Immortal Billionaire, page 25
“Sí. Él está aquí.” She heaved a sigh of relief. They were confirming that Máximo was here. Her worst nightmare had been the prospect of arriving in Valladolid to find her timing was all wrong and he had already left on another expedition.
Helping her to her feet, the old woman escorted her across the square to the house. Supporting Connie with one hand, she rapped loudly on the door knocker with the other. After a minute or two, an impatient voice could be heard and then the door swung open. A woman, obviously a servant, stood in the doorway, hands on her hips and a frown on her face. She looked Connie up and down in disgust before the two women engaged in a heated conversation, none of which Connie understood. The woman inside the house was clearly ordering them to be on their way. As she attempted to close the door on them, Connie stumbled, falling to her knees just inside the entrance.
“Máximo.” She murmured the word as she lost consciousness.
When she came around, she was lying on a bed and someone was applying a cool, scented salve to her brow. She decided she must be dreaming and closed her eyes again. Then she sensed a movement beside her and knew without turning her head who it was. A warm sense of well-being washed over her before she finally heard his voice close to her ear. “Connie...my God.”
When she opened her eyes, Sylvester’s blue eyes were filled with tears. She struggled to sit up, but he kept his hands on her shoulders, pressing his lips to her forehead. “I was expecting Cariña.” His voice was husky as he traced the scar on her neck with one finger. “But it all makes sense now. You came after me?”
She felt a single tear, the first since she had started her long journey, slide down her cheek. Her hand moved down to her belly. “I wasn’t alone.”
He covered her hand with his. “I noticed.”
“I left the same day as you. I had another dream. Yargua murdered Cariña. He stabbed her before he threw her into the Salto de Fe. I knew then she couldn’t have been the one who followed you. I realized it had to be me. I ran after you, I even saw you jump into the Salto de Fe. I tried to call out to you, but Matt caught hold of me—” She gasped as a sharp pain tore through her abdomen.
“Explanations can wait. You are here. We are together again, that’s all that matters.”
“No, you don’t understand. The baby is coming.” Connie started to laugh at the shock on his face. “We conceived this child on an island called Corazón. Now he is eager to make his appearance here in Valladolid in 1521.”
* * *
Despite Connie’s emaciated state, the birth was easy and young Roberto made his way into the world several hours later, startling his father with the power and ferocity of his cries.
Máximo had been banished from the room by the outraged women of his household.
“¡Mi señor!” Sofía, his housekeeper, had exclaimed in horror at his suggestion he should be allowed to stay for the birth. “Such wickedness is unheard of.”
Connie, meeting his eyes over Sofía’s head, had smiled reassuringly. “Go. This is a different world. I’ll be fine.”
“What language is this she speaks?” Sofia asked, frowning in an effort to understand.
“It is the language of Corazón,” Máximo told her as he pressed a kiss onto Connie’s hand before reluctantly leaving her to his housekeeper’s ministrations.
Now, summoned to view his son and heir for the first time, he could only gaze in wonder at the sight of the two of them. At his beloved Connie who had made this incredible journey to be with him and at this tiny, crumpled being they had made between them. His heart expanded with so much emotion he thought it might explode. Sitting next to Connie, he slid an arm around her shoulders so they could gloat together over their son’s perfection while he took his first meal.
“Sofía is determined to fatten me up.” Connie pointed to the remnants of her own dinner.
“I should think so.” Sylvester could feel the bones of her shoulder under his hand. It was a harrowing reminder of what she had been through, and also of how strong she was. To have endured that journey into the unknown and to have kept going despite everything that had been thrown at her. He shook his head. “You are remarkable, do you know that?”
She tilted her head to smile up at him. “I have no problem with you telling me that every now and then.” A slight frown clouded her brow. “But what will other people think, Sylvester—I mean, Máximo? You have a reputation to uphold. There will already be talk about my arrival, about the baby.”
“I’ve been thinking about that. Not because I want to protect my reputation, but because I want us—the three of us—to be able to live happily in this world. The biggest change will be for you, Connie.” He smoothed her hair back from her brow. “It means you will have to become Cariña.”
She nodded. “Our story was already told, wasn’t it? From the moment we met, this was our destiny.”
“It looks that way. The truth is too incredible for anyone to believe. If we try to tell the real story, we risk being laughed at, or worse, accused of sorcery. This is sixteenth-century Castile. Ferdinand and Isabella may be dead, but the Spanish Inquisition they created lives on. I can’t imagine the suggestion of time travel would go down well.”
Connie drew Roberto a little closer to her, shivering slightly at the implication of his words. “Will anyone believe the alternative version? That I am a Calusa princess, who traveled from the new world to find my Spanish husband? Even that sounds incredible.”
“Believe it or not, there is a precedent. You’ve heard of the twelfth-century English priest Thomas Becket?” Connie nodded. “Legend says his father was a crusader who was captured by the Saracens. When he was released, Becket’s mother, a Saracen princess, followed him from the Holy Land. They had fallen in love while he was imprisoned in her homeland. She wandered around Europe repeating the only English words she knew, London and Becket, until she found him.”
