Page 208 of Modern Romance November 2024 5-8

‘And I needed to think through things,’ she told him. ‘I didn’t want to just react when I saw you next—lashing out in hurt or choosing to stay silent, like we both did before, even though we were hurting. I wanted to be different. I still do, but I needed time.’

‘All right.’ He folded his arms and met her pleading gaze with a level one of his own. ‘So, you couldn’t have sent me a text to let me know that’s what you were doing?’

Mia closed her eyes as guilt rushed through her like acid. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I should have. I suppose old habits die hard. I wanted to be completely off-grid, to be able to think without any interruption, but that wasn’t fair to you. I should have let you know where I was.’ She opened her eyes. ‘Please believe me, Santos. I am sorry.’

‘So am I,’ he said heavily. He walked back to the arm chair he’d been in before and dropped into it, his head resting in his hands. ‘But where does this leave us, Mia? We both struggle to break these old patterns of ours. Are we ever going to succeed?’

‘I don’t know,’ Mia admitted quietly. ‘But I want to try. That was the conclusion I came to when I was wandering around your orange groves, Santos. I looked at this land and I felt how it’s as much a part of you as your heartbeat. And I realised how much I loved that and love that part of you. And I want to be part of it, of this place. I want to be part of it with you.’

Santos lifted his head from his hands, a strange look coming over his face. ‘You’ve never said that before.’

‘Said what?’ Mia asked uncertainly.

‘That you loved me. Or even part of me. You’ve never said those words to me.’

‘I... I know.’ Again, the guilt. She knew she hadn’t said them because she’d found them so hard to say. ‘I do love you, Santos. I’m not sure when I started—if I fell in love with you back on the beach in Portugal, or if it happened over time—but I do love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’

He smiled faintly, heartening her. ‘I was thinking the same thing earlier. I don’t know when I fell in love with you, but then I realised it doesn’t really matter. The point is, I love you now.’

‘And I love you now.’ With each time, it became easier to say. Shewantedto say it. She wanted him to know—and be sure.

‘And do you think,’ he asked after a moment, ‘That love is enough?’

‘Not by itself,’ Mia replied. ‘But with effort and hard work and hope—yes. It is more than enough.’

For a second Santos stared at her and then, to her shock, his face crumpled. ‘I thought you’d gone,’ he whispered, and his shoulders shook.

‘Oh, Santos.’ Mia flew to him, dropping to her knees in front of him as she put her arms around him and drew his head towards her breast. He came willingly, wrapping his arms tightly around her as they clung together. ‘Santos, I didn’t. I didn’t leave you. I love you. I love you. I love you.’ She would keep saying it until he believed it. Until he knew it as surely as she did.

He held her tightly, his lips against her throat. ‘And I love you so much, Mia. I want to fight for this, for us. But... I don’t want to go through what I did today ever again. I don’t want to live in fear that you might leave me.’

She could tell it cost him something to admit this, and it made her ache all over again. ‘Santos, you won’t. I won’t leave. I promise,’ she told him, her voice throbbing with emotion. ‘That was what I realised today—that I don’t want to leave,ever. And even if I did I wouldn’t because, like you said, I made a commitment. We both did. And we have to trust each other, Santos...trust that we’ll honour it.’ She tightened her arms around him. ‘Do you trust me?’

He lifted his head to gaze at her with damp eyes. ‘I thought you didn’t trust me.’

‘I do,’ she said softly. ‘I know it will be hard, especially with how set your mother is against me.’

‘She isn’t,’ he told her, and when Mia started to protest he shook his head. ‘Please, believe me. She was, it’s true; I didn’t realise quite how much, and I’m sorry about that. But she told me today—after you’d gone—that she hadn’t understood how much we loved each other. She will come round, Mia, I promise. She already is and, even if she doesn’t, we’ll still be together. Nothing can change that. If my mother can’t accept it, I’ve told her she can live elsewhere.’

‘Santos, you didn’t...’

‘I did,’ he assured her. ‘And I meant it. I want you to be happy here, and I also want you to feel safe and accepted by everyone. That’s non-negotiable.’

‘Thank you,’ Mia whispered, moved by his sensitivity and kindness. ‘That means a lot to me.’

‘I love you,’ he told her again, and she smiled.

‘I love you too. So much.’

She leaned forward to kiss him gently on the lips. The future shimmered in front of them, unknown yet not uncertain. They would find a way forward...together. ‘Nothing can change that,’ she echoed, and then Santos deepened the kiss.

EPILOGUE

Two years later

THEHACIENDASPARKLEDunder the summer sunshine as Mia glanced around the courtyard in approval. The pillars were festooned with balloons and a drinks table with lemonade and sangria had been set up one end. In the fountain, several-dozen yellow plastic ducks bobbed for a game of Hook the Duck, and outside on the terrace there were lawn games set up for the children who were coming to the garden party, a new yearly tradition for the estate’s staff and employees.

In the two years since they’d returned to Seville, Mia had worked hard to find her place there, and Santos had supported and encouraged her every step of the way. At first, she’d been cautious, not wanting to step on anyone’s toes, especially her mother-in-law’s. But Evalina had decided to take an extended holiday through Europe, mainly to give Mia and Santos their own space.

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