The Valtieri Baby

by Caroline Anderson

  ‘Seems to be. I went and saw Luca today, and he’s going to book me in for a scan for around about the twelve week mark.’

  ‘May I come?’

  She took her gaze from that gentle, caring hand and looked up at him. There was a curiously diffident expression in his eyes, as if he wasn’t at all sure of her answer, and she hugged him.

  ‘Oh, Gio, of course you can. It’s your baby, too.’

  His mouth flickered into a smile. ‘Grazie,’ he murmured, and kissed her.

  She laid her hand over his. ‘I hope the baby’s all right,’ she said softly, her fears for it coming to the surface now after their conversation about Camilla’s son.

  ‘So do I, Anita, but if it isn’t, if there’s anything wrong with it, it won’t make any difference. I’ll still love it. You were wrong about that, you know. It’s not that I can’t find it in my heart to love our child, rather that I don’t trust myself not to let it down, but until you were pregnant I don’t think I really understood what it meant to be a parent. Not in a personal way. I understood the physical responsibility, and the need for emotional security, but I didn’t understand what it would feel like to know that your child is slowly growing and developing, turning into a real person that’s part of you. I do now, and I know that whatever happens to us, I could never walk away from this.’

  ‘Oh, Gio.’

  She tilted her head and stretched up, pressing a kiss to the rough plane of his jaw, and he turned his head and found her mouth and kissed her lingeringly.

  ‘Are you hungry?’ he asked. ‘Do you need to eat soon?’

  She smiled against his mouth. ‘No. I’ve been eating biscuits all afternoon.’

  ‘Good. Because I have something else in mind for you right now,’ he said with a cheeky grin that reminded her of the boy she’d first fallen in love with. He pulled her to her feet, took her out into the hall and turned right instead of left.

  ‘What? Where are you taking me?’

  ‘It’s a surprise,’ he said, and ushered her out of the front door.

  * * *

  He took her for a picnic to the chestnut woods on the Valtieri estate.

  They parked the car and he got a wicker picnic hamper out of the back and threw a blanket over his shoulder and they followed the path down to an opening in the trees. The valley stretched out in front of them for miles, and they could see the palazzo, and Luca and Isabelle’s house, and nestling in the trees was her house, with her parents’ much larger villa just beyond.

  ‘I love it here,’ she said, settling down onto the picnic blanket with a contented sigh and wrapping her arms around her knees so she could see the view.

  He dropped down beside her, lying out full length and folding his arms behind his head. ‘You always did. If ever I couldn’t find you and there’d been a ruckus of some sort, I’d know where you’d be.’

  ‘I still come here sometimes, when I feel crowded or I need to think about stuff.’

  ‘So do I. We spent so much time in these woods when we were kids. Do you remember?’

  She lay down beside him, and he put his arm out so she could use it as a pillow. ‘Of course I remember. I remember you falling out of that tree over there and breaking your leg, and I had to ride your bike down to the palazzo and try and find someone to help get you down, and you were so cross because you said you could have sat on the bike and freewheeled down.’

  ‘I could have,’ he said with a smile.

  ‘And if you’d fallen off? You would have made it far worse and your mother would have killed me.’

  He chuckled. ‘Very likely. Do you remember when I crashed the bike into a tree?’

  ‘Yes. You were so badly winded I thought you’d never breathe again.’

  ‘You thought that?’ he said, laughing. ‘I thought I’d lie there and slowly suffocate, waiting for my lungs to re-inflate. It was a nightmare. I never did tell my parents about that.’

  She smiled and laid her hand over the baby. ‘I wonder if it’s going to be a boy like you,’ she said, and pulled a face. ‘It’ll be a nightmare to bring up.’

  ‘I’m sure we’ll cope,’ he said, and there it was again, the ‘we’ word, hanging in the ether.

  He pulled her closer, and she lay there in the crook of his arm and rested her cheek on his chest and wondered what the future held for them.

  CHAPTER TEN

  ‘I’VE got my scan appointment through.’

