Page 71 of Thiago
“I don’t blame her. I understand Mother’s desire to see her grandchild, but the whole idea of the visit feels off. She never came for the wedding, and all of a sudden, she’s excited about being a grandmother. She was barely maternal.”
Bruno’s face turned thoughtful. “People change,” he said.
“Maybe,” Thiago said with a healthy dose of skepticism. “She didn’t bring what’s-his-face, did she?”
Their mother had been in a committed relationship with a man thirty years her junior for over three years. None of them liked him and viewed him as an opportunist, but Valentina wouldn’t hear a negative word about him. After a while, they gave up trying to talk sense into her.
“She left him behind,” Bruno replied.
“Good.”
The sound of movement at the kitchen door caught Bruno and Thiago’s attention. Bruno lifted his gaze, and Thiago turnedaround to see Marissa in the doorway, one hand supporting her large belly.
She flinched. “It’s time,” she said.
Bruno hopped off the stool and rushed to her side. “The baby?”
She nodded vigorously.
His brother turned to look at him. “Thiago, I?—”
“Go! I’ll lock up before I leave. Get out of here.”
Marissa shot a grateful smile at him, the fingers of one hand gripping his brother’s forearm.
Thiago followed them into the entryway and watched as Bruno removed a travel bag from the top of the closet and threw it over his shoulder. Then he helped his wife out the door, leaving Thiago behind.
He stood in the doorway until the car pulled off the property and then returned to the kitchen. He scraped what was left of their meals into the trash and placed the plates and other dishes in the dishwasher. When he was done, he stood in the silent kitchen, reflecting on what he had witnessed a few minutes before. His brother was about to become a father for the first time.
Did he want what Bruno and Ethan had? A wife and a baby?
He had never thought much about those things before. A family could derail his plans. Children needed care and attention. So did a wife, for that matter. For years, Thiago had only been concerned with reaching the upper echelon of his father’s company and making more money. No woman had ever made him consider giving up his freedom.
Until India.
If he did pursue the life his brothers had, there was only one person he could imagine being with. Which meant Bruno was right, and he’d been living in denial and could no longer hide from the truth.
He was definitely, unequivocally, in love with India Monroe.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Whose car is that?” Rose asked, eyeing the dark sedan parked in Bruno’s driveway, hoping her suspicions were wrong.
Balancing two foil-covered pans on one arm and a bag filled with items for the baby in the other, Benicio replied, “If I had to guess, I would say Valentina’s. Bruno warned me she might be here.”
“Warned” was the right word, and Rose’s stomach tightened with dread. She had looked forward to spending time with her daughter-in-law, son, and their new baby boy, but Valentina had already arrived. She was Benicio’s first wife and the mother of his three boys—now men—Bruno, Thiago, and Ignacio—whom Rose had come to love as her own when she married their father. Despite the wonderful relationship she had with her stepsons, the few times she’d met Valentina over the years, the other woman never hid how much she disliked Rose.
“Are you going to be all right?” Benicio asked, watching her closely.
“I’ll be fine. I’d walk through fire to see my grandchild.”
They had originally seen their grandson when he was first born at the hospital. That had been a short visit, and she looked forward to spending more time with him tonight.
She balanced a basket of fresh vegetables against her hip and led the way into the house.
As soon as they entered, she heard voices in the kitchen and went in that direction, immediately encountering Bruno and his mother. Mother and son stopped talking as soon as they entered.
“Good evening,” Rose said in a bright voice.
