Gloria Estefan is sitting in the middle of paradise – which also happens to double as her backyard. Palm trees sway gently in a breeze perfumed by the kinds of exotic flowers you see in those glossy Club Med brochures. A pack of dalmatians (there are five) romp around the grass near the wallabies (there are three), while a man-made waterfall splashes into a kidney-shaped swimming pool. That’s where you’ll find 37-year-old Estefan, relaxing on a stone terrace, shielded from the warm Miami sun by a white cotton umbrella.

"Wheeee! Qué linda!" she coos softly to her four-month-old daughter, Emily, as she bounces the baby on her knee. "Qué grande! What a big girl!" Then she pulls her close, nuzzling the delighted child’s soft, round cheeks.

The scene is picture-perfect. But from the moment you step into Estefan’s own personal Eden, you don’t begrudge her any of it: not the boats moored at the dock, not the million-dollar white stucco mansion, not the waterfront view of the Miami skyline. Because none of these things have come easily to the singer – including the baby she’s holding in her arms.

Estefan and her husband, Emilio, age 42, have a 14-year-old son, Nayib, and had been planning to have a second child right after her 1990 Cuts Both Ways tour. Those plans were suddenly shattered on March 20 of that year, when a speeding semitrailer smashed into Estefan’s tour bus, breaking the star’s back.

To the public, Estefan’s incredible comeback – she was on the road, performing, within a year – read like a happy Hollywood ending to the tragic frontpage story. But privately the couple’s struggles continued. Once doctors determined that Estefan’s back was strong enough to withstand a pregnancy, she tried to conceive for over a year. Nothing happened. A series of medical tests revealed that one of her fallopian tubes had been crushed in the accident. Estefan underwent surgery, and became pregnant one month later.

"Singing has always been my escape from everything that was tough in my life."

Doctors thought that Estefan might experience more back discomfort than was normal during her pregnancy, but a daily exercise regimen that included both cardiovascular and weight training made those nine months relatively pain-free. Her commitment to exercise also helped her get back in shape after the baby was born.

Like any new mother, Estefan becomes animated when she begins to share the details of her baby’s birth. During her 14-hour labor, Emilio, Nayib and Estefan’s mother, sister and high school friend Patty Escoto were all with her, huddled around the monitor in her small hospital room. "Every time I had a contraction, they’d start saying ‘Breathe! Breathe!’" she remembers, laughing. But when the labor didn’t progress, doctors decided to perform a cesarean.

Estefan coaxed Emilio, who was decidedly squeamish about watching the delivery, to come into the operating room with her. "He was sitting next to me, holding my hand, being real supportive," she says. "But when they said ‘The baby’s coming!’ he suddenly let go of my hand. I looked at him and he was green. They tell me he was actually the color of the surgical clothes."

Estefan was a 17-year-old psychology student at the University of Miami when she met 22-year-old Emilio, a self-taught accordion player whose family – like Gloria’s – had immigrated from Cuba. When he asked the slightly overweight and painfully shy Estefan to join his local bar-and-wedding band, The Miami Sound Machine, in 1975, she considered performing to be only a hobby. "Singing has always been my escape from everything that was tough in my life," says Estefan, who helped raise her younger sister and care for her disabled father, a Vietnam veteran, as a teenager. "It was always a personal thing to me."

Emilio eventually became Estefan’s first boyfriend, and they married in 1978. "He had a day job," Estefan recalls. "I did all the housework, and I worked in the band at night." Nearly ten years went by before a spicy dance number called Conga became the crossover hit they had been waiting for. From there, Estefan’s combination of heart-wrenching ballads (Anything for You, Don’t Wanna Lose You) and Latin-flavored dance tunes (1-2-3, Rhythm Is Gonna Get You) helped escalate her career to undreamed – of heights. Her unassuming, down-to-earth persona struck a chord with people. "She seemed like the Spanish neighbor next door; this nice woman who had this pleasing voice and wasn’t some kind of virtuoso," says Entertainment Weekly’s music critic David Browne.

