Rio Grande Wedding Part 40

She gave him a cup of coffee. "I'm just happy this morning. I was thinking about my brother and my land. He loves to work the land. He and Tim were going to do it together."

"A good idea. You need more than one man for so much land."

"Yeah, but when Tim died, I didn't even think of that. I didn't think about why Josh wanted me to go on with the farm." She shook her head. "I feel so selfish, but I was just not thinking all that clearly." She cut pieces of b.u.t.ter and put them in a bowl to melt in the microwave, then turned. "You were so right about the potential that's out there. I don't have to work the land myself. My brother can do it."

He still looked a little confused. Pulling out a chair, he sat down and took his socks from his back pocket. Then scowled as he realized the tops didn't match. Molly chuckled. "Check the corner over there. Leo probably stole your sock."

As if he heard his name, Leo dashed out, grabbed the sock Alejandro had dropped on the floor and picked it up in his teeth. Alejandro laughed and tugged on the sock, taking it away,then dangling it in the air before he tossed it, in a ball, across the room.

Leo, tail switching, raced after it, retrieved it and brought it back to Alejandro, who laughed, low in his chest. The half-moon shine of teeth showed, and his eyes crinkled a little and Molly thought he was going to be a very dashing old man. When he looked up, his eyes were dancing with that zest and life she found so appealing. "A catwho fetches. His name should be Spot."

Everything narrowed to this minute. Findinga courage she didn't know she possessed, she said, "Alejandro?"

Hearing the shift in her tone, he looked up from his game with Leo and sobered.

"Will you stay? Make the land what it should be, work with my brother, show him what you know?"

His head bowed. "I cannot do that, Molly. I do not wish to cause-"

"No, it wouldn't be like that. My brother will be so glad to work the land that he won't care who does it with him. And Josefina could have a solid place here."

He said nothing, only listened,a stillness in his body. His eyes were deep, his mouth sober.

She met that liquid gaze, and bit her lip. Her heart pounded a little in fear and hope.

"Alejandro, can we be practical here?"

His mouth turned down at the corners, as if he had not expected that word, but it was okay. "Sure."

She took a breath, remembering what he'd said about the women in his village, the ones who would have valued him as a husband. "I value your strong back and your good financial sense. I'm strong, too. And I have land to offer as my dowry." She managed a little chuckle. "Isn't that how it's done?"

He looked troubled. "Molly-"

She held up a hand. "Let me finish, okay? I don't know if I'll ever be able to offer you more children, but as you said, there are many children who need homes, and I would be willing to bring some of them in if you need that in your life." She found her hand pressing against her ribs, and noticed that her fingers hurt with the pressure. "I'm a widow and I'm lonely, and I don't want to live alone anymore. We get along well. There is something good when we have s.e.x. It seems to me that there would be worse things for both of us than to just-" her voice croaked a little "-stay married."

His lids fell, hiding his eyes, and Molly thought there was a burn of color on his cheekbones. "Practical, eh?"

"Is that wrong? I don't want you to feel you have to give me some promise of undying love or something."

"Practical," he said again, and stood. He wore an odd expression, both fierce and hurt, as he crossed the room and stopped in front of her. She looked up, sensing she'd done something wrong, but completely bewildered as to what it might be, how she had offended him.

"I am a practical man," he said. "I see your bargain is a wise one for both of us." But he shook his head. "But I am not practical in matters of love, Saint Molly." His eyes burned, molten again, hot as lava, and be lifted his hands to her hair, letting it trail through his fingers. "My heart is bound to magic. My soul needs wonder." He grasped her head in his hands and lifted her face to his kiss. A slow, knee-buckling kiss.

He lifted his head again, and there was a sad smile on his mouth. "You see, Saint Molly, I am not a man who loves lightly. There is too much pa.s.sion in me, I think, and so I don't let it out." He shook his head, brushed his thumb over her mouth. "I cannot be the man you wish. That practical one. I wish I could."

Her heart swelled, and before he could move away, she captured his wrists with her hands, holding him there. "I believe in magic, Alejandro," she said softly. "There's a story that the old women tell, of the face that's carved on the heart of a woman. Every woman. It's a story they use to warn young girls to be careful with themselves." She swallowed, moved her hands to his face and whispered, "When I found you that morning, I saw the face that was carved into my heart." Holding his gaze, she said, "Everything I've done since then was because of that."

