Abby made her way downstairs, her feet growing heavier with each step. She should tell him the truth about her condition, but she didn’t want to spoil this moment. Finally they’d both acted like mature adults. They’d spoken the truth to each other, something that there hadn’t been a lot of in their past relationship. He hadn’t exactly pledged his undying love to her, but she’d seen feelings for her in his eyes. He felt something. She wanted the chance to find out what those feelings were before she brought his world crashing down around him.
Besides, the doctor said she might be capable of conceiving. They wouldn’t know until they operated. Why spoil such a day with unknowns? When she had the concrete truth, then she’d tell him. Perhaps by then he’d tell her why having children required such urgency. Her heart faltered and she almost missed the bottom step.
Now more than ever she was petrified of what he would say.
Chapter Thirteen
Marcia had asked Abby to accompany her into Florence to go shopping. Abby needed to pick up a few things for her grandmother and had readily agreed. They were about to enter Monalisa’s Baby Wear when Abby spotted Delores waving from across the cobblestone street. She waved back.
“Ciao, Marcia and Abby. How lovely to run into you.” She placed kisses on each of their cheeks before pointing at the store. “Marcia, you’re not pregnant again, are you? You Lombardis do love to breed. You’ll be next.” She winked at Abby.
Abby kept her smile plastered on her face.
“Delores, pleasure to see you again. Would you like to join us for lunch?”
“Sorry, I haven’t got time. Paolo and I fly out to Malta this evening, once the deal is signed with Dante. We’re off for a break. The start of our retirement. I suspect Paolo will drive me mad within three days.”
Marcia chimed in. “I’m sure you’ll think of something to keep him occupied,” and winked suggestively. They all laughed. Abby thought it lovely that Delores still laughed about sex at her age.
Delores stayed and chatted, catching up with Marcia’s family news, and then on a flurry of more kisses left. Marcia sighed loudly. “She’s such a lovely lady. It was so sad she never got to have her own children.”
“Could she not have them?”
Marcia shook her head. “No. Paolo’s infertile. Such a shame they weren’t younger. There are so many alternatives for childless couples nowadays.”
“Such as?”
“Well, she could have a sperm donor now, but not in their day. She would have had to have an affair if she wanted to get with child.”
“Maybe she didn’t want anyone else’s child but Paolo’s,” Abby said.
Marcia nodded, and hooked her arm through Abby’s as they made their way to one of the café tables overlooking the square.
“Probably. She loves him to death. He offered her a divorce. A strict Roman Catholic—scandalous. That’s how much he loved her, he couldn’t bear to see her so unhappy.”
“Children are something you can’t compromise on,” Abby said sadly. “You have or have not.”
Marcia eyed her in horror. “Do you not want children?”
“Of course. I was raised as an only child after my brother died. I’ve always wanted a large family.”
“Thank goodness, so does Dante. No problem there then. When you originally left him, I thought it was because you didn’t want children.”
Abby’s face heated. How she wished she’d had them back then, then she wouldn’t be faced with a potentially childless future. “I wasn’t ready.”
“Are you ready now? I hope so. Dante is. He feels the responsibility of being the last Lombardi male.”
“What if I couldn’t have children—hypothetically, like Paolo,” she added hurriedly. “I’d have to let Dante divorce me too.”
Marcia’s smile dimmed. “Are you saying you can’t have children?”
“No,” she said sharply. “It’s just—you never know. We simply assume getting pregnant is as easy as drinking a glass of water. Sometimes it’s not.”
“For me it is.” She laughed. “Alexus calls me the baby-making machine.”
“What would you have done if you found out you couldn’t have children? What would Alexus do?”
She stopped eating for a moment. Thinking hard. “I don’t really know. I know we would have found a way. Alexus loves me. It would have been hard. All men want a son. Well, most Italian men do. We’re very traditional. There is adoption of course, or infertility treatments that were not around in Delores’s time. And even surrogacy. Perhaps Salice would have a baby for me,” she joked.
