His Heart's Mistress (Book 1 in His Heart's Series)

Chapter 2

Ally

I decided to drive over to L'Amore to try to clear my head. After learning about more of my father's lies, I needed to get away.

I can't believe he lied to me about L'Amore.

I have spent the last ten years away from my father and anything and everything that's connected to him and his name.

When I married, I carried the name Cortalez. When he died, I had my name changed to my mother's maiden name, De La Vega. I didn't want to be associated with my father after everything. I wanted to start a brand new life and it would be better if no one associated me with the Cassidy's in New York.

L'Amore which means love, has been in my mother's family for three generations now - me being the third.

L'Amore is an organic poultry and dairy farm in Chestnut Hill, Philapdelphia. But when I turned eight, I developed interest in horses, so my abuelo added a horse ranch, so I could ride horses whenever I visit them during the summer.

My mother was born and raised at the farm ranch, but moved away to New York for college - where she met and fell in love with my father while she was studying at NYU. My father was giving a speech at the university when they first met each other.

According to my mom, my dad was charming and sweet and it didn't take long for her to fall in love with him. Unfortunately, my father did not return her feelings.
She found out she was pregnant and when she told my father, he told her that he wasn't interested in being a father. My mom was so heartbroken and terrified. She was twenty years old, pregnant, and alone. She was also terrified of telling my abuelos about her pregnancy. But she had no choice but to go home and tell them.

My abuelo was furious at my father for abandoning and taking advantage of my mother. He threatened to go to the press if my father refused to marry my mother. The Cassidy's was furious, but in the end, they agreed to my abuelo's demands to avoid any scandal. My parents married the very next month.

My mother was very much aware that my father did not want to marry her and that he was not in love with her, but she hoped that one day he will grow to love her. She also thought that having me would bring them closer together; but it didn't. My father resented my mother, while he tolerated me. As a child, I've always wondered why he was different from other dad's and I have always longed for my father's affection. But my mother loved me enough for the both of them. My mother showered me with so much love and devotion, that I had learned to accept that my father will never look at me or shower me with his love and affection.

Every summer my mom would take me to L'Amore to see my abuelos. It was the best days of my life. Staying at the farm is the only time my mother and I felt free and happy. Living in the city and being a Cassidy was tough. There were so many expectations. Our every move is put under the microscope for scrutiny and criticism. Being at the farm ranch made us feel free and truly alive. But just before my tenth birthday, my abuelos died. Both of them died of pneumonia two weeks between each other. It was hard on both my mom and I, but thankfully we still had each other... Though not for long...

My mother died five years later, due to ovarian cancer. I was devastated. I not only lost my mother, I lost my best friend as well.

A part of me died when I lost my mother. And up to this day, I still miss her terribly; and it's times like this when I wish that my mother was still alive so she can help me and tell me what to do.

After my mother's passing, my father showered me with all the material things money could buy. I didn't want for anything. I knew he was doing it so that he wouldn't have to deal with me. What he didn't know was that, I didn't need or want any of those things. I needed him. I needed a father to guide me and tell me that everything was going to be okay. He was all I had left. I wanted his love. His approval. I wanted him to be proud of me; but I guess that was asking too much of him.