“We’ll have a proper visit soon,” she promised them.
“Christmas,” Enrique whispered with a grin of anticipation.
“Exactly.” Pia couldn’t help cupping his little face and kissing his forehead. She did the same to Mateo and blew another kiss at them as she left.
Cesar stopped her turning down the hall toward the stairs, opening the door to the playroom across the hall and waving her in with an imperious look.
“Oh, I see. It wasn’t the boys who wanted to see me.” Why was that such a kick in the chest?
“They always want to see you, but so did I.” Cesar swung the door mostly closed.
Pia crossed a loomed mat imprinted with a town of roadways and buildings, stopped at the indoor slide and turned to face her brother, arms folded. Defensive? Absolutely. It was bad enough she hadn’t brought home someone from the preapproved list of bachelors. Her groom’s backstory was even more shocking than any of them imagined and she was pregnant by him. Which meant she’d had sex.
It didn’t matter that Cesar had been in this position himself. His role had been the other side and he’d never been as sensitive about having his private business strewn about, probably because he was secure in his place in the family and the world.
What made this confrontation particularly difficult, however, was the fact that she liked her brothers. Their marrying wonderful women had certainly helped her feel closer to them, but Cesar especially was the person she most hated to disappoint. He had suffered betrayals from other quarters and once his trust was lost, it was never regained.
She braced herself for his rebuke.
“You don’t have to marry him,” he said flatly. “Ignore whatever Mother has said about how things look. I will always look after you.”
She was too shocked to react. They never spoke from the heart. The most sentimental thing he’d ever said to her was his sincere thanks for her presence at his wedding because it had meant so much to Sorcha.
This conversation instantly became uncomfortable. She reflexively pointed out the obvious. “I’ve been living independently for five years. I can take care of myself.”
“Clearly,” he said, which was a rebuke, but a gentle one.
“Lovely glass house you live in,” she retorted.
“It is,” he agreed, nodding with gravity. “Which is why I’m telling you to do what’s right for you. I will back you up with Mother, support you in any and every way you need. How well do you even know this man, Pia?” Now he sounded like the clichéd big brother. “The gaps in his background report make me suspicious.”
“You had him investigated?”
Cesar snorted. “If you think he doesn’t have a hundred-page dossier on every single one of us, you really do need someone to start looking after you.”
Maybe she did, because her first thought went to how badly it would hurt Angelo to have his mother’s pain uncovered by some paid snoop, then subsequently held up as a blight on his character. That poor young girl had been in an untenable situation. She had given birth to a baby she shouldn’t have conceived and loved him enough to protect and provide for him the only way she could. Pia’s heart fractured thinking of her.
“His lawyers are sharks,” Cesar continued. “Negotiations have been heated.”
“Our lawyers are sharks,” she dismissed. She’d been copied on everything and thought it was going as well as it could, given both sides had proprietary interests to protect.
“How long have you known him? Are you in love? Don’t tie yourself to him because you think you have to. I want to hear it from you that this is what you want.”
She parted her lips, but discovered it was only to draw in a deep sigh.
Still time to back out, she heard Angelo saying. Those words had hurt because he hadn’t tried to convince her to stay with him. He had threatened to make her life difficult if she didn’t. One more indication his desire to marry wasn’t about her at all. No matter how great the sex, he was marrying her for the baby and possibly other, darker motives.
The irony was, his devotion to their child carried tremendous weight with her.
“He wants this baby, Cesar. In a way that—” She cut herself off, unwilling to go down the road of their father’s shortcomings. There was no point.
Cesar got there anyway. “That’s why you have to do what’s right for you,” he said gently. “I didn’t have the power to make things better for you when we were young. I do now. You do. Say the word and I will end this engagement right now.”
What could she say? That she wanted to marry a man who had stolen something that technically belonged to Rico? That she wanted a husband whose history could come to light and throw a shadow over all of them? That she hoped whatever scandal arose, it would blow over before their child was old enough to understand any of it and would never be harmed by it?
“Pia?” he prompted.
“Tell me something, Cesar.” She had to clear the huskiness from her throat before she continued. “Do you blame Sorcha for the fact her father had two families? That she was part of the illegitimate one?”