  He hung up his jacket on the back of a chair and took the letter out of her hand. ‘I’ll see if I’m free. If not, I’ll have to shuffle things.’

  He sat down next to her, kissed her absently and pulled out his smart phone. ‘OK. Here’s my calendar. Yes, I can do that, I think. I’ll have to move a client, but that’s fine. Is this the clinic’s address?’

  ‘I think so.’

  He nodded, tapping it into his phone. ‘OK. You ought to have this calendar on your phone, so you know where I am at any time.’

  She blinked. ‘Why would I need to know that?’

  He shrugged, and she smiled and leant over and kissed him, reading his mind. ‘Nothing’s going to happen, Gio,’ she said. ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Nevertheless, you might need to know where I am, and I’d like to know where you are. Do you have a virtual calendar?’

  ‘Of course I do. I use it to keep track of all my weddings and meetings. I’d be lost without it.’

  He hesitated for a second, then said, ‘Want to swap passwords?’

  She stared at him. This was a big thing for him. It didn’t sound like much, but to give her access to his every movement, and to ask for hers—that was a real investment for him. ‘Sure,’ she said slowly. ‘I’ll get my phone.’

  It made sense. She could see that. She was just amazed that he could, that he’d feel it was necessary to share all his movements with her—unless he wanted to be able to keep tabs on her because he was still worried she’d do something foolish. Either that or he wanted to know how much she was doing so he could interfere and tell her to cut back.

  Or maybe, she thought, it was just as he said, that it made sense to know what both of them were doing.

  They swapped passwords, so she had his diary as well as her own on her phone, and she could update it daily. And then he made her put his number in her phone as the emergency contact number.

  ‘Just in case. You never know. I’ve put you in as my contact now.’

  Not his parents? Not one of his brothers?

  Wow. She put her phone away, and went into the kitchen and started to prepare supper, still thinking about that.

  ‘Hey, are you feeling up to cooking, or do you want me to do it?’

  ‘No, I’m fine with it. I’m feeling better. Not brilliant, and I won’t be brewing coffee or cooking cheese any time soon, but I might let you have meat again.’

  He laughed, his eyes crinkling as he looked up at her from the sofa, and she went over to him and bent and kissed him, just because she could. She couldn’t believe he’d put her in his phone as the emergency contact—

  ‘You need some more clothes,’ he said, staring appreciatively down her cleavage as she straightened up. ‘You’re beginning to blossom.’

  ‘Is blossom a euphemism for getting bigger breasts?’ she asked drily, and he chuckled.

  ‘It might be. And your tummy’s starting to show when you stand up.’

  ‘I don’t think it’s anything to do with the baby. I think it’s all the relentless carbs I’ve been eating.’

  He got up and followed her back to the kitchen, sliding his hands round under her arms and cupping her breasts gently. ‘Mmm. Whatever, it suits you.’ His hands slid down, linking together over her tiny bump and easing her back against him, and he bent his head and nibbled her neck.

  ‘Will supper keep?’ he asked, his voice muffled, and she turned in his arms and smiled at him.

  ‘I’m sure it will. What did you have in mind?’

  ‘Oh, a little this and that.’ />
  But his eyes were smouldering, and as he lowered his mouth to hers, she reached behind her and turned off the oven. Some things didn’t need to be hurried...

  * * *

  He shifted his client, and got home in plenty of time to take her for her scan. She was drinking water all the way there in the car, following her instructions.

  ‘I hope they don’t keep me waiting too long,’ she said wryly, but they didn’t keep them waiting at all. Luca was there, and he greeted them both with a hug.

  ‘Do you want me to go, or may I stay?’

  ‘Stay,’ Gio said, not even giving Anita a choice in the matter, because he was suddenly afraid for the baby and if there was anything wrong, he wanted Luca there to talk them through it.

  Funny, he’d never thought of it before, but Camilla Ponti’s son had brought home to him with vivid clarity just how badly things could go wrong, and it had only been then, meeting the boy and realising the depth of her commitment, that he’d realised what they’d inadvertently signed up to with this pregnancy.

