by SUE FINEMAN
She pulled back a little. “You still want me to move in with you?”
“Of course I do. Unless you’d rather stay here.”
“No, I want to be with you and Taylor.”
While Alex made her phone call, Charlie changed into his bathing suit and jumped into the pool. Taylor jumped in a second later. The kid loved to swim, but she wasn’t allowed in the pool without an adult, and Gina didn’t swim.
Wilma crashed beside the pool and stretched out in the sun. She was damp from playing in the sprinkler with Taylor, but it was a hot day, and she’d dry off quickly.
Charlie played with Taylor in the water while Gina went inside to start dinner. Vinnie’s cook had retired on the pension he’d given her, and Gina decided not to replace her. Why would a woman who could cook like Gina need to hire a cook?
After a few minutes, Charlie stepped out of the pool, boosted Taylor out and wrapped a towel around her, and walked inside. He’d barely gotten dried off and changed when the doorbell chimed. Antonio had arrived.
Charlie heard Alex talking with her brother, and from their raised voices, it wasn’t a pleasant conversation.
“No, Antonio,” Alex snapped. “Aunt Gina is living here now. Papa gave her a life tenancy. That means she can live here for the rest of her life.”
“But we need a bigger house.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Alberto’s girlfriend is pregnant, and she’s living with us now. This house has separate apartments, and—”
“Tell your deadbeat son to find himself a job and move out.”
“A job doing what?”
“Good question,” she muttered. “What does he know how to do, except get high, pierce something, or get himself arrested?”
“You bitch. You’re so ugly Papa had to buy a man to take care of you. You’re not his daughter anyway.”
Charlie heard a slap and ran toward the foyer. He rounded the corner to see Antonio slap Alex. She fell back against the wall. Charlie grabbed Antonio, spun him around, punched him in the stomach, and then hit him in the face. Antonio fell into the table and a crystal vase filled with flowers hit the floor and shattered.
Charlie turned to Alex. “You okay?”
She nodded.
He turned back to Antonio, who was still on the floor, blood pouring from his nose. “If you ever touch your sister again, you won’t ever get up off the floor. You got that?”
Antonio moaned. “She’s not my sister. She’s Vanessa’s bastard.”
Alex grabbed a towel from a nearby powder room, tossed it to Antonio, and called for the housekeeper to clean up the shattered vase of flowers.
“I’ll have Papa’s jewelry and clothes and whatever sent to your house,” Alex told her brother. “You and Mario can fight over them there.”
“I’ll take them now. Vincent can help me.”
Charlie offered his hand and pulled Antonio off the floor. “Let’s get this over with today.” He motioned toward the powder room. “Go clean yourself up before your son sees you. Alex will find you a clean shirt.”
Alex disappeared and returned with a polo shirt. Charlie tapped on the powder room door. Antonio opened the door and took the shirt. “This is Papa’s.”
“He won’t be needing it now,” said Charlie.
What gave this guy the right to barge in here and yell insults at his sister? What made him think he deserved the house and she didn’t? It was Vinnie’s house, and he alone had the right to decide who would get his home after he was gone.
Antonio looked okay, so Charlie opened the front door and motioned to the kid. “Come in here and help your father. And leave that damn cigarette outside.”
Vincent glared at him, but he tossed his cigarette on the sidewalk and stepped on it, then walked inside like he owned the place. “So, when are we moving in?”
“You’re not,” said Alex.
They walked together down to Vinnie’s sitting room and bedroom, where Antonio and Vincent opened doors and closets. Charlie figured they were looking for anything valuable.
Alex opened a desk drawer, pulled out a paper, and handed it to Antonio. “You might be interested in this.”
“What is it?”
“The results of the DNA test Papa had done on me when I was a little girl. It says I’m his biological daughter.”
“Damn!”
“Bernie has the original. If you were planning to get the will overturned because I wasn’t Papa’s daughter, you’d better think again. If you contest the will, you could lose the two million he left you.”
