Chapter 37: The Choice He Made

Long before Vance Holdings became the sprawling corporation whose name seemed to appear on half the city’s buildings, there had been a farm, a neighborhood school, and a barn dance Alejandro Vance had spent an embarrassing amount of time pretending he hadn’t attended for one particular girl.

Rosalie wasn’t difficult to find.

She stood among four other young women inside the circle, fair-skinned and pretty in a simple dress that moved beautifully whenever she turned.

She’d always been graceful, even as children attending the only school their neighborhood had to offer. Still, Alejandro had never been quite so painfully aware of it until that evening.

The dance itself should’ve made approaching her easy.

Five young men formed one side of the circle and five young women the other. Once the music began, everyone paired off and followed the steps until the tune abruptly stopped, signaling that it was time to surrender one partner for another.

It was supposed to be random.

Alejandro spent an unreasonable amount of effort making sure it wasn’t.

By the third exchange, one of his friends finally noticed.

"You know you’re supposed to change partners, don’t you?"

"I did."

"You’ve danced with Rosalie twice."

"Coincidence."

His friend stared at him.

Alejandro stared back.

Then the music started again, and he promptly maneuvered himself into Rosalie’s path for a third time.

She laughed the moment she saw him.

"Again?"

"Apparently, I’m very lucky."

"Apparently, you don’t know how circles work."

He couldn’t even deny it.

By the end of the night, Alejandro had danced with Rosalie often enough to make his intentions obvious to everyone except, according to him, Rosalie herself.

After that came the excuses.

The Vances had no particular need for eggs from the little farm Rosalie’s family owned, but Alejandro suddenly developed a remarkable interest in buying them there.

Then it was milk.

Vegetables followed.

Once, after exhausting every reasonable excuse he could think of, he walked all the way to their farm to ask whether Rosalie’s father had seen a missing dog.

They didn’t own a dog.

Rosalie eventually leaned against the fence and looked at him.

"Are you ever going to admit you just want to see me?"

Alejandro considered the question seriously.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because then I’d have to find another excuse tomorrow."

She laughed.

Alejandro decided that was reason enough to return.

Somewhere between those ridiculous visits and the long walks home, friendship became something neither of them bothered pretending was anything else.

They talked about leaving their small neighborhood, attending college, and building lives larger than the ones they’d inherited.

"We’ll apply to the same school," Alejandro promised one afternoon.

Rosalie shook her head.

"Your father would have a fit."

"Then somewhere nearby."

"And if I don’t get accepted?"

"Then I’ll find somewhere that accepts both of us."

"You make everything sound easy."

Alejandro smiled.

"That’s because you worry enough for both of us."

At the time, neither of them imagined that getting accepted would be the easy part.

Alejandro went to college.

Rosalie never did.

Her father became seriously ill shortly before she was supposed to leave. They had livestock to tend, land to maintain, and no one else to keep the farm running.

Alejandro offered to stay.

Rosalie refused.

"Go."

"Rosalie—"

"You worked too hard to get there."

"So did you."

"And one of us should still get to go."

He promised he’d come back.

For four years, he did whenever he could.

At first, he visited often and wrote letters long enough to require extra postage. Then his studies became more demanding, Rosalie’s responsibilities at home grew heavier, and the spaces between their conversations gradually stretched.

Still, when Alejandro finally graduated, there was only one place he wanted to go.

He returned home carrying a degree his father was immensely proud of and a ring the older man knew absolutely nothing about.

Alejandro went straight to Rosalie’s farm.

He found her in the yard.

Beside her was a little boy, barely a year old.

For several seconds, Alejandro couldn’t bring himself to speak.

Rosalie didn’t make excuses.

Someone else had entered her life while Alejandro was away. Whatever promises the man had made hadn’t survived the pregnancy, and by the time Ben was born, his father was already gone.

Rosalie looked down at the little boy beside her.

"You don’t have to say anything."

Alejandro remained silent.

"I know this isn’t what you came home expecting."

It wasn’t.

He looked at Ben.

Then at the woman he’d spent four years intending to marry.

"No."

Rosalie’s face fell.

Alejandro reached into his pocket.

"It isn’t."

Her eyes widened when she saw the ring.

"But I didn’t come all this way to ask whether your life went exactly as I expected."

"Alejandro..."

"I came to ask whether you’ll marry me."

Rosalie stared at him.

Then at the ring.

"And Ben?"

Alejandro looked down at the little boy clutching the hem of her dress.

"What about him?"

"You know what I mean."

"I do."

Alejandro crouched until he was closer to the child’s height.

Ben immediately hid behind his mother’s skirt.

That almost made him laugh.

"He comes with you."

Rosalie’s eyes filled with tears.

"Alejandro."

"Both of you, Rosalie."

He stood again.

"That’s my choice."

His father was considerably less romantic about the matter.

Augustus Vance had spent years preparing his only son for a future far beyond their neighborhood. He’d paid for Alejandro’s education, introduced him to the right people, and expected him to eventually inherit the company he’d spent most of his life building.

The woman Alejandro intended to marry had little formal education, a struggling farm, and a child who wasn’t his.

Augustus saw complications where his son saw a family.

"You have every opportunity in front of you," Augustus said. "And this is the life you choose?"

"Yes."

"Think carefully before you answer me."

"I already have."

Augustus’s jaw tightened.

"And the boy?"

Alejandro’s expression changed.

"His name is Ben."

"He isn’t yours."

"He’ll be mine if Rosalie agrees to marry me."

Augustus stared at his son for a long time.

"You understand what people will say."

"I do."

"And you don’t care."

"I didn’t say that."

Alejandro met his father’s eyes.

"I said I’m marrying her."

The silence that followed was far worse than shouting.

Finally, Augustus leaned back.

"If you walk out that door and marry her without my blessing, don’t expect me to pretend afterward that I approved of your decision."

Alejandro did it anyway.