Authors: Natasha Anders
“Theresa, with your dad and husband being who they are, do you really think getting into any restaurant you want is ever going to be a problem?” Lisa scoffed and Theresa wrinkled her nose, conceding the point. Lisa flounced through the door and Rick stood aside to let Theresa in.
The maître‘d smiled and led her through without question. Surprised, she followed him with a little frown on her face. He led her through double glass doors. The place was packed with people and for some reason no-one was sitting down. She squirmed uncomfortably when everyone turned to stare at her, not quite sure what on earth was going on.
“
Surprise
!” She nearly jumped out of her skin at the collective shout and then finally realised that she recognised most of the faces in the room. Rick, who had stood outside of the room until after surprise, in case it scared Lily, moved to stand beside her.
“What’s going on?” She whispered in panicked confusion.
“It’s a surprise birthday party, you ditz,” he teased, dropping another fond kiss on her cheek before heading off to find his wife in the throng. People were milling around her, kissing her and shaking her hand. She recognised Gabe Braddock and all of Sandro’s Friday night buddies along with their significant others, Rick’s brother Bryce came up and gave her an unceremonious pat on her back and a gruff “happy birthday” before disappearing back into the woodwork. The man hated crowds, she could imagine this scene wasn’t really to his taste but he was here and she was so utterly confused by that. Why was he here, why were any of them here? How did Lisa even
know
to invite Gabe Braddock and that lot?
“Happy birthday, my love,” a familiar pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist and she was tugged back against a broad chest. Sandro dropped a kiss in her neck. She turned in his arms and stared up at him in bemusement.
“
You
did this?” She asked in disbelief. “But I thought you didn’t…”
“
Cara
,” he interrupted with infinite patience. “I’m not a stupid man, I wasn’t about to repeat my past mistakes. I love you and I wanted to show you how much.”
“How long have you been planning this?” She asked.
“God, since before my father died… the plans were put on hold until after I returned and then with Lily’s birth they stalled a bit but I wanted to do something special to make up for all the times your birthday was neglected or forgotten over the years.” She knew he meant by her father as well as himself and was helplessly touched by the gesture.
“Thank you,” she smiled and stood up on her toes kiss him. He cupped her face and kissed her hungrily.
“You look beautiful,” he told her.
“You don’t look too bad yourself,” she said, stepping back to take in his tailor-made tuxedo.
“Hey, break it up you two,” a brash male voice intruded into their intimate little cocoon and they both turned to see Gabriel Braddock’s smiling face. “Sandro, it’s like every time I see you with this gorgeous thing, you have your hands all over her. Share the wealth, bro.” He stepped forward to envelope Theresa in a warm hug.
“Happy birthday, gorgeous. We’ve missed you…” considering how they’d met her only once, months ago, Theresa initially doubted the veracity of that statement but the sincerity in his face, led her to believe that he actually meant his words.
“Thank you,” she smiled. “I’m sorry I never came to any of your other soccer nights.”
“You had a difficult pregnancy, perfectly understandable,” he dismissed with a careless flick of the hand. “And congratulations on your beautiful daughter, by the way. Sandro’s been flashing pictures of her at us for weeks. It’ll be nice to see her in the flesh. Where is the little darling?”
“My cousin’s husband has her,” she glanced around for Rick and saw him showing Lily off to his brother, Bryce and Bryce’s business partner Pierre de Coursey. The little group was soon joined by Rick’s business partner, Vuyo and by Pierre’s wife. Everybody was cooing over the still-sleeping baby.
“Looks like she’s not wanting for attention, so I’ll take her beautiful mother out for a spin on the dance floor in the meantime,” he whisked a laughing Theresa away from Sandro before the other man could protest and twirled her around to some upbeat music.
He’d had her for barely two minutes before someone cut in, after that she was passed from partner to partner for the next half an hour before Sandro finally claimed her.
“Think you can spare some time to flirt with your husband
, cara
?” He asked grumpily and she blinked up at him uncertainly until she realised that he was a little jealous. The fact boosted her confidence and brought a delighted smile to her face.
