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She darted him a second glance. “I love Dino like my own child. Our own children…I want that more than anything in world.”
Was Irena admitting she loved him because she’d accepted Dino? She still hadn’t our baby yet. Vincenzo knew the doubt surrounding the paternity of the child weighed heavily on her shoulders. “I have a solution for us down the road, but only if you’re willing.”
“What’s that?”
“One day we’ll have another baby.”
Her eyes suddenly filled. “Why do I get the feeling you think that one woman in two hundred will be me?”
Vincenzo reached for her and held her close to his chest. “You’re wrong, Irena. If you do go ahead with the test I’m sure everything will be fine and we will have a healthy baby. I just want you to know how eager I am to have a child with you. Our child. With no shadow of doubt hanging over us, and a child that will never have to leave this home. Our home. The truth is, I was never in love with Mila and she knew it. But both our fathers wanted the marriage and my ailing mother urged me to go ahead with it because she was convinced Mila would make me a good wife. She worried about my wild side.”
A faint smile broke the corner of Irena’s mouth. “So I didn’t imagine you had one.”
He bit her earlobe gently. “Mama feared I was enjoying my bachelorhood too much. Like all mothers and fathers, my parents felt marriage would have a stabilizing effect on me, so Mila and I married. It was the worst mistake of my life. To pay me back for not loving her, she didn’t tell me she was pregnant until her sixth month when she couldn’t hide it any longer.”
Irena’s expression revealed her horror.
“Dino came four weeks early. The two months before she delivered were the happiest I’d ever known because the idea of being a father had taken hold. But it turned into a nightmare after he was born. She refused to let me be around Dino and help with him. Her doctor called it postpartum depression.
“I recognized it for what it was. She couldn’t hold on to me, but she wanted our baby to herself, nothing more. By the time Dino was three months old, I was completely shut out of his life. I told her we couldn’t go on in our marriage that way. She told me there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I told her I’d divorce her. She claimed I wouldn’t dare.”
Irena let out a groan.
“Hideous isn’t it? When my father found out I was leaving her and realized he couldn’t stop me, he disowned me, shouting that he never wanted to see me again. The only reason I was granted any visitation at all was due to my mother who prevailed on Papa before she died. To this day we haven’t seen or talked to each other.”
“So the wedding—”
“Will be a new beginning for my father and me,” he broke in.
“How will our marriage change anything in his eyes?”
“I know my father. He never wanted to disown me, but he had to save face in front of Mila’s father. Now that he’s heard I’m getting married again, I’ll go to him a new man and tell him I’d like us to start over. By reaching out to him, I’ll have allowed him to retain his pride. He’ll be overjoyed and speak to the judge who will give me back my full rights as a father.”
A glint of suspicion entered her eyes. “A marriage to any woman could have helped you accomplish the same thing.”
His spirits plunged. “Following your logic, I could have married years ago, but there’s a flaw in your thinking. Why don’t you sleep on it? Hopefully one day soon you’ll have figured it out.”
He drew in a ragged breath. “Go to bed, Irena. You look exhausted. I’ll clean up the kitchen and see you in the morning.”
Chapter Five (#ulink_80406c05-9327-5536-95a3-e4dc4c191610)
IRENA’S WEDDING DAY dawned, but she’d had a fitful night. It was a good thing Vincenzo had left early for the drive to Milan to pick up Dino. When she looked in the mirror and saw her drawn face, she was glad she had time to repair the damage before they returned.
Part of her restlessness stemmed from the fact that she hadn’t told her parents anything since her last call to them. She vacillated whether to phone them now or after the honeymoon.
But as the morning wore on, she realized she couldn’t put off telling them her news. To hurt them like that when they’d been such wonderful parents to her all her life would be unconscionable. She would have to tell them the truth. Not everything, but enough to satisfy them.
After getting ready for the big day, she walked through to the kitchen to take her pills and make her phone call. As it turned out, her father had already left for work, so her mother phoned him there and they set up a three-way call.
“Irena? I’ve been anxious about you,” her father began without preamble.
“I know. How are you?”
“Fine, but that’s not the point.” Her father sounded upset. “What’s this about sightseeing with some Italian and his son? Who is he?”
She took a fortifying breath. “His name is Vincenzo Antonello. He’s divorced and has a six-year-old boy named Dino. He manages the Antonello Liquers plant in La Spezia.”
