The Bridal Candidate 2 (Heart Connections) Read online

  “We’re going to grandpa’s house.” Aiko adjusted the belt on the car-seat. “I want us to meet someone there.”

  “Who?” Seraphina watched her with curious eyes.

  Still crouched low, Aiko said, “Do you remember when you asked Mommy why you didn’t have a daddy like the other kids in your class?”

  Seraphina nodded vigorously. “Yes. But you said that my daddy was a soldier who went to heaven and that he couldn’t come back to be with me.”

  Aiko couldn’t help but marvel at her daughter’s memory as she said, “Well, sweetie, I just found out yesterday that your real daddy didn’t go to heaven. He’s still here.”

  Seraphina’s eyes widened like large saucers. “Really?”

  “Really.” Aiko stroked her chubby cheek. “He’s at Grandpa’s house and he’d like to meet you.”

  “Really?” Seraphina gasped on a whisper.

  “Really.” Aiko nodded, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Would you like to meet him?”

  Seraphina nodded slowly then shook her head. “No.”

  “You don’t want to meet him?” Aiko asked, genuine confusion lacing her voice.

  Seraphina lowered her eyes to her small hands. Playing with her fingers she said, “What about Uncle Dama? You said he was my new daddy.”

  The statement left Aiko dumbfounded for a few seconds before she eventually gathered her thoughts to say, “Uncle Damián will still be your daddy. But now you’ll have two daddies.”

  “Two?” Seraphina’s eyes widened even further. “That’s more than anyone.”

  “Yes, it is.” Aiko smiled. “Okay, all done.” She patted the belt in place. “Ready?”

  Seraphina beamed at her. “Ready.”

  Relieved that the conversation had gone so smoothly, Aiko circled the car to take her place in the driver’s seat. Moments later they were out of the estate and heading towards her childhood home with Seraphina singing along to the car’s music in the back. Several minutes later the singing abruptly halted.

  A long pause later, the little girl called out, “Mommy?”

  “Yes, honey?” Aiko said without taking her eyes off the road.

  “Do you think my old Daddy will like me?”

  Aiko snuck a look at her daughter through the rearview mirror and found her watching her with obvious nervousness in her eyes. It sent a pang through Aiko and she nodded. “Of course he will. I think your Daddy will absolutely love you because you’re the nicest, most beautiful girl in the whole wide world.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Okay,” Seraphina murmured quietly before going back to singing.

  Smiling, Aiko turned her attention back to the road. Considering the time, she wasn’t surprised to find herself caught in a traffic snarl up on the main highway. By the time Aiko navigated her car through the gates of her father’s home, Seraphina was deep asleep.

  As she drove in, Aiko noted the truck emblazoned with the logo Sweet Nature Desserts parked in front of the garage cum bakery. Most of her family members were helping to load boxes of the day’s baking into the back of the truck. It was only after she’d parked the car and carried the still sleeping, and very heavy, Seraphina from it that she noticed that Lincoln was among the loaders, and that he was now staring at her and Seraphina.

  She didn’t know why, but Lincoln’s intense stare sent anxiety pulsing straight through her. Would he like Seraphina? What if he said something to hurt her baby? Suddenly the little girl didn’t seem as heavy and Aiko’s arms tightened around her protectively.

  He pulled away from the others and started towards them. Aiko stayed put by the car waiting for him to reach them, watching him. Lincoln on the other hand had eyes only for the child in Aiko’s arms as he limped towards them. He came to a stop in front of the mother and child.

  “Is this her?” He stared at Seraphina.

  “Ye-” Aiko tried to say the word but her throat suddenly closed as if there was a lump there blocking the words so she only nodded.

  His eyes shadowed with a mix of emotions that she couldn’t quite identify, Lincoln stretched his hand as if to touch Seraphina. However, at the last second his hand paused mid-air as if he was afraid to touch her

  “It’s okay,” Aiko whispered.

  It seemed to be the permission Lincoln needed because his palm settled on Seraphina’s upper back just above Aiko’s arm and he took a step closer almost crowding them. His eyes glistened with tears as he stared at Seraphina’s face. “She’s beautiful.”

