Convenient Brides (10 page)

“I honor you as my father, but I would be less than you expected of a son if I were to let you ride roughshod over my wife. What, after all, has Caroline done to offend you? Is it the fact that it took a tragedy of monumental proportions for her to make the effort to come to Italy? The belief that, if it weren’t for her connection to our family by marriage, she wouldn’t register on your social scale? Your perceived notion that she poses a threat to your grandchildren? Or is it that she has carved out a successful life for herself, without once having to appeal to you for help, and refuses to be cowed by your attempts to put her in her place?”

“She shows no regard for our family’s rich ancestry,” Salvatore sputtered. “No understanding of my grandchildren’s fine heritage. She is too American in her outlook and demeanor.”

Frustrated, for this was an old and tired argument brought out and dusted off whenever someone veered too far from revered tradition, Paolo tried one last line of reasoning. “You once said the same about Vanessa, Father, and later admitted you’d misjudged her.”

“She was different. She showed regard for our way of doing things. She embraced our values and our customs.”

“And Caroline will do the same. Why else would she have so readily agreed to live here? Please, Father, put your doubts aside. Our family has been sadly depleted in recent weeks, and there are precious few of us left to carry on the name. We need to stand together now, not engage in pointless disputes that can do nothing but tear us apart.”

For a moment, his father glowered at the suggestion, clearly ready to stand toe to toe with him on the idea. Then, abruptly, he leaned his head against the high back of his chair and closed his eyes. “Perhaps you’re right,” he said grudgingly. “Perhaps we need to make the best of what we have left. For that reason, and for the sake of my grandchildren, I will
try to overcome my misgivings and welcome Caroline, as I welcomed her sister before her.”

“You’re very good with the children, Caroline,” Lidia remarked, as they made their way downstairs after tucking Clemente and Gina into their beds. “I hope they come to realize how fortunate they are that you’re willing and able to step into Vanessa’s shoes.”

“I don’t suppose I’ll ever really fill them, Lidia, but I promise I’ll do my very best.”

“I know you will. But you’re giving up so much—your home in America, your profession, your friends. It’s a lot to ask, especially when you’ve worked so hard to build a successful career.”

But architecture had never been more than a substitute for what she really wanted. She’d have given it up in a flash, if she’d been able to keep her babies.

“For the next few years, being a mother and a wife will be my career, and I have no regrets about that,” she said. “Architecture will still be there, when I’m not needed on the homefront.”

“Oh, you’ll always be needed, my dear,” Lidia said with a laugh. “Just because children grow up doesn’t mean they don’t still need their mothers.” Pausing at the foot of the stairs, she rested her hand on the newel post and shot a tentative glance Callie’s way. “Forgive me if I’m speaking out of turn, but have you and Paolo talked about having more children?”

“Not really. Why do you ask?”

“Because having another baby might help close old wounds.”

What an odd thing to say, Callie thought. Yet Lidia was regarding her with such compassion that she couldn’t take offense. But the remark was enough to bring to the forefront the burden of guilt forever lurking in the back of her mind, and it left her stomach tied in knots.

Everything she’d ever longed for, and thought she could never have—her children, Paolo,
true
peace of mind,
real
happiness—lay within her grasp. But losing her sister and brother-in-law was a terrible price to pay for such a gift, and she had all she could do right now to cope with that. Confession, she had decided, would have to wait.

Suddenly, though, she wanted to tell this kind and gentle grandmother the truth. Wanted to ask her advice on how best to break the news to Paolo. And desperately wanted to know that whenever she did confide in him, at least one other person would be there to lend support, if she needed it.

From the outset, she’d felt a universal connection with Lidia, the kind that existed only between women. Lidia was not one to judge another person harshly or unfairly. Also, she was a mother; she’d understand that nothing was straightforward or simple when it came to protecting one’s children.

“Lidia,” she began hesitantly, “is there some place we can talk without being disturbed?”

“My sitting room. We’ll be quite alone there. The men are enjoying their brandy in the library and won’t mind if we take a few minutes for ourselves, I’m sure.”

