by Alexia Adams
***
Lexy bustled through the lobby of the Grand Hyatt, forcing down the panic at the reminder of the last time she’d raced through there, Max barely breathing. He was fine. Genevieve had sent her a video of him dancing around the room when he saw on the telly that Daniel took the checkered flag.
While Daniel was busy finishing up interviews, Lexy wanted to get ready for their private victory celebration before the party tonight. She wasn’t quite brave enough yet to don the PVC outfit Maya had sent—that might take a couple of drinks. But maybe a little sexy librarian role-play would do to start. She was just figuring out what to wear, or not wear, when a man’s hand grabbed her arm.
A scream stuck in her throat as she looked into the blue eyes of her ex-husband. What was it with the man and hotel lobbies?
“Alexandra, I’m glad to catch you alone.”
“I’m not. I thought I made myself clear; I never want to see you again, Wesley.”
He let go of her but didn’t move away. “I’ve done some thinking, and the best solution is for us to get remarried.”
“What? Are you out of your mind? Our marriage was a disaster the first time. No way in hell would I put myself through that again.”
“Not even for our son?” She hesitated for half a second and he pounced on that. “Hear me out. I’ve got a court order for a paternity test, and we both know what it’s going to reveal. I’m Maximillian’s father. I’ve gone over the photos of him, and there’s a strong resemblance to me as a child. And think of the benefits for him and for you if we remarry. I’ve got money and a large house. You’ll never have to work again, and Maximillian will have every advantage in life, get into any university, do anything he dreams. I have staff so you don’t even have to clean. And you can do anything you want, even go back to school if that will make you happy. You wanted to be a research scientist in the neurological causes of food addictions, if I remember correctly. My family would fund your own research team. Imagine what you could do to help people like your mother. There would be no custody battle, no messy and expensive court proceedings. It would all be neat and tidy.”
“But I don’t love you,” she protested.
“You did once; you can again if you try. I’ve grown up in the past four years, darlin’. I made mistakes the first time we were together, but I know I can make you happy. And you’ll have our son and any other children you want to have.”
A shudder sliced through her at the thought of Wesley touching her again, and her stomach roiled. She needed to buy time, make him think she was considering his offer while she worked out what to do, where to go. “Can I think about it? I’m contractually obliged to Destin Designs for the next three weeks. Can I give you an answer on December first?”
He searched her face then finally nodded. “Just make the right decision, Alexandra. I don’t want to fight you for custody of my son, but I will if I have to.” Wesley put his Stetson back on and sauntered out of the hotel.
Another tremor wracked her body. Say goodbye to the man she loved or give up her son? No matter what she decided, she lost. It would hurt to let go of Daniel but kill her to lose Max.
***
Daniel glanced over at Lexy as the plane landed at the small, private airstrip in Mendoza. She’d been distracted since he arrived at the hotel last evening. Sure, she’d tried to put on a brave face and pretend nothing was wrong. But there was. He knew it. She was shutting him out again.
She’d eaten her dinner and his, then followed it with a huge ice cream sundae. And she’d drunk way more than usual. At first he thought that perhaps she was just enjoying the freedom of not having Max near, letting loose and being herself. But as her behavior got more desperate and her attempt to out-party even the most diehard hedonist became apparent, he’d picked her up and carried her back to his hotel room. There he’d held her through the night as she battled her personal demons in her sleep.
“I wish you’d tell me what’s wrong,” he said as they made their way from the airport to his brother’s house.
The smile she gave him was so tight it was virginal. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just tired.”
Her lie slapped him across the face. Was it because he hadn’t told her he loved her? Their initial relationship term was coming to an end, but surely she knew he wanted them to continue being together. Did she need some kind of commitment from him? Was he ready?
As the car drew up in front of a large Spanish-style mansion, half a dozen people stood out front and cheered. When he’d won his first championship, only Jacques and Grand-Papa had welcomed him. How many would be there to celebrate with him when he won the next? Because damn it, he was going to win.