Alejandro stared down at her for a long, long moment, a rush of something unnamed, unknown till now, moving through his body. It was dizziness and pleasure and pa.s.sion, and such vast, intense relief that he did the only thing he could: he made a sound and kissed her. Kissed her mouth and her face, her eyes and her neck, his need urgent and carnal. In the cold kitchen, he untied her robe and tugged up her nightgown and kissed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He cradled her hips and hauled her hard against him. As if his pa.s.sion kindled hers, they shed as many clothes as they needed, and without moving anywhere, joined together leaning against the sink. Only then, when he was buried in her, her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s against his chest, her mouth open to his, could he speak. He lifted his head and looked into her ghostly eyes, silvery now with pa.s.sion, and said, "Teamo, Molly. I love you." He closed his eyes, feeling the words too small to express what he felt, and kissed her and hauled her closer,"Teamo ."

She kissed his cheekbones, his nose, his mouth, touched his forehead, his hair. "I love you, Alejandro."

And they joined with holy carnality, laughing when they slipped and nearly fell, and

slid to the floor to finish, and in spite of the cold floor, in spite of the awkwardness, they swelled together, and both of them were weeping when it was done.

Alejandro rested his forehead in the curve of her neck, and breathed his thanks to the fates. To his sister, to his father, to the fall of the Mexican economy, to Josh for shooting him, to everything that had played whatever tiny part in bringing him here, to this woman. His woman.

His wife.

The sound of a huge engine sounded outside, and they both startled,then skittered apart when a knock came on the door. "Just a minute," Molly cried out, and dissolved in laughter when she tangled the leg of her sweats inside out. Alejandro shoved his hair out of his face and fastened his jeans. Leaving his shirt unb.u.t.toned for the moment, he helped Molly up, smoothing her gown down, widening his eyes in laughter.

"Knock, knock!" Josh called from the living room. "Special delivery!"

Molly shook her hair out of her face and looked up at Alejandro, as if asking his approval. She had a red mark on her neck, bold and plain, and touched it, shrugging.

"What are we going to tell him?" she whispered to Alejandro. "In here!" she called out.

Josh carried his shrouded bundle carefully. She wasn't heavy in fact she was almost painfully light. But the cold air was a danger to her lungs, and the hospital had fretted over it. He promised to keep her head and face covered and Josefina had promised to follow orders exactly. So now, she curled in his arms, her blanket up over her nose. "You can take it off now, honey," he said.

"Is this my house?" she whispered urgently, her eyes wide.

"Yep." He heard a sound of giggles, quickly hushed, and slowed just a bit. "You know what?" he said, stopping entirely.

"What?"

"Maybe we aren't going to have to do any tricks." He grinned as another throaty, satisfied laugh came from the kitchen, and a sound of scuffling, and the lower laugh of a man. "What do you think?"

Josefina gave him an impish, knowing grin. "Put me down."

So Josh was trailing behind a strong little girl who strode down his sister's hallway in her bunny slippers, and he had a chance to observe it all. Molly, her hair a mess all over her shoulders, her sweats on inside out, her feet bare and a love bite on her neck the size ofTexas. Alejandro, his hair even wilder than Molly's, his shirt b.u.t.toned crookedly.

It was the expression they both wore that got him, though. Rushed and beaming. And then -.

"Hi,Tio ," Josefina said, and held out her hands. "Here I am."

If there had been even the slightest of lingering doubts in Josh's mind about Alejandro Sosa, they were erased in that instant. The man, plainly overwhelmed, simply fell to his knees and opened his arms. Tears streamed down his dark face as he hugged the little girl. "Welcome to your new home,hija ," he whispered against her hair. "Welcome home." He turned to Molly, who had crouched beside them, his eyes shining, and kissed her, in front of the world and Josh and his niece.

"Uh, Josh," Molly said. "There's been a change of plan?"

Josefina reached out a tiny hand and put it on Molly's shoulder. "Don't worry, Molly.

He knows you are in love."

For one moment, Molly stared at him, obviously worried. He crossed the room and hugged her. "I knew last night, kiddo."

He turned and held out a hand to his brother-in-law. "Congratulations."

But Alejandro snared him with his free arm and gave him a hug. A little surprised, Josh resisted at first,then realized it felt pretty d.a.m.ned good to be included. To be inside, to have family who cared, and he managed to hug a little in return.

"Thank you, brother," Alejandro said.