  “She is, isn’t she?” Aiko agreed even as her own eyes misted. She’d never thought that this moment would happen – that their daughter would ever be able to see her father. Yet, it was happening.

  “She looks just like you,” Lincoln said even as he stroked the little girl’s braided hair.

  It was then that Seraphina decided to wake up. Her eyelashes fluttered before she slowly opened her eyes to be confronted by her father’s face. Her eyebrows knotted in confusion then she arched her neck backwards as if to get away from him.

  “Hi, honey.” Aiko soothed her palm over the little girl’s upper arm. Seraphina set her head against Aiko’s shoulder as she stared at Lincoln. “Do you want to say hi to your Daddy?”

  Seraphina didn’t say anything. Clinging to the neck of Aiko’s dress, she kept staring at Lincoln with wide-eyed wonder. So he took the reins, “Hi, Seraphina.”

  She just stared at him.

  “Say hi to him, baby,” Aiko urged.

  “Hi.” Seraphina said quickly before tucking her face into the crook of Aiko’s neck.

  Aiko chuckled before turning her attention to Lincoln who was looking decidedly downfallen. “Don’t worry about it. She’s always shy around new people. Once she gets to know you, she’ll be fine.”

  “Can I carry her?” Lincoln asked.

  Obviously Seraphina was listening because she squeaked a little before tightening her hold on Aiko’s dress and shoulders. That drew a laugh from both her parents, slightly easing the emotional moment.

  CHAPTER 6

  The weekend had been lonely for Damián, but Sunday seemed even lonelier. Aiko and Seraphina weren’t back. Contrary to Aiko’s assertions that she’d be back by Saturday evening, she ‘d ended up spending another night at her father’s home. Though she called Damián to explain that she wanted to give Lincoln and Seraphina time to get to know each other, it didn’t calm his unease one little bit.

  It wasn’t that Damián didn’t want Seraphina to know her father. It just felt like he was being cut out of the whole process – being replaced.

  “I hate how much time she’s spending with him,” Damián confessed to Josiah when he turned up at Colter estate on Sunday afternoon. “I mean I understand why she’s still there. But I still hate it.”

  His friend offered him a concerned look. “You afraid she’ll go back to him?”

  “It hasn’t been discussed yet-” Damián paused for a moment before adding, “but he kissed her.”

  “Damn!” Josiah sat up in his seat in obvious shock.

  Damn was definitely the right word. The thought of Aiko and Lincoln kissing was enough to send a sharp pang of hurt through Damián. Along with the hurt came fear because a kiss meant that Lincoln still thought of Aiko as his fiancée. The question was, did Aiko still think of herself as his fiancée? Damián hadn’t asked because he was too scared of the answer.

  “Have you met Lincoln yet?” Josiah cut into his troubled thoughts.

  “No.” Damián lifted his bottle of beer and tipped some of its contents into his mouth before adding, “She hasn’t even told him about me yet, so….” He let the sentence hang, even as his disappointment at the situation ballooned. It felt like Aiko was hiding him, and he didn’t like being hidden.

  The two friends sat in contemplative silence for quite a long time before Josiah asked, “Any word about where he’s been the last five years?”

  His eyes trained on the gl
immering waters of the swimming pool. Damián shook his head. “Still claiming amnesia.”

  “Claiming?” Josiah’s voice was laced with surprise. “You don’t believe him?”

  Damián shrugged. “I don’t know what to believe. I just know that it’s a damn convenient excuse. Make up some dumb crap about amnesia and you don’t have to answer any questions about where you’ve been for the last five years or why you just ran out on your fiancée while she was pregnant.”

  “He didn’t exactly run out,” Josiah pointed out. “He was deployed.”

  “Still, he says he remembers zilch yet he refuses to go to the hospital to get checked out. Do those seem like the actions of a man who’s eager to get his memory back?”

  “Hmm. Maybe he just doesn’t want doctors poking and prodding at him.” Josiah gave Damián a studied look. “Are you sure that this is not just jealousy speaking?”