“The one you covered in the magazine section.”
“Yes.”
“Is he the reason you’re still in Italy?” Her mother’s question wasn’t an idle one.
The blood hammered in her ears. “Yes.”
“I’ll never forgive Andreas for what he did to you,” her father blurted emotionally.
“Please don’t say that. I believe it was meant to be. He couldn’t help how he felt when he met Gabi a-anymore than I could help my feelings for Vincenzo.”
Her words were met with silence before her mother asked, “What feelings?”
Now was the moment. “When I met him two months ago, we spent all our time together. I didn’t mean to, but it just happened. By the time I had to leave, he’d asked me to marry him.”
“When you were already promised to Andreas?” Her father sounded stunned.
“I wasn’t promised to him, Father. We weren’t even engaged! It’s true we both loved each other, but apparently not enough to make it to the altar. There were times he turned to Leon before he turned to me. I know now I was never in love with him. That’s why I came back to Riomaggiore.”
Her mother made a sound in her throat. “So what are you saying?”
She gripped the phone tighter. “Vincenzo and I are getting married in a few hours.”
“A few hours—” both parents cried in unison.
“Yes. There’s a church down the road from his apartment. A Father Rinaldo is going to marry us. I know this comes as a huge shock to you. To me, too, actually. You have no idea how much I love him. He’s a wonderful man with a darling son.” The realization that her feelings for Vincenzo had grown into love came as a shock to Irena, but the moment she said the words she knew them to be true.
Her father was the first to recover. “Does the boy live with him?”
Irena closed her eyes. “No. Dino lives with his mother. They’ve worked out visitation.”
“So you’re going to be a part-time mama before you’re a mama!” Spoken like a mother.
Tears slid out from beneath Irena’s eyelashes. “I’m very happy about it and hope you will be, too.”
“When are we going to meet him?” her father wanted to know.
“We’re taking a honeymoon to California for two weeks. I’ll phone you when we get there. After we return and everything settles down, the three of us will fly to Athens. Vincenzo’s heard all about how wonderful you are and is anxious to—”
“Irena?”
It was Dino.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go. I promise to call you soon. Love you.” She clicked off. “Here I am!”
Dino came running into the apartment wearing shorts and a dinosaur shirt. When he saw her in the dining room, he came to a full stop. “You are bellissima!”
It struck her how much she’d missed him. “Grazie,” she said with a smile before hugging him.
His brown eyes took in the cream-colored two-piece suit she’d bought in one of the boutiques. Around her neck she’d looped the matching colored lace mantilla she would put on when she entered the church.
While they’d been shopping she’d asked Vincenzo what he thought would look good in her hair. He’d said it didn’t matter as long as she left it down.
“Is it time?”
She glanced at her watch. “Almost. I was afraid you wouldn’t make it.”
Vincenzo came in from outside, also dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. His eyes appraised her so intimately, she trembled. “After we left Milan, there was a terrible accident on the strada that held us up. Come in my room, Dino, and we’ll both get ready.”
“Your new suits are on the bed!”
“Fantastico!”
She could hear water running from the shower. Before long Dino came running back to the kitchen in his new navy blue suit and white shirt. Vincenzo had chosen the same outfit for himself. Both wore a blue-and-silver striped tie.
Irena reached inside the fridge and pulled out a florist’s box that held two creamy baby roses and her corsage. She lifted Dino’s from the tissue and pinned it to his lapel. When it was done, she kissed him on the check. “Now you look bello like your papa.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere.” Vincenzo spoke in his deep voice. She whirled around and met a pair of hot blue eyes. “Do I get a rose, too?”
He was incredibly handsome. Her mouth went too dry to talk. Instead, she reached for the other rose and walked over to him. Her fingers were all thumbs as she had to try several times to pin it on right. All the time she was fussing, Vincenzo placed little kisses here and there on her face, causing Dino no end of delight.
“Now it’s your turn, Signorina Spiros.” Near the shoulder of her suit jacket he fastened her corsage made of a cluster of cream-colored roses. “You do realize you won’t be called that name much longer.”
How could she possibly forget? Her impulsive trip back to Riomaggiore had come about half in a daze of pain and confusion, half with the ridiculous notion that Vincenzo might have meant what he’d said about the two of them marrying. Now here she was, ready to make promises to love, cherish and honor this man she’d only known for a short time.
