The remaining vacation slipped by quickly and life returned to normal. With Alex back at work and Jonathan at school, her attention turned to the nursery. Alex and Jonathan wanted to help decorate, but there were some basic things that could be done. The fact that they were expecting two babies instead of one made it more of a challenge. Double strollers, two cribs, two car seats . . . and what about the car? Was there room for two car seats and a bumper seat in the back seat of her car? And if so, would they be able to fit three people comfortably in the front seat? The car was six years old now, but it was in good shape and still had low mileage. Could they afford to buy a van?
She walked into the den twice and stared at the computer. Alex had invited her to look at his financial files any time she wanted, and yet it seemed an intrusion on his privacy. Would she ever reach the point that she felt comfortable about spending the money he had earned before they met? How much money he had was a mystery . . . and it shouldn’t be.
Finally she worked up the courage and turned on the computer. Using the path he had given her, she found his financial folder. Understanding his filing system was another story. Finally she opened one. For a moment she stared at it. Surely this wasn’t a personal file. Yet the statistics indicated it was. One thing was clear. Alex was a wealthy man – rich by her standards. Of course, that didn’t mean much. Her savings and checking accounts combined had never exceeded $3,000 – not even before she paid the bills.
Clicking from one spreadsheet to another, she was shocked at the extent of his investments. When he talked of investments, she had assumed he was talking about 401K. That wasn’t the case. He apparently owned several buildings he was leasing out on the coast – warehouses, maybe? No wonder he thought she didn’t want to be burdened with the details.
Backing out of that file, she went into another. Surely he had a simple checkbook file. After a mind boggling search through more investment files, she found his savings account. Finally – something simple. The current balance was over four hundred . . . thousand? She blinked and read it again, counting the zeros to assure that she had read it properly. No, it was over four million.
It should have been an exciting discovery. So why did she feel so threatened? It was unsettling to think he had concealed an entire family and lifestyle from her, but this was different. His excuse for going to Columbia had been that they needed money. If not, why had he gone – left her alone for two weeks? Those two weeks had given him the opportunity to accuse her of infidelity – and even deny his own child. And then there was the other thing. Dulce was certain that he would return to his roots eventually. The fact that he lived so far below his income, yet was focused on accumulating more wealth indicated she might be correct.
She turned off the computer and stared blindly out the window. She might have lost the baby anyway, but the way he treated her couldn’t have helped. If they hadn’t been fighting, he might have been there when she started hemorrhaging. Maybe he could have saved the baby.
She shook her head and stood. He had apologized for what he had done and she had forgiven him. There was no point dwelling on it. In any case, Alex hadn’t actually concealed his financial status. How many times had he told her to look at the files? How many times had people commented on his wealth? She simply hadn’t looked. It was unimportant . . . then. All she wanted was Alex. And yet, this latest information left her feeling insecure. Why would a good looking wealthy man move to the country, become a veterinarian and marry a country hick? Sure, he said her lifestyle appealed to him, but was that because it was something new? How long would it take for him to tire of it? On the other hand, maybe he was hiding from something besides the responsibility of the ranch?
She sighed heavily. All this cloak and dagger thinking wasn’t accomplishing anything. She was no stranger to private personalities. No one could have been more private than Josh. This wasn’t about privacy, though. It was about secrecy – and deception. Yet Alex had been that way from the beginning. It was part of his personality. It wasn’t something that she liked about him, but if it was in his nature, it was something that wasn’t going to change.
When they got married, there were no children to consider – not even the likelihood. Alex had always taken care of his family, but was it irresponsible to assume he always would? It was a sobering and unpleasant question. Considering all the things he had hidden from her, it seemed prudent to be more observant. In fact, if she confronted him now and then, he might be more inclined to volunteer information before she found out about it.
There was nothing she could do about it until he got home, so she might as well not think about it. Unfortunately, most of the day was consumed with similar thoughts. Destiny grew tired of trying to get her attention and finally went to her room to play.