Santiago stepped forward. “Welcome, Daniel. Our father wanted to be here as well, but he’s having a treatment in his rooms. He’d like to see you as soon as you’re ready.”
Daniel nodded. Was he ready to meet his father? First he’d greet those he did know. He hugged Grand-Papa, who was much frailer than the last time he’d seen him. When he eventually let go, Jacques put his arm around his grandfather.
“Move out of the way, Daniel. I’m happy to see you, but it’s your woman I really want to meet,” Grand-Papa said, his blue eyes twinkling. At least some things hadn’t changed.
Daniel turned to find Lexy climbing the stairs to enter the house. “She’s not feeling great. Later, okay, Grand-Papa? I promise you’ll love her as much as I do.”
The question that really rattled him was if she loved him at all. Was she already pulling away?
“I’ll go see if she needs anything,” Maya said, and followed Lexy into the house.
Genevieve mentioned a special snack and both Max and Santiago’s niece, Miranda, went with her. Grand-Papa joined them and Max grabbed his hand and chatted to him as they walked.
Which left him, Jacques, and Santiago standing in the drive. Brothers, but not.
Time to get it over with. “I’ll see my father now,” Daniel said. The word “father” felt strange on his tongue.
Santiago led the way into the house, down a long corridor, and then stopped in front of a set of double doors. “The doctor says it may be a matter of days before he passes. Thank you for coming. This means a lot to him.”
His half brother knocked on the door then opened it without waiting for a reply. Inside, a hospital bed was surrounded by every hi-tech piece of equipment Daniel had ever seen. On all flat surfaces, at least two or three books were stacked. Finally, he forced his eyes to connect with the man lying in the bed. Daniel’s knees wobbled before he locked them, unable to take another step into the room. It was like looking through a time warp, where he saw himself fifty years from now, the resemblance between him and his father startling.
“Papa.” Santiago’s voice broke a bit. He clearly loved his father. What would it have been like if Daniel had met him years earlier? Would they have shared a similar bond? “Daniel’s here.”
His father opened his eyes, the same shade of green as his. Daniel swallowed. Everything he’d planned to say, all the clever quips he’d thought of, fled. He blinked a couple of times and then forced his legs to propel him to the bedside.
“Hello, Mr. Alvarez.” Dieu. Who greeted their father for the first time by using his last name?
“Please, call me Luis. Tiago, you don’t need to stay.” His father’s voice was raspy but otherwise strong.
Santiago nodded. “Jacques wants to see the winery. Do you want us to wait for you, Daniel?”
“No, I prefer the product to the process. You go ahead; I’ll catch up with you later.”
Santiago kissed his father on the cheek before leaving the room.
“Please, come sit down.” Luis pointed at a chair next to the bed. “I have been following your racing career since I realized you could be my son. But I would like to know a little about you personally.”
“How did you come to think we were related?” It was the question that had been bugging him since Santiago’s first email.
“You look just like me when I was younger. I pray you don’t look like me now when you’re my age. Don’t worry; the cancer is not hereditary. I smoked until a few years ago. When you won your first world championship, there was a big article on you in one of the magazines, your photo on the cover. Someone pointed out the likeness to me, and so I looked you up. It took a bit of digging, but eventually I found a photo of your mother and recognized her as the woman I’d had a weekend affair with around the time of your conception. There was never any mention made in your bio about a father.”
“My mother never told me who my father was. She was married at the time you met her, but due to her husband’s inability to procreate, she knew I wasn’t his.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know she was married or I would never have… Anyway, I was in Paris for business, my wife had died, and I was lonely. Your mother approached me and one thing led to another. I tried to contact her, but she said I’d been only a fling; she wasn’t looking for a relationship.”
“Sounds like my mother.”