“It’s not enough.”
“You gotta be kidding,” Charlie muttered. “I could live forever on two million.”
“Minus taxes,” said Alex. “I’ll have to use my two million for inheritance taxes on the house, and I can’t sell the house until Aunt Gina dies. Besides, Papa bought you a house.”
“It ain’t big enough,” said Vincent.
Charlie cocked his head. “How old are you?”
“Nineteen. I can’t get my money for eleven years.”
“So find a job or go to college.”
Alex shook her head. “He’s a high school dropout.”
“So what? I dropped out of college, but I went back and got my degree,” said Charlie. “Get your GED and go to college. Make something of yourself.”
“You mean find myself a rich woman like you?” the kid muttered.
Charlie’s hands curled into fists at his sides. He wanted to deck this insolent kid.
Alex threw up her hands. “Enough already. Get what you came for and get out.”
“What’s in the safe?” Antonio asked.
Alex moved a picture on the wall of Papa’s sitting room, exposing the door to the safe. Antonio unlocked the safe and pulled out Papa’s jewelry and several bundles of hundred-dollar bills with the bank’s band around them.
He took it all.
<>
After they put Taylor to bed, Charlie asked Gina to keep an eye on her while he took Alex to the house. He wanted Taylor and Gina to see the house, too, but tonight he wanted to be alone with Alex. They had things to talk about, and he wanted to do it there, at his house.
Antonio had hurt her today, calling her ugly and implying Charlie was with her because Vinnie paid him off. Yes, Vinnie offered him the business to marry Alex, but Charlie threw the bribe back in his face. He didn’t ask for the business and he didn’t agree to do anything in exchange for it, but he wouldn’t walk away from it. Vinnie had given him a challenge, and Charlie didn’t walk away from challenges. He might sell the business in a few years, but first, he wanted to make it successful. Surely Alex could understand that.
He shoved the little box in his pants pocket and drove Alex to the house. The painter he’d hired had finished the outside of the house, and it looked good. The new gutters would go on tomorrow. Charlie had stripped off the old ones when he put the new roof on.
The new front door was a bright, shiny red, and the front porch trim had a fresh coat of creamy white. New black shutters looked sharp against the soft gray paint over the old bricks. The house had been transformed from a rundown brick bungalow to a modern, fresh, and inviting home.
Alex let out a big sigh. “It’s beautiful, Charlie, absolutely beautiful.”
He opened the front door and they walked inside together. The dark wood floors gleamed, and he’d refinished the mantel on the fireplace to match the floor.
The kitchen was open to the dining room, which was open to the living room in one big, flowing space framed by pillars painted white to match the woodwork.
They turned to the right, through the French doors into the study.
“Glass doors?” she asked.
“High impact plastic. With a kid and a dog, I didn’t think glass was a good idea.” He motioned to the old roll top desk. “That came with the house.”
“It looks good in here.”
He nodded and they walked down the center hall
way, past the open rail to the stairway, into the family room at the back of the house. “I need to buy furniture for the living room and family room. The dining room furniture was here, but the seats on the chairs need to be replaced.” They were worn and stained, but the wood cleaned up nice with a coat of polish.
“I might have something that would work in the living room.”
“If you don’t, go ahead and buy something. I cashed in those ‘sparkly things’ Taylor said were buried in the backyard, so there’s enough money for new furniture.”
She turned to face him. “How much?”
“Just under three hundred thousand.” He pulled the little box from his pocket and handed it to her. “I kept this for you.”
She opened the box and smiled. He’d chosen a beautiful diamond and ruby bracelet from the jewelry he’d found, then had earrings made to match. He wanted to give her a ring, but she’d have to pick it out herself. Next week. If she said yes, he’d take her shopping next week.
“Oh, Charlie. It’s so beautiful.” She hugged him and kissed him. “Thank you.”
“I know Vinnie probably bought you lots of pretty things, but—”
“But this is the one I’ll cherish the most, because it came from you.”