When Alex came home that evening, Jonathan was in his room painting and Destiny was topping off her nap. It was the perfect opportunity to talk to Alex about their finances.
She waited while he poured a cup of coffee and then waded into the subject.
“I was thinking about my car today,” she said.
He turned, pausing with the cup of coffee half way to his lips.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s great and I love it. I was thinking it wouldn’t be big enough for all of us after the twins come home. I thought maybe we could get a van, but I didn’t know if we could afford it.” She paused while he sipped his coffee. “So I looked at your financial files.”
He studied her for a moment over the rim of his cup. Lowering it, he finally spoke.
“I guess they were rather difficult to understand. Did you call my accountant?”
She shook her head. “No, I understood . . . but . . . I never knew there was so much.”
He lowered the cup. “So many investments?”
She met his gaze. “So much money.”
His expression was wary, but he said nothing.
“When you went to Columbia, you said we needed the money.”
He sat down in a chair and methodically placed the cup on the table, his gaze fixed to it.
“Actually, what I said was that no one got to the point that they couldn’t use more money.”
“You led me to believe we needed money . . . and you left me.”
He looked uncomfortable and his gaze shifted absently to the cabinets.
She continued. “So, if money wasn’t your reason for going, what was?”
His troubled gaze came back to her face, pacing from her eyes to her lips. Finally he shrugged.
“They needed me.”
“I needed you,” she insisted. “Surely they had other people who spoke Spanish – people familiar with the customer.”
When he continued to watch her without response, she sighed.
“I know, we’ve been all through this before – but I still don’t understand. Did you miss the job? Did you need time away from me?”
He picked up the coffee cup and leaned back in his chair, eyeing her thoughtfully. He held the cup for a few minutes, his neck growing red. Finally he sat the cup carefully on the table, avoiding her eyes when he spoke.
“I had connections no one else did.” When his gaze finally came back intently on hers, he concluded; “Heritage.”
She frowned. Heritage? And then it hit her. Of course, Spanish heritage. His father had connections . . . in Columbia? What connections - Cartel? Was that where his father got all that money? Was Alex involved?
A wry smile twisted his lips, his gaze faintly annoyed. “No, Carmen. I’ve never had anything to do with drugs. You don’t have to worry,” he added bitterly. “All my money is honest. You can spend it with a free conscience.”
The inference was insulting – especially so since he had been throwing the money at her ever since they met. When she called it his money, he always corrected her and said it was theirs. Now it was suddenly all his, and she was spending it for him. Her temper rose with her voice.
“No wonder you didn’t want to tell me why you had to go,” she accused in a cold tone. “You would have had to tell me about an entire family you’d been hiding.” She met his gaze defiantly. “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”
A flush crawled up his neck, across his face and hid behind flashing dark eyes. His lips thinned to a straight line.
“I hopped things would be different when we got back home - that we would stop all this bickering,” he said crisply.
Her face burned hot, but his tone turned her insides cold.
“You hoped I would come back and continue to be the ignorant hick you married – the one who never asked questions,” she snapped back at him. Turning on one heel, she headed for the door. “Supper will be ready in ten minutes. I’m going to feed the chickens.”
“It’s cold out there,” he called after her. “You’d better wear a coat.”
“I don’t need one,” she snapped over her shoulder, and then slid the patio door shut behind her.
A cold wind tore at her hair as she stomped across the courtyard and out to the chicken coup. He was right about the coat, but she wasn’t about to go back and get it. He didn’t care if she got cold. He merely wanted to re-establish his authority. Most of all, he wanted to change the subject. Alex didn’t like any kind of discord, which generally meant that she shouldn’t contest anything he said or did. He didn’t tell her about the money because it would lead to questions – both about the money and the fact that he had been hiding it from her. Well, not exactly hiding it. The files had been there all along and he had given her passwords and permission to look at them since they were first married. Then again, maybe he figured she wouldn’t understand them if she did look. Yet he had given her his accountant’s name and telephone number.