  What any couple expecting a baby signed up to.

  ‘Anita?’

  Luca, checking with her. She was nodding, and then she was lying down on a couch, undoing her too-tight jeans and sliding them down just far enough. She reached out her hand, and Gio gripped it, staring at the screen as the person wielding the ultrasound wand began to scan her.

  ‘There we are. That’s the head, the spine—and see that? Fluttering? That’s the heart beating.’

  He felt Anita let out a breath, and he squeezed her hand. The scan moved on, checking other things—the position of the placenta, verifying that there was only one baby, taking measurements for the dates.

  Early. Early in their ten-day window—that second night, when they’d made love so hastily, so urgently? She’d torn open the foil with shaking hands. Had she damaged it? Maybe. He’d been too shot away with need and longing to notice, but it seemed irrelevant now, looking at the grainy and yet somehow extraordinarily clear image of his child.

  ‘That all looks really good,’ Luca said from behind him, and he rested a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it hard. ‘There. You can both relax now.’

  ‘Want a photo?’

  ‘Yes, please,’ they both said at once, and Gio asked for two. One each, so he could have one in his wallet and carry it everywhere with him.

  She got off the couch and disappeared to the cloakroom to get rid of the litres of water she’d drunk, and Luca slung an arm round his shoulders and led him out to the waiting area.

  ‘So. How does it feel?’

  ‘Amazing,’ he said, staring down at the photo in his hand. It blurred suddenly, and he had to blink hard to clear it. ‘Absolutely amazing. I can’t believe it’s happening.’

  ‘Oh, it’s happening. You wait. It’ll feel like ten minutes and you’ll be woken up first thing on a Sunday morning by a child arriving on the bed with a great big smile and a story book.’

  ‘Are you trying to put me off?’

  Luca smiled and hugged him briefly. ‘I wouldn’t dream of it. You enjoy it. It’s fantastic. Right, I have to go, I’ve got a clinic, but it’s good to see you and I’m glad everything looks OK.’

  ‘Thanks, Luca. For everything.’

  He smiled and nodded, and left him there staring at the image of his baby. Was it conceived that night? It had been the night he’d made love to her for the first time in five years, and in that moment, right afterwards, he’d somehow known that everything had changed.

  Was that how Kirsten had felt, the night their baby had been conceived?

  Oh, Kirsten, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I never meant our child to die.

  ‘Gio? Are you OK?’

  He pulled himself together and smiled at Anita, suddenly realising just how OK he was. The past was past. It hadn’t been his fault, he hadn’t taken the drugs, he hadn’t known she was pregnant, he had nothing to blame himself for. And now, he had the future to look forward to.

  ‘Yes, I’m fine,’ he said, blinking away the sudden tears. ‘You?’

  She smiled back, her face serene. ‘Never better. Shall we go for lunch?’

  ‘Good idea. Here, your photo.’

  She tucked the envelope in her handbag and took the one he was looking at out of his hand.

  ‘I wonder what it is?’

  ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘No. No, not at all. I just think a girl might be slightly less worrying to bring up.’

  ‘Only until puberty,’ he said drily, and ushered her out of the clinic.

  * * *

  He stood at the window of his apartment in Firenze, staring out over the distant hills and contemplating his future.

  His life was changing drastically, and everything about it was good. The baby was doing well, and they seemed to be getting on fine.

  More than fine. Brilliantly well. He was happier than he’d ever been in his life, and she was blooming. He couldn’t imagine it getting any better, and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he would never tire of her. How could he when he loved her so much?

  He loved her? Well, of course he did! He’d been gradually accepting it for weeks, and yet he’d never voiced it in his thoughts, never formalised it.

  But yes. He loved Anita Della Rossa, with all his heart and soul, and he always had. No wonder his relationships had always foundered. They’d all been with the wrong woman.

  It hit him like a thunderbolt, and he sat down abruptly. He loved her. He really, really loved her. Not just as a friend, but—how did it go? Truly, madly, deeply? He smiled, and then he laughed, and then he got up, left the apartment and drove home.

