Page 75 of A Brambleberry Summer

Oh, he was a dear man. A little more warmth seeped into her heart. How was she supposed to resist him?

“Yes. Some were deported. Others are still in jail here in this country. Daniel made sure all the girls were rescued and the men were punished.”

“I would like to meet Sheriff Galvez,” he said gruffly.

“You two are similar. I think you would be friends. That is one reason why I...” Her voice trailed off and she felt her face heat, as she was unable to complete the sentence.Why I fell in love with you.

“Why you what?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly. “I only wanted to tell you, after Daniel and Lauren married, they gave me a home and then legally adopted me.”

“They sound wonderful.”

“The best. Though they can be too protective of me.”

“That’s understandable, don’t you think?”

She nodded. “Yes. I do understand but this is one reason I think I had to move somewhere else. Somewhere I would not be poor Rosa Galvez.”

“What about your baby?” he asked.

Ah. Here was the most difficult part. The other things that had happened—the abuse, the beatings. Even the rapes. Those scars had healed. She hardly thought of them anymore.

Her child. That was a wound that would never close completely.

She chose her words carefully, wishing she did not have to tell him this part. “I had a baby girl ten weeks later and...she was adopted.”

There. The words still burned her throat.

He was quiet for a long time. Was he recoiling now from her? She could not blame him. It had been a terrible choice for someone who had been little more than a child to have to make.

“It’s Bella, isn’t it? Your daughter?”

That was the last thing she expected him to say. In horror, she jerked away and scrambled to her feet. Fiona immediately moved to her side, as if sensing more danger.

“No! Bella? How ridiculous! Do not say this. You are crazy.”

He rose, as well, gazing at her across the sand. The rising moon lit up one side of his face, leaving the other in shadow. “I’m not crazy though, am I?” he said quietly. “I’m right.”

She didn’t know what to say. How could she convince him he had made a terrible mistake? She had no words to undo this.

“No. This is not true,” she said, but even she could hear her words lacked conviction. “I do not know how... Why did you think of this?”

“The time frame lines up. Bella is the right age and she was adopted through your aunt Anna. You’re her birth mother.” If her own words lacked conviction, his did not. He spoke with a growing confidence she had no way to combat.

“I don’t know why I didn’t see the resemblance before. Maybe I didn’t want to see it. Does she know?”

Rosa stared at him, not sure what to say. All of her instincts were shouting at her to go inside the safety of the house, but she couldn’t leave. She had started this by telling him her history. It was her fault. He was a police detective. How could she blame him for connecting all the pieces of the jigsaw and coming up with the correct picture?

This was the part of the story she did not want him to know. The part she had been trying to protect him from. What must he think of her now? She had abandoned his niece, a girl he loved. She had given birth and handed her over to another woman to be her mother, then went on with her life. Learning English. Finishing school. Dating boys. Going to college.

Why did he not seem angry? Why was he looking at her like that, with a tender light in his eyes? Did he not understand what she had done?

She could not think about that now. For this moment, she had to focus on controlling the damage she had done. She should not have told him anything. Since she had, now she had to make sure he did not ruin all the care she had taken during the years she had lived in Cannon Beach, so close to her daughter but still far enough away.

“No. She does not know,” she finally said. “And you cannot tell her. Oh, please. Do not tell her.”

“I would never, if you don’t want me to.”

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