Matchmakers, no. 1

by Bernadette Marie

  “Bella, what has you so upset?” He touched her face with the gentleness of a lover.

  “Where do I start? But first, what’s going on with you? Why haven’t you returned my calls?”

  Slumping, he let her lead him to the couch where they sat with their fingers interlaced. “Sandra left.”

  “Why?”

  “Sophia, someone has put her up to something. Paid her off for a story about how evil I am.”

  “That’s not true.” Her voice rose with her anger.

  “Ah, from your lips to God’s ears!” He raised his hands. “But it is what it is.”

  “And Pierre?”

  “Oh, Sophia.” He gathered her hands in his again. “I know you’ve kept our secret out of respect for our art and our friendship. Perhaps I even used you a bit in front of the media, which has been pointed out to me.” His brows rose, and he shook his head. “But I’ve never asked you to lie, have I?”

  “Goodness, no.”

  “Well, no longer is there need for you to hold your tongue. Pierre and I are to be married at Christmas.”

  “Pablo!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m so happy for the two of you.”

  “Thank you. You’ll be there?” His heavy Italian accent sang in her ears.

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “Good. Then we have one more order of business.” He stood and pulled a letter from his pocket and handed it to her.

  Sophia opened the letter, and her eyes grew wide. “Oh, Pablo!”

  “It’s the invitation that we’ve waited our whole lives for.”

  “The Vatican.”

  “The Vatican. Can you believe it, Bella?” His voice was pure and full of joy.

  She turned to him, the significance of what he’d said to her about Pierre sinking in. “They don’t know about the two of you?”

  “Not yet. That’s why it is crucial we live out this one, last dream before things that shouldn’t matter do.”

  Sophia nodded. How could loving someone ever be bad? But if the Vatican knew that Pablo DiAngelo intended to marry another man, they’d cancel the performance. Sophia looked at the letter once more.

  “Pablo, this is in three days.”

  “We leave now.” The statement was precise.

  “But the party.”

  “You’ll give your condolences.”

  “Oh, Pablo, so much has happened. I have to tell you...”

  “Bella, either we go now or we miss out on what we’ve always wanted. Won’t what you want to tell me wait?”

  She was sure it would. Her head was spinning when her grandmother entered the room.

  “Oh, Grandma.” She smiled, crossing the room toward her. “Oh, the most wonderful thing has happened.” She noticed her grandmother’s eyes shift to the man behind her. “Grandma, you remember Pablo.”

  “Mrs. Burkhalter, it’s a pleasure.” Pablo held his hand out while Katie looked him over with skeptical eyes.

  “Mr. DiAngelo, how unexpected.”

  “I know. My apologies.”

  “Grandma, we’ve been invited to the Vatican!” Her voice still bubbled over with the enthusiasm of having one of her dreams come true.

  “Oh, Sophie, that is wonderful.” Her grandmother gathered her in her arms and hugged her tightly.

  “It is, isn’t it?”

  “When?”

  Sophia stepped back, and tears began to fill her eyes. “I have to leave now.”

  “Now?” Disappointment filled her grandmother’s voice, and that alone was enough to break Sophia’s heart.

  “I know. The timing isn’t great, but Grandma…”

  Katie touched her granddaughter’s arm. “I’ll have another birthday. If you must, go.”

  “Oh, thank you.” She hugged her grandmother again. “I have to call David. I have to tell him. I have to say goodbye.”

  “David?” Pablo stepped up to her. “Please, David?”

  “Oh, Pablo, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. He’s asked me to marry him.”

  His eyes narrowed, and Sophia could see his disappointment. She knew he’d understand when she explained. They’d spent years sharing their stories. Love found. Love lost. He wouldn’t look at her like that for long, or so she hoped.

  “Go pack. We must leave within the hour.”

  David sat in the office of Todd Krantz, tapping his fingers on the desk as Todd read over the contract they had penned.

  “I think it’s solid,” Todd said, sliding it into a folder.

  David ran his hands over his face. “God, what am I doing?”

  “Well, like you said, you’re not obligated to do this. This is not your child.”

  “I know.” His heart was racing. “I know.”

  “Well, let’s get this thing signed.” He stood behind his desk and gathered the folder and the paper that bore Mandy’s address. They headed out to the car and drove through town toward the motel.

  When they pulled up, she peeked through the curtains of the dingy motel window. Sweat had formed on his brow, and his heart was thumping at a particularly unpleasant pace. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and laid it on the seat. The last thing he needed now was an interruption. How would he explain what it was he was doing, especially to Carissa or Sophia?

  When Mandy opened the door for them, one look at her told him he was doing the right thing. It had only been a day since he’d seen her, but she looked weaker—as though she had begun dying.

  “David, what can I do for you?” Her voice shook, and she swayed.

  “Mandy, why don’t you sit?” He was already walking through the door before she could slam it in his face.

  She didn’t argue. David was already nervous, but when she ran the heel of her hand between her breasts to ease the obvious pain she was in, he felt the blood rush from his head, and he too sat down.

  “This is Todd Krantz. He’s my lawyer.”

  “Lawyer? Are you suing me?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. David shook his head, and she sighed. “What then?”