“That’s a lot to ask of someone.”
“Si, but if the positions were reversed and Salice couldn’t have a child it would be awful. I’d want to do anything to help her. You do that for those you love.”
“You’re lucky to have each other.” Abby wished she had a sister to confide in.
“I know.” Marcia opened her purse and took out pictures of her children. “I am so lucky. I forget that sometimes. Are you worried because you’re not pregnant yet? Don’t be. It’s only been seven weeks. And the more you stress the harder it is to get pregnant, they say.”
Abby remained silent. If only it were that simple.
Marcia changed the subject. She took a sip of her coffee. “Are you happy here, Abby? You’ve hardly mentioned England at all. I was wondering if you have really given your heart to Tuscany and your life here, or if you’re holding on to your life in England?”
“My grandmother is here, Dante is here. This is now my home. I hardly miss the weather, or the food…”
“But your friends? You must miss them.”
“I Skype and call them. It’s not like I’ve gone to the end of the world. I’ve still got my business and I’ll pop across to visit when I can. Or they’ll visit me here.”
She patted Abby’s arm. “You will make friends here. I know I haven’t been that welcoming. That’s going to change. I’ll introduce you to a few women. We have a book club every fortnight. It’s not really a book club, more a gossip and escape-the-children night. You must come.”
“That would be lovely, thank you.”
“I’ve been a bit distant because I had to pick up the pieces after you left the first time. Dante couldn’t hide how devastated he was by your desertion.” She held up her hand when Abby started to protest. “He was. He loves you, and I was worried when you returned this time that you’d hurt him again. Are you here to stay?”
“I hope so.”
“I hope so, too. Then I suggest that you and I become very good friends. I know I’d never have survived this family without Salice to confide in, to ask for help and support. You haven’t got a sister. Well, you have one now.” She leaned over and hugged Abby.
Abby’s eyes welled with tears. “Thank you, Marcia. I could use a friend. I’m honored.”
“Think nothing of it. Now let’s have a glass of wine with our pasta. Celebrate the Lombardi Group merging with the Zanetti empire. Dante’s hard work over the last few years has come to fruition. He’ll want to celebrate tonight.”
“The last few years? He’s been working on this deal that long?”
“Didn’t he tell you?”
Abby shook her head. “No.”
Marcia sighed. “He’s not much for sharing information about his business. Give him time. Since Roberto, he’s not used to having anyone to share his life with.”
“I know. I found life quite lonely last time. He worked all the time.”
“It was Roberto’s death. When we lost our brother, so soon after our father died, it was as if Dante shut himself off from everyone. Not physically, but emotionally. He’s set up this impenetrable wall so that he wouldn’t be hurt again. When he married you I thought perhaps he was thawing.”
Marcia left her words unsaid, so Abby said them. “But when I left it only made the situation worse.”
Marcia nodded.
“I wish I had understood him more. I wish I had taken the time to get to know him.”
“Fat chance. When Dante wants something, he gets it. He wanted you as his wife. You didn’t stand a chance.”
“And look how well that turned out,” she said wryly.
Marcia smiled. “I’d say it’s working out quite nicely. I’ve never seen him so happy. I’ve never seen him work so little either. Home every afternoon… Mark my words, bambinos will happen soon enough. Then you’ll wish for the odd moment of privacy. Like my shopping trip today. Let’s enjoy.”
“I hope so.”
Marcia winked. “Come finish your lunch. We have Dante’s money to spend, and some serious shopping to do.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Your test results are normal, Dante. As I suspected, the PSA levels must have risen due to a slight infection. The antibiotics I gave you have cleared it up.” The doctor looked at his notes. “I think we can go back to annual tests instead of repeating them every three months.”
Just like that, the fear that had been smothering Dante until he almost couldn’t breathe disappeared. He hadn’t realized how much dread had gripped his soul until the doctor said those words.
“Grazie, Dr. Cavelli.” Dante couldn’t stop shaking the man’s hand. His life sentence had just been paroled. He would still have to be continually tested, but today and for the foreseeable future the grim reaper had been sent to purgatory.
