* * *
Ten minutes later the men returned, Benito wearing a smile on his weathered face that stretched from ear to ear.
Maria offered more coffee, but after a quick glance at Xavier Jordan politely declined. They’d been there for two and a half hours already—an hour and a half longer than he’d wanted to stay.
She helped Maria take the cups and plates back to the kitchen. When they were alone, Maria pressed the photo of Camila with Xavier’s biological father into Jordan’s hand.
Jordan’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, no... Maria, I couldn’t.’
‘Sí. Please,’ the older woman insisted. ‘I want you to have it. You have given me a gift today—to hear about Mila’s life in Australia and know that she found happiness.’ She smiled, even as her eyes grew bright with moisture. ‘I think she was lucky to have such a wonderful daughter—and I
think she would have been proud to see what a fine man her son grew into, sí?’
Her own eyes stinging, Jordan hugged her. ‘Gràcies, Maria.’
Minutes later she and Xavier were back in the car and the Gonzalezes had reopened their store.
She fastened her seat belt and her chest felt incredibly tight, as if there was so much emotion expanding inside her she would either have to express some of it or burst.
She put her hand on Xavier’s arm before he could start the car, then pulled her hand away as soon as she had his attention, the brief contact with warm skin and crisp masculine hairs leaving her fingertips tingling.
‘Thank you,’ she said, her voice a little husky. ‘That really meant a lot to me. I know we stayed longer than you wanted to—’
‘It’s fine,’ he interrupted, turning his attention away from her to start the car.
‘I also realise the situation must have felt a little...weird for you—’
‘Jordan.’ He cut her off again as he revved the engine. ‘I said it’s fine.’
She sat back, trying not to feel stung as he navigated them out of the narrow streets of the village and onto the long road that would take them back to the coast through a thick swathe of dark green pine forest.
But it was hard to smother her disappointment completely.
Deep down she’d hoped he too might feel as if the experience had been special, in spite of any understandable discomfort. The chance to sit down with people who’d known his birth mother during her early life, to hear stories that would build a picture of her in his mind... Surely it had made him feel something? Something other than fine?
They drove in silence, but Jordan’s mind was anything but quiet. Her thoughts spun, veering between her conversation with Maria, the photo in her bag and the fact that Xavier’s mood was much more brooding than it had been before lunch.
Finally the silence got to be too much. ‘Have you ever wondered about your biological father?’
He sent her a look she couldn’t read, and then took so long to respond she thought he wasn’t going to answer her at all.
‘Not since I was a boy.’
Conscious of the sudden nervous patter of her pulse, she ventured, ‘If you had the opportunity to find out who he was, would you?’
‘No.’
There hadn’t been even a split-second of hesitation.
‘Really? Why not?’
Another long pause. Then, ‘You mean why would I not want to find a man who got a teenage girl pregnant and failed to take responsibility for his actions?’ He adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. ‘I would think the answer to that is obvious.’
‘Maybe he was just a teenager himself,’ she suggested.
‘Doesn’t matter. If a man is old enough to sleep with a woman, he’s old enough to take responsibility for the consequences.’
Jordan thought about what Maria had told her. It was possible that Xavier’s birth father had deserted Camila. It was also possible he’d never known she was pregnant and that his family had conspired to keep the young lovers apart.