She led the way toward the back of the villa, to a little room with a glassed-in solarium at one end. Furnished with white wicker and pastel prints, it was as pretty and welcoming as Lidia herself.

“Have a seat, dear,” she said, closing the door and indicating a love seat upholstered with plump cushions, “and tell me what’s on your mind. Is it to do with the wedding?”

Callie had often wondered how she’d ever broach the subject. Had been sure she’d never find the words. But in the end, there were few from which to choose. “No, it’s about the twins…about when they were born, and why I’ve stayed away from them all these years. The thing is, Lidia, the day Vanessa and Ermanno got married—”

Astonishingly Lidia leaned forward and pressed a finger to Callie’s lips. “Hush, Caroline! There’s no need to explain, and no need at all to feel ashamed or guilty for something that happened so long ago. You were very young at the time, very inexperienced and, I daresay, very frightened.”

Callie’s jaw sagged in shock. “You
know?
”

“Yes, my dear. I saw you stumbling back here, the next morning, with your pretty dress in disarray, and guessed Paolo had kept you out all night. I was very disappointed in him, at the time. Very angry. But that’s all in the past,
cara
—a longforgotten mistake that doesn’t matter at all, now that you and he have found each other again.”

“I don’t think you quite understand what I’m trying to tell you,” Callie mumbled. “The fact is, Lidia—”

But even as she gathered her courage to finish what she’d started, a knock came at the door. A moment later, Paolo poked his head into the room.

“So this is where you’re hiding,” he said. “Am I interrupting something important?”

“Not at all,” Lidia said, patting Callie’s hand briskly. “We were just enjoying a little mother-daughter talk, but we’re done now.”

“Good, because I’ve got a nice fire going in the library, and the coffee’s waiting. Also, Father seems a bit under the weather and—”

Lidia rose hurriedly from her seat. “Then I’ll go to him at once. Are you coming, Caroline?”

Left with little other choice, Callie followed her. When she reached the door, Paolo folded her hand firmly in his and bathed her in a smile so intimate that she went hot all over.

Noticing, Lidia slowed down long enough to fix them both in a fond gaze and said softly, “Have I told you how happy I am that the two of you have come together as a couple like this? Knowing you’re forging a future together, and giving my
grandchildren the next best thing to the parents they’ve lost, gives me the strength to accept the tragedy that has struck our family.”

“It’s been hard for all of us, especially you, Momma,” Paolo said, pushing open the library door, “but things are going to get better from now on.”

“Not if I have to wait much longer for my coffee,” Salvatore boomed, hauling himself out of his chair and coming to meet them. “Lidia,
mia bella,
I’m glad you’re here. Something I ate at dinner gave me indigestion, but seeing your smiling face makes me feel much better.”

He wasn’t the easiest man to get along with, but his abiding love for his wife was genuine and unmistakable, and for that Callie had to admire him. She could only hope to inspire a fraction of the same devotion in Paolo.

The library, with its paneled bookshelves, rich wine-red damask draperies and blazing fire was warm and cosy. Insisting he was quite recovered, Salvatore accepted a cup of coffee and fell to discussing business with Paolo. Reassured, Lidia resumed quizzing Callie about the wedding.

Where did she want to be married—in Rome, in a church, or here on the island, with a makeshift chapel and the family priest? Would she invite friends from America? What about after the ceremony—a lunch, or a dinner reception? And a honeymoon—surely she wasn’t going to deny herself and Paolo the chance to be alone together for a few days, when the children had their grandparents and a nanny to look after them?

“I suppose we do need to nail down some details,” Callie said, after Lidia had taken her husband off to bed.

“Starting with an actual wedding date.” Blowing out an exasperated breath, Paolo joined her on the velvet couch in front of the fire. “As you’ve probably gathered, my father tends to steamroll over anyone who disagrees with his idea of how
things should be done. The sooner we’re married and in a place of our own, the better.”

“He is rather…opinionated.”

“Very tactfully put,
tesoro!
” he replied, with a laugh. “What do you say we set the date for two weeks from Saturday? That should allow us enough time to meet all the legal formalities.”

