Capello Brothers 3 Train My Heart (5 page)

"Nope" she
replied, shaking her head as they both headed for the front
door.

Outside, a
courier stood grasping a massive bunch of flowers, sticking his
head around as the door opened, "Imogen Butler?"

"Yes?" Imogen
replied.

"Miss. These
are for you" he said, passing her the flowers.

"Wow, thank
you" she said inspecting the gorgeous bouquet and finding a
glorious arrangement of orange tulips, there had to be 40 or 50
flowers, all the same gorgeous hue, what an unusual yet
breathtaking choice of flower and colour, "is there a card?" she
asked the driver.

"Yes Miss,
there is—I have some other gifts for you too, couldn't carry them
all.. I'll go grab them from the truck" he said, shuffling off to
his delivery van.

"From you,
Luca?" she asked.

Luca leant over
her shoulder and beamed, "Nope, but I should have" he replied
embarrassedly. "I reckon they're from my Ma. Tulips are her
favorites".

"Your Ma? Why
would she… Hang on, you told her about tonight?"

"Of course I
did, you make me proud—I wanted my Ma to know how wonderful you
are" he smiled, landing a peck on her cheek before grabbing the
flowers and taking them to find a vase.

"Miss, these
are yours too" the delivery man spoke from the door, before passing
her a bottle of Champagne and an envelope.

"Thank you" she
replied politely before closing the door and following Luca's
footsteps.

Setting the
Champagne on the bench, she opened the envelope and found a folded
note and an antique brooch. Puzzled, she set the brooch aside and
opened the letter:

My dearest
Imogen,

We are all so
deeply proud of you and your achievements. You will do beautifully
tonight, of that we are sure.

My wonderful
Luca is in awe of you and the qualities you possess; I certainly
hope he tells you this as much as he tells the rest of us!

The orange
tulips are my favorites, orange for you because of the warmth and
happiness you bring to all you meet. This brooch is for you; my
mother gave it to me when I was 23 and embarking on a new path in
life—I hope it brings you as much happiness in your life as it has
for me.

Love
always,

Adelina

Imogen barely
held back the tears; her own parents had sent her a congratulatory
text message after she told them about being a finalist but had
hadn’t made any attempt to wish her well for the Awards Ceremony.
Looking at Luca, he too looked a little overwhelmed.

"Your Ma is…
wonderful" she finally said; a mass of emotions coursing through
her mind.

"That she is"
Luca agreed, pinning the brooch to Imogen's dress, "Now, let's get
going—can't have you be late to your award winning night!"

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

"Imogen," Luca
shouted above the applause, bringing her back to the moment, "it's
you—you won!" and pushing her to her feet.

"Oh, gosh, I
know! Luca, I won!" she cried, burying her face in his neck.

Holding her
back at arm's length, Luca spoke quietly, "I am so proud of you Im.
Enjoy this moment; you've achieved what you set out to achieve.
You're amazing. Now go get your award, everyone's waiting".

The party
continued well into the night, with Luca watching on proudly as
Imogen handled a swarm of journalists interviewing and
photographing her followed by well-wishers and eventually the
publishing house representatives. When the night finally came to an
end, Luca escorted her to the Jeep, kissing the back of her hand as
he helped her up into the vehicle and causing a massive smile from
Imogen.

"Home?" Luca
asked.

"Yes, home" she
replied, contently.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Three weeks later

"And… that's
it!" Imogen sighed with relief, hitting send on the email
containing the edited manuscript. “Finally, the book is finished!
Want to go celebrate Luca?”

“What’ve you
got in mind?” Luca asked, watching Imogen packing up her desk from
the doorway. Closed laptop, thesaurus, diary, notepad, pencil; the
perfect stack done exactly the same way at the end of every writing
session. It was laughable how predictable she was, but endearingly
cute at the same time.

“Anything! Just
get me out of this office” she exclaimed.

“Could we stay
in, order out, maybe talk?” Luca offered, a proposal that had
Imogen spinning in her chair.

“Why…?” she
asked suspiciously.

“Why, what Im?
Wouldn’t you rather a quiet night in?”

