Soraya shook her head. “Not this time.” She waved goodbye to her daughters and left the room. In another minute the three of them were gathered around the yellow table. The girls chattered a mile a minute. Jillian couldn’t follow all their conversation but it didn’t matter. Their presence was very comforting.
She found herself wondering who provided the balm to the Senor’s troubled soul, but thinking about him got her into trouble. In a deliberate attempt to concentrate on something else, she got up from the table and went over to her suitcase.
Her clothes had been put away, but she’d left the gifts for the children inside it. Since she wasn’t going to be seeing them for a while, she decided to give them to Marcia and Nina.
Removing the adaptor from her laptop, she plugged it into the little portable CD player she’d bought for them. She’d purchased several CDs in Spanish. One of them was a cartoon. Since Dave’s children loved the English version so much and had it memorized, she knew they’d get a kick out of it.
The girls grew silent as she plugged it into the wall socket and placed it on the table. Once she turned it on, the girls became so engrossed in the charming story they forgot to eat. When their mother came to get them, they begged to stay long enough to finish it.
“I’ll send them out when it’s over,” Jillian promised her. “In the meantime let me help take everything back to the kitchen.” But Soraya insisted on doing it.
Too soon the movie was over. The girls didn’t want to leave. However, they were too well-behaved to argue with their mother. Jillian sent the player and the other CDs with them, and invited them to eat lunch with her by the pool tomorrow. Since they didn’t have school right now, she would love their company. They could swim while she cooled off in the water without getting her head wet.
Squeals of delight from the girls settled the matter. With a heartfelt thank-you, Soraya ushered her children out of the room.
To Jillian’s surprise she felt sleepy. Although the temperature was pleasant inside the casa, she decided that being out in the heat had gotten to her. A little nap wouldn’t hurt.
After she awoke, she worked on some ideas, then walked through the house to the kitchen for dinner. Since the men were working late, the three women and the girls gathered for the evening meal. Still later she went back to her room to e-mail Dave and Angela.
She was on the verge of sending it when there was a knock on the door. Thinking it was the girls, she told them to come in.
“Buenas tardes, Jillian.”
“Remi …” She started to get up, but he told her stay put.
Why was it that every time she saw him after separation, her heart fluttered.
He lounged in the entry with his broad shoulder resting against the doorjamb. Patches of sweat had moistened his shirt. Obviously he’d just come in from a hard day’s work. She could see the darker shadow on his jaw. As far as she was concerned, he’d never looked more attractive.
“I understand you’d like to go on a carriage ride.” Jillian shouldn’t have been surprised word traveled so fast. “Will tomorrow evening be soon enough for you?”
“Only if it won’t be an inconvenience.”
Remi straightened to his full height. “I could use the distraction.” His comment was a reminder of the torturous memories he continually had to suppress in order to survive. “I’ll see you and the girls in the courtyard at seven.” On that note he disappeared. She stared at the closed door wondering how she was going to make it through the next twenty-four hours.
Luckily the ideas and drawings she was working on occupied her time. By the next evening she stood near the fountain just as excited as the girls while they waited for the first sight of the carriage. She, of course, was waiting for Remi. Heat from the day still rose from the ground, but having spent several hours with paper and pencil in the mill house, she was getting used to it.
Marcia must have heard the sound of the horses’ hooves the second Jillian did. The girl’s dark brown eyes flew in her direction. Nina simply jumped up and down clapping her hands.
Jillian exchanged smiles with the women standing a few feet away. According to Maria, the carriage hadn’t been brought out since the death of Remi’s mother.
Suddenly a beautifully matched team of white horses with black spots appeared. They were pulling the black carriage that rounded the side of the main house. Jillian’s gasp coincided with the girls’, who’d never experienced this particular adventure before. Elaborate leather trappings with red tassels and bells covered the horses’ heads and bodies. To everyone’s delight the horses’ movements caused them to sway, bob and jangle.
Soraya’s husband Miguel sat next to Remi, who held the reins. Paco rode in the carriage. Exhilaration spiraled through Jillian. It was a surreal moment for her. After a year of mourning Kyle, she realized she’d put the pain behind her.
For the first time since his death she felt alive. Really alive.
As Remi drove the horses closer to them, his penetrating black gaze found hers. The collision sent her into shock much as a bolt of lightning would have done.
Paco got out and helped his grandchildren to climb in. Maria and Soraya followed. Jillian took pictures before getting in last. She was glad she’d chosen to wear her white cargo pants and green silk blouse. This way she didn’t have to worry about the hem of a dress or skirt riding up her legs like it had done the other day in front of Remi. She took her place next to Nina and her mother.
“Everyone in?” Remi looked over his shoulder. Jillian couldn’t take her eyes off him. It didn’t matter that he was dressed in his white workshirt and jeans like the men. He stood out. The process of natural selection had decreed it.
“Vamos!” Paco called out.
The next few hours were ones Jillian would always remember. Remi drove the horses to some groves where the oldest olive trees grew on the property. Their height and girth were noticeably bigger than the trees she’d seen the other day. Every day on the estate contributed to her education, causing her to clamor for more.
Tonight the festive atmosphere Remi had created prompted the little girls to sing. As the sun was sinking below the horizon, everyone joined in. Jillian didn’t know the songs, which was just as well since she sang off-key, but she enjoyed listening to Remi’s sensuous baritone voice. In fact she didn’t want the outing to end. Neither did the children, who were vocal about it once they started to head back.
That special feel of family togetherness was something she hadn’t experienced for a long time. She expressed as much to Remi after they’d reached the courtyard and she’d climbed out of the carriage.
His dark eyes slanted down at her. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
High up in the driver’s seat with his wavy black hair and burnished complexion, he didn’t know how attractive he looked. He was the epitome of male strength and Spanish pride. It hurt to look at him.
“I’ll never forget anything about my time here,” her voice throbbed. She took one more picture, hoping there was still enough light to capture this moment.
“Gracias, Remi!” the children shouted.
A slash of a gleaming white smile in that handsome bronzed face showed briefly before he drove the carriage out of the courtyard with the other men.
Jillian knew it would take him a while to put the carriage back in the barn and see to the horses. Since he had to be up at dawn, she realized she would have another long wait until she saw him again tomorrow evening, if then. Because he lived in the house to the north of the casa, she didn’t have the hope of seeing him going and coming.
Had he and his wife lived in the main house until his world came crashing down?
She hadn’t dared ask those questions,