  “Mandy, I’ve decided I want to help you. I want your baby.” The words sounded like those from a character on one of his aunt’s soap operas.

  “David, get out.” She stood quickly and then sat back down, panting and clutching the arm of the sofa with one hand and her forehead with the other.

  “Carissa doesn’t want her sister going to strangers. So, if you need to think of this on other terms, think of Carissa.”

  Her eyes softened. “Carissa. I was sure she thought I was crazy. She didn’t say a word to me when I spoke to her.”

  “Well, she had plenty to say when she got home, but she doesn’t want her sister to live with strangers.”

  “I don’t want her to either,” Mandy admitted. “But why the lawyer?” She shot a look in Todd’s direction.

  “I intend to take only the baby. I don’t intend to take the mother in this deal.” His words were crisp and steered toward hateful. He knew she didn’t need further explanation.

  “I guess I was a handful last time, wasn’t I?”

  “I’m not pointing fingers and passing blame. I have Carissa, and that’s all I ever wanted from you. Now Carissa wants Hope, and I want her to have her in her life.”

  “Hope?”

  Damn. He hadn’t meant to let that slip.

  “Hope is what she’s named the baby.”

  “Hope.” The name settled on her lips. “I really like that.”

  Tears were already forming in her eyes. Looking at her, David couldn’t remember the young woman who had seduced him in the hangar so many years ago. The eyes he was staring into belonged to someone else—someone who had aged well beyond her years and obviously regretted every moment of it.

  “I need to know, honestly, how likely are you to survive this?”

  “The contractions will most likely set off my heart’s rhythm. Even if they give me medication in the hospital, my heart is that we
ak. They can do a transplant, but I don’t want that.” She moved closer to him and covered his hand with hers. It felt cool and skeletal. “I’m okay with this, especially now.” She smiled, but he couldn’t muster one. “Since you’re here and so is he”—she nodded in Todd’s direction—“I want you to know that I don’t want them to resuscitate me. I want to die.”

  Her words slammed into him. He hadn’t expected them to. He hadn’t expected to care, but his heart wouldn’t let her suffer before and it wouldn’t now.

  Todd stepped in. “Mandy, I admire your courage. David wants what’s best for both of your girls. We’ve drawn up some papers that say you give up all parental rights to the baby and give them to David.”

  “Give them to me. I’ll sign them.”

  “They also state that if you survive the birth there are no obligations owed to you by Mr. Kendal and you will not seek custody of your daughter or reimbursement for medical expenses.”

  “I said I’d sign them.” She reached her hand out.

  David wanted to speak. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to tell her not to sign the papers, but he couldn’t.

  He watched her sign away her daughter and essentially her life.

  “Keep the name,” she said on a weak breath.

  “What?”

  “Hope. I want that to be her name.”

  “Okay.” He drew in a deep breath. “How does this all go down?”

  Mandy winced and rubbed her stomach. “I have DNR papers, medical papers, and my will in my purse. You need to be there with me when I go into labor and have the baby. My will already states you as the baby’s father, but I want your name on the birth certificate.”

  “I’ll be there. Where can I write down my cell phone number?”

  Todd handed him the note pad by the phone. He jotted down the number and his schedule for the following week and handed it to her.

  “Tell me if you think you’ll go longer. I’ll cancel my work schedule, too.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be soon. I’ve been having a lot of contractions.” She winced and rubbed her stomach again.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t be alone.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  David nodded and stood to leave.

  “David,” she called after him. “Thank you. This means so much to me.”

  He couldn’t answer. He only nodded as he and Todd left the motel.

  He picked up his cell phone from the seat as he sat down. It rang in his hand, but he let it continue to ring. It was Sophia.

  He silenced it and slid it into his pocket. His voice wouldn’t be steady. Not yet. He couldn’t come up with the words to tell her what he’d just done for his daughter. He wasn’t sure Sophia loved him enough to accept it.

  He blew out a breath and rubbed his chest with his palm, easing away the ache much as Mandy had done earlier.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Sophia threw items from the bathroom counter into the half-packed suitcase on her bed. A flicker of movement nearby made her jump.

  “Oh, Grandma! You scared me to death.” She threw the items in her hands into the suitcase and returned to the closet.

  “When are you leaving?”

  “As soon as I get downstairs.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe he finally got the Vatican. Oh, Grandma, this is so amazing!”

  “Yes, it sure is. What did David say?”

  “I keep calling his phone, but he won’t answer. Carissa doesn’t answer either.”

  “What about Carissa’s audition?” Katie folded a shirt that Sophia had tossed on the bed and set it into the suitcase for her.

  Sophia paused, her hands full of expensive clothes she’d purchased in Europe. “Do you think she’ll hate me?”

  “She is seventeen.”

  Sophia knew her grandmother well enough that she understood her grandmother didn’t want her to go, but would never stop her either.

  “I’ll be back.”

  “When?” Katie shot back.

  “I don’t know.”

  “What about David? You’re going to marry him, aren’t you?”

  “We have a lot to work out. He’s done some things...”

  “And you’re walking away again,” Katie reminded her.

