Chapter Eight
His heart wouldn’t stop racing, but then again, that matched his thoughts. The meeting with the union had finally resolved the lingering problems that had been plaguing their biggest European factory for months. It should have been a happy moment. When they finally all turned their cells back on, his heart sank. The message hadn’t made sense. Today was supposed to be a good day. He was finally solving huge problems, and Jules had taken Tonya to scout the locations she needed. Everything was great.
Now it wasn’t.
Tonya’s frantic voice on the recording had chilled his blood.
“She passed out and the doctors are doing tests right now. They’re not sure what it is. We’re at the San Domingo Hospital near the Gothic Quarter. Hurry!”
He’d texted Tonya back, but she didn’t answer.
Confused and heartsick, Xavier had jumped in his limo and sped back to the heart of the Catalan province, all the while hoping that his beloved was safe. They had to have found out what was wrong with her. It was an excruciating two-hour race back through the mountains from the remote factory to Barcelona, to the hospital that held the woman he loved.
As he rushed down the hall, he was greeted by the sight of his brother, Javi. The man was standing by the nurses’ station with a cell phone to his ear. That wasn’t an unusual image. After all, his brother was an even bigger workaholic than Xavier was. It calmed him somehow, this familiar part of his life. If Javier was calm, then it had to mean Jules was okay, that she’d be fine.
“Hermano,” he said, sweeping his brother into a frantic hug. “Where is she? Is she okay? What’s going on?”
Javier pulled away and patted his shoulders. “You need to calm down. Everything is going to be okay. But you should probably sit down.”
“I don’t understand.”
“She has a gall bladder issue. She’ll need to go home to the States to have some minor surgery. She’ll only be gone a few weeks.”
“But she could have it here, right now.”
“She said she didn’t want to do this without her family, and that she needed some time to recover where her mom could watch her,” Javi continued.
Xavier started to pace. “That doesn’t make any sense. I’d fly her mother and father and anyone else she wanted here in a private jet today. She can have the surgery just as well in Barcelona.”
“Her mother had a connection at Hopkins, and to be frank, this surgery can have some indelicate side effects.” Javier said, his brow furrowed. “I think she didn’t want to be that sick in front of you.”
“I could weather anything with her. If she was a little sick or had bedhead or whatever, I’d understand.”
“You have only been dating for over three months,” Javi pointed out. “You barely know her, realistically speaking. The best thing you can do is accept that there are things she wants, and she’ll call you when she needs to.”
“I do know her. I’ve slept beside her every night for months,” he replied, put off by Javier’s coldness at a time like this.
“You thought that about Tina too. I’m only saying that if she needs boundaries now when she’s ill, then respect that. Send her an e-mail in a week or two when she’s recovered and on her way back.”
“That’s not me, and you know that,” he said. “Can I talk to the doctor?”
“About a patient, probably, but I told you all there is to know. Trust me, you just need to let her and her family handle it at the best hospital on the planet, and then she’ll be back here. Until then, the company will give you more than enough to do,” his brother finished, putting a hand on his back and steering Xavier toward the elevator. “Trust me.”
***
She had another call from Xavier. He’d called her several times a day and e-mailed her more than that. Sandra had screened all of it, too scared to look at everything laid out before her. She knew that Javi must have told Xavier everything, at least his version, and she didn’t know how to hear that same hatred in Xav’s voice that she’d heard from his brother.
Yes, there were reasons for what had happened to her, for what it looked like she’d done. The facts lined up badly, even though everything in Javier’s assumptions was false. The last thing she wanted was to open her over-packed voice mails to tirades from the man she loved about how she’d hurt him.
Or worse.
About how he never wanted to see her again.
The self-imposed exile back home in the spare room of Tonya’s apartment had to be better. At least that’s what she’d told herself over the last two weeks. Besides, her mind had enough to keep her focused on other problems. Six babies. She’d gone to her first OB/GYN appointment yesterday, and now had more supplements and rules to follow than she ever could have imagined. Soon enough, she’d have to head from DC to her mom and dad’s home near Baltimore. They had to know everything that was happening, that she was expecting oh so many children.
