Page 172 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 5-8

‘I’m here.’

‘Good. Because I am asking this one tiny thing now. Before I die.’

He winced. ‘Please stop talking that way.’

‘Why should I? We’re all going to die; I just have a clearer idea of when and why than most. But listen to me, that is why I’m asking you this.’

‘What is it you want, Mamá?’ he said, swallowing down on the lump in his throat.

She gave a long sigh, sounding suddenly resigned. ‘I want to see my son married before I die.’

‘What?’

‘After all,’ she continued, ignoring the interruption, ‘you’re not getting any younger. You’re forty-two years old. It’s not too much to ask, surely? It’s not like you’ve not had plenty of time to find a wife. In every picture I see of you in the papers you’re accompanied by some beauty. When are you going to settle down with one of them?’

Caramba!His mother had been angling for him to get married for more than a decade. It hadn’t happened, despite the women shoved in his path. He hadn’t been willing to marry any woman simply to keep his mother happy—not a woman more interested in the family fortune than him.

But there was more to it than that. He hadn’t gone looking for it. He’d witnessed his mother’s deep despair when his father had died. He’d seen the battle she’d fought to dig her way out of her life-sucking depression. He’d shared every day of it with her.

Why would he willingly want to jump into that shark tank? Why did he even need to? There were plenty of women who were more than happy with a brief fling—if not with the actual brevity…

But there was no point arguing with his mother now. No point upsetting her when she was already finding sleep difficult to come by. He schooled his voice to mellow. ‘And who says I haven’t found someone I want to settle down with?’

‘You have?’ His mother’s voice sounded as if it had received a jolt of electricity. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Because it’s early days and I don’t want to frighten her off.’

‘Who is she? Anyone I know?’

Good question, Dom thought. Who the hell was she? ‘How about I fill you in when I get home? Meanwhile, it’s late, and you should be sleeping.’

‘You’re really getting married? You’ve really found someone special?’

‘You should rest,’ he heard the doctor say.

‘I can rest now,’ she said on a weary sigh. ‘My son is getting married.’

‘We’ll talk when I get home,’ Dom said with a sad smile. ‘I’ll fill you in on all the details then.Te quiero,Mamá.’

‘My son…te quiero.’

He heard the sound of the doctor gently taking the phone.‘Un momento,Dominico,’he said, before settling his mother into the pillows. Dom heard the snick of a door closing before the doctor spoke again. ‘Thank you for taking the call.’

‘Are you sure that she’s failing? She sounded much stronger than your prognosis would suggest.’

‘Don’t let that fool you. She is a strong woman and, if I may say, a woman on a mission. She refused to sleep until she had spoken to you and her efforts will have taken a toll. But Rosaria will sleep now, because of the assurance you gave her.’

But would Dom sleep? It was one thing to make a promise—another thing entirely to keep it when you had no idea how to make it happen.

‘And can I add,’ the doctor said, ‘congratulations.’

‘Gracias,’Dom uttered, through a throat that might have been filled with gravel. He put down the phone, his heart heavy. If the doctor suspected Dom’s promise to his mother was nothing more than a cynical attempt at placating Rosaria and getting her to rest, he didn’t let on. But then, why would he care, so long as Dom came through and made his patient’s final weeks and days more comfortable?

Dom sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, his mind assessing what he needed to finish before he headed back to Spain and to his mother’s bedside for the however many days or weeks she had left. There was a meeting with his lawyers at ten to iron out any details, followed by a meeting at eleven that shouldn’t take more than five minutes, meaning he could be on the jet by mid-afternoon. His team could take care of any loose ends here.

And in the meantime, he had to find himself a bride.

Simple.

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