Whisked Away by Her Sicilian Boss

by Rebecca Winters

  “Not everyone can follow a recipe the way you’ve done and improve it. Why won’t you take credit for what you’re doing?”

  She averted her eyes.

  A sound of exasperation came out of him. “I can see I’m not going to get the answer I’m looking for from you.”

  Nor I from you, my darling.

  “Enjoy your evening out, but be careful. Unless there’s an emergency, I’ll be by at eight in the morning.” He opened the door.

  “Cesare?” She was dying inside.

  He turned around so fast it startled her. “Si?”

  “Would you mind answering a question for me?”

  “Have I ever?”

  Oh, dear, but she was determined to ask him anyway. “I was just wondering if you would consider taking me to New York with you on my first weekend off. To see it with you would mean everything to me.”

  “I’m afraid that would be out of the question. I have too much business and couldn’t show you around.”

  His rejection was swift and true, cutting her to the very marrow of her bones. Tuccia would never make that mistake again. “I just thought I’d ask. I hope you have a lovely night without any worries for a change.”

  “That’ll be the day,” he ground out, “but I appreciate the thought.”

  It was the hardest thing she’d ever done to keep a smile on her face and pretend he hadn’t destroyed her with those words. But somehow she managed to maintain her poise until he drove off.

  Now that he was gone, she knew what she had to do. After he’d left and she could no longer hear the engine, Tuccia called for a taxi rather than the limo service Cesare had arranged for her to use. She didn’t want her whereabouts this evening to be traced.

  When it drew up to the apartment, she walked outside and exchanged greetings with the padrona before she got in. Once she shut the door, she asked the driver to take her to the airport and drop her off at the main terminal.

  Then she sat back and contemplated what she had to do. If Cesare had been willing to take her to New York, everything would have been different. But with that dream gone, she needed to follow through on a plan growing in the back of her mind.

  Before long the limo pulled up to the drop-off area. She paid the driver and got out, waving him on. Then she walked through the crowds to the ticketing counter and booked a round trip ticket from Milan to Palermo. Bless her zia for slipping her a little money in case of an emergency. Bertina must have been psychic!

  She would leave next Friday after work, the beginning of her first weekend off, and return Sunday evening. The police weren’t looking for her so she didn’t worry about being spotted. If by chance any detectives her parents had hired did see her name on a passenger list and alert her parents, she’d have to deal with it then.

  As soon as she’d booked both two-hour flights and had paid cash, she got another taxi and headed right back to the pensione. Relieved that she’d finally done something about an impossible situation, she prepared for bed and climbed under the covers.

  Her plan was to take a taxi to Bertina’s palazzo. Tuccia couldn’t bear to put her zia through any more grief. They needed to talk face-to-face about everything. She needed the woman who’d been like a mother to her growing up, before she faced her parents.

  Without doing that, she could never embrace the newfound independence Cesare had tried to give her at great risk to him. Whatever happened, it was time to take total charge of her life.

  * * *

  On the next Friday afternoon at three o’clock sharp, Cesare said good-night to Tuccia and watched her leave the castello in the limousine. He decided to give her an hour after she got back to her apartment before he made a surprise appearance at her door. She believed he was leaving for New York. That was what he’d wanted her to think.

  Surely she knew why he’d told her she couldn’t come with him when she’d asked him. She had to know he was madly in love with her.

  For the last week he’d been functioning on automatic pilot and knew it couldn’t go on until he got Tuccia alone. His plan was to whisk her away in his car to Lago di Garda. Italy’s largest lake was situated two hours away from Milan by car. He’d booked a romantic hideaway near the picturesque town of Salo where they wouldn’t be disturbed.

  In three weeks she’d become his whole world and he wouldn’t rest until they’d talked everything out and he’d told her what was in his heart.

  He let Vincenzo know he was leaving. After he cleared the decks with Maurice, his work was finished here. Cesare showered and packed a bag. With everything done, he took off in his car for the pensione.

  When he walked to her door and knocked, he felt an adrenaline rush impossible to contain. “Tuccia? It’s Cesare.” He waited and listened, but didn’t hear anything. “Tuccia?” He knocked hard. “I have to talk to you.”

  Nothing.

  Had she already gone somewhere in the limo?

  He got back in his car and called the limo service. The dispatcher told him she’d rung for a car to pick her up at the castello at three o’clock, but she hadn’t requested another limo. Cesare thanked him and hung up, not liking the vibe he was getting.

  His next thought was that she must have gone for a walk in the village. Rather than try looking for her, he called her cell phone, but she didn’t answer. If she was inside the apartment, he couldn’t imagine her not picking up when she saw the caller ID.

  Growing more anxious, he phoned the padrona and asked if she’d seen Tuccia. The older woman said the last time she saw her was yesterday when she came home still wearing her chef’s outfit.

  “Will you do me a favor and let yourself inside to find out if she’s too ill to answer the door?”

  “Naturalmente. I will call you right back.”

  Cesare watched her leave her apartment and enter Tuccia’s. Suddenly she reappeared at the entrance and waved for him to come in. At this point he broke out in a cold sweat fearing what he would find.