Surprise, Mom and Dad, you’re going to be grandparents six times over.
Sandra had no idea how to tell them that, but she was supposed to be going over for dinner with them next weekend. That would be a complete shock for them. Beyond a complete shock. It would probably cause her dad with his weak heart to keel right over.
“What a mess I’ve made.”
Tonya entered the room and set a tray full of oranges, chicken noodle soup and biscuits on the bedside table. “You didn’t make a mess. The only thing you did wrong was come home. I still say who cares what Javier said. He’s not Xav, and he barely likes anyone.”
“But I should have told him about our night in Atlantis from the first day. It does look suspicious, and Javier has already had a chance to talk his ear off and turn him against me.” Tears sprang from her eyes, and she stroked her fingers over her belly. Six little lives were in there that she and Xavier had created together. “I just can’t stand to hear him say he hates me.”
“I understand that, but if you don’t tell him about his kids, he’ll be mad at you.”
“I can’t deal with this. I can’t deal with anything right now. Tonya, he was the one. I loved him so much. Hell, who am I kidding? I still love him. He’s all I can think about.” Sandra sniffled. “Well, I also think about the babies all the time too, but that counts as being about Xav.”
Tonya sat on the bed next to her and stroked Sandra’s hair back from her face. “I can help explain it. He’d understand. You’re so miserable.”
“I’m also sick. The hormones are hitting hard. I’m tired all the time, and I do want to eat, but it’s so hard to keep anything down.” She set her head on her friend’s shoulder. “I’m a complete mess.”
“True, but see this time if you can at least keep some chicken broth down. I have some errands to do, but we’ll talk later. I don’t think you want to turn your back on Xavier like this.” Her friend stood and then patted her shoulder. “Hang in there, hon. You take it little by little and just get the nourishment for the babies. I’ll help you with everything else.”
“Like my own personal nurse?”
“I like to think of it as more like a little fairy godmother.”
Sandra laughed as her friend disappeared out the door. Her eyes grew heavy and she closed them, cuddling against the mattress for a nap. Rubbing her stomach, she added, “Well, gang, I guess it’s just us for a while.”
She dozed for a long time. It was the only time she wasn’t nauseated and when her head didn’t spin. When a faint knocking sounded on the door, Sandra put her head up and noticed the sky was pitch black outside. Picking up her phone, she glanced at the time.
Wow, it’s nine p.m. I’ve slept through everything!
The knock sounded again and she hopped up, glad her body wasn’t that changed yet and she still had some strength to her. Walking over to the door, she flung it open and was expecting it to be Tonya with more soup. Her jaw dropped when she found Xavier on the other side. Instinct took over and she threw her arms over his shoulders, relishing the cinnamon scent that tickled her nose, made her happy.
Made her feel like she was back at home.
How long has it been since I started thinking of Barcelona as home?
She looked up at her lover. No, not just that. He was the father of her children, damn it.
Concern colored his bright green eyes and his face was unshaven, a day’s worth of stubble covering his face. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he was swaying a bit on his feet. Reaching up, she planted the back of her hand against his forehead.
“You look terrible. Are you sick?”
“Only for you,” he said, shutting the door behind him and then leading her to her bed. “Tonya called me over Skype. I was expecting it to be you.”
“She has my password,” Sandra said sheepishly.
“Sandra, I was so worried.”
“I know and…” She blinked back at him. “You said my name.”
“Tonya explained everything. I had no idea that you were here because Javier was mean to you. I know you needed space for the gall bladder surgery, but I was so confused when you didn’t answer my calls.”
She stilled. How could he not know? Oh Javi has been busy, hasn’t he?
“I…you know that I’m the same woman from Atlantis?”
“Tonya filled me in on that part. She said that it was her idea to move to maid work, and she badgered you for months to join her. She said you never would have if she hadn’t picked at you.” Xavier raked a hand through his thick, dark hair. “She admitted that the biggest perk for you in moving to our company was that you wouldn’t be hit on nonstop by bar patrons.”
