip she had on his thumb.
“I remember that day like it was yesterday,” Melody spoke, coming up beside him. They started their stroll on the path that they had then like it was essential for them to stay true to the story. “It was cold that day, so cold even the statues looked chilled covered in mounds of snow. We took a stroll here right after your daddy proposed. I didn’t know why he wanted to take a walk when all I wanted to do was run back to the hotel, call our family and start planning for a June wedding.”
Ruiz chuckled. “You pouted all the way here and tried to rush our stroll until I held you to my side.”
She shrugged. “I was excited. What did you expect?”
“Nothing less. Your enthusiasm is one of the things I love about you.”
She smiled shyly up at him, then wrapped one arm around his waist and leaned against his arm as they strolled.
“The urns were empty of those pretty flowers you see now and the trees were bare. Despite the cold and snow, the park was still filled with people lounging in the garden chairs and riding ponies like it was the middle of summer instead of winter and the ground wasn’t completely covered in snow. There was still so much beauty left in the sleeping garden, it’s no wonder people were still drawn to it. We walked for a while enjoying the white silence, with the Persians and the still ancient veterans of the garden.”
“Ruiz, that was beautiful.”
He smiled bashfully. “Thanks. I got it from one of the reviews of the garden. I figured Esme would want to hear a more colorful description instead of ‘so cool’ and ‘totally beautiful’.”
Melody laughed at that. “Again giving credit where it’s due and not taking any yourself. I love that about you. Please continue.”