“Becket was canonized as a martyr, so the priests of the Inquisition cannot doubt our story if they believe that of one of their own saints.”
“That’s true, but we will have to be careful. You must go to Mass and take care not to do anything that draws attention to you. You are different. The Inquisitors would label you an infidel.”
“By drawing attention to myself, you mean I shouldn’t sing pop songs or talk about my favorite movies?” Connie laughed as she leaned her head into the curve of Sylvester’s neck. “Can it be true? Are we really safe at last?”
“We are safe, but there is one more thing I need to do.” Sliding from the bed, but keeping hold of her hand, he went down on one knee. “For this, I will call you Connie one last time.” He looked up into her shining eyes. “When I saw you there on Corazón that first time, my heart shattered into a thousand pieces because I knew I was looking at the love of my life and I thought I could never have you. Never touch you, never kiss you, never tell you what I was feeling. Never look into your eyes as we made love. I knew my destiny was to leave you and come back here. Yet, all the time we were suffering, Corazón had its own plans for us.” He pressed his lips to her hand. “Now I do have you, Connie, I’m never letting you go again. I love you with all my heart. Will you marry me?”
“Of course I will! Why do you think I followed you across time and space?” Bright tears spilled over and she blinked them away. “The day I was attacked, I stopped living and started existing. My only emotions were fear and despair. That changed when I arrived on Corazón, the day I met you. I didn’t understand it at first, but suddenly this raw energy took over my life. I became alive again. Every step I took on this mad journey was worth it because I wasn’t scared anymore. I was running to someone instead of from someone. That was what you did for me, Sylvester. You gave me hope as well as love.” She smiled through the tears. “Now come back here and help me place this young gentleman in the cradle Sofía found for him in the attic. Then you can kiss me.”
Obligingly, he followed her instructions. “You will have to remember to start calling me Máximo,” he reminded her. “People will think it odd if you keep getting your husband’s name wrong.”
“If I forget in future, you can tell them we Calusa are hopeless with names.” She covered her mouth apologetically, stifling a yawn. “It’s been a long day.”
“You need to get some sleep.”
“Maybe a bath first?”
“For you, my Cariña, anything.”
Chapter 21
“You survived the journey, just as I said you would.” Máximo lifted Cariña out of the rowboat and set her down on the white-gold sand before handing Roberto to her. Out in the bay, the Spanish galleon they had just left bobbed and danced in time with the current.
“Survived, yes. But the anxiety of being on board a ship once again, so soon after the shipwreck, has added to my stock of gray hairs.”
He laughed, running his hand down her glossy black locks. “Your hair is untainted, my love. And, don’t forget, there are those of us who would love to experience the joy of finding a single gray hair. Aging is not the nightmare you imagine it to be.”
She bit her lip. “I’m sorry.”
Shifting Roberto’s weight to her other hip, Cariña gazed around her. Last time she had been here, her name had been Connie Lacey. There had been a beautiful golden mansion on this beach with every modern convenience. But Corazón had not delivered the paradise it promised. There had been a killer on her tail. This time, she had everything she wanted with her husband at her side and her child in her arms. They had another chance, and she was determined to grasp it, to fight for it with everything she had. They had been through too much to leave their new future to fate.
She recalled the day they had decided to return. The old house in Valladolid, its façade grand and imposing from the square, was a comfortable family home inside, and Cariña—the name still tripped her up from time to time, but she was growing accustomed to it—had soon come to love it. Her convalescence and their honeymoon had been rolled into one, and the beautiful house would forever hold happy memories for her. But she was fully restored to health, and Roberto was six months old. She had known the inevitable conversation was overdue. They had both been postponing it.
Máximo had led her to the shady stone bench overlooking the four hexagonal fountains with the mosaic tiles of green, white and blue decorating their bases. The fragrance of the blue sage flowers lining the walkway between had been particularly strong that day. It was Cariña’s favorite place. She had made herself a promise. Wherever I live, I will have a corner in my garden just like this. It had taken the sting out of Máximo’s next words.
“We always knew the day would come when we would have to go back.”
And now they were here on Corazón once more. But it felt different. Was it because of everything they had been through? Because of everything she now knew about this island? Or simply because of the five hundred years’ time difference? No. It was different, but Cariña wasn’t sure why.
Máximo slid an arm around her waist and she leaned gratefully against him. As always, his touch soothed her. “Yargua is dead. There is nothing to fear from him anymore.”
“There is still the curse. When you first spoke of it at that long-ago dinner party on Corazón, it was just a story, a nasty fairy tale happening in someone else’s life. But now it’s about my life and my family.” Cariña turned her face up to his, her eyes troubled. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Do you think what happens to us next is carved in stone? Must it be exactly the same again this time as it was last time?”
“You mean, could the course of history be changed?” Máximo frowned.
“Is there anything we could offer Sinapa as an inducement not to place a curse on us?”
The sudden flare of hope in his eyes was painful to see. Only a man who had experienced the misery of centuries of the curse of Corazón could wear that look. “What do the Calusa need that they don’t already have?”
