Later, she’d screamed at him, “You used me!” She’d bawled him out in two languages. She talked of his ancestors, his vanity, his lack of a true job, etc. But every direction she took led to one place. Miguel absolutely, positively had to marry her. Had to. There was no choice in the matter.

Rafe had backed her up. He was in total agreement. But then, he wanted them both to stay with him.

But Forey didn’t agree. In fact, there was something in her manner that made Miguel believe he shouldn’t “make an honest woman” of Gabrielle and marry her. So he didn’t.

When Gabby said she was pregnant, it started all over again and he knew he had to give in.

She was going to be the mother of his child!

But by that time, Mrs. Carl was in Miguel’s life and she’d stepped in. “I don’t like her,” she told Miguel. “If you marry her, she’ll ruin your life and your child’s.”

“But it’s my baby,” he’d said. “I can’t leave my child.”

“You won’t have to,” Mrs. Carl said. And she arranged everything.

Miguel had had little time to think about what he’d lost. But at night, alone in his bed, he yearned for Vera.

After he had custody of Caitlyn, he would hold his child and whisper that Vera should have been her mother. When one of Cait’s first words was “Vera,” he stopped all audible references to her. He kept Vera inside, hidden away. His only contact with her was what he read in the media and through Kelly. After every visit with her sister, Kelly and Miguel spent an afternoon together. He relished the anecdotes she told him, memorizing each one. There was a hidden safe in his bedroom. It didn’t contain riches or deeds. It was packed full of photos and memorabilia from twenty-plus years of loving Vera Exton.

At each of their meetings, Miguel asked the same question: “Did she ask about me?”

Kelly, always kind, brushed over her “no,” then said she’d made sure Vera heard about him and saw photos of him and Caitlyn. Vera never commented on the pictures, never asked for more information. But when Cait was four, a local photographer had taken an especially good snapshot of father and daughter. The love between them seemed to glow from the picture.

“It disappeared,” Kelly told him. “I looked all over the hotel room, under the bed and even behind the nightstand. But that picture wasn’t there.” She looked at Miguel. “I think Vera took it.”

After that, he made sure Kelly always left with a professional portrait of him and his daughter. But no more went missing.