He rose hurriedly. He wanted to shout out the news to everyone, but he hadn’t shared his condition with anyone. Yet he knew the one person he wanted to celebrate this special day with—Abby. He looked at his watch as he strode through the corridor and out into the sunshine. She’d be about to finish work. Abby had talked him through On the Shelf and what she was working on, and he, of all people, learned about compromise.
It hadn’t hurt at all.
She could work as long as he and the family came first and she didn’t tire herself out. He’d noticed she looked a bit worn-out of late. He was going to suggest she have an early night this evening, alone for a change, but now—now he was so happy, he wanted to make love to her and celebrate.
His phone began vibrating in his pocket. It was a calendar reminder. Checking the text, he gave a small curse. He was having lunch with Carla. Normally he’d love to catch up with his childhood friend and tormentor, but he was so hyper with suppressed energy, all he wanted was to find Abby.
Carla was already seated when he arrived at their favorite restaurant. He bent and placed a kiss on each cheek. “Ciao, Bella.”
“My, someone’s in a good mood.”
“Carla, my friend, life is good.”
She lowered her menu. “Who is this stranger sitting across from me? I haven’t seen you this happy in—well, for a long while. Abby wouldn’t be the cause of the twinkle I see in your eye?”
Dante laughed. “Maybe.”
Carla silently studied him. “Would it surprise you—or frighten you—to know that I think your wife is in love with you?”
His happiness quadrupled. “Nothing about Abby frightens me, not now. What makes you say that? I didn’t realize you knew her that well.”
“Not true. I had coffee with her a couple of weeks ago. She was sitting at Café Fiore crying her eyes out. I couldn’t simply walk past.”
Dante leaned forward, his face instantly crinkled in concern. “Crying?”
Carla put down her menu and folded her hands together. “She asked me to question you about your health and learn the truth. She is under the impression you aren’t well. The blackmailing her into your bed with the demand for a child probably did it.” She shook her head. “Sometimes I despair of men, I really do.”
“You appear to have gotten very friendly with my wife.”
“I said I would interrogate you, but you are my friend, first and foremost, and if you are ill I want to know regardless of what I tell Abby.” Her face grew serious. “After all, you would tell your best friend, wouldn’t you, Dante? We always swore there would never be any secrets between us.”
Dante remembered their drunken pledge. They’d made a pact, not long after Abby had left him and Carla’s latest lover, Jenny, an American art student, had dumped her. They swore that if the people they slept with couldn’t be trusted, they would trust in each other. There would never be secrets between them.
He felt his face heat. “I’m not ill, Carla.”
She waved her hand in the air. “You wouldn’t lie to me, too?”
“Too?”
“Angela has decided not to come to Brazil with me.” Carla’s eyes filled with tears. “I have so few people in my life I can trust. Please don’t destroy what we share.”
Angela was the new woman in Carla’s life. She, too, was a scientist, and for the last two years they had seemed such a fabulous couple. “I’m sorry, cara. What happened?” he said softly.
“Don’t change the subject.”
He sat back and took a sip of the wine Carla had ordered for them. She was right. He had promised no secrets. “I’ve been having yearly tests—”
“Prostate?”
“Don’t interrupt. You want the story, then let me tell it my way.”
Over their lunch, he told her everything. About his abnormal test three months ago. His sudden need for a child due to his father’s will, and the thought that he might die young. That’s why he had been so desperate to have his wife back in his bed to provide a legitimate heir. And finally, how Abby had become an important part of his life. She made him happy. When he’d finished his story, Carla simply shook her head.
“Men are so stupid, no wonder I prefer women.”
Dante laughed out loud. It felt good to laugh again.
“Why didn’t you share your fears with anyone? Abby was right. She said you try to take on the worries of the world and no one thinks to help you.”
“She said that?”
“She loves you, thickhead. She’s quite a woman. A shame she wastes herself on men.”