All right, so he wasn’t trying to hide his wealth, but he certainly did try to hide his family. He didn’t want anything to do with them, so they didn’t exist. Considering the problems they presented, she could hardly blame him for that. Still, hiding from them wasn’t going to solve anything – especially for his sisters.
By the time she reached the chicken coop, her fit of temper was mellowing. Had they argued that much at his father’s house? Certainly things had been tense most of the time. He didn’t want to go and he had made no effort to get along with his father.
She stopped at the coop door and frowned. Maybe he meant he was sick of all the bickering with his family. How had their conversation gone from an inquiry about money to a litmus test of their stay in Texas? She jerked the door open, sending frightened chickens flopping against the coop walls. Stepping in quickly, she shut the door. It was much warmer in the chicken coop.
The tears came without warning. This wasn’t about what he had hidden from her or the fact that he had left her alone for two weeks to go to Columbia. It was about the possibility of losing him. Accusing him and storming out the door wasn’t going to make him want to stay. The Alex she knew loved her and the children. He loved the animals, his home and the clinic. If that Alex returned to his roots, there was no reason she couldn’t be at his side.
After feeding and watering the chickens, she gathered the eggs and headed for the house. Alex was removing supper from the oven when she walked into the kitchen. He glanced at her as he set the roasting pan on the stove top to cool.
“You said ten minutes.” His tone was conversational.
Jonathan put the last fork beside a plate and smiled up at her.
“We were hungry.”
Destiny glanced up at Carmen from her elevated chair at the table and then her attention swung back to Alex.
Carmen carried the basket of eggs to the counter beside the sink and watched as Alex took the lid off the roasting pan. He stabbed a fork into the roast and cut a small slice off. Placing it in a little plate, he cut it up in small pieces. Then he put a few chunks of carrots and potatoes on the plate. Pushing the plate aside so the food would cool, he began slicing the rest of the roast.
He worked quietly for a few minutes and then finally turned his attention to Carmen. His solemn gaze searched hers for a moment before he spoke.
“If I’ve been taking you for granted,” he said firmly, “I sincerely apologize. I appreciate all you do.”
She gazed up at him, afraid to trust her voice. While she was outside having a pity party, he was trying to figure out what he’d done wrong. More than that, he was willing to make concessions – in front of the children. Alex was no ordinary man.
She hung her head. “I shouldn’t have talked to you that way. You’ve always taken care of us.” She lifted her head and looked into his eyes. “It was disrespectful of me.”
That sweet chocolate gaze softened and a smile touched the corners of his mouth. “And of me,” he said. “I think we’ve both had a lot on our minds lately.”
Something drew her attention to Jonathan, who was watching Alex intently. As important as it was not to quarrel in front of the children, it was apparently even more important to apologize in their presence. Thinking back, her parents had done both in front of her. In that small house, there were few secrets. It was unrealistic to think two people could spend a lifetime together and never squabble about anything. Still, as a child she had never thought about it. Her parents fought and forgave. It was neither good nor bad in her mind back then – it simply was.
When her attention came back to Alex, he was watching Jonathan. His gaze came back to her, reflective. Finally he arched one brow and turned back to the roast.
“I’ve cut enough here for supper. Let’s eat.”
That was the end of the conversation and neither of them brought the subject up again that night. There was no immediate need for a van and if they did need one, they . . . he, obviously had the money. He would take care of their needs.
Although the issue was out of their conversation, it was far from out of her mind. Maybe it was anger that prompted him to make the remark about her spending his money, but he never apologized about it specifically.
A few days later when Carmen and Destiny were visiting Katie, the issue popped out of her mouth in another conversation. Katie was peeling potatoes at the kitchen sink and Carmen was holding Destiny, watching her. Katie asked her about the progress on the horse ranch.
Carmen shrugged. “I don’t have the money to do anything right now. Besides, I’ve spent enough of his money on it already.”
