Page 34 of The Spanish Daughter (The Lost Daughters #5)

ONE MONTH LATER

Rose lay beneath the ceibo tree, staring up at the thick green leaves swaying gently above her as Benjamin’s fingers danced gently across her stomach. She laughed when he nudged her top up and pressed a kiss to her bare skin.

‘Do you think Valentina and Felipe ever lay here like this?’ she asked.

Benjamin lay down beside her, propped up on his elbow as he smiled down at her. ‘Maybe. I’d say this tree has been here for over a hundred years.’

‘I just keep thinking about them,’ she said, rolling slightly so that she was facing him. ‘It must have broken both their hearts to watch each other from afar, wishing they were together.’

Benjamin leaned down to kiss her, and she sighed against his mouth, loving the lazy way his lips moved against hers, as if they had all the time in the world.

‘I think Valentina would have loved this,’ he murmured when he pulled away, his lips still hovering over hers. ‘Our two families, finally connected after all these years.’

Rose smiled up at him, hoping that he was right. But he was quick to distract her by placing his hand on her stomach.

‘It’s been a long time since a Santiago was born here,’ he said. ‘But it seems to me as if everything has come full circle.’

‘Would you mind terribly if we used Santiago as the baby’s middle name?’ Rose asked.

‘I think that’s a great idea,’ he said as he sat up, reaching for her and pulling her up to sit with him. ‘It’s the perfect way to honour your great-grandmother.’

Rose leaned into him, her head falling to Benjamin’s shoulder. ‘I just wish my mum was here to meet you,’ she whispered, brushing away an unexpected tear from her cheek. ‘To meet our baby when she arrives.’

‘ She , huh?’ he teased, putting his arm around her and drawing her close.

Rose just laughed through her tears as Benjamin pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

‘She’s here with you, Rose,’ he said.

‘You truly believe that?’

He kissed her head again. ‘I do, with all my heart.’

And so, they sat there, in no hurry to leave the most beautiful spot on the property, as Rose closed her eyes and remembered her mother, finally able to think about her without bursting into tears, even as she wished that there had been a way for her to meet Benjamin before she’d passed away. For her to see the magical property that Rose now called home. For her to know that she was going to be a grandmother.

But no matter what, in her heart she knew that her mother would have loved the man she’d chosen, and that there wouldn’t have been a prouder grandma to ever live.

I love you, Mum.

‘Do you want to stay a while longer?’ Benjamin asked.

Rose nodded and lay back on the grass again, as Benjamin reached for her hand and lay back beside her. And as the wind blew gently against her skin and the sun slipped through the gaps in the leaves above, Rose knew there was nowhere in the world she’d rather be.

***