“Well, usually guys who hit on me are obnoxious,” she said, winding her red hair around her finger. “I wasn’t on duty that day. I was so sad. My boyfriend had dumped me. I was a mess, but I don’t regret what happened. I just had no way to explain it. Then there was Lisette throwing glasses at my face, and I figured you hooked up with girls all the time. That I wasn’t special.”
He caressed her cheek with his hand, and she leaned into the gesture, into the sensation of warm, callused hands against her face. “I looked for you. I tried to find you on Facebook and phone books and everywhere. I couldn’t. I promise you, Sandra. I never forgot about you. Maybe that’s why I always felt that connection.”
“Yeah, and I know Javier must have told you it was all some scam, that I’d tracked you down to seduce you, but I swear it was never like that!” she insisted, her voice breaking in its sadness.
He kissed her, his tongue promising her a world of pleasures all over again. Heat flared in her belly, and Sandra realized truly how much she’d missed him, ached for him, over these long weeks.
Xavier pulled back but held her hand as he spoke. “I wasn’t upfront with you either. I wanted to be left alone. When I went out to clubs, I would give my mother’s maiden name. I think we both played a part in all the mixed signals.”
“Why did you lie?” she asked. “We all know why I did.”
“Because I had an ex who almost ruined my life.”
“Tina.”
“Yeah, she ended up not getting the hint when I said I wanted to end the relationship. Then she stalked me and made tons of scenes that got ‘Xavier Villalobos’s’ image plastered on every tabloid site and all over social media. It was the biggest reason I started keeping a low profile after that, why I make myself like a ghost.”
“I see.”
“No, you don’t,” he said, his hand clutching hers tightly. “You don’t understand because I barely did till you left for America. I’d been hiding my heart for years, only doing flings. What we’ve had so far has been the first time I let it thaw in months. You did that. You’re my east, my sun.”
She rolled her eyes a little at the allusion to her other name, to being Juliet. “I think you’re laying it on a little thick, Xav.”
“No, not really. I was hiding and existing through life, and you changed that. I want to start over. I lied and hid things from you, and you did from me when my own behavior caught up with me.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it as he had before in the club. “I’m Xavier Villalobos of Catalan Food Distribution, and I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”
She blushed and spoke, daring to voice the truth. “Hi, I’m Sandra Gaines, and I’m the mother of your children. All six of them.”
“Ha-ha, very funny.”
She shook her head and dug into the drawer in her bureau. “Actually, that part’s quite real. Congratulations, Dad. I know this sounds impossible, but we’re the only other natural sextuplets Dr. Díaz has heard of.”
He studied the sonograms, his eyes growing wide as saucers. “You’re serious?”
“We’re going to be parents. I…you’re not mad at me?”
Xavier reached out and swept her into a hug, gathering her into him. “I’m scared for you. I can’t imagine how much this has to be on your body.”
“I’m barely three months. The worst and hardest is yet to come.”
“You were going to do this without me?”
She dug deeper into the drawer and handed him two pieces of paper. “Javier offered me money to go away. I was so humiliated that I took it, but the minute I got here, I shredded it.”
Xavier eyed both halves, then balled his hands into fists at his side. “I’ll kill him.”
Sandra’s shoulders deflated, and she surprised herself with her next words. “He was trying to protect you.”
“By lying about your sickness? By hiding my children from me? He didn’t have the right to mess in my business, to make me feel like this, let alone speak so sharply to you.”
“But…” she said, snuggling into him. “He was scared I was a gold digger. After Tina, I can understand. I get it now. He loves you, Xav. He wants what’s best for you. Javier just messed up big time in this case.”
“Oh, I’ll say!”
“I never would have taken the money. My parents and I would have figured something out if you really didn’t want us.”
Xavier looked at the sonogram and then placed both hands on her belly. She responded by setting her own over them. “There’s nothing on Earth I want more than you. No one I could ever love as much as I love you and now the little ones.”
“You mean that?” she asked, her eyes welling with tears.
“Every word,” he said, kissing her. “Come home. Live in Barcelona with me forever. We’ll put the movie on hold, and when you’re ready we’ll go back to it.”
“I…really?”
“Yes, but for now, we have a family and that’s what matters most.”
“I agree.”