In 1986 Emilio quit performing with The Miami Sound Machine so that he could devote himself to producing and managing his wife’s new solo career, and, eventually, those of other musicial artists, like Jon Secada. Because of his deep involvement in his wife’s work, many people have labeled him a Svengali. After all, he produces all of her albums, styles all of her photo shoots and even shops for all of her clothes. (Estefan claims that she hates to shop.) But the couple insist nothing could be further from the truth. "Nobody’s the boss. Not her. Not me," says Emilio. "If she is offered 10 million dollars to do a commercial and she doesn’t want to do it, that’s the end of it. Because I have to respect that she’s a very smart woman."

The mutual respect they clearly have for each other only grew stronger during the difficult months following the bus accident, when Emilio would get up every 45 minutes throughout the night to lead his wife on slow, agonizing walks to and from their dock to prevent her muscles from stiffening up. "She used to walk and cry at the same time," he recalls. "It was very tough."

As painful as those months were, they seem to have left the couple with an abundant appreciation for family life that only those who have come so close to losing everything can truly understand. "After what happened to her," says Emilio, "I just want my family to be healthy. I don’t care if we lose what we have. I can live in a very small apartment. I can be homeless. As long as I have my family around."

"Emilio and Gloria are both very family-oriented," confirms Estefan’s high-school friend Escoto, who now works as Emilio’s assistant at Estefan Enterprises. "Emilio can’t go without calling Gloria and his mom a hundred times a day. And Gloria’s happiest when she’s at home with her family, hanging out and having people over."

To aid them in their favorite pastime – entertaining – the Estefans are currently building a second house next door. There will be cascading waterfalls in front, a small movie theater inside, a guest cottage in the back... even an indoor home for all of the dogs and wallabies. A private entranceway will connect all of this to the main residence, where warm, lived-in touches like baby toys lying around the living room and a playpen set up in the kitchen are juxtaposed with the priceless pieces of Cuban and Latin American artwork hanging on the walls.

"I love to stay home, so I figure I’ll make a resort at my house," says the star, pointing to the place where the pond is going to go. Aside from her home, Estefan’s other indulgence is her motorboat – a hobby she’s passionate about. (She’s currently taking a navigation course.) Besides that, she doesn’t spend her money on a lot of material things. "It’s the immigrant mentality," says Estefan, laughing. "Both our families were very well off in Cuba. Then all of a sudden, boom, you’re here. You have nothing. It’s hard to get rid of that feeling.

For the first time in her life, Estefan seems to be kicking back and enjoying herself. While Emilio tends to their expanding family business, which includes a Cuban restaurant, a South Beach hotel, a private studio used by such stars as Madonna and Whitney Houston, Estefan’s day revolves around her children. After Emily was born, Estefan even refused Emilio’s offer to hire a nanny.

Mother and baby usually sleep until 10:30 A.M., then head over to the Estefans‘ private gym, where Emily watches her mom work out. The rest of Estefan’s day is spent walking Emily. Playing with Emily. Putting Emily down to sleep in the nursery – a sky-blue room decorated with hand-painted guitar-strumming cherubs that float up around the ceiling. As she looks into a drawer filled with baby shoes, Estefan jokes that Emily has as many pairs as Imelda Marcos.

Changing diapers, breastfeeding and pushing a stroller may not seem as exciting as singing to packed stadiums or lunching with President Bush (which she did in 1990), but for now it seems to suit Estefan just fine. With her son, there were too many missed Little League games, too many special occasions spent on opposite sides of the country. "It was horrendous. No more. I would never do that again," she says firmly.

It’s not that the work comes to a halt. Hardly. She presently has a number of projects on her plate. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, a collection of covers of ‘60s and ‘70s hits that she recorded during her pregnancy and calls "the sound track of my life," has gone platinum and spawned three hit singles. A Spanish Christmas album will arrive in record stores this September, and a new dance album is due out in the spring. Then next summer, Estefan is planning to embark on a world tour – her last for a while. Its theme, appropriately enough, will be "Evolution."

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A special THANK YOU to Amanda Warnock for giving me this magazine. You have always a special place in my heart!!!!!!!

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