“I’m sorry, Daniel. If I had known you had resulted from our affair, I would have asked for custody or at least access.” A tear trickled down his father’s face. Due to his mother’s indifference, he’d missed out on a lifetime of paternal love.
“I had a good childhood. My half brother’s grandfather did an excellent job of raising me. Have you met him?”
“Yes, briefly. He’s a good man. I am so glad you were loved.” Luis’s eyelids closed and he opened them again with effort. “I need to rest now. Perhaps you could call the nurse to read to me?”
“May I read to you? If you have an English or French book, that is. My Spanish is not worth listening to.” And something he’d probably need to work on if he was to keep in touch with his new brother.
“You like to read?”
“After Lexy and racing, it’s my next greatest passion.”
Luis smiled. “Now I know you are my son.”
Daniel searched through the books and found a copy of The Great Gatsby in English. He read until his father’s head lolled to one side and the nurse came in to check his vitals.
“Él duerme,” she whispered. He’s sleeping.
Daniel slipped quietly out of the room and went in search of Lexy.
Chapter 16
Lexy couldn’t settle. Her whole body seemed to itch on the inside. The hangover was mostly gone, thank God, but it had left in its wake a terrible sensation that it was the beginning of the end. As much as she tried to dismiss Wesley’s threats, what if he was right? What if it was the best for everyone? As much as she loved Daniel, how could it work out for them long-term? When Max started school, would she stay behind in England or France while Daniel continued racing? She was not going to end up like her parents. It would be better to end things now, while she still had fabulous memories and not the bitterness of clinging to a relationship that had died long ago.
“Excuse me; I’m going for a walk,” she said to Daniel’s father, Grand-Papa, and Maya. The four of them had been sitting on the terrace in the late afternoon sunshine. Maya had been entertaining the two older men with stories of her great-grandmother.
Daniel and Max were kicking a football around on the grass. Her son’s squeals of delight for once didn’t lighten her mood. Genevieve and Miranda were having a tea party complete with hats, feather boas, and gloves. Lexy had tried to join them earlier but as soon as she’d approached, Miranda’s eyes had sunk to the ground and she’d stopped talking. It seemed Genevieve was the only one who could reach the little girl still traumatized after the death of her parents.
“Would you like to join us?” Santiago asked as she passed. He and Jacques were doing a blind taste test of a half dozen bottles of wine. The labels were covered and they were attempting to identify the grape varietals by taste alone. One sniff of wine and Lexy’s stomach protested.
“Thank you, but no. I’ll leave it to you experts. Okay if I wander around your gardens?”
“Please, be at home,” Santiago replied.
She strolled around to the side of the house. Not because the flowers looked more interesting there, but because it would stop her staring at Daniel. More snippets of last night had come back to haunt her. Getting drunk was one thing—while it was a first for her, she was fairly certain it was a more common occurrence for others. It was the utter loss of control that worried her.
She was stroking the velvety petals of a rose when she sensed she was being watched. Daniel stood a few paces away, his hands thrust in the front pockets of his jeans. The look on his face said he wasn’t sure if she wanted him near or not. She gave him a hesitant smile, and he closed the distance between them. None of this feeling of unease was his fault. He’d done everything possible to make her feel special and loved.
Daniel wrapped his arms around her and she snuggled against him. God, he felt so good. “Feeling better?”
“Much. I’m sorry about last night.”
“Don’t be. I’ve had a few nights like that as well.”
“Are there pictures all over the Internet?”
“Not any more. Jacques had his hacker guy delete them. He’ll keep an eye out for the next couple of weeks, but these things blow over pretty quickly. There’ll be someone else dancing naked in the fountain tomorrow.”
“I didn’t, did I?”
He paused and she glanced up at his face. “No, of course you didn’t. I’m not about to let anyone else see what’s for my eyes only.” He kissed her leisurely before pulling back. He searched her eyes, worry clearly evident in his. A shiver coursed through her.
