Free Beverly Jenkins by Destiny's Surrender Page A

herself.
    “Then spit it out.”
    So she told him about her pregnancy and the deal she’d made with the DuChances.
    “And you agreed?” he asked, sounding incredulous.
    “Yes, because I had no idea I’d love him from the moment he was placed in my arms. Up until then he was just an ‘it.’ ” She looked down at her son seated at her feet, gnawing on the cloth doll Addy’d made for him months ago and her love filled her heart. “I didn’t want to let him go. I couldn’t.”
    She saw sadness cloud his mother’s eyes.
    His angry voice brought her back to the matter at hand. “Do you know who Prince planned to sell him to?”
    She shook her head. “I do know he’s going to come after us, and if I leave Tonio here with you, he’ll be safe. If I can disappear back East, maybe Prince will give up looking for me. If he doesn’t and finds me, at least he can’t harm the baby.”
    He sighed heavily. “I have guests to see to. We’ll have to finish this up later.” And he left her standing in the middle of the room.
    She looked over at his mother. “Again, I’m sorry for bringing this here.”
    “Sounds as if you had little choice. Come, you and the baby can stay here for now. Have you eaten?”
    “Not in a while.”
    “Then let’s get you settled. I’ll send Bonnie in to help you so that I can go back to my guests. We’ll hash this out later.”
    “Thank you. May I ask what you’re celebrating?”
    “Drew and Rosaline’s engagement.”
    “Oh.” Hearing that made her feel even more like an interloper, if that was possible. She wanted to apologize a hundred times more, but sat instead to wait for Bonnie.

Chapter 7
    D rew spent the remaining two hours of the celebration pretending as if all were well. His life had been pushed off a mountaintop, but with Rosaline on his arm, he continued to accept the good wishes and toasts raised in his honor by the wealth of relatives in attendance, he stopped to watch his male cousins compete against each other in dominoes, chatted with some of his uncles and heard the music provided by the small army of hired musicians.
    “This is wonderful, Drew,” Rosaline said to him. “I like your family.”
    “And they like you.”
    One of his great-aunts dragged him to her and planted a kiss on his cheek. In Spanish she gushed about her happiness for them and the beautiful babies he and Rosaline would have, which of course brought to mind the child inside the house. All he could do was smile until his jaws ached.
    “Did you get the business taken care of?” Rosaline asked, gazing up at him as they moved on.
    “Mostly, yes.”
    “He’s a beautiful little boy.”
    He nodded his agreement but chose to change the subject. “Would you like more punch or more to eat?”
    “No. I’m stuffed.”
    He glanced up to find his mother watching him from across the patio. It was easy to tell that she was thinking about the drama surrounding Billie and the child. One of her cousins approached, and as they began speaking, she turned away and he continued his promenade with his novia .
    “You were gone for quite some time,” Senora Ruiz pointed out when he and Rosaline returned to her side. “Rosaline said you were conducting some business.”
    “I was. My apologies for my absence.”
    “Business with a woman and her child.”
    He stiffened. He supposed he shouldn’t’ve been surprised that Rosaline had shared the news about meeting Billie. “It was.”
    Senora Ruiz in her black dress and matching mantilla stood out from the rest of the gaily attired guests like a pale-faced crow in a row of peacocks. She’d chosen to sit away from the center of things as if his fun-loving, sangria-sipping relatives might have some type of contagion she wished to avoid contracting. That she wanted to interrogate him was easy to sense, but he had no intentions of telling her anything until he was ready to do so, though he knew he’d have to tell her and Rosaline everything eventually. Lying