I nod.
“Good.” She looks over at my mother. “Ride with me back to the airport.”
Mother hesitates.
“Look,” Bella huffs, “if I were going to kill you, you’d already be dead.”
Mother exits the booth with Bella, and they leave without another word.
Mateo places his hand on my thigh. “I’m sorry about all this.”
“I’m the one who should be sorry.”
“Nonsense. You were willing to give up everything for me, risking your very life, and I didn’t trust you.”
“Do you now?”
“Yes.”
“Can I ask a question?”
“Yes?”
“How long did you know?”
“I was told right before the wedding.”
Surprised, I ask, “Why did you go through with it?”
“Because I didn’t want to be married, but I needed a baby. I figured I could get you pregnant, then turn over the evidence I had to the police.”
“What stopped you?”
Mateo looks down at the table and sucks in a breath. “Love. Love stopped me.”
“Love?”
“I fell for you, Ivy. Hard. Even knowing what you were and what you intended for me—I fell.”
“I feel things for you I didn’t think possible,” I confess. “Feelings I didn’t believe were real.”
Mateo pulls out my pink collar and fastens it to my neck, where it belongs.
“I never want to see this off of you again.”
Smiling, I say, “Agreed.”
“Good, now let’s get back to the family tower so we can put this mess behind us.”
EPILOGUE
Mateo
I never knewwhat type of father I would be until my first child was born.
Finding out I was utterly devoted to my daughter came as a shock, because children have never been anything more than an annoyance to me. And they still are. All except for Evangeline.
Aunt Isabella rushes forward and grabs her up, tossing her gently in the air.