  He jumped out of the car and rushed inside, dreading to think what he might find. But instead of Tuccia passed out on the floor or ill in her bed, the padrona handed him a sheet of paper. He could see it was lined and had come from Tuccia’s bible.

  “I found this on the table, signor. She left this for you. I will go now.”

  “Grazie,” he murmured, feeling gutted.

  After the door closed, he read what she’d written.

  In case someone from the castello tries to reach me and can’t, I’ve gone to my zia in Palermo for the weekend.

  His eyes closed tightly. He squeezed the note into a ball. Pain almost debilitated him. She had to have taken a plane because a train or bus would never have gotten her there in time. Cesare knew how terrible she felt for her aunt, but he hadn’t expected Tuccia to fly into the hornet’s nest this soon.

  Blackness had descended on him. After locking her front door, he took off for the airport in his car. The first thing he did en route was phone the pilot and alert him he needed to fly to Palermo ASAP. Next he called his mother, but she didn’t answer and it went to her voice mail.

  He left the message that he’d be in Palermo tonight and needed to talk to her the second he got there. Cesare had come to the low ebb of his life. He couldn’t lose Tuccia.

  * * *

  When the taxi drove up to the gates of the palazzo at quarter to ten that night, Tuccia paid the driver and jumped out. She ran into Paolo. Her aunt’s groundskeeper looked shocked when he recognized her, and he let her through.

  She put a finger to her lips. “Shh. I want to surprise my zia. How is she, Paolo?”

  “Very, very sad and missing you. Praise the angels you have come back.”

  Tuccia kissed his ruddy cheek and darted up the long flower-lined walkway to the main entrance. She tugged on the door pull and w
aited for Adona to answer. The housekeeper never went to bed until late.

  After a minute she could hear someone talking on the inside and then the door opened.

  The second Adona saw her, she put her hands to her mouth in shock. “Ah! Ah! Principessa!” she cried and called out to Bertina. Her booming voice must have reached the second floor because suddenly there was Tuccia’s zia hurrying down the staircase in her robe with her dark hair undone, to find out what was going on.

  Tuccia put down her suitcase and ran toward her. They met at the bottom step. She flung her arms around the woman who’d made her life worth living.

  “Mia cara ragazza.” Bertina kissed her over and over again while the tears ran down her cheeks. “I’ve been afraid I might never see you again. My prayers have been answered.”

  “So have mine,” Tuccia cried, kissing her cheeks once more. “I’ve missed you more than you will ever know. Let’s go up to your room so you can get back in bed and we’ll talk in comfort.”

  “Do you need anything? Something to eat? Drink?”

  “No. I just got off the plane and had a meal in flight. The only thing I need is to have a long, long talk with you about so many things.”

  With their arms hooked, they climbed the staircase where she’d rushed up and down so many times growing up. She could have found Bertina’s boudoir wearing a blindfold. The room smelled like her lemon perfume, bringing back so many memories.

  “Come on. I want you to get back in bed. You’ve had a great shock. I’ll sit right here beside you and we’ll catch up. Shall I ask Adona to bring you some tea?”

  “No, no. I don’t want to bother her.”

  Tuccia helped her off with her robe and puffed the pillows. Then her zia leaned back and pulled up the covers. “I just want to look at my beautiful daughter for a little while. You are my daughter, even if my sister gave birth to you.”

  “You already know how I feel about you.” She kissed her forehead. “Ever since I ran away, I’ve worried about you until I’ve been ill over it.”

  “I’ve been all right. Over the last few days I’ve had several long talks with your mother who is suffering over what has happened. We’re not sisters for nothing, and I know she has a sorrow in her heart until she can make peace with you.”

  “Then it’s true what you told Lina?”

  “Of course. She and your father, though he doesn’t show it, were frightened when they thought you’d been kidnapped. It was one of those life-changing experiences for them. I don’t believe they’re the same people from before.”

  “So you believe what was printed in the newspaper?”

  “Yes. They miss you and want you to come home. I’m convinced of it.”

  Tuccia stared into her eyes. “I want to believe it.”

  “I think that if you call them and have a talk, you’ll find they’re full of regrets, especially for the cruel betrothal forced on you, and they want a fresh start. You don’t have to do it, of course.”

  “No. I want to do it, Zia. That’s why I’m here.”

  She clapped her hands. “My prayers have been answered.”

  “Mine, too. If it hadn’t been for Cesare’s mother keeping him informed so he could tell me how you are, I would have lost my mind.”

  “Lina has become my close friend and has been a great blessing in my life.”

  Tuccia held her hand. “You have no idea how great, Zia.”

  Bertina heard the inflection in her voice. “Tell me what you mean.”

  “Do you know where I’ve been for the last three weeks?”

  “No. I only know her son flew you to Milan so you could get away.”

  “There’s so much to tell you I don’t know where to start.”

