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Ayla’s stomach chose that moment to spin a cartwheel before breaking into a full gymnastics routine. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths. “I’m sorry,” she apologized, not looking at the older woman.

She felt her stand but didn’t check. It was borderline on whether she was going to vomit, and all it would take was one thing to push her over the edge. She wasn’t risking it.

A moment later, the Senora returned. “Here,” she said, pressing something into Ayla’s hand. Reflex had her gripping it and opening her eyes. A red and blue package containing two soda crackers. She noticed more on the table in front of her. Tugging it open, she ate one of the crackers. It helped.

Nibbling at the second one, Ayla straightened. “Gracias, Senora Alvarez,” she said and put the empty wrapper on the table.

“ De nada . The crackers always helped my sister with her morning sickness. I’ll give you more to carry with you.”

“Gracias,” Ayla said again and continued to eat in tiny bites. Now that the worst of the queasiness was passing, she needed the time to think through what the older woman had said.

Ayla had a million questions, but she couldn’t ask any of them.

Not without giving away that she and Oz weren’t really married.

And what if Oz had lied to the innkeeper and his wife?

Maybe they wouldn’t let a mercenary stay, and he’d claimed to be a Green Beret on a covert mission.

Whatever the case, she owed him for protecting her.

For helping her. She’d keep her mouth shut and ask him a few questions later.

She took the last bite of cracker and eyed the remaining packages. With a smile, Senora Alvarez pushed them toward her. “Have more. Have as many as you like. They are for you.”

Helping herself to another package, she opened it and said, “I’m sorry for being such a weakling.”

“Why apologize?” the Senora said. “Morning sickness is not a weakness.”

With a rueful expression, Ayla said, “Well, yes, but…” She let her voice trail off.

“But?” the older woman prompted.

“But if my sister were pregnant, she wouldn’t allow a little morning sickness to slow her down.” She tried for a grin but wasn’t sure how successful she was. “As if Io’s body would even dare to be queasy. She’d tell it to toughen up, it would immediately obey, and she’d keep going.”

Senora Alvarez laughed. “I never had children of my own, but I have a sister. I have sisters-in-law. It doesn’t work that way, no matter how strong-willed a woman is.” She leaned forward and added, “Besides, morning sickness is a good sign that you are going to have a very healthy baby.”

Ayla chomped on the cracker and gave a polite smile. Senora Alvarez wasn’t buying it.

“Why do you compare yourself to your sister? Why do you find yourself lacking?”

“Maybe because everyone else does.”

“Who is everyone?”

Did she really want to get into this with a stranger? If she wanted to dig deep into this morass, she’d use the mental health benefits the Paladin League provided and find a licensed therapist. On the other hand, she’d never see the woman again after they left.

“My mom and dad, for two.” Ayla didn’t wait for the Senora to ask if she was sure. She immediately explained. “I can’t tell you the number of times my parents said to me, why can’t you be more like your sister?”

“Why would they ask such a thing?” She sounded genuinely puzzled, but then Senora Alvarez didn’t know her or Io.

“Because when we traveled, one of them would have to stay back with me while the other one went on an adventure with my sister. My mom and dad love adventures. My sister loves adventures. I’m not the adventurous type.”

“And yet here you are in Puerto Jardin.” Her tone was mild, and Ayla couldn’t read what the other woman thought.

“Because Io is in trouble. Not because I want to be here.”

“The reasons do not matter. You came. That’s adventurous.”

With a sigh, Ayla tried to frame her thoughts.

It was clear the Senora didn’t understand.

“If there was anyone else who could find Io— anyone —I would have stayed home and let them handle it.” She shrugged.

“There wasn’t. My sister and I might not have much in common, but we love each other, and I would never abandon her. ”

“Of course not,” Senora Alvarez said calmly. It was only then that Ayla realized how fierce her own voice had been. “Your parents never mandated that you accompany them on their adventures?”

Ayla smiled ruefully. “They did at first. Oh, nothing too scary, like rock climbing or parasailing, but the thrill rides at amusement parks? Yes. Sobbing uncontrollably stopped that and my parents began to take turns staying with me while the other went with Io.”

Senora Alvarez frowned, and for a moment remained silent before she said, “Perhaps you should think about how your sister held your parents back, too. If you were too young to be left unaccompanied, do you think Senorita Desmond was up to adult-level adventures like your parents were capable of?”

The truth hit her like a tidal wave, and Ayla felt her stomach heave again.

Instead of reaching for crackers, she put her head down near her knees and drew some deep breaths.

