“What happened to the friend?”
“She sold our secrets for a pittance but the status she had in our society has diminished to nothing. She is no longer welcome in the circles she once ruled. Trust me, there’s no greater punishment for someone like her. Gabriella has learned a valuable lesson in discretion… and a few Italian publications are currently being sued for libel when they completely fabricated a lot of the so-called ‘facts’ to back up the already juicy story they’d been handed. Like the ‘fact’ that I was filing for a divorce.”
“Also…” she paused.
“Also?” He prompted.
“Why didn’t you call? You promised you’d call every day,” she whispered.
“Cara, my father had just died, my sisters, mother and nonna were emotional wrecks… I had so much to take care of but, every time I spoke with you, all I wanted to do was get the hell out of there and come home,” that was the second time in as many minutes he’d referred to their house as ‘home’ and the word warmed her down to her soul. “Trust me when I tell you, the urge to come back was so strong that I actually ordered a car to take me to the airport after one of our awkward little conversations. I was torn between following my heart and honouring my responsibilities. But if I hadn’t strictly rationed our phonecalls, I would have abandoned those responsibilities.”
“You wouldn’t have,” she said with a half-laugh.
“Don’t underestimate your allure, sweetheart. I would have… in a heartbeat. I know it was selfish of me not to call but it was the only way I could think of to control the impulse to simply hand the whole mess over to my sisters and come back to you. At the same time, our very stilted conversations weren’t helping matters. I was frustrated and hated how emotionally distant you sounded. I was also afraid of saying the wrong thing and alienating you even further. It was driving me into the wall.”
She laughed slightly.
“Up the wall,” she corrected.
“What?” He looked baffled.
“It was driving you ‘up the wall’… not into it.”
“Into the wall, up the wall, over the wall, whatever,” he flicked a dismissive hand. “It was driving me crazy.” Charmed by his failure to grasp the English idiom, Theresa laughed again and decided to let the matter go. His explanations had gone a long way toward dispelling some of her lingering uneasiness with their relationship. Lily started to fuss and Theresa reached for her before quickly and efficiently bared a breast, she winced slightly when Lily latched on hungrily. Sandro dropped his jaw into the palm of one hand and watched them possessively. He enjoyed watching her feed Lily. In fact he was so completely fascinated with the new shape and size of her breasts recently that he handled them with gentleness and a bit of reverence whenever they made love.
“Thank you for answering my questions,” she said after a few moments of silence, broken only by the snuffling sound of the hungrily feeding infant.
“I’m happy to answer any others,” his voice trailed off in invitation and she nodded.
“Good to know.,” she needed to ask him about Francesca, about their future… but she was meeting Lisa. Later, she promised herself. She would ask him later. She ignored the tiny voice in the back of her head that called her a coward.
“So what are the plans for tonight?” Lisa asked curiously as Theresa enjoyed the decadent slice of chocolate mousse cake she was having for dessert.
“We’ll probably have a quiet evening,” she shrugged. “Sandro doesn’t know it’s my birthday.”
“Oh,” Lisa glanced away for a long moment before turning back to Theresa. “Do you want me to tell him?”
“No he’d feel awful if he realises,” Lisa’s lips tilted at the sides.
“Well, at least he wouldn’t be indifferent,” Lisa said. “Which is probably what he would have been a year ago.” Theresa nodded.
“I know…” she paused. “He told me he loved me… about a month ago. And he’s said it every day since. But, I can’t quite seem to bring myself to believe him.”
“Theresa, it’s been pretty obvious to me for a while now that he’s in love with you,” her cousin startled her by saying.
“It has?”
“Yes… I think I started to see it when he tried to forgive my debt for no good reason and then when you fainted after your amniocentesis and started crying when I got there, Rick was right, the man looked devastated when you burst into tears. I think you should start believing in him. I know that he hurt you badly in the past but it’s time for you to decide if you can forgive him or not. Because if you can’t then there’s no point in staying in this marriage but if you can then I think this man is going to do his damnedest to make sure that you’re happy for the rest of your life.”
Lisa went home with Theresa that evening deciding that they should have an impromptu birthday dinner for her. But when they got back to the house and Theresa got a phone call from Sandro telling her that he had to work late, Lisa grimly bullied Theresa into a pretty dress, called Rick and said that they were taking Theresa and Lily out to what she called a “fancy” restaurant.
Theresa was in no real mood to celebrate and when they got to the restaurant, she dragged her feet to the entrance, where Rick stood waiting. He looked quite dashing in a tuxedo and well-matched with Lisa, who was wearing one of the pretty evening gowns she had bought on their shopping expedition that afternoon.