“I have a few minutes to spare between dances,” she nodded after a considering pause and he growled before dragging her closer and tucking her head onto his shoulder. They swayed together slowly and he started nuzzling her neck. She sighed and melted into his hard body, enjoying the warm, spicy scent of him. They were so wrapped up in each other that they didn’t notice anybody standing beside them until a voice penetrated the fog of desire.
“Sandro?” He made a protesting sound before raising his head and blinking at someone standing behind Theresa. She watched his face light up and a smile grace his lips before he launched into rapid Italian. Baffled, she turned in his arms and froze…
“
Cara
, this is my mother and two of my sisters… they flew over to meet you and the latest edition to our family. Mama, Isabella, Rosalie, this is my wife, Theresa.” The four women eyed one another warily, none of them quite certain what to expect. Finally, the youngest of the trio of gorgeous brunettes stepped forward with a smile. Theresa guessed that she had to be Rosalie.
“I’m very pleased to finally meet you, Theresa,” she said in lightly accented English and to Theresa’s utter shock gave her a warm hug. “I’m Rosalie.”
“I… nice to meet you,” Theresa muttered helplessly in response, her eyes desperately seeking Sandro’s. He looked anxious but smiled reassuringly when he met her gaze.
“I was expecting them to arrive next week but they flew in late last night, just in time for your birthday,” she could see the apology in his eyes, as if he feared their presence would diminish her pleasure in the birthday party. She shook her head, the gesture so slight that only he caught it and smiled at him.
“Well, what a doubly wonderful surprise then,” she shook off her shock and bestowed a genuinely warm smile on the small group of Italian beauties. Sandro’s sisters were receiving a lot of speculative male looks already.
“My daughter Gabriella couldn’t make it, she’s having some trouble with her oldest child,” Sandro’s mother finally said keeping her voice determinedly neutral. “And of course, my mother-in-law is too old to travel. But they both send their best.” Therese very much doubted that, remembering how particularly hostile those two women had been to her during the video call.
“Mrs de Lucci,” Theresa reached out to grip the other woman’s hands in both of hers. “I’m so sorry for your loss and I’m sorry that I was unable to attend the funeral.”
“Don’t be silly, Theresa,” she older woman scoffed, determinedly blinking away her sudden tears. “You were heavily pregnant. Travelling in that condition would have been foolish. You did the right thing. Now, where is this granddaughter of mine? I’ve seen photographs of course but I’m ready to meet her.” The imperiousness in her tone brooked no disobedience and Theresa grinned when Sandro practically saluted before abandoning them in search of his daughter.
She tensed, when she realised that he’d left her alone with his intimidating family and braced herself for whatever would come next. She was under no illusions that they liked her or accepted her, knowing that they would all pretend to get along just find for Sandro’s sake… but that what went on behind his back would be another story entirely.
“I owe you an apology,” Sandro’s mother finally shocked her by saying and she dared a glance into the elegant older woman’s face. The woman no longer looked intimidating, in fact her face had softened completely and Theresa blinked up at her in surprise. “I was less than…. gracious, when you called to speak with my husband. After the funeral, Sandro told us the truth about your marriage, about the way both he and your father had treated you, so I now know that you would have been completely justified in not wanting to speak with my husband. But you showed a greater depth of character than the rest of us combined when you agreed to meet him… you made a dying man very happy in his last few hours. He was so worried about Sandro and what he’d sacrificed for our family but talking to you eased his mind considerably and he was at peace when he passed away that night. I have you to thank for that.”
“I was happy to meet him,” Theresa responded, a little blown away by this turn of events.