He kept the earrings for later, for after she got the scars on her face repaired.
He helped her fasten the bracelet around her wrist, then they walked upstairs and peeked in Taylor’s room. “She’ll love this room,” said Alex. “The window seat is pretty.”
“It needs a cushion.”
“I’ll have one made.”
He’d put some of the antique bedroom furniture he found in the house in Taylor’s room. “She’ll need a new mattress. I threw the old ones in the dumpster. Same with the guest room.”
“I’ll take care of it, Charlie.”
“I know you will, honey.”
They walked past the laundry and into the master bedroom. “I don’t have anything for this room, so we need to start from scratch.”
The room was quite large, with three big dormer windows in the front and two small windows on the side. They’d built in three walk-in closets, one with a shoe rack that nearly covered one wall. There were double vanities, a spa tub, and a shower with two shower heads in the bathroom, and a separate dressing area.
“I can’t believe you turned an attic into all this.”
Charlie took her hands. “Honey, I’ve been thinking… Maybe it’s time we made it legal. What do you think? Would you consider marrying me?”
She gazed into his eyes. “Is that what you really want, Charlie? Do you really want to marry a scarred woman?”
“Honey, I don’t care about the scars. When I look at you, I see a beautiful woman, the woman I fell in love with seven years ago. The woman I want to love for the rest of my life. I want the kind of relationship my parents have, the kind where no one cheats and they treat each other with love and respect.”
“Have you forgiven me, Charlie?”
“Of course I have. If you don’t want to marry me, I’ll understand. I’m not a wealthy man and probably never will be, so I can’t give you the life you’ve been living, but I’ll do my best to give you and Taylor a happy life.”
Alex brushed tears from her eyes. “I don’t want a rich man. I want you. I’d be proud to be your wife, but I’d like to get my face fixed before we plan a wedding. I don’t want to look like this in my wedding pictures.”
“Whatever you want, honey. I’ll wait. I’d wait forever for you.”
He wrapped his arms around her and held her, drinking in the smell of her hair and the feel of her soft, warm body in his arms. His heart soared. She loved him enough to stay with him forever.
Alex had never felt so cherished as she did at that moment. Charlie had not only forgiven her, he wanted to marry her. In his family, that meant a committed relationship with mutual respect. His parents weren’t rich, but they were the happiest couple she knew. She wanted some of that happiness for herself, and she’d have it with Charlie.
Taylor wouldn’t grow up in a mansion, and that was fine with Alex. Her daughter would grow up in a family home where she’d learn the same values Charlie had grown up with, the values Papa had failed to teach Antonio and Mario. She’d play with the kids down the street, ride on her daddy’s tractor, and learn to share the spotlight with her cousins and maybe a sibling or two. Taylor would grow up to be a good person like her daddy.
And Alex would live the rest of her life with the man she loved.
<>
Alex knew Charlie was too busy to help furnish the house, so while he worked at the farm or at the business, she bought new furniture for the master bedroom and new mattresses for Taylor’s room and the guest room. She chose two comfortable wing-back chairs from Papa’s house for the study and bought bookshelves for her books.
Alex and Aunt Gina selected various pieces from Papa’s house, including the Persian carpet from Papa’s sitting room, to put in Charlie’s living room. Alex left the more formal Italian and French furniture for Aunt Gina and took the more traditional pieces she knew Charlie liked. And she bought comfortable leather furniture for the family room.
Aunt Gina sorted through the kitchen at the mansion and found a set of dishes her mother had used and plenty of cookware for Charlie’s kitchen. Alex bought curtains, linens, blankets, and everything else they’d need to be comfortable in Charlie’s house. He’d done a beautiful job of renovating the house, and she bought things that would complement the beautiful dark wood floors, soft beige carpets, and the warm paint colors they’d chosen for the walls.
Three weeks after Papa’s funeral, Alex moved the last of her things into Charlie’s house. She carried a box of shoes upstairs and put them on the shelves in the walk-in closet.
