Chapter Thirty-Two
I exhaled and adjusted myself in my seat, trying not to elbow my seatmate, which was impossible. I totally knocked them off the armrest.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, still trying to keep my shitty red nose and puffy eyes hidden from view.
“I’m sorry, too.”
The blood in me stilled.
The voice.
That voice.
No.
No, it fucking could not be.
I very slowly turned my head toward the passenger sitting beside me, looking at them for the first time.
Mateo was right there, staring at me, his quiet smile and soft eyes just inches away.
My breath hitched in shock. I was dead, wasn’t I? The plane crashed on take-off and I was dead! Or sleeping. I was sleeping.
I slowly tore my eyes off of him and looked around at the other passengers on the plane, wondering if they were dead too or asleep or strange, or if something was out of the ordinary, some sort of sign that I was dreaming or God was playing the world’s cruelest practical joke.
“I was hoping to get your attention earlier,” he said with a shrug. “But you never looked this way once. I can see why, your little red nose.”
I continued to stare at him like a deer in the headlights. I started shaking my head in disbelief. “No. No, h-how can you be here?”
“Is it bad that I’m here?”
I shook my head again, licking my lips, trying to find words where there were none. Everything around me throbbed as if in slow motion. My mind was officially blown and the rest of me was struggling to catch up.
Mateo.
Here.
Next to me.
Flying to Vancouver with me.
“I told your mother that I wanted you to be with your family and people who loved you,” he said simply. “Whether you believe it or want it, Vera, you are my family. You are my universe. And I love you more than anything.”
“That is so sweet,” the woman next to him gushed, obviously eavesdropping. Actually, I was sure the whole plane was probably listening to this.
I blinked at him, wishing we had privacy. But really, that didn’t matter. Everything I wished for was here.
“Will you forgive me?” he asked, placing his hand on mine. Warmth flooded through me, a shiver ran down my back.
How could this be real? How could this be happening?
“What for?” I breathed out.
“For not being sensitive enough during everything, for thinking you could handle all of that when I should have never asked you to handle it. You are strong, Vera, very strong, but I was so wrapped up in my own burdens, of what I had to carry, that I thought yours weren’t as hard. But they were. There were many, many things that I did wrong.” He raised my hand up to his and kissed it. “Will you forgive me?”
I still couldn’t believe it. “Of course,” I whispered, my emotions all fighting each other. What did this mean? “There is nothing to forgive, Mateo. You did what you had to do.”
“I know,” he said. “I just wished it could have been different. I forget that you are only twenty-three years old, Vera. You have shouldered so much and you are only twenty-three. Women your age shouldn’t have to deal with these situations. I am in awe of you, do you know that?”
I swallowed hard, unable to ignore the gnawing feeling of doubt in my chest. “And…how are things? With you. And them?”
He smiled and his eyes lit up. “I was granted joint custody,” he said.
I broke out into a wide grin. “Are you serious?”
He nodded. “Yes. I am serious. After you left me, I went and visited Isabel most days.” My face fell but he shot me a reassuring smile. “Do not worry, it wasn’t like that. It was just to talk to her. I very slowly got her to understand. I owned up to everything so there were no secrets. I explained how serious I was about you, what you meant to me, the kind of wonderful and good person that you were. I told her how badly I didn’t want Chloe Ann to grow up without a father. With a lot of patience, I finally got her to sign it over.”
“Just like that?” I asked.
He turned his hand from side to side. “Mas o menos. More or less. I promised her a big settlement in exchange for any humiliation she had to suffer.”
I raised my eyebrows. Figures it would come down to money.
“But,” he added, “it is worth it. I took the time to take care of everything while you were gone. The divorce is almost final. And my daughter can never be taken away from me.”
I felt like the sun was bursting inside my heart, flooding me with utter relief. I felt like I could finally, finally breathe again.
Mateo would never lose Chloe Ann.
All my worries turned to dust, blown away.
“So what are you doing on the plane with me?” I asked when I composed myself.
“I’m taking you back home,” he said. He noted the puzzled look on my face. “Madrid is your home. I am your home. We’ll go to Vancouver and I’ll meet your family. It is only fair, yes? And then I’m taking you right back to Spain.”
“And if I say no?”
His smile faltered, his eyes creasing sadly. “Then I will have tried my best. I bought you this plane ticket because I knew that a nine hour flight was the only way I’d be able to have your attention, where you wouldn’t be able to run, to leave. I figured I would spend the entire flight trying to win you back. Trying to make you love me again.”
My heart swelled, my lower lip trembling. “I never stopped loving you,” I said quietly.
He reached out and stroked my face, running his fingertips over my cheekbones. “I couldn’t quite be sure. Sometimes, when love makes you mad, you wonder if it makes other people mad too.”
I nodded. “It does.” I sighed and looked down. “I’m sorry that I gave up on us. I just tried to do the right thing.”
“That is okay, Vera. I love you enough to make up for it. I would never let you go without a fight.”
I shot him a quick look. “You didn’t know I was at Claudia’s for some time. I could have left the country.”
“You are impulsive,” he noted, “but I figured it would take you a while to make arrangements. And even if you had left, I know your address in Vancouver. I would have found you. You burn too brightly to be missed.”
I closed my eyes at that and smiled, a happy tear streaking down my cheek. I was finally letting myself believe it, believe that we were together and had a chance.
“So,” I said carefully. “You still want me?”
He laughed lightly. “Oh, my Estrella.”
He grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me, hard at first, then soft as our lips and tongues melded together, feeling like honey, tasting like gold. I felt him all the way to my toes, making my skin and body come alive.
The woman next to Mateo let out a happy sigh, apparently still watching us.
Mateo and I slowly broke apart, our noses pressed against each other, gazing into each other’s eyes. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. I gripped his hair, holding on tight, afraid to let go. He was here, he was here, he was here.
And he was mine.
“You still want me?” he whispered, the utter vulnerability of his words sinking into me like silk.
“Si,” I said adamantly. “Always and infinity.”
He grinned and pushed up the armrest between us, unbuckling my seatbelt and pulling me to him. He put his arm around me and held on tight, his warm breath at my ear, his heartbeat steady against my back. He held me as the world outside the window turned to night and the starshine filled the endless sky.
We flew together like the stars.