The Wedding Favor Read Online Free PDF Page A

squeezed her hand. “Thank you for understanding. I know Abuelo will be happy to have us close. You should have seen his face when I told him I was engaged. It’s impossible to put into words how thrilled he was, he said it was a dream come true.”
    Ava nodded. “I think it’s a wonderful way for him to spend his last days, watching you begin a new life with your new wife.”
    “I’m more grateful than I can say, Ava.” Mateo stood but didn’t release his hold on her hand. He liked the feel of it in his. “So I guess the next thing to do would be to tell my fiancée that we’ll be moving in.”
    “Seems like the next logical step,” she agreed. “I’ll just get out of your way so you can make the call.”
    “No, no need to go.” He drew Ava to her feet and took her hands in his. “Ava, we’re moving in.”
    Incredulous, she stared up at him for a moment. “What?”
    It was now or never. Mateo took a deep breath. “Ava, will you marry me?”

Chapter Four
    Ava stared up at Mateo. “Have you lost your mind?”
    “That’s not the answer I was hoping for,” Mateo said. “Ava, I’m serious. I want you to agree to marry me.”
    “And I need you to snap back into reality.” Ava looked around the small kitchen, at the table with a carefully prepared breakfast, and then finally back at the man who stood before her for some clue as to what was happening. “What is going on?”
    In answer, Mateo released his hold on her hands and sunk onto one of the folding chairs. He rested his elbows on his knees and buried his head in his hands. “I’ve totally screwed up.”
    A rush of empathy washed over Ava. With any other man, in any other circumstances, she would have been edging carefully toward the door, eager to get away. But this wasn’t any other man. This was Mateo Ortega, a man she’d known and respected since she was a young girl. She’d bet her own life that he was as sane as men came. He was just overwhelmed with sadness about his grandfather’s illness. Understandably so, Joaquin Ortega was as good a man as God ever created.
    Ava drew a chair alongside Mateo’s. Tentatively she touched his shoulder and when he lifted his head and met her eyes she saw the ravages of grief. Her heart hurt for him. “Let’s start at the beginning. Your grandfather thinks you’re engaged.”
    Mateo straightened and turned toward her. She tried to ignore the effect his closeness had on her. It was like a magnetic pull to him. She’d felt it last night at the restaurant the moment she’d seen him.
    “Yes. He thinks I’m engaged. To you, Ava.”
    “To me? But how? Why?” She hardly knew how to articulate the questions racing around her mind. The rational part of her brain ordered her to just cut and run away from the quagmire this was surely going to turn into. But another part of her, touched by Mateo’s obvious sadness, urged her to stay and find out more. “How on earth did he get that idea?” She sat quietly for a moment. “We haven’t seen each other since we were practically kids. Who on earth would have told him something so absolutely crazy?”
    Mateo faced her. “That would be me.”
    Ava could only stare. She felt like she’d come into the middle of a zany movie and couldn’t make out the plot.
    “First let me apologize for handling this so poorly,” Mateo said.
    “Start at the beginning,” Ava urged him. She glanced down at her watch. “I’ve got a meeting in an hour that I absolutely have to make and I imagine you need to get to school. So just cut to the chase.”
    Mateo took a deep breath and exhaled. “Abuelo’s cancer hit us all hard, maybe it shouldn’t have given his age and all but it did. He’s the heart of our family, always has been.”
    Ava nodded. “Go on.”
    “So we’ve all been doing everything we can to make his last days with us as peaceful and happy as possible. Last week we celebrated my niece Alondra’s quinceanera, it was a great night and everyone was happy,