Katie glanced up from the potato in her hand. “So you’re back to that again. I thought you had finally accepted that the money belonged to both of you.”
Carmen made a face. “I did, but apparently that status changed. He commented the other day that I was spending his money.”
Katie’s brows shot up. “Excuse me?”
Carmen shrugged, her face growing warm. “He said I could spend his money with a clear conscience.”
Katie stared at her. “What?”
Carmen waved a hand. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Maybe so, but you did. Now what brought on that comment?”
Carmen let out a long sigh. She might as well tell the entire thing. The whole truth didn’t sound nearly as bad as part of the conversation.
“I was thinking about buying a new vehicle and wondered if we had the money, so I looked at his financial information on the computer. Do you know he has over four million in savings?”
Katie shrugged her shoulders and focused on cutting an eye from the potato in her hand.
“Actually, I would have thought it was a lot more – but then, he did pay cash for the house and clinic. I imagine that took a chunk out of his savings.” She threw the potato into a pan and eyed Carmen reflectively. “So you wondered how he got that much money.”
Carmen’s face flamed. “I didn’t ask him that. I reminded him that he said he went to Columbia because he needed the money. He admitted that he actually went because he had connections - heritage.”
Katie smiled knowingly and picked up another potato. “Oh, so you immediately thought of Señor Medena.”
Carmen frowned. “Who else?”
“Mom,” Katie said without looking up. “Uncle Fabrice lives in Columbia.”
“Uncle Fabrice?” Carmen echoed stupidly. “Your mother was Hispanic too?”
Katie glanced up and rolled her eyes. “Mom was French.”
Katie piled the potatoes in another pan and picked it up, along with the knife and a bag of peals. “Grab that pan and come over here to the table. Sit down and I’ll fill you in a little. Alex should have told you all this. I don’t know why he is so secretive. He’s always been that way. I guess I should have told you that.”
Carmen sat Destiny on the floor and picked up the pan of pealed potatoes, along with a paring knife. She sat the pan on the table and sat down. Destiny followed her and Carmen pulled the chair beside her out so she could crawl into it.
Carmen sighed. “I guess I always knew he was secretive – even you to some degree. Maybe it was actually part of his charm – intrigue, or something like that. He likes to surprise people, so I guess he has to have secrets, right?”
Katie made a face as she sat in the chair opposite Carmen. “I’m not all that secretive, but you were the one who kept telling me that if he wanted you to know, he’d tell you. As for Alex, he likes to control people. One way to do that is to make sure they don’t have all the facts.”
True. Alex was secretive and he did like to be in control. She had shut Katie off many times when she had tried to tell her things. On the other hand, Katie had flatly refused to provide some information because she said Alex wouldn’t want her to tell.
Carmen picked up a potato and started pealing it. “Alex is a lot like his father in some ways.”
Katie snorted and grabbed a potato. “He’s a lot like his father - in a LOT of ways, but don’t tell him that. I did and I thought he was going to bite my head off.” She gouged an eye out of the potato she was holding. “Okay, here’s some background history:”
“Mom’s name was Alexandrine Barret. Cute, right? She married an Englishman (Dad), by the name of Lloyd Barnett. I always thought that was funny. I never met Grandma and Grandpa Barret. I was born after they died. I heard they disowned mom after she married Dad. The way I heard it, Grandma & Grandpa Barret were rolling in money and Dad wasn’t up to their standards . . . financially. They wanted Dad to annul the marriage – even cut off any money for Mom.
Katie paused and mused. “I always wondered if that was why Mom and Dad split up for a while – because Mom was used to a different lifestyle and social circle. That was when Mom and Señor Medena started hanging out together anyway – the first time.
She shook her head and continued. “Alex remembers Grandma and Grandpa. He said they called him a bad name. Can you imagine that? Blaming a little boy for what his mother did?”
Katie stopped talking and frowned at Carmen? “What’s the matter?”
Carmen shook her head. “You’re going a little fast. For starters, I think I got derailed when you said your mother’s name was Alexandrine. Alex said her name was Sophia.”
