Page 63 of Under My Skin

Thank God I’d thought to alert Dani’s security detail about my suspicions. At least they’d be able to keep an eye out for Vickiwhile I was nine hundred miles away and unable to do a damn thing about any of this.

But they weren’t me. I needed to be there, proving to them that I could be the father and partner they deserved. And making sure they knew that I’d die before I let anything happen to either of them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

DANIELA

“Doyou mind staying in the car?” I asked Leo as he pulled into a parking space at the cemetery. “Isaac and I really need some time alone with her.”

“What if I stand right at the gate?” he suggested. “Then you’ll still have privacy, but I’ll be able to get to you quicker if something happens.”

I nodded and sighed. “That’s fine.”

As much as I hated it, I knew that was smarter. Therewas, after all, still a psycho bitch who was fixated on Braden out there somewhere. And if Braden was right and it was his publicist, that meant she knew all about me – and, more horrifyingly, Isaac.

Getting out of the car, I double-checked that the baby wrap I’d put on before leaving this morning was still secure before opening the back door and getting my little man out of his car seat. Once he was safely snuggled against my chest, I grabbed my purse and the flowers I’d brought and started to head into the cemetery. As promised, Leo stopped right at the gate, letting me carry Isaac toward my sister’s final resting place alone.

My nose started to burn and my throat clogged up with tears as I approached the headstone that Malachi had paid for withouta second thought. My sister’s entire life summed up in four short lines.

Amara Luisa Ramos

2001 – 2024

Beloved Daughter, Sister, and Mother

Bigger Than the Whole Sky

Supporting Isaac with one of my arms, I knelt in front of the headstone, taking the old, dead flowers out of the holder and putting the fresh ones in their place. Then I took my phone out of my purse and pulled up Taylor Swift on Spotify. She had provided the soundtrack for so many moments with Amara, and she would always be one of my favorite artists because of that. Today, though, rather than playing any of the songs that held memories for us, I went for the one that had inspired the inscription on her headstone. Because that was what she’d always been: bigger than the whole sky.

“Feliz cumpleaños, Mar,” I murmured, sniffling as the tears started to trickle down my cheeks while I sat on the grass.Happy birthday, Mar.

“God, everything’s a mess. Everything we thought we knew. Everything you died believing. Braden didn’t know about Isaac. He didn’t know we tried to reach him on his old phone number. And now… Damn it, part of me wishes I’d never signed that stupid contract, but if I hadn’t… If I hadn’t, I never would have gotten to know him.

“I tried so hard not to fall for him, Mar. But I couldn’t help it, and now I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if you’re looking down on me and Isaac. I don’t know if you could see how hard we had to fight before Braden came into our lives, and I don’t know if you can see how sweet he’s been to me and Isaac in thepast month and a half. How much he’s helped us and gone above and beyond what that damn contract said he was supposed to do.”

Isaac started to fuss in the wrap, so I gently bounced him a little to adjust it, then swiped at the tears that were flowing out of my eyes like a river before kissing him on the head and rubbing his back lightly, and he quieted again.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this,” I sighed. “Maybe I’m looking for a sign. Something to show me that you’re okay with the way I feel about Braden, or at least that you forgive me for it. Because I don’t know hownotto love him. I don’t know how not to want him. And maybe I’m setting myself up for heartbreak, but for once, I don’t care. I just… If there’s a chance in hell that he still feels any part of what he said to me before I dropped that bombshell on him, I have to take it.”

As I wiped more tears from my face, taking a deep breath, “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” ended and Spotify started to shuffle to the next song. And just when Taylor’s version of “You Are in Love” started to play, a gorgeous monarch butterfly flitted over to us and perched on my sister’s headstone.

Another sob bubbled up in my throat as I reached for the necklace I’d never taken off. If it was true that loved ones watched over us after they passed on, and if they could send messages from the great beyond…well, this seemed like the closest thing to an approval I was ever going to get.

“I wish you were still here. I wish you could see how fast your beautiful little boy is growing and what a sweet baby he is. God, I wish you could meet Lina too. She’s so good with him, and she’s become like family to us. He issoloved, Mar. It hasn’t been easy, but we’re okay now. We’re finding our new normal. And that’s thanks to Braden. He provided for his son before he even knew he was doing it, and he’s still doing it, even when I tried everything to push him away. But I don’t want to push him awayanymore. I want to give whatever there is between us a chance if he’s still willing to. So thank you for being okay with it. Thank you for understanding.”

For a little while, I just sat there, enjoying the beautiful warm weather and clear skies and the shuffled Taylor Swift playlist while cuddling with my son. Because that was what he was. Not just my nephew, but my child. I’d always make sure he knew about his other mamá in heaven, but I was the one who was raising him. And I needed to start owning that.

When my text alert sounded over “Fearless,” I jumped a little, not expecting it. I grabbed my phone off the grass next to me to check the message and saw it was from the man I’d just been sobbing to my sister about. I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face as I read it.

Braden

Hey, beautiful. Can you send me a picture of Isaac? I told Ian, Ky, and Melissa about him this morning. They wanted to see him…and I realized I don’t have a single picture.

Quickly scrolling through my camera roll, I found one of my favorite pictures of Isaac and sent it to him, and then I snapped a selfie of us sitting here and sent that too. And I immediately knew that one of the first things I needed to do when he got back was make sure to take a bunch of pictures of them together. Every father needed pictures of – and with – his child.

Braden

Thank you, sweetheart.

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