Page 18 of Rafa's Convenient Wife

After a year of proving himself, Beto had asked Rafael to help him purchase a failing Puerta Vallarta resort. It was a classy old place that had fallen into disrepair and needed a revamp. Rafael had been wary, but Beto had been passionate about the project. He had given Beto the help he needed and stepped back, letting his brother sink or swim alone.

He swam. Like an Olympian. There were problems in the early days of the renovations and remodeling. There was friction with some of the larger resorts in the area, which didn’t want to lose customers to a new and more modern hotel. Staffing had been an issue, with local gangs applying pressure on employees not to show up for work unless Beto paid them protection taxes.

Rafael had suspicions about what Beto had been up to while sailing around the world, but seeing his youngest brother deftly handle every problem that arose convinced him that letting Beto go and not forcing him back home as their mother had begged him to do had been the right choice. Beto was now the CEO of a thriving chain of intimate, high-end, all-inclusive resorts up and down the Pacific coast.

Certain his mother was in good hands, he nodded in his brother’s direction and moved through the crowd. He was stopped every few feet by people who wanted to pay their respects or tell him how lovely the funeral service was or how sad they were about little Jasper. It was hard to swallow the endless stream of sympathy, but he held it together.

Lola seemed to be struggling the most with losing their brother. She had been the closest to him, having gone to a private school in San Antonio a few blocks from their US headquarters. Jaime had been her guardian while she was there and had guided her through those hard and awkward teenage years. Maddie had been equally as close to her.

“Are you okay?” Rafael asked gently upon finding his sister standing alone on the patio, idly stroking the petals of a bright pink blossom on a tall stalk. There were dozens of flowers packed into that corner of the bed bordering the patio stones. They were his father’s favorite blooms, and Lola had been propagating them all over the property since she was eight or nine.

“These dahlias have slug damage.” She trailed her finger down the thick stalk to the thinner branches and out along the leaves. Holes dotted the leaves, the edges chewed and messy. “I asked Checo to put down slug repellant and diatomaceous earth.”

“It’s a busy time of year.” Rafael defended their longtime head gardener, knowing he wouldn’t have forgotten to treat the plants if things hadn’t been absolutely crazy around here. Preparing the house for the funeral had been the only priority. “The flowers you chose for the funeral were beautiful, Lola.”

“It was the least I could do,” she murmured, plucking the chewed leaves from the plant and dropping them onto the mulch.

“Mama appreciated it.”

Lola bristled. “If you say so.”

There had been so much friction between their mother and Lola since she had graduated from college. Mama wanted her to get serious about finding a good man and settling down to marry and have kids. Lola was focused solely on breeding newer and stronger agave plants and more eye-catching dahlias and zinnias in her private greenhouse and cut flower field.

“She loves you so much, Lola.”

“She has a funny way of showing it.”

Jasper’s wail interrupted their chat, and he left Lola brooding on the patio. He tracked his nephew’s cries through the open French doors and into the house. There were fewer guests now, and Jasper’s cries had scattered them away from Dina, who struggled to calm him. When she noticed him walking toward her, she said, “I think he needs to be changed and fed.”

“I have his diaper bag in the kitchen.”

Dina seemed surprised. “You spoke to Sky?”

He nodded. “I’ll tell all of you about it later.”

She narrowed her eyes with suspicion and gently placed a squirming Jasper in his hands. “Why do I get the feeling that you’ve done something reckless?”

“Because you know me better than anyone,” he remarked truthfully. After settling Jasper against his shoulder, he left the parlor and went to the kitchen, where he had dropped off the diaper bag earlier. Jovita heard him coming and told him she was already warming up some milk. He grabbed the bag and carried Jasper to the nearest private room with a couch.

Managing a hungry baby with a wet diaper and a changing pad that seemed too small to be useful proved to Rafael that he had to step up his game. He was woefully underprepared for being a father and didn’t want Sky carrying the full load of parenthood. He was marrying her to help, not be a burden.

Eventually, he changed the diaper and convinced Jasper to take his pacifier. He lovingly shushed him, rubbing his little back and rocking the baby as he cleaned up the mess he had made. In the kitchen, he handed Jasper to Jovita, who happily snuggled him and scrubbed his hands at the sink. Jovita popped the bottle into Jasper’s mouth, and Jasper greedily grasped it.

“He eats just like Jaime,” Jovita remarked, her eyes shining with tears. “He’s going to be a big, healthy boy like him, too.”

Jovita had been with their family since Rafael was a baby. Like his mother, she was devastated by Jaime’s death. She might have been the family cook, but she had been like a second mother, always available to the Farias children when they needed a hug or attention.

Rafael didn’t try to stop her when she carried Jasper to the upholstered chair in the corner of the room where Jovita liked to read and have coffee on her breaks. She settled Jasper in her arms and adjusted the bottle’s angle. She smiled lovingly down at him, and Rafael’s heart nearly broke. There was no shortage of love in this house or family for Jasper, but none of it would ever come close to Jaime and Maddie's love for their son.

It was cruel and unfair that Jasper would be denied the chance to know how truly wonderful his parents were. At that moment, Rafael silently vowed he would make sure that Jasper woke up every morning and went to bed every night, knowing how loved he was. Jasper would always know how much his parents had loved him and how much his grandmother, his aunts, uncles, and cousins all loved him.

He had that vow in mind as he waited for a lull in their family’s private dinner later that evening to announce his news. Jasper sat in a highchair beside him, banging happily away at his plate and tray with a spoon. Very little of the food he had been served was making it to his mouth. Rafael had tried to coax his nephew to eat some of the delicious meal Jovita and her assistants had cooked, but he wasn’t interested.

Of course, that all changed as soon as Sky made her entrance. She apologized for sleeping so long and missing the beginning of dinner, but his mother wouldn’t hear a word. She gave Sky a hug and kiss and took her to the empty seat on the other side of Jasper, who immediately reached out for his aunt.

“Food first,” she said, carefully diverting his attention to his tray. She picked up his discarded spoon, scooped up some of thesopa de fideo,and playfully brought it to his mouth. Jasper ate it without a fight, and Rafael smothered his frustrated frown at how easy she made it all seem.

Over their nephew’s head, their gazes clashed. She blushed, and he forgot all about his frustration. She seemed more relaxed after her nap. There was a spark back in her eyes, and he couldn’t help but wonder if his proposal had anything to do with it.

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