Katie nodded. “Yeah, Alexandrine Sophia. Mom and Dad named Alex after her. Alexander Matthew – Dad’s middle name.” Katie shrugged. “Señor Medena wasn’t too happy about that. He even tried to get custody of Alex. Basically he tried to buy him from Mom and Dad. I think that’s why Alex feels the way he does about money.”
Possibly . . . probably - but Alex certainly didn’t dislike money. In fact, he had a strong respect for the security it could provide. He also had a sense of responsibility about it. He wasn’t opposed to having it, but he insisted on sharing it in fair business – and with his wife, more or less. As for buying a child – was it so different from what they were doing?
Katie sighed as she began pealing the potato. “Anyway, Mom had a brother and a sister. The brother, Fabrice, went to Columbia for a while – job related. He married and decided to stay there. Aunt Paulette, (we all called her Aunt Paulie) married a real estate agent and moved to Arkansas. After he died, she decided to stay here. You know the rest of that story. Mom always had a good relationship with her sister and brother. She said they were both supportive of her when Alex was born. Dad wasn’t too crazy about Uncle Fabrice, though.”
She finished pealing the potato and threw it into the pan before continuing. “Dad was an only child and his Mother died in her twenties. His father died shortly after Alex was born, so I never met either of them. Mom told me that Dad forgave her for her affair with Señor Medena. Alex said she was seeing him again after his wife died. If she was, I didn’t know about it. But then, she admitted to loving him at one time, so it’s not hard to believe she still felt something for him.”
Katie made a face and then winked at Carmen. “Some women actually find controlling men irresistible.”
Carmen met a playful mocking gaze that reminded her of Alex. Maybe they had inherited or learned it from their mother, not his father. In that instant she realized something else. His mother must have been secretive as well. It wasn’t important who they inherited their traits from, but it was a brief look at the soul of this mysterious woman no one seemed to understand. Did she ever regret going back to her husband? Considering her own feelings about Alex, and the fact that he was a lot like his father, it wasn’t hard to imagine that his mother never got over Señor Medena. What a complicated situation Alex had been born into.
Carmen sighed. “He must have thought I was such a . . . All this time I thought the company was interested in him because he could speak both Spanish and English.”
Katie lifted a brow. “And French.” She shrugged and her gaze became distant. “I’m sure that had a lot to do with it – that and the connections. Still, Alex was a good salesman, I guess. Gerald said he was one of the best. Of course, he was just a kid.”
Carmen frowned. “I didn’t know he spoke French. I’ve never heard him.” She considered that thought and then amended. “I probably wouldn’t have known the difference, though.”
Katie smiled. “I think you would. They don’t sound at all alike to me. He probably hasn’t had any cause to speak French.”
Carmen gave the potato in her hand special attention, carefully weighing her next words.
“When we were in Texas, I got the feeling that Señor Medena loved Alex – that he was saddened by the way Alex rejected him.”
Katie glanced up at Carmen, her attention still not complete. “I don’t know. Mom always favored Alex. It really ticked Alex off.” Her gaze drifted off in contemplation, finally returning to Carmen. “What causes a parent to love one child more than another?”
Carmen felt the full weight of a question that had no answer. She shook her head.
“Not the child.”
Katie stared at the potato in her hand. “I don’t know . . .”
Did Alex know Katie carried this burden? It explained a lot about their troubled relationship and why Katie was so rebellious toward Alex in her youth. And yet, Katie and Alex were close siblings now in spite of their age difference. The revelation also threw a new light on why Alex halted his life to take care of Katie. He must have been overwhelmed with the responsibility – and guilt. And now he had to contend with parental favoring again. Alex was a love child - of that she was certain. And yet, this latest contention was about inheritance, not love. He wasn’t even being recognized for his abilities. She hadn’t helped any by turning their past problems into a monetary issue. Maybe there was another reason he decided to reclaim his money.