“Careful. I’m mighty jealous. I’d hate to think we’d fall out over a woman.”
Carla giggled. “She might be my type, but I’m definitely not hers. She only has eyes for you.” She rolled her eyes. “God knows why.” She paused and looked around the restaurant and back at Dante. “I suppose, like all the other heterosexual women of the world, they fall for your sultry charms. The dagger-filled looks being shot my way—ooh la la. I can’t see it myself.”
“You have a distinct way of bringing a man down to earth.” He sat grinning at her. “Besides, all the men are wishing they were sitting in my chair. Little do they know…”
That sat in companionable silence drinking coffee. Finally Carla spoke.
“So, you decided to play the hero and keep Abby at an emotional distance, while still getting her pregnant so she would not suffer as your mother did when your father died.”
“It’s scary how well you know me.”
“Stupido!”
He shifted in his chair. “It seemed a good idea at the time.”
“You should buy Abby the biggest bunch of flowers, go home, and take her to bed and worship her, and then confess all.” She reached over and slapped his hand. “She’s worried sick about you.”
He jumped to his feet. “That’s the best suggestion I’ve heard all day. Whose turn was it to pay for lunch?”
“Mine.” Carla stood and hugged him. She whispered in his ear, “I’m so pleased you are okay. Don’t scare me again.”
He hugged her back tightly. It felt good to share his worries. Perhaps there was merit in the saying a trouble shared is a trouble halved. “You be careful in the wilds of the Amazon. Don’t come back with any interesting diseases. Lunch is on me when you return. Be safe, my friend.”
Driving back toward the villa, he’d never felt so content. He had so many flowers in his car that his Porsche smelled like a perfumery. He pulled up at the villa, and with flowers in hand, went in search of Abby. He knew what he needed to do.
He found her in his mother’s drawing room, helping her grandmother and his mother make new curtains for the cottage. They stopped talking when he entered, their mouths dropping open at the armful of roses he carried. He could hardly fit through the door.
“Well, there’s a man in love,” Nana Taylor said.
“Or a man with lots to atone for,” his mother said drily.
“Was there a sale at the flower shop?” Abby asked with a big grin. “He’s bought flowers for all of us.”
Dante shrugged his shoulders and took the teasing. “Actually, they may as well be for mother and Nana Taylor as you, my beautiful wife, won’t be here to enjoy them.”
Abby’s smile faltered. “Won’t be here?”
“I’m taking some time off.”
His mother gasped in a mocking display of shock. He ignored her teasing.
“We’re going on a very long overdue second honeymoon.”
His heart felt too big for his chest as Abby’s face broke into a gorgeous smile and her eyes welled with tears. His mother and Nana Taylor quickly took the flowers from him and quietly left the room. He walked purposely toward Abby, who rose to her feet. When he reached her, he couldn’t stop himself from pulling her into his arms and kissing her senseless. When he finally let her up for air, he whispered, “Where do you want to go? I’ll take you anywhere, but we stop in Paris for two nights on the way. I’ve got some business that can’t wait.”
At the mention of Paris, he felt Abby tense. “Do you not like Paris? I thought women loved the shopping capital of the world.”
With a slight hesitation, she melted into his arms once more. “I don’t care where we go as long as I’m with you.”
He swung her up into his arms and started walking to their bedroom. “I know exactly where I want to go with you right now. I want to make love to you, Abby,” he murmured. “I want to sink myself so far into you that we’re indivisible. I want to hear your cries…”
“Less talk and more walk. Hurry, please.”
In the privacy of their room, he gently placed Abby on her feet. They stood facing each other, chests rising and falling rapidly.
“For the next week I’m going to spoil you,” he said, stepping behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist, drawing her against him. He lowered his head and whispered, “I’ll spoil you so much you’ll never want to leave me.”
“Be careful what you wish for, Dante. There’s no going back. You’ll never push me away again.”
“I’ll never want to. I’ll never let you go,” he growled.