  “For something I’ve always wanted.” She dropped a dress into her suitcase.

  “What if he changes his mind?”

  “Maybe I’ve already changed mine.” She shut the suitcase and zipped it closed.

  “You’ve had another fight?”

  “Yes, yes we did.” The answer was as matter-of-fact as it could be. “There are just some things we can’t see eye to eye on.”

  “I see.”

  Sophia stopped and took a deep breath. She turned to Katie and took her hands. “I love you, Grandma. I’m coming back. I promise. Whether I become Mrs. David Kendal or not, I’ll be here. I already have my things in Seattle being shipped to me. I’ve looked at a house, and who knows, maybe someday I’ll teach music.” The thought appealed to her more than ever. “I want to be here to see Carissa become an adult, even if she doesn’t become my daughter. My life is here.”

  “But, for now, you have to go?”

  “Yes.”

  Katie nodded. “What do I tell David and Carissa?”

  “That I’ll be back very soon.” She saw the trepidation on her grandmother’s face. She’d run away from her fears once, and she wouldn’t do it again. “And this time I promise.”

  As David and Carissa walked through the door, Katie set the last serving dish on the table.

  David surveyed the room. He looked at the table and noted the four plates.

  Carissa set her purse on the counter and hugged Millie.

  “Oh, this looks good. I’m so hungry.”

  “Good.” Millie’s voice broke.

  “Where is she?” His voice was already shaky.

  “Gone,” Katie said as she sat down to the table.

  “Gone? Gone where?” He hadn’t taken another step into the room.

  “David, sit,” Millie instructed, and his eyes darted to hers. “Sit.”

  The pain in his chest was back. She hadn’t gotten over their fight. Damn! She was the most stubborn, most pigheaded, most...

  “Pablo came for her today.” Katie sat with her hands in her lap and her head lowered to pray.

  Carissa’s eyes darted to his, and he tightened his jaw.

  Again, Millie instructed, “Sit!”

  David sat. He bowed his head. He listened to the prayer, and then he shot back up to his feet.

  “I can’t believe this!”

  “Dad, calm down.” Carissa shot up next to him. “Maybe there’s a good explanation.”

  “No.” He turned to Millie and Katie. “What happened?”

  “They got their invitation to the Vatican.” Katie’s voice was soft, but there was an edge to it. David caught it.

  “You just let her go?”

  “Don’t be disrespectful, Davie,” Millie intervened, as if he was a child.

  “I didn’t have a choice.” Katie began to serve herself dinner. “This is what she wanted. It’s what she’s always wanted. She said she’d be back soon.”

  David raked his fingers through his hair and spun on his heels. He needed air. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. She’d called him six times while he was in Todd’s office and with Mandy.

  Shit! She’d tried to call him and tell him, and he wasn’t there. What he’d been doing now felt deceitful, and his insides twisted until he was sick.

  Carissa followed him to the back porch.

  “It would have been nice. Wouldn’t it have?” She sat on the steps to the porch, pulled her long, dark hair over her shoulder, and wrapped it around her fingers. “I thought she’d stay. I thought she’d be my mother.”

  Tears welled in her eyes. David wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the top of the head, blinking back the moisture in his own eyes.

  “We’re making assumption
s.” He tried to remain optimistic. “We haven’t talked to her. So, she’s not here. She’ll miss the party.” That alone had a bad taste in his mouth. Katie deserved more than what Sophia had offered.

  “She’ll miss my audition,” Carissa added, and that set David’s teeth to grinding. Another promise broken.

  “But she helped you. Do your best, and get that seat.” It wasn’t a suggestion. It was a demand, and she nodded. “She’ll call. Even if she’s mad at me, she’ll call you.” He was sure of it.

  “Do you think she’ll come back?” She looked up at him, tears streaking her cheeks.

  He wiped his thumb over her tears and rested his head against his daughter’s. His entire body ached with missing Sophia. “I don’t know.”

  By the time she returned, he’d be a father again. He couldn’t even begin to convince his daughter Sophia would stay.

  During the first three hours on the plane, Sophia drank four cups of coffee, excused herself to the bathroom six times, and broke down in tears more than once. She was a wreck.

  “My Bella, I thought you’d be happy to come home with me.” Pablo took her hand in his and interlaced their fingers, stopping her from wringing his prized possessions. He gently lifted her hand to his lips and kissed each finger. “Why are you so sad?”

  “I love him, Pablo. Dear God, I love him. I shouldn’t have left.” Tears welled in her eyes, but she fought them back.

  “I thought you were over him. I thought you’d moved on in your life.” His voice resonated with anger, and she couldn’t blame him.

  “I thought I had, but I was wrong.” She turned in her seat to look him in the eye. “Oh, Pablo! He still loves me. I was so wrong about everything, and I ran away without asking questions or trying to find out what was what. I was a fool. I love him.”

  “I can have them turn the plane around if you’d like.” His eyes softened, and he even smiled.

  “Oh, shut up.” She laughed a weak laugh and laid her head on his shoulder. “I love you.”

  “And I love you, Bella.” He rested his head to hers and she closed her eyes, hoping she hadn’t sacrificed the people she loved most to play at the Vatican.