Taylor ran to her bedroom and jumped on the bed with Wilma. Then she peered out the window over the window seat. “Mommy, Daddy’s planting flowers.”
“I know. Do you like your new bedroom?”
“Yeah. Wilma likes it, too.”
Charlie walked around to the front porch, brushing the dirt off his hands. He’d moved his things in this morning and brought a bunch of Alex’s clothes over, but she was still carrying in boxes. He’d never known a woman with so many shoes. He hoped he’d built in enough storage.
Alex came out the front door. “We need a swing on the front porch.”
“Andy bought one for us. He’ll bring it over tomorrow. Ginny bought a couple rocking chairs and an outdoor rug for the other side of the porch. Mom and Dad bought us patio furniture for the backyard. And Billy bought a new gas barbecue.”
“Does this mean we’re having a barbecue tomorrow?”
“Yep. Mom and Gina are bringing the food.”
“But we’ve barely moved in.”
“It’s a house-warming party, honey. My family didn’t want to wait.”
Alex was having her surgery next week, and they didn’t know how long it would take her to recover. Charlie wasn’t sure of the outcome. What if the doctor couldn’t erase the scars? Alex would be crushed if she had to go through life looking like she did now. People stared and whispered behind her back, and he knew how much that hurt.
It wouldn’t be so bad if that sadistic pervert had hit her anywhere else but her face. Charlie didn’t love her any less because of her scars, but his heart hurt every time he looked at her, because he knew how those scars made her feel about herself.
If the surgery didn’t come out like she wanted, would she still marry him?
Chapter Twenty-Three
The only barbecues Alex had ever attended were family events at the mansion, and Papa had always hired people to do the grilling and clean up the mess. This would be a smaller gathering, and Charlie would do the grilling.
Kayla and Billy and their boys arrived first. Billy helped Charlie set up the grill while the boys carried in two big thermos jugs. Kayla followed with a bowl of fruit salad. She put the bowl on the counter besid
e the refrigerator and pointed at the thermos jugs. “Sweet tea in the blue one, unsweetened in the red one.”
Alex took the corn out of the refrigerator to make room for the fruit salad. Charlie had picked the corn early this morning, the first of his crop. “Taylor and I made cookies last night. Snickerdoodles, Charlie’s favorite. Hannah gave me the recipe. We had to make two batches, because he ate them faster than we could make them.”
Kayla smiled. “All the Kane men like to eat. Donovan jokes about marrying Hannah because she could cook.” She glanced around the kitchen. “Nice job on the renovation. Billy said the house was a rundown mess, but this looks good.” She walked into the family room off the kitchen. “What a nice room.”
The doorbell rang and Hannah called, “Alex, Charlie?”
“Come on in, Hannah,” Alex called.
Taylor ran down the stairs with Wilma and jumped into her grandfather’s arms. Donovan swung her around. “How do you like your new house and your new bedroom?”
“I like it a lot,” said Taylor. “Bobby’s gonna like his room, too.”
Confused, Alex asked, “What are you talking about? Isn’t Bobby a ghost?”
“Yeah, but he’s coming back, and he’s gonna have his own room, with a baby bed and everything.”
Donovan looked at Alex, blue eyes twinkling. “Apparently Bobby is going to be her baby brother.”
Stunned, Alex couldn’t speak for several seconds. “Taylor, is this true?”
“Yeah. You and Daddy said he could come back.”
Hannah laughed and hugged Alex. “Are you all right?”
“Just stunned. I should be used to this by now, but…” She shook her head. “Does Charlie know?”
“We didn’t tell him,” said Donovan.
Alex wondered how long he and Hannah had known about Bobby. When had Taylor told them?
They’d barely gotten through the front door when Mother walked up the front porch steps. “Alexandra.”
Alex hugged her. “Mother, I’m glad you came. Have you met Hannah and Donovan Kane?”
Mother lifted her chin and forced a smile. “Pleased to meet you.”