“I hadn’t thought about those. Are they very complicated?”

“Only in that you’re a U.S. citizen. You have your passport with you, of course, but if you also happened to bring your birth certificate—”

“I did. I always carry it with me.”

“Then the only other requirements are for you to make a sworn declaration before the Consular Officer, at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, to the effect that you’re legally free to marry me. You’ll then have to do the same before an Italian official, and for this, you’ll need four witnesses to verify your claim. My parents make two, so it’s a matter of finding two more, which might entail bringing a couple of your friends over from America for a couple of days.”

“Actually not,” she said. “A friend of mine and her husband have rented a villa on the Amalfi coast for the winter. He’s a writer, researching material for his next book.”

“Do you know where they’re staying?”

“No. But I can phone her mother in the morning, and find out.”

“Excellent. If they’ll help us, I’ll arrange for them to be flown to Rome as soon as possible. Once we have those notarized documents, we can then obtain a license in four days, instead of having to wait the usual three weeks.”

“We’re not leaving ourselves much time, considering everything else that has to be done,” she murmured, settling contentedly into the curve of his arm.

“I agree.” He stroked her hair. “So now that everything’s out
in the open, I suggest we return to Rome tomorrow, begin making the necessary applications, and start looking for a place to live. And once there, you’ll find it much easier to finalize the wedding arrangements, and shop for whatever you need.”

“What about the children? Will we leave them here?”

“No. It’s time they were back at school. Time we all picked up the threads of our lives and moved forward.”

“Your parents, too?”

“Especially my parents. My father needs to busy himself with something other than interfering with our plans. And my mother…” He glanced at Callie from beneath lowered lashes that were much too long and lush to be wasted on a man. “I know she’s not your mother, Caroline, but if you were serious about letting her help you with the wedding, it would mean the world to her.”

“She already knows I’m absolutely depending on her to help. She’s a lovely woman, Paolo, inside and out. Don’t ever worry that I’ll resent her.”

“You won’t mind calling her Suocera?”

“I’d call her Mother, if she’d let me!”

“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled. She misses Vanessa as much as she misses Ermanno. She and your sister were extremely close.”

He tightened his hold, pulling her more firmly to his body. “We’re going to make this work, Caroline,” he promised, his mouth hovering over hers. “We’re going to make something good out of this tragedy that has brought so much sorrow to our family.”

When he held her like that, and looked at her as if she were the only woman in the world for him, she’d have believed him if he said he could turn granite into gold. What had begun as a teenage infatuation based on sex, had evolved into something deeper and much more enduring.

In the space of a few weeks, he’d established himself not
just as the love of her life, but as her lodestar. Nothing was impossible, as long as she had him at her side.

Reaching up, she traced her fingertips over the planes of his face, memorizing each feature. The dark sweep of his eyebrows, the carved cheekbones, the strong jaw. And the mouth that could flatten with displeasure, soften with amusement, or, as it did right now, curve with sensuous promise.

“We should make an early start tomorrow, and you’re looking very sleepy, Signorina Leighton,” he murmured, his lips brushing hers. “As your fiancé who is most concerned that you not appear as a bride hollow-eyed with exhaustion, I consider it my duty to take you to bed.”

“I think that’s a very good idea,” she said.

They left for Rome the next morning, traveling by motor launch the short distance to the mainland, then the remaining two hundred and fifty miles in the private jet.

“Will you stay with us, Caroline?” Lidia asked, as they began their descent to Rome. “You’d have your own suite of rooms and all the privacy you want.”

“Thank you, but I think it’ll be more convenient for everyone if I book into a hotel,” she replied, having already discussed the subject with Paolo, the night before.

“You’ll stay with me in my apartment then,” Paolo had said, when she’d expressed the fact that being under Salvatore’s suspicious eye, twenty-four hours a day for most of the next two weeks, didn’t exactly have her bursting into joyful song.

But tempting though it was, she’d declined Paolo’s offer, too. “Bite your tongue!” she’d scolded. “Your father has enough reservations about me as it is, without my compounding the situation by openly cohabiting with his son and heir outside the bonds of matrimony.”