  Of course he was jealous. His wife…. His fiancée had spent the last two days with another man. A man who she was… had been in love with. What red-blooded male wouldn’t be jealous in this situation? But that didn’t mean that his bullshit meter was broken, and this amnesia story was pinging that meter like crazy.

  “So you’re saying you believe him?” Damián asked his friend.

  Josiah surprised him by shaking his head. “No. Like you said, it’s too damn convenient.”

  “Then why are you bursting my balls?”

  “Cause it’s fun and I have nothing better to do with my Sunday.” Josiah gave him a roguish smile.

  Even though he was in no mood for humor, Damián found his lips lifting in a reluctant smile. “You’re an ass.”

  “I try.” Josiah lifted his beer in a mocking toast before tilting the bottle to his lips.

  The two friends shared a couple of quiet moments broken only by the clinking of their bottles, before Damián broke it. “I don’t trust Lincoln. What if he’s brought whatever trouble he was in back with him? Given that he was involved in special ops, it could be something pretty dangerous.”

  “True.” Josiah nodded. “They get into some hairy stuff over there.”

  “Hairy is an understatement. The army never even released information about how he really died. According to Aiko, all they were told was that he died in service. What does that mean – in service?” Concern tinged Damián’s voice as he added, “The only way I’ll trust the guy is if I’m sure whatever James Bond-style shit he was involved in didn’t come back with him. I don’t want Aiko and Seraphina involved in it – or worse, hurt.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” Josiah asked

  “Not rea-” Damián paused as a sudden idea struck him. “Actually I think you can.”

  “Anything.”

  “Do you think you can dig into Lincoln?” Damián asked. “Maybe we can find out where he’s been all this time and make sure that Aiko and Seraphina are safe with him.”

  “Will do,” Josiah agreed. “As soon as I find out anything you’ll be the first to know.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Onto why I actually came here.” Josiah settled back into his seat. “Caroline’s father’s is hosting a fundraiser at the museum.”

  Damián arched his eyebrows. “As in the mayor is hosting a fundraiser?”

  “Yes, the mayor.” His friend nodded. “Will you come? You know how his crowd are. I’d like at least one friendly face there.”

  Chuckling, Damián shook his head. “No thanks.”

  He didn’t even have to think about it. He would’ve rather walked through a floor filled with needles than hang out with Mayor Swan’s very conservative crowd. How conservative? Well, Damián’s dad was a registered Republican and even he referred to Mayor Swan as a fundamentalist nutcase. An event hosted by the Mayor’s was bound to be a snooty event with strong racist, misogynistic and homophobic overtones. Josiah deserved a trophy for lasting over a decade in that family without stabbing someone.

  Long after Josiah left, Damián was still ruminating over their conversation and the situation with Aiko. He was a man who liked being in control, knowing what step came next. He hated being in limbo like this – not knowing exactly what his, Aiko and Lincoln’s situation was or how they were moving forward.

  Almost as if she knew he was thinking of her, Aiko called him at around six in the evening.

  “Hey, honey,” she greeted as soon as he picked up.

  Despite his muddled mental state, Damián felt his heart warm at the sound of her voice. “What’s up, wifey?”

  “I’m good,” she answered with a small laugh.

  Damián who’d since moved to his study, swiveled to and fro on his chair as he said, “Tell me you’re on your way home.”

  The long pause that followed his words was enough to send his heart plunging into icy disappointment.

  “I’m sorry, baby.” There was remorse in Aiko’s tone as she said, “I really wanted to come home tonight, but the others aren’t back from church yet and I don’t want to leave my dad and Lincoln alone here.”

  “You could always drive over once they’re back,” he suggested, even though deep inside he already knew she’d say no. Lately it seemed that she always had an excuse about why she needed to be at her father’s home – and that excuse always involved Lincoln.

  “No, I don’t want to drive while it’s dark,” Aiko said. “Especially not with Seraphina in the car with me.”

  “Then I’ll come get you,” he offered.