Odd that she’d known Andreas for years, yet even after they’d started seeing each other as a couple, she’d never learned to know all the little things about him that she already knew about Vincenzo.
Every day with him, sometimes hourly, brought a new surprise. Part of the time she was breathless. The other part she found herself reeling with new information he fed her.
Feeling flushed and nervous, she turned to Dino. “I think we’re ready.”
“First some pictures.” Vincenzo put his camera on the veranda table.
She caught his arm. “I just phoned my parents and told them we were getting married.”
His eyes held a question. “Should I expect the police to descend on me before I can get you to the church?” he teased.
“No. They’re not like that, but they’ll want to see pictures.”
“So will my father.”
After he set the camera to take some timed shots, the three of them stood together in front of the climbing roses providing the background. After a dozen photos in quick succession, he said, “Let’s go get married.”
Dino led the way out of the apartment. They joined hands with him in the middle and made the same walk they’d done the other day beneath a hot, sun-filled sky. Tourists stopped them every few steps to congratulate them and take pictures. Her breath caught every time she looked at Vincenzo because he was so gorgeous. So was his little lookalike who wore a continual smile.
Soon locals had lined the road, clapping and cheering for them. To walk to the church for your own wedding surrounded by people who threw flowers petals at you was something Irena would never have imagined. But like everything else to do with Vincenzo in this dreamy garden paradise, it just felt right.
By the time they came in sight of the church, the crowd had grown larger. At first she’d thought this was something that happened to every couple who said their vows here, but the deference paid to Vincenzo became too obvious to ignore.
She realized something else was going on. Irena would have asked him about it, but it was too late. He’d opened the doors and she had to let go of Dino’s hand to arrange the mantilla over her head. Vincenzo helped her. “Have I told you yet how squisita you are?” he said in a husky voice.
He led her through the vestibule and down the aisle to the front where they sat on a pew. Soon a man and a woman entered from a side door. They nodded to Vincenzo before taking their places on either side of the aisle. In another minute Father Rinaldo appeared.
When he walked over, the three of them stood up. “You’re late.”
In a spate of Italian words Dino explained their delay.
The priest winked at him and patted him on the head. “Accidents will happen. I understand.” He glanced at Vincenzo. “We’ll do the paperwork after the ceremony.”
“Grazie.”
“Dino? Stand by your papa. Signorina Spiros will stand at his other side. Vincenzo? If you’ll take Irena’s hand, we’ll begin.”
She felt it curl around hers in a familiar hold that warmed her heart. The priest performed the ceremony in English. It was probably the shortest church service ever given. No doubt Vincenzo had everything to do with the choice of language and the length.
They both made their responses at the appropriate time and he eventually said, “I now pronounce you, Vincenzo, and you, Irena, husband and wife. Amen.”
He smiled at Dino and said something in Italian. Irena saw her new stepson grin before he answered, “Sì,” in a spirited voice.
Vincenzo turned to her. “Father Rinaldo just asked Dino if he thought I should kiss my bride now.” On that note he lowered his mouth to hers in a kiss sweeter than anything she’d ever known. Touched beyond words, she scarcely heard the priest say something else to Dino in Italian.
“Papa—” He tugged on his father’s sleeve.
When she looked, he’d handed Vincenzo a gold ring. He turned back to her. “This was my mother’s. She told me to keep it for the woman I would marry.” So saying, he slid it on Irina’s ring finger.
He really couldn’t have loved Mila or he would have given it to her and it would have remained in her possession, but the whole circumstance of his first marriage was still a mystery to her. Vincenzo was his own man. She couldn’t understand him marrying Mila because of pressure.
“Irena?” Her head jerked up. “Father Rinaldo has asked us to follow him to the vestibule so we can sign the marriage certificate.”
“Of course.”
Dino hurried ahead of them. The witnesses signed first, then it was Irena’s turn. She had to fill in Liapis after Spiros.
Vincenzo came last. She waited while he attached his signature. It took so long, she looked down at the paper. Her eyes widened in surprise because his name went on and on with a flourish.
Guilio Fortunato Coletti Vincenzo Antonello Gaspare Valsecchi.
After he’d signed it, the female witness gave Irena a slight curtsey. “Congratulazioni, duchessa,” she muttered.
Irena couldn’t have heard the other woman right, but when she looked around to talk to her, she and the other man had slipped away.