“Yes, that’s
fine. But, why do you want to talk; what’s wrong?”

“Im, I’ve been
waiting weeks to get some time with you. I haven’t wanted to
interrupt your writing—can’t I suggest some catch up time without
setting off alarm bells?” Luca countered, his tattered patience
showing through as he turned on his heel and stormed from the
room.

“Hey, Luca,
what’s wrong—you’ve never spoken to me like that before” Imogen
yelled after him, following him down the hallway and into the
bathroom.

“I’m sorry. I’m
frustrated and got stuff going on; I’ve been waiting to talk to
you—waiting til it was the right time, but really there is no right
time—“

“What? What’s
happening?” Imogen whispered, looking up at him cautiously.

“Oh god Im, I’m
sorry to do this to you…”

“Are we… are
you… breaking up with me?” she replied, barely containing the sob
that escaped her lips and reverbed off each and every tile in the
bathroom, pulling Luca’s heart into his throat.

“No! No, not
that Im” he said, scooping her into his arms. “not that. Sit, let’s
talk”.

Slinking them
both down onto the tiled floor, it struck Luca how cold the floor
was, Imogen’s tears were flowing and her confused and hurt look
reiterated just how cold the situation was about to become.

“I’m confused,
I thought we were good—I thought everything was going well—“ she
whispered, her words punctuated by hiccupped sobbing.

“We are good
Imogen, trust me on that, and everything between us is going well.
But, what’s going on with me isn’t. I’m feeling lost, confused… I
want us to settle down, I know you’re the woman I’m going to marry,
I know that. What I don’t know is me” Luca explained, her eyes
focused on his.

“This is my
fault isn’t it? Because of what happened with Bill McNaught? You’ve
been different ever since; nothing noticeable, just different—wound
up or something…”

“No, it isn’t
your fault, but yes you’re right—something in me changed that day
and I’ve been rolling it around in my head and for the life of me I
can’t make sense of it. I exploded the way my father used to. The
memories that brought up have been hard, but it’s just I can’t
shake the feeling that maybe I’m more like him than I realize.
Maybe deep down, it’s just part of who I am—“ he explained.

“Luca, no, it’s
not—you’re the most wonderful man I know. Your brothers—have you
talked to them about this? What can I do to help?“ she asked.

Luca let out
the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, “That’s what I wanted
to talk about. I haven’t seen him since I was a kid, I think it’s
time for me to go and see him, try to understand him better so that
I can understand myself”.

“You want to go
see your father? In Italy?”

“Yes.”

“When? Do you
think it’s a good idea?”

“I haven’t made
any plans yet. I wanted you to get your book finished without any
interruptions and now that you’re finished…”

“This is
important to you, you should go” she replied quietly.

“Just like
that; you’re not going to try to talk me out of it or tell me it’s
a bad idea?” he questioned uncertainly.

“No. Luca
you’re a grown man, I trust that you’ve come to this decision
carefully and I think you should go. Explore your past and
understand it. All I will say is I know who you are, and I love the
man that you are”.

“Will you give
me some time over there first then meet me in Italy? If everything
goes well with my father you can meet him, but if it doesn’t go to
plan, then… I don’t want you to be exposed to him” he finished
sheepishly.

“You’re asking
me to go to Italy?! Of course, Luca, I’d love that more than
anything” she agreed, “but I have one condition”.

“Anything Im—“
Luca replied.

“Can we get off
this cold floor and order some food?” she laughed, hauling him up
off the floor with her.

Luca captured
her in his arms and pulled her tight, “You’re amazing you
know”.

“Yes, Luca
Capello, I know—you tell me all the time!”

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

“Tickets,
passport, wallet, cash...” Luca repeated subconsciously as they
reached the airport; his self-checking had continued since they’d
left the house.

“Luca, you have
everything. We’ve checked and checked again; you’re just nervous”,
Imogen said, pulling the Jeep into a carpark and leaning towards
him for a kiss.

As Luca checked
in his bag, they both realized the time for them to part had
arrived. Luca bent and pulled Imogen in close, holding her and
breathing in her scent as though he was committing it to memory. "I
should go—" he started.