“Well, this is nearly two years too late but I am
very
happy to meet you too, Theresa,” her mother-in-law engulfed her in a totally unexpected and very awkward hug. Theresa returned it in bemusement before both women stepped back a few seconds later, looking equally flustered. Rosalie and Isabella were both grinning. Rosalie introduced Theresa to Isabella, explaining that the other woman spoke little English
“But she wanted to meet you,” Rosalie confided cheerfully. Theresa could see that she and Rosalie were going to get along just fine. The other woman was an irreverent bundle of laughs and they were both giggling conspiratorially over the way Sandro had practically jumped earlier to do his mother’s bidding, when he finally returned carrying Lily. The baby was awake and wailing, not happy with the crowd of unfamiliar people surrounding her. Her little face was wet and scrunched up but her aunties and grandmother immediately started fussing all over her.
Sandro handed her over to his mother for a moment before turning to Theresa.
“You okay?” He asked in a low voice that only she could hear. She nodded, smiling reassuringly up at him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t expect them to show up so soon, I hope they haven’t spoiled the party for you? I wanted this night to be perfect.”
“And it has been pretty near perfect so far,” she assured him. “They’ve been lovely, Sandro. All of them.”
“Good, because I would have bounced them the hell back to Italy if they’d said anything at all to upset you” he told her firmly.
“Don’t be silly. They’re your family…”
“Wife trumps all,” he retorted and she rolled her eyes.
“I’m going to rescue Lily from the Kissing Brigade over there. She’s probably hungry,” she went over to do just that, practically floating on air as she felt Sandro’s gaze still on her.
Wife trumps all
? She very definitely liked the sound of that.
In the end, Theresa got her dream birthday party, complete with singing, a huge cake and dozens of floating balloons. The evening couldn’t have been more perfect. After making sure his family was loaded into a taxi that would take them to their hotel, he called their driver to come and pick them up. Lily had been put to bed in a quiet room equipped with a professional nanny that the staff had provided for her and Rhys. She stirred restlessly when her parents collected her and they both tensed, knowing that was close to her regular feeding time.
“I’m knackered,” Theresa yawned once they were all snugly ensconced in the back seat of the car. He had his arm draped around her slender shoulders and she had her head tucked against his chest. Lily was contentedly suckling at her breast and both of them were in danger of falling asleep on Sandro.
“I had a wonderful evening Sandro,” she muttered sleepily.
“I’m happy to hear it,
cara
,” he whispered into her hair.
“All those balloons,” her voice faded and the last thing she heard before dozing off was the sound of his indulgent chuckling.
Theresa woke up some time during the early hours of the morning when she felt Sandro leave the bed. She blinked in confusion, not sure how she’d gotten to bed. She was stark naked and she didn’t remember getting undressed, or even coming upstairs for that matter. She could hear Lily fretting through the baby monitor and was about to get out of bed when she heard Sandro’s gentle voice crooning to the baby. Lily calmed down a little and Theresa smiled as she listened to him sing to the baby, his sleep-roughened voice slightly off-key. His voice faded and she sat up, switching on the bedside lamp and adjusting the pillows behind her back when she realised that Sandro was probably bringing Lily into the bedroom for her feed. He appeared moments later, looking completely rumpled and wearing nothing but white boxer shorts. He smiled when he saw her sitting up in bed.
“Your daughter’s hungry,” he nodded down at the fussing baby and Theresa reached up for her and he transferred the wriggling bundle gently, before rounding the bed to climb in next to Theresa. He watched raptly as Theresa fed the baby.
“I don’t remember getting home,” Theresa whispered after a few minutes.
“Yeah, you were wiped out. I brought Lily upstairs and then went back down for you.”
“You
carried
me? Sandro, I weigh a ton…”
“Hardly,” he scoffed.
“Well, that explains why I’m totally naked.”
“I felt I deserved a reward after all that hard work,” he grinned wickedly and she rolled her eyes.
“Sandro, I’m moving back into our bedroom tomorrow,” she told him quietly. He said nothing at first and instead reached over to toy with one of Lily’s closed fists. It was something she’d been thinking about since Lily’s birth. He spent every night in the spare bedroom with her anyway, so insisting on separate bedrooms was a bit of a moot point. The master bedroom was a lot more comfortable and close to the nursery.