  She wasn’t there.

  Odd. He’d checked her calendar, and she wasn’t supposed to be doing anything this afternoon, unless something had come up since he’d synchronised it last night.

  Maybe she’d decided to go shopping, or have lunch with the girls, he thought, disappointed that she wasn’t at home when he had to tell her this vital and amazing thing, and he tried to ring her, but it rang and rang, and then went to voicemail.

  OK. Maybe she was busy. He’d try her later.

  Still nothing. He left a message.

  ‘I’m back home. Call me. I’ve got something to tell you.’

  He went to see Massimo, and found him in the kitchen surrounded by his family.

  ‘Can we have a quick word?’

  ‘Of course.’ He stood up, kissed Lydia in passing and ushered Gio into his office. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said, getting straight to the point. ‘You’ve got more than enough to do here, and hardly any time for your family. I already do all the company’s legal work, and there’s plenty more I could usefully do, like the stuff I’ve been doing. How about taking me on permanently?’

  Massimo frowned at him, then blew out a long breath. ‘Really? You’d dump your law practice?’

  He shrugged. ‘Maybe not entirely. But I’m sick of it. I’ve had enough of juggling people’s lies, and it’s time to look out for my own family. I’m going to be a father soon, and if Anita’ll have me, I’m planning on being a husband. I don’t want to be stuck in Firenze while they’re here, and I’ve really enjoyed working with you. I think we could build the business, play to our strengths, find other areas to expand into. What do you say? Do you think it’s viable?’

  His brother stared at him for a long, long moment, then let out a huff of laughter. ‘Oh, yes. I definitely think it’s viable. Papà and I were talking about it only yesterday, wondering how we could persuade you away from the sinful city.’

  He smiled. ‘I need no persuading. I just have to convince Anita that she’ll have me. Do you know where she is, by the way? I thought she’d be at home, but she’s not, and I can’t get her. I wondered if she was with Lydia or Isabelle, but her car isn’t at their house and it’s not here, either.’

  ‘Shopping? I know she had a meeting this morning, because Lydia rang h
er, and she said something about going on to do a bit of clothes shopping while she was in town. Try her again. She was probably just somewhere noisy. And, yes, by the way. It would be great to have you on the team.’

  ‘Good. Let’s hope you’re still saying that in a year’s time.’ He grinned, slapped Massimo on the back and left him, pulling out his phone as he ran down the steps to his car.

  He called her again, left another message, and went home. She still wasn’t there, and he began to get worried.

  Her meeting had been just outside Chianciano, and there were good shops there, but surely by now she’d be on her way home? He rang her, and got her voicemail again.

  ‘Anita, where are you? I’m starting to get worried. Call me.’

  He’d give her half an hour. And in that time, he’d do the intelligent thing and go into her calendar and update it, just in case.

  Nothing. No changes.

  So where was she?

  He couldn’t drive there and look for her along the road, that was crazy. There were two routes, one via Pienza and Montepulciano, the other the quiet back road that ran through the forest and nature reserve. That was her most likely route, he thought, and the one where if she’d run out of petrol or broken down, she was less likely to be helped by a passing motorist. She couldn’t change a puncture now, not while she was pregnant, so she’d be sure of having her phone on her. So why wasn’t she answering it?

  His mouth dry, he rang her again. ‘Anita, please, call me! I don’t know where you are, and I think something must have happened. Please, call me, cara. I love you.’

  He hung up, beside himself. He’d have to try and find her. He picked up his phone, set off in the car towards Chianciano and then hesitated.

  Was he just being a drama queen? Maybe she was just taking time out, doing what she always did?

  The chestnut woods. Of course.

  He’d check on the way. It wouldn’t take him far off his route, and it would be stupid to go so far if that was all she was doing.

  He skidded down the track and found her car immediately, parked by the side of the track near where they’d had their picnic the other week. It wasn’t locked, and her bag was in it, her phone inside, with all its missed calls and voicemail messages from him. Still worried half to death, ready to kill her, he forced himself to walk towards the clearing.