“I wonder if Alex reminded me it was his money because he thinks I spend it unwisely,” Carmen mused aloud.
Katie’s laugh was short and humorless. “My guess is that he meant exactly what he said. He wasn’t involved in anything illegal and you have no reason to be concerned about spending any of the money he acquired. You know how stubborn you are about not doing business with dishonest people.”
Of course. Why hadn’t she thought of his comment in that context? Considering the information Katie had just disclosed, it wasn’t surprising that he wanted to be in control – or that he had chosen a wife who asked few questions. Yet, he had invited her to look at his files many times. Was it because he thought she wouldn’t? She never had. He didn’t act concerned when she told him she had looked at them – not until she questioned the source.
She looked up at Katie. “So where did the money come from?”
“Oh,” Katie said. “Some of it came from life insurance. That’s where my part came from. He added some to it. Did you know that? He had access to his part much earlier than I did, so he was able to make some investments that really paid off. He shared them with me.”
Katie sighed and threw the last potato in the pan. “My guess is that most of the savings came from Señor Medena, though. Alex won’t spend it. I guess that’s what they mean by cutting off your nose to spite your face.”
Carmen groaned. “Okay, we’ve already established that Alex is secretive. But why didn’t you say something to me about all of this before now?”
Katie looked surprised. “Excuse me? What part of ‘wealthy’ were you having problems understanding? I told you, he told you . . . as you said, he even offered to let you look at his files. The problem is, you neither asked nor listened.”
Carmen felt the warmth of a blush crawl up her neck. “I guess I can’t deny that, but in all these years, why hasn’t Uncle Fabrice’s name come up in a conversation at least once?”
Katie stood and carried the pan of potatoes to the sink. “If you mention his name to Alex, you’ll find out why. They weren’t exactly best of friends. In fact, I think Uncle Fabrice had him convinced that he couldn’t sell a cheeseburger to a starving man.”
Carmen stood. “He might have tried to convince Alex of that, but Alex is far too confident to have believed it – especially so when all the evidence points to the opposite.”
Katie sighed as she rinsed the potatoes. “I don’t know. All I know is that he gets defensive when I mention Uncle Fabrice. He came back from a trip down there one time and was upset because he said Uncle Fabrice treated him like a dunce in front of customers.”
“Why would he do that?” Carmen asked, “Unless it was because he thought Alex was outshining him.”
Katie made a face. “Alex gets over-confident sometimes. Maybe it caught up with him.”
“Well, I’d better go,” Carmen said. “Alex will be home soon and I have to get supper on.” She lifted Destiny into her arms. “I won’t say anything to Alex about it.”
Katie looked relieved. “I don’t know why you guys don’t go out to dinner more.”
Carmen smiled. “I guess because I like cooking.”
“Sure, but don’t you get tired of it?”
Carmen shrugged. “Sometimes, but it’s a long way to a restaurant and a lot of hassle to go. It’s easier to simply fix something at home. I’ll see you later.”
All the way home she thought about Katie’s observation that Uncle Fabrice treated him as though he were a poor salesman. Was it merely personality conflict or sibling rivalry? One of the most appealing things about Alex was his confidence. Was it a façade? Katie said he came back one time upset. Was it an isolated incident, or was there always conflict between Alex and his uncle? Surely he wouldn’t have gone down there to help if he felt that way. On the other hand, how could Alex be a positive influence if his Uncle truly felt that way? And then there was Alex’s pride. Wouldn’t it be wounded knowing he had been used to their advantage? None of it made sense.
Still, all the information Katie provided created a clearer picture of why Alex acted the way he did at home. Part of it was simply his nature – and that part was sweet and selfless. When Alex knew what she wanted and it was feasible, he almost always made it happen. A good example was their recent trip to Texas. Consequently, it made more sense to submit to Alex than argue with him.
She arrived at the house determined to be a better wife to such a deserving husband. If Alex liked being in control, and she liked him being in control, then there was no problem. If he decided to go back to Texas, they would all go together.