Abby’s heart kicked with a burst of clamoring exultation. He slid his hands up and cupped her breasts, and the pleasure of his touch swelled through her. Never had she felt like this in all the previous years of her marriage.
She leaned back into the powerful cradle of his thighs, wanting to feel his need for her, wanting him to know she relished being his wife. She felt his hands fumble with the zipper of her dress in his haste to get to her. He grazed soft kisses over one bared shoulder, then his mouth became more possessive—a sensuous branding that made her quiver with anticipation.
“I can’t believe you’ve come back to me and given me a second chance,” he murmured as he slowly removed her clothes, caressing them from her body, his hands sliding, stroking, palms gently rubbing her peaked nipples, sliding downward, his fingers finding the moist heated center only his touch could excite. He turned her in his arms, his mouth trailing kisses everywhere, a hot suction that was driving her to distraction. The knowledge that he not only desired her in his bed, but wanted her in his life, was incredibly arousing.
He took her lips in a drugging kiss. She had to grip his shoulders to stop herself from collapsing as her knees grew weak. He lifted his head.
“Come, let’s make a bambino.”
The dream shattered. Dante didn’t seem to notice her sudden tension. When he finally moved her onto the bed, a mass of turbulent emotions assailed her. She loved him. Wanted him. But she might not be able to give him what he really needed. She closed her eyes and tried to push away the fear polluting her mind about would happen to this relationship when she told him the truth. She had to tell him and soon, but not now. Now all she wanted was to relish this perfect moment, this perfect union and forget it was under threat.
After the honeymoon. She’d tell him after the honeymoon.
As the strong thrust of him slid deeply inside her, she pretended she wasn’t damaged goods and that they really could be conceiving a child. She opened her eyes and was immediately hypnotized by the compelling intensity of his eyes blazing into hers. Later. She’d worry about it later.
She prayed later never came.
The next morning Dante rose early and went into Florence to make all the travel arrangements. Once again she found it difficult to face food. She left the breakfast Rachele had prepared for her untouched. Withholding a life-altering secret sure did make her feel sick. Her stomach churned with a mixture of fear and guilt.
Katarina and Nana arrived at her room before she’d even showered. They shooed her into the bathroom, telling her to shower while they decided what to pack. She told them not to pack too much as she’d selected the Maldives for their honeymoon. She didn’t intend to be wearing much more than a bikini.
Half an hour later, Abby emerged from the bathroom dressed for her trip to Paris. When she saw the clothes laid out on her bed, she laughed out loud. Well, clothes was a very loose term. The two older women seemed to be having fun selecting the most scandalous nightwear they could find among her clothes.
“I will be let out of bed occasionally, Katarina. Perhaps you could allow me a few pairs of shorts and T-shirts, too.”
“I’ve been on a honeymoon, and with Dante’s father we never left the bedroom.” Katarina gave a wicked smile. “With my son, it will be the same. You’ll see. I expect a grandchild in nine months’ time.”
Abby’s inner excitement shriveled and died. With a jolt, she realized it wasn’t only Dante she was withholding information from. It was his family, too.
“Are you all right, Abby?” Her grandmother stopped folding a sundress, concern marring her face.
“What? Yes, I’m fine, Nana. I’ve just remembered I have to make a phone call.”
Abby left them to it and slipped out of the room. She flipped open her mobile phone and called Dr. Molinari. She was put through to his nurse, Roberta.
“Please apologize to Dr. Molinari for me, Roberta. I’m going to have to reschedule my appointment for tomorrow. My husband has planned a surprise second honeymoon. We leave today. I’ll pay for any inconvenience.”
“How lovely, Contessa, a surprise second honeymoon. No payment will be necessary. Did you need to talk with Dr. Molinari before you leave?”
“I don’t think so. Everything can wait until I get back.”
“True. Don’t you worry about anything. Go and enjoy. Would you like to reschedule now or wait until you return?”
“I’ll reschedule on my return, grazie.” She hung up.
“Reschedule what?” her grandmother asked quietly from the door. “What’s going on?”