Rose was stunned. She had no idea, but she was speechless, so she stared at her mother and continued to listen silently.

“I was certain that like my mother and my sister I’d share their same fate and die young, but then it went into remission. I was still very bitter because I just knew it would come back. Why would it take my mother and my sister but not me? Then I met your father, and I got pregnant.” Her tired eyes looked away from Rose and she continued to stare out the window. “I didn’t want to have you, Rose. Not because I didn’t want you, but because I was afraid I’d pass on my curse. I begged your father. I told him he already had Grace. I’d help him raise her, and that would be good enough, but he insisted I have you.” Her mother turned back to Rose. “I was angry for a very long time. I let him and your grandmother and Grace do all the nurturing because I was certain that I was going to die and leave you devastated the way I’d been, or worse you’d get the curse and I would have to endure losing someone I loved and was so close to again.” She sat up at the edge of her chair and reached for Rose’s hand. “I couldn’t do it. Then just when I began to believe that maybe, just maybe, we’d be okay, your father was murdered. I can’t even begin to explain to you what that did to me. So like a coward I retreated back into my world of not letting anyone in—not even you, or I should say especially you.”

Her mother took a deep breath before going on. “I helped raise Grace from the time she was a little girl, but I knew deep inside you were all I really had. I pushed you away. I refused to let you get close. I wanted you to have all the love you needed, but not from someone that was going to leave you suddenly. It was a terrible thing to do, but it was the only way I could think of to protect you from having to go through the hell I had.” Patting Rose’s hand, she said the next sentence like it was no big deal. “The cancer came back earlier this year.”

“What?” Obviously her mother’s plan to keep her at bay so that she wouldn’t care was bust, because Rose did care. This terrified her. “It’s back?”

Her mother smiled. “Just like the first time, it came and it went, Rose. It’s taunting me. After months of chemo and treatments, it went into remission again. I still have to go in often to be tested, but so far it hasn’t come back.”

Rose’s heart was still beating against her chest, but the relief was enormous.

“That’s when I decided to move back here and be with you, but I keep thinking maybe it’s too late.”

“It’s not,” Rose said quickly.

“You have your life. Grace has hers.”

“And you’re part of it. You should’ve always been, and now we’re gonna make sure everything is different.” Rose frowned. “But you’re right. It was a terrible thing to do, and it was completely unfair to me. For the longest time, I thought you hated me.”

Her mother held her arms open, and Rose hugged her, feeling warmth from her mother for the first time. “Corazon, it feels so good to finally be able to hold you like this. I may’ve never told you this, Rosie, and I’m so sorry now that I didn’t,” she said smoothing her hair, “but I love you, baby girl, and I’ve never been more proud of anything in my life than you. I’ll make sure you know this every day of your life from here on.”

Hearing her mother say she loved her was more overwhelming than she could’ve ever imagined. She cried into her mother’s shoulder, but much like the tears she shed when Vincent held her for the first time since he’d left, they were tears of pure and utter bliss. Suddenly she felt seven-years-old again. “I love you too, Mommy.”

Epilogue

Pulling out of the firing range parking lot, Vince turned to look at Rose. She was shaking her head like she was trying to shake water of her ear. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said without looking at him.

“What’s wrong with your ears?”

“They’re still buzzing from all the shooting in there.”

“You must have sensitive ears. We’ll get you stronger ear muffs next time.”

His stomach churned as they made their way back to the marina restaurant. He told Rose they were meeting with Romero for dinner, so they could finalize his contract with him. Now that Vince was finally completely certified as a trainer and had done all the legwork on getting his business together, he’d be training all of Romero’s employees in firearm tactics. Vince had only started to get the word out about the business at the firing range, hoping he’d pick up a few clients. Now he had a slew of them with Romero’s security firm. He’d be booked solid for months now.

The contract had actually already been finalized and signed, but he needed a good reason to get Rose to the marina without making it sound romantic. The fact that it was the closest restaurant to the firing range helped.

As promised, Romero was already there, but Vince frowned when he saw his uncles with him and his uncle’s wife Aida. Rose might get suspicious. Then he saw Sofia peek her head out from the back room as Rose took her seat at the table. Alex’s twin girls ran behind the bar squealing, and Alex ran after them ducking behind the bar before Rose could see him. Luckily she was too busy saying hi to Romero and his uncles to notice.

Now Eric, Sofia’s husband, was also peeking and giving him the thumbs up from the back room. Vince gave them both a look, and they disappeared. The squealing was quickly muffled, but Vince could still hear the girls’ giggling. Vince could just picture his giant cousin Alex hunched behind the bar holding his hands to his daughters’ mouths. Just as he finished pushing Rose’s chair in, he noticed Valerie, Izzy and Grace hiding behind their menus in a corner booth. Geez. This family was about as discreet as neon sign.