“Lexy, we have a problem.” He said it with such seriousness she pulled back. Had Wesley talked to Daniel as well? Threatened to end his career if he didn’t let her go? As gifted a driver as he was, he still relied on sponsorship. If the Hardings used their political clout to end that…
“What?” She held her breath.
“Dude is dead. I went to feed him this morning and he was belly-up in his bowl. Max is going to be devastated.”
A slightly hysterical laugh erupted from her throat. All this worry for a fish? If only he knew what was really at stake. “We are currently on Dude version 6.0. I’ll just tell Max he’s resting and get another one as soon as we get to a town.”
“Oh, good.”
“Were you really upset about a fish?”
“As much as I hate to admit it, Dude and I have had some pretty intimate moments over the past few weeks.”
“True. I was a bit jealous of that fish.”
He put both hands on his cheeks, his eyes huge. “Mon Dieu, you didn’t kill him, did you?”
She laughed again, more genuinely this time, and snuggled into his chest. Damn, she was going to miss this—his strong arms and the way he could make her laugh. “No, I figured I could do things for you the fish couldn’t, so I was pretty safe.”
“True. Now on to the next issue. Santiago wants to ask Genevieve to stay here in Argentina. Evidently she’s the only one who has been able to reach Miranda. The girl hasn’t spoken to anyone in three months.”
“Of course. The two of them seem to have really bonded. Maybe it’s a shared trauma thing. Miranda is probably helping Genevieve as well. I can look after Max in Abu Dhabi; my father will also be there to help.”
“And Jacques and Maya. They’re heading back to Chile the day after tomorrow with Grand-Papa, but said they’d come to the race.”
“I’m glad. I like Maya, but your brother scares me a little.”
“Don’t let Jacques intimidate you. He’s a big softie.” He turned her face up to his with a finger under her chin. “Are you ready to tell me what’s bothering you?”
No! But he deserved to know. She’d already kept enough secrets from him. “Wesley was at the hotel yesterday when I returned from the track. He’s given me an ultimatum: get back together with him or he’ll fight me for custody of Max.”
“You can’t,” Daniel blurted
out. “You can’t marry that bastard again. Tell me you’re not even considering it.”
“I have to consider it. My son will have a father and everything he could ever want in life. Wesley said I can go back to school, become a research scientist, and his family will fund my investigations into the neurological causes of food addictions. And I won’t risk losing Max.”
“What about us? I love you, Lexy. I can give you and Max everything Wesley offered and more.”
She put her hands on either side of his face, drinking in the love in his green eyes. “We’ve had the most incredible two months together—beyond my wildest fantasies. But the adventure is ending and I have to face reality. What kind of life can we have together? The episode in Rio just proved that I can’t drag Max around the world with us; his health is too precarious. And what about when he starts school? It’ll kill me to stay at home while you race. God, I couldn’t even do it in Rio. Not to mention the sheer stress of seeing you put your life on the line. I’ve had more binge eating relapses in two months than I had in four years. I need stability, Daniel. I need boring.”
“I don’t have all the answers right now, Lexy. But if we love each other, we’ll find a way. Promise me you won’t do anything rash.”
“I told Wesley I’d give him my decision on December first.” Already her heart felt like it was flat-lining.
She had two weeks to come up with a solution. But hey, everyone loved a deadline.
***
The hot, dry Arabian wind blew across the track, making the car unpredictable. He’d already had two spins. But so had the rest of the field, so he was in good company. For the first time in years Daniel was looking forward to the end of the season. He just prayed he wouldn’t be alone.
It had actually been hard to leave Argentina. They’d stayed five days, and each day his father had gotten a bit weaker, was awake fewer hours each day. Daniel had read the entire Great Gatsby book to him, although how much his father actually heard was anyone’s guess. As they’d said goodbye, Daniel had had to wipe away the tears as he’d kissed his father’s cheek and called him “Papa” for the first and probably last time.