“It’s not exactly something she needs, but I saw in my dreams how much she liked the gold coins when she saw them. Her eyes gleamed with pleasure when they brought the caskets ashore after they raided the galleons.”
“You think we should bribe her?”
“I think we have nothing to lose by trying.” She kissed him. “And a whole future to gain if we succeed.”
Máximo took Roberto from her, lifting his son into the air, laughing as the baby gurgled and waved his plump arms. “If we could lift the curse of Corazón, there would be only one other thing that I would wish for.”
Cariña shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked up at him. “What would that be?”
“Maybe I’m being greedy, but this time around I would like to grow old alongside you, my love.”
In many ways, coming back here and playing the part of Cariña was harder than turning up in Valladolid. There, she had been a stranger, a novelty. No one had expected her to speak their language or to know their customs. Now, she was back on the island where Cariña had been born, but she didn’t speak the language of the Calusa. She didn’t know the names of the people Cariña had grown up with. She didn’t even know how to address Cariña’s father, who greeted her with a combination of fear and delight. Fear because he had believed her to be dead. Delight that she wasn’t.
Máximo, who had picked up a smattering of the Calusa language during the months he’d lived among them, communicated the information that Cariña had lost her memory when she fell into the Salto de Fe. He pointed to the scars on her neck. She was lucky to be alive. It was only half a lie, and Cariña swallowed any guilt she might have felt when she witnessed the chief’s delight at the sight of Roberto. The Calusa regarded her with wonder from then on and she made a vow to herself—this self and the one who had died at Yargua’s hand—that she would learn their language as quickly as she could.
“There is no time like the present.” Cariña smiled at Máximo and he laughed in return as he realized what he had said. Those words had more meaning for them than for anyone else.
Leaving the Calusa braves to set up the tents they had brought with them, he loaded a casket of gold into the boat.
“I’m coming with you.” Fighting off the waves of panic that seized her every time she even thought about getting into a boat, Cariña hitched up her skirts and waded out to the wooden rowing boat. She was fighting for their future and she couldn’t let her phobia stand in the way.
Máximo helped her into the little craft and made sure she and Roberto were comfortable before he pushed it out into the waves and joined them. They accomplished the journey to Mound Key in silence, both of them wrapped in their own thoughts.
When they reached the new Calusa king’s stronghold, Máximo hauled the boat ashore. Cariña waited on the familiar shell and bone bank as he lifted the casket from the little craft. Scooping a handful of gleaming coins from the chest, she made a pouch out of her long skirt, holding the hem up with her hand to secure them.
“While you go to the king, I will visit Sinapa.”
“Is that wise?” Máximo’s blue eyes were concerned as he scanned her face.
“Her problem is with me. Let me see if I can be the one to solve it.”
He nodded. “Take care, my love.”
“I intend to.”
They reached the top of the first mound and went their separate ways. Máximo took the path toward the highest mound, while Cariña, still holding Roberto with one hand and securing the coins with the other, veered off toward the point where she knew Sinapa had her hut. The little building, built on stilts over the edge of the water, looked exactly as she remembered it. The old woman sat in the wooden doorway. She has been expecting me. The thought sent a shiver of fear thrilling through her. I will only get one chance at this.
Seating Roberto on the sand, where he immediately started grabbing at shells and pebbles, Cariña made sure he was safe, before going down on her knees before the wise woman, and pressing her head to the ground. When she rose, she held out her skirts, showing Sinapa the gold coins.
The old woman’s eyes narrowed, traveling from her face to the coins and back again. She pointed to the scars on Cariña’s neck and barked out a question. Cariña mimed falling into the Salto de Fe and was rewarded with a disbelieving snort of laughter in response. This was not going well.
Yargua’s mother rose to her feet and came forward. She barely reached Cariña’s shoulder. Her eyes fell to the gold coins and she gave an approving grunt. Reaching out a hand, she ran it down the sleeve of Cariña’s gown, testing the fine material. Then she pointed to her own chest.
“This?” Cariña plucked at the garment. “You want my dress?”
Sinapa nodded, her eyes bright with the glee of avarice. Cariña hurried over to the hut and placed the pile of coins inside. Quickly unlacing her gown, she slid it down over her shoulders, stepping out of it and handing it over. Sinapa grabbed it from her with greedy hands, rubbing her face against the soft cloth. Eyeing Cariña thoughtfully, she pointed next to her embroidered slippers, then the jeweled combs she wore in her hair.
Sometime later, when Cariña rejoined Máximo at the boat, he raised his brows in surprise at her appearance. She wore only her shift, her hair hung loose down her back and her feet were bare. “I was starting to get worried.”
She handed Roberto to him as she climbed into the boat. “It’s a long story, but let’s just say that the next group of Spaniards who land on these shores may be surprised to find the Calusa wise woman clad in the sort of elegant dress, slippers and jewels one of their own noblewomen might wear.”
“And the curse?”
Her gaze was serene as he pushed the boat out into the open water. “She didn’t mention it. I think she had other things on her mind.”