She heard Senora Alvarez making sympathetic, soothing sounds, but her brain was whirling.

There was no chance that at seven or ten or even thirteen Io would have been able to keep up with their parents.

Io wasn’t the perfect daughter. She never had been. The truth was merely that her interests aligned more closely with their parents’ passions. Their twenty-ninth birthday dinner had been rescheduled for both of them. Her twin didn’t spend any more time with their parents than Ayla did.

“Your parents accommodated you and accommodated your sister as well,” the older woman said.

Ayla lifted her head enough to look at Senora Alvarez. She couldn’t stop the words that tumbled out of her mouth even though she knew Oz would want her to remain silent. “Accommodate? My sister and I are identical twins. Our parents don’t care enough to be able to tell us apart.”

Senora Alvarez’s eyes widened. A moment later, she nodded. “Your sister dyes her hair blonde to stand out from you.”

Hair color was a topic best avoided. “Io insisted on dressing differently from the time she was around six years old. When we switched what we wore, no one, including our parents, realized it. I was interchangeable to them.”

“Then your sister was interchangeable as well. They didn’t favor her over you.”

The comment left Ayla reeling. All her life she believed her parents were partial to her sister, but this conversation—even the facts that she’d revealed herself—painted a different picture. She needed to think about this some more.

Later.

When she thought she could sit up without embarrassing herself, Ayla did so. She wasn’t quite ready to concede this battle yet. “Men prefer my sister over me.”

Senora Alvarez’s eyebrows rose. “Explain this to me.”

“When we were in high school, guys would pretend to be interested in me to get closer to Io. She never betrayed me,” she added quickly, not wanting the older woman to think her sister didn’t care about Ayla’s feelings.

“Any guy I was interested in or who I dated, Io considered completely off limits. That didn’t stop men from using me, though. ”

“High school, you say?” When Ayla nodded, the Senora said, “Those are boys, not men. Can you see your husband playing such a game?”

“No.” Oz wouldn’t mess around like that.

Senora Alvarez pushed another package of crackers toward her. “From what you’re telling me, the person doing the most comparing is you.”

Ayla’s hands shook as she tugged open the package of crackers. “But?—”

“Let me recount what you’ve told me,” the older woman interrupted.

“Your parents wished you were more like your sister, but they couldn’t identify either one of you if you dressed in unexpected ways.

Boys used you to approach your sister, but men have not, and now you have your husband and a baby on the way.

You haven’t mentioned your sister comparing you. Does she?”

Taking a bite of soda cracker, Ayla shook her head. After swallowing, she said, “Io doesn’t judge people. She accepts them for who they are, and if they don’t mesh with her, she moves on. She doesn’t believe in wasting time or energy.”

“Has she moved on from you?”

Ayla smiled ruefully. “No. Like I said, Io and I don’t have a lot in common, but she’s there when I need her, whether I like it or not.”

“And that means?”

“She’s ready to fight my battles for me even when I want to fight them myself.

” A sudden vision of Io learning Ayla was pregnant, unmarried, and that Oz was the father popped into her head.

Her sister would go to war with Oz, demanding to know what he intended to do, and nothing Ayla said or did would keep her sister from protecting her.

“Because she loves you,” Senora Alvarez said, but she was watching Ayla with a concerned look on her face. “Why do I have the impression that you would fight your sister’s battles for her even if she didn’t ask for your help?”

“If she needed me to do that, I would, but Senora, Io would already have everything taken care of before I came up with a plan of action.” Her stomach rolled, and Ayla felt her entire body go hot. Oz always told her to breathe, so she tried taking deep breaths, hoping that would quell the nausea.

“I think, dear one, that you are too self-critical. Grant yourself some grace.”

Before Ayla could come up with a response, the front door to the inn opened, the bell making a melodic tinkling noise.

Three men entered. The one in front had dishwater blond hair, a neatly trimmed beard, and blue eyes.

His gaze landed on their table, and he crossed to where they sat.

“We need rooms,” he said. “One for each of us.” The tone suggested it was an order rather than a request.

Ayla had never heard Spanish spoken with a Russian accent before, but there was no mistaking it. Even as she prayed to remain invisible, her stomach went back into its gymnastics routine with zeal. She looked around for a restroom.

There didn’t appear to be one available near the dining room.

The crackers came up to her throat, and Ayla swallowed hard. She needed a bathroom, and she needed one now. If there was nothing down here, that meant the communal bath upstairs. She scrambled to her feet.

“You look familiar,” the Russian said to her, still in Spanish.

It was too much. Ayla threw up all over the floor.

So much for remaining inconspicuous.