  “At the beginning!” Bertina squeezed Tuccia’s hand hard, causing her to chuckle. “Do you know that even though you’ve had to live through such a terrible ordeal, you seem happy. I don’t think it’s just because you’re free of that deplorable engagement. I detect a glow about you.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes. Your eyes are alive, like you’ve come out of a deep sleep. What’s going on?”

  “Did Lina tell you that the chef her son had hired for the castello ristorante had gone to the hospital the same night she let me stay at her villa?”

  “Oh, yes. We’ve both been to visit him at the hospital.” Tuccia didn’t know that.

  “But she hasn’t told you anything else?”

  “Only that he found a place for you to stay in Milan.”

  “At a pensione in a village at the base of the castello.”

  “So you didn’t have to leave Milan. It sounds like he was very good to you.”

  She took a big breath. “I’m afraid good doesn’t begin to cover what he has done for me. What I’m about to tell you is going to come as a huge shock.”

  Bertina looked at her in that amazing way she had of reading between the lines. Tuccia had never been able to keep secrets from her, not that she’d wanted to. “Why do I get the feeling that the devilishly handsome Cesare Donati is more involved in all this than I had imagined?”

  She bit her lip. “I’m in love with him, Zia! Wildly, passionately in love.”

  Her brows lifted. “Have you been living with him?”

  “Not in the way you mean. I wish he’d asked me to live with him.”

  “Tuccianna—”

  “That may sound terrible to you, but it’s how I feel. We’ve been together every day and I’ve never known such joy in my life.”

  Bertina nodded. “Is he in love with you, too?”

  She looked down. “I don’t know. I think he is—I pray he is.”

  “You mean he hasn’t told you?”

  “No.”

  “Nor you him?”

  “I couldn’t! Our relationship hasn’t been like that. One night he started kissing me and I thought I would die from happiness, but since then he hasn’t tried to make love to me. I’m still trying to figure out why. I think he loves me, but—”

  “You only think?” the older woman laughed.

  “Unless I don’t understand men and have been reading everything wrong.”

  “Why don’t you start again, slowly, and give me a minute-by-minute explanation of what you’ve been up to that has turned you into a different person? Don’t withhold any details. Together we just might figure everything out.”

  “I want to do that, but first I need to talk to my parents.”

  “Why don’t I call them and tell them to come over here now.”

  “You think they’ll come this late?”

  Bertina shook her head. “If you only knew how much they’ve missed you, you wouldn’t have to ask that question.”

  While Tuccia sat there trembling, she listened to the brief conversation. When her zia hung up, she said, “They’re coming this instant. Why don’t you freshen up and meet them at the door?”

  “Will you come down with me?”

  “No, my darling girl. This is a conversation you need to have with them alone. It’s been twenty-five years in coming.”

  After going the bedroom she always used here, Tuccia hurried downstairs and waited until she heard the bell pull outside the door. When she opened it and saw her parents standing there, she was stunned by the rush of emotions that bombarded her.

  “Tuccianna—” her mother cried and ran to embrace her. “You’ve come back. I was so afraid we would never see you again.” They hugged for a long time.

  After they broke apart, she looked at her father. “Papa?”

  “Figlia mia.” Tears poured down his cheeks. For the first time she could remember, he reached out and hugged her so hard she could barely breathe, but she didn’t care. “Forgive us,” he cried and broke down sobbing.
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br />   “Let’s all go in the salon,” she said, putting her arms through both of theirs. Once in the other room they sat down on the couch. She pulled up a chair so she could be close and look at them. Gone were the severe expressions of two people who’d been so rigid.

  “I’m the one who’s sorry for doing something so terrible, for frightening you and embarrassing you and Jean-Michel. But I couldn’t marry him. I just couldn’t!”

  Her mother nodded. “I knew that the moment you’d disappeared from the bridal shop. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the shame of forcing you into an engagement that ruined your life for years. Bertina made us see how wrong we’ve been.”

  “We didn’t mean to hurt you, Tuccianna,” her father murmured in the saddest voice she’d ever heard. “While you’ve been gone, we’ve learned some things about Jean-Michel that let us know he would never have made you a good husband. You don’t ever have to worry about him again. We’ve been so blind. How can we make this up to you?”

  “By accepting me for who I am, and accepting the most wonderful man on earth whom I hope to marry.”

  “You’ve met someone?” her mother cried.

  “Yes. Cesare Donati. I’m terribly in love with him. He came to my rescue the day I ran away. We’ve been together ever since. Let me tell you about him. About us.”

  For the next little while she related her experiences, leaving nothing out. “I’m now the executive pastry chef at the castello in Milan. I can’t wait for you to meet him. You already know his wonderful mother.”

  “We do?”

  “Yes, Mamma. She’s Zia Bertina’s cook.”

  Her father’s eyes widened. “Lina Donati?”

  She nodded. “Bertina asked her to hide me at her villa that first night, and I bumped into Cesare. It was love at first sight for me. But I don’t know what’s going to happen now.” Tuccia knew he’d tried to be so careful with her to honor her because that was the way he was made. But she needed to know why he wouldn’t take her to New York. They had to talk.