TWO weeks later, Laura stared at herself blankly in the mirror.
An elegantly dressed bride in a long, white lace veil and satin sheath gown stared back at her. It still didn’t feel right. She picked up her neatly bundled bouquet of white roses and looked back in the mirror.
It was the morning of her wedding. In less than an hour she would have everything she’d barely dared to dream of—she’d be Mrs. Gabriel Santos. Robby would have his father.
So where was the joy? She should have been ecstatic with bliss and hope. So why, looking at herself in this beautiful dress, standing in a suite of this beautiful rented mansion outside her village, did she feel so…empty?
Gabriel had wanted to marry her immediately, in Rio, but he’d quickly given in to Laura’s begging when she’d asked to have their wedding in New Hampshire, so her family could attend.
“We can get married in New Hampshire, of course we can, if that’s your wish,” he’d told her. “But after the ceremony, we must live in Rio. Do you agree?”
She’d agreed. She’d been lost in romantic bliss, and all she’d thought about was getting married to the man she loved, in a beautiful wedding surrounded by friends and family.
She hadn’t bothered to think about what would hap pen afterward. Gabriel had already signed the preliminary contracts to acquire Açoazul SA, and he now planned to merge the company with Santos Enterprises and permanently move the headquarters from New York City to Rio de Janeiro.
Starting tomorrow, she and Robby would live far away from her family, far from the people who actually loved them. Laura would be the wife of a man who didn’t love her, a man who would offer only financial support to the child he didn’t know was his son. A child he could never love.
Now, Laura was dressed in an exquisite 1920s-style designer gown and her great-grandmother’s old lace veil. In ten minutes, she would go downstairs to get married in this beautiful place. The Olmstead mansion was a lavish house of forty rooms built by a now-bankrupt hedge fund manager, currently rented out for weddings. It sat among acres of rolling hills with its own private lake, a winter wonderland. And after the elegant ceremony in the gray stone library filled with flowers, a reception would follow in the ballroom, a lavish sit-down dinner of steak, lobster and champagne.
Laura had fretted about having such a luxurious wedding, worrying she’d steal her little sister’s thunder from two weeks ago. Gabriel had smiled and picked up the phone. Within minutes, he’d arranged to send Becky and her new husband to Tahiti on honeymoon, via his private jet. He’d created college funds for young Margaret and Hattie, to allow them to go to university. For their mother, he’d completely paid off the mortgage on the farm, and even helped out Ruth’s dearest friend, a neighboring woman with a sick child, by paying for medical care.
All of this, and he’d still deposited the agreed-upon million dollars into Laura’s bank account.
“A deal’s a deal,” he’d told Laura when she’d thrown her arms around him with a sob of delight. “I will always take care of you. That means taking care of your family.”
Laura bit her lip, furrowing her brow as she stared at herself in the mirror. She had everything she’d ever wanted. And yet…
“Your family,” Gabriel had said. Not our family.
He didn’t love her. He didn’t love Robby. And he still didn’t know the truth.
What difference does it make? she argued with herself. Her love for Gabriel could be enough for both of them. He would still provide for Robby financially, living in the same house, acting exactly like a father in so many ways. What difference did the truth make?
Except it made a huge difference. In fact, truth was everything. Because without truth, how could there be love?
Her troubled eyes looked back at her in the mirror.
But if she told Gabriel now that he really was Robby’s father, if he knew she’d lied to him all this time, she might lose everything she had. He would never
forgive her for the lie. He might—almost certainly would—call off the wedding. Why would he take her as his wife if he couldn’t trust her? Then he might sue for custody of Robby, and take her baby away from her out of duty—or even a desire to punish her.
But her conscience stung her. Didn’t Gabriel deserve to know the truth before he pledged himself to her for the rest of his life?
She heard a knock, and her mother’s smiling face peeked around the door. “All ready, sweetling? Your sisters are waiting and eager to be bridesmaids.”
Laura took a deep breath, clutching her bouquet in her cold, shaking hands. “Is it already time?”
“Just a few more minutes. The last guests are arriving now…” Then, as Laura turned to face her in her 1920s-style gown and her great-grandmother’s long veil, Ruth gasped, and her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, Laura,” she whispered. “You’re beautiful.”
Laura’s lips trembled as she smiled. “You look amazing, too, Mom.”
Her mother shook her head dismissively at the compliment, then came forward to embrace her, looking chic in pearls and a mother-of-the-bride suit of light cream silk. “I’m going to miss you and Robby so much when you’re in Rio,” she choked out. “You’ll be living so far away.”
Laura fought back tears. Though she adored the energy of Rio, the warmth of the people and the beauty of Brazil, the thought of moving permanently to the other side of the Equator, far from her family and home, caused wrenching pain in her heart. If her husband loved her, it might be endurable. But as it was… Choking back a sob, she squeezed her mother tight and tried to reassure her. “We’ll be just a quick plane ride away.”
“I know.” Her mother pulled away with a smile, even as her eyes glistened with tears. “My consolation is that I know you’re going to be happy. Really, truly happy.” She paused. “Gabriel is Robby’s father, isn’t he?”
Laura sucked in her breath. “How did you know?”