  “Uh-uh,” she predictably refused. “I don’t want you on the road at night either. Not with those thugs who carjacked the Millers still on the loose.”

  “Oh, okay,” he agreed half-heartedly, playing with a pen on his desk. “I guess this means that you won’t be able to pick up Zoe from school tomorrow either.”

  “No, no. Don’t worry. I’ll pick her up when I leave work,” Aiko said. “You’ve got that meeting with the Taiwanese investors, right?”

  “You remembered?” Frankly, he was shocked. She’d been so preoccupied with all things Lincoln that he’d assumed his issues weren’t even on her radar.

  “Of course I did.” Her tone softened as she asked, “Are you nervous?”

  Damián chuckled. “Why would I be nervous? I do this at least once every month. I could probably do it in my sleep.”

  “Lucky man. If I was in charge of so much of someone else’s money, I don’t think I’d ever sleep a wink.”

  “You get used to it.” Damián leaned back in his seat. He missed talking to her like this. “You’re sure you’ll be back tomorrow?”

  “Why do you doubt me?”

  Was there any way to answer that question without starting an argument? Nope. So he said, “I miss you.”

  “I miss you too.” There was some shuffling on her end of the line as if she was getting comfortable before she said, “So tell me what did you do today?”

  “Nothing much, I was just in the house alone,” he said. “What with all you ladies deserting me.”

  “Zoe’s still at Shelley’s?”

  “Yeah, she called last night and asked if she could stay there?”

  “Aww, my poor baby,” Aiko cooed. “I’m sorry that we left you all alone.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He tapped a pen rhythmically on his desk. “Josiah dropped in to keep me company.”

  “He did? What’s he up to this time? Strong-arming the assembly into passing one of his bills? Plotting to replace the pope with a cardinal of his choice? Scheming for world domination?”

  That drew a laugh from Damián. “He is not the powerful.”

  “That’s what you think.” Aiko guffawed.

  She was likely right. Most people who didn’t know Josiah thought he was just a harmless PR guy, but those who knew him well knew that nothing could be further from the truth. The man was much, much more than that. If there was anyone who knew where the most powerful people in the city stored their dirty laundry it would be Josiah, and he had no qualms about using t
his knowledge to further his own agenda.

  “Actually he wanted to invite us for a fundraiser that his father-in-law is hosting.” Before she could say anything, Damián reassured her, “Don’t worry about it. I already refused.”

  “Why?” Aiko surprised him by suggesting. “I think we should go.”

  Damián did a double-take. “You do know that his father-in-law is Mayor Swan, right?”

  “I know.”

  “The Mayor Swan who makes you want to break the TV whenever his face appears on the news,” Damián reminded her, just in case she’d forgotten.

  “I know.” Amusement dancing in her voice, Aiko said, “But he’s not the only one who’ll be at the event.”

  Why would she want to go to Mayor Swan’s event? Damián knew he sounded baffled as he said, “But most of those people will be his friends, people who think like him.”

  “This is Alabama, Damián. It won’t be anything I haven’t dealt with before,” she reassured. “Besides, despite his politics, Swan is a major influencer in this city as are many of the people who’ll be there. An event like this would be good for both Coltech and Heart Connections. If we want our businesses to grow, we need to network with people like him.”

  “Look at my baby, being all business woman on me.”

  “It’s how I do.” Aiko laughed. “Come on. We should go.”

  “I don’t wanna,” he whined, even though her sound reasoning had already persuaded him. Now that he thought about it, attending the event together would have an added advantage. It would serve as an official announcement that they were a couple. The thought was enough to have him grinning.

  “Pretty please,” Aiko wheedled. Her voice turned smoky as she said, “I’ll make it up to you.”

  Feeling his body already warm in anticipated pleasure, he said. “Mm. Tell me more…”

  CHAPTER 7

  By the time Aiko’s family came back from church, she was still on the phone with Damián.

  Femi tagged at a strand of Aiko’s hair as she passed her seated on the doorstep. “Tell him I said hi.”

  “Femi says hi,” Aiko transmitted the message to her fiancée even as she slapped the back of her sister’s leg.