"I know" Imogen
replied without easing her grip on him, "I'm going to miss you
Luca. Please please be careful".

"I will Im.
I'll text you when I get there" he promised, "I love you".

"I love you
too" she whispered.

“Im, I know
what I’ve forgotten” Luca called, as he walked through the gates to
his lounge.

“Oh Luca,
what?”

“You” he said,
blowing her a kiss.

Imogen held it
together just long enough at the airport that Luca hadn’t seen her
tears, but her heart was breaking with every step away from the
gates and away from the love of her life. She made a silent promise
to herself to keep it together at least until she got to the car,
lest she make a fool of herself sobbing in the airport. She'd
almost managed it until she looked up and straight into a wall of
Capello.

“Roman,
Dominic, what are you doing here? Luca’s already left. Oh no,
you’ve missed him” she said, the tears involuntarily falling
again.

“Luca’s a big
boy, Im. We came for you; figured you might need a little cheering
up and it seems we were right” Dominic said, elbowing Roman in the
ribs before throwing an arm around Imogen's shoulders and pulling
her in close for a caring hug.

“You got the
Jeep?” Roman asked.

“Yeah, I
do.”

“Great, last
thing I need is to get back in the ute with speed-racer here; I’ll
come with you” Roman replied.

"Angelo's for
lunch ok with you Im?" Dom asked, though Imogen had a feeling the
decision had already been made.

"Thanks, but I
think I'll head home"

"Not a chance
Im, let's go" Dom declared, leading them seamlessly through the
airport crowds.

"Will you drive
Roman" Imogen asked as they approached the Jeep.

"Yep" he said,
taking the keys and walking to the passenger door and opening it
for Imogen. "So, how's the writing going?" Roman asked casually as
he settled behind the steering wheel, pushing the seat back to
accommodate his larger frame.

"Good. I sent
the final manuscript to my publisher a couple weeks ago. I finished
it the night…" she stalled, tears threatening her somewhat calm
composure, "the night Luca told me his plans"

"How do you
feel about it all?" he enquired gently.

"Luca, you
mean?"

"Yeah; none of
us saw this coming so I'm guessing you've been blindsided by it
too?"

"I think it's
my fault Roman. Everything was fine until, well, until the thing at
work happened and he's been different ever since" she replied
earnestly.

"It certainly
was not your fault, Imogen. But yeah, something definitely shifted
for him that day, I agree. I worry about him going back to see our
father, I'm not expecting anything good to come from this, but,
it's important for him so what can we do but support him?" Roman
sighed.

Pulling up at
Angelo's, Dominic walked over to the Jeep, opening Imogen's door
for her, making her realize just how gentlemanly the Capello
brothers were. She'd always thought Luca did these small things
because they were dating, but it seemed this old fashioned chivalry
was actually a family habit.

"Hope you don't
mind Italian for lunch, Im" he laughed as they walked into Angelo's
restaurant.

"Ha! Do you
boys eat anything else?" she replied jokingly to raucous laughter
from both Roman and Dominic.

"Roman,
Dominic! Come in, come in!" exclaimed the older, matronly looking
female who seemed overwhelmingly excited to see the boys. "Oooh…
who have we here" she smiled, looking at Imogen then back and forth
between Roman and Dominic, eyebrows raised playfully.

"Violetta,
always so good to see you" Roman said genuinely, bending to kiss
the woman on each cheek, "this is Imogen, Luca's girlfriend"

"Oooh, Imogen…
A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Where is your Luca today, we
are still waiting for him?" she enquired.

"Lovely to meet
you too, Violetta" Imogen responded warmly. "Luca…"

"Luca's flown
out to Italy today" Roman offered, rubbing Imogen's back in
support.

The expression
on Violetta's face spoke a million words—worry, concern, confusion.
She obviously knew the family background, Imogen thought to
herself.

Redirecting her
thoughts, Violetta turned to Dominic and playfully smacked him on
the rear. "Dominic, you are too grown up to give ol' Violetta a
hug, huh?" she said cheekily, "sit, sit—your usual table is
waiting, I'll get Imogen a menu"