“Did you apologize?” Miss Minnie asked.
“Yes, of course. But she kicked me out of the guesthouse, and she isn’t speaking to me.”
“Why did you do it?” Lou Ann asked.
He shrugged helplessly. “Loyalty, I guess. Loyalty to an old friend.”
“Loyalty is an important value,” Miss Minnie said. “But love...remember your Bible, Vito. The greatest of these is Love.”
It was true. He saw that now, too late.
“So he’s just backing away. Out of politeness!” Nonna leaned forward and pinched his cheek. “My Vito. Always the best friend. Always so nice.”
“Too nice,” Miss Minnie declared.
Lou Ann Miller looked thoughtful. “If you give up on her, maybe you just don’t care enough. Why, I know a couple right here in Rescue River who had to keep huge secrets from each other. But they pushed through their problems. Now they’re happily married.”
Happily married. If there was any possibility at all of that for him and Lacey...
“The choice is yours,” Nonna said. “Coraggio, ragazzo mio.”
Lacey was what he wanted most in the world. Could he risk another try, a heartfelt apology, a grand gesture that might sway her back in his direction?
What did he have to lose?
Nonna seemed to see the decision on his face. “If you need any help,” she said, “we’re here for you.”
He stood and kissed her cheek. “I will most definitely take you up on that.”
From a high-backed chair that faced away from their corner, Gramps Camden stood and pointed a finger at Vito. “For once, the ladies are right. Being polite doesn’t get a man much of anything.”
As the ladies scolded Gramps for eavesdropping, Vito waved and headed for the door, feeling more energy with each step he took.
He had some serious planning to do.
* * *
A week later, Lacey hugged Nonna at the door to the Senior Towers, glad to feel that the older woman was gaining weight and strength. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll take you to the party next week. Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you upstairs?”
“I’m fine. And I’m sorry I got the date wrong. Maybe I’m losing my marbles.” Nonna shrugged.
“It’s all right. I enjoyed spending some time with you.” Truthfully, the excursion had filled a gap in Lacey’s week. Even though she’d tried to rebuild her life, to spend time with girlfriends and focus on her work, she still found herself lonely.
Still found herself missing Vito and Charlie.
Nonna reached up and straightened Lacey’s collar, plucked a stray hair off her shoulders. “Do you know what we always said in Italy? Si apra all’amore. Be open to love.”
“Um, sure.” Maybe Nonna was getting a little confused, because that remark had been apropos of nothing.
She drove the half block to the guesthouse and parked in the driveway, taking her time. She didn’t want to go inside an empty house. Without Charlie roughhousing and Wolfie barking, without Vito’s deep voice, the place felt empty.
But delaying wouldn’t solve her problem. She clasped the cross she’d hung around her neck, in place of the wedding ring she’d worn before. It was a reminder: she could do all things through Christ.
Including survive loneliness.
She climbed out of the car and walked slowly toward the front entrance, checking her flower beds, which were doing great. Looked reflexively at the broken fence. She really needed to...
She stopped. Looked again.
The makeshift fix they’d done weeks ago, when Wolfie had escaped, wasn’t there. Instead, the fence was repaired.
She knelt down, awkward in her dress and heels, and examined it. The two broken pickets had been replaced with new ones, painted white. Only when you were very close could you see that the paint was a little brighter on the new pickets.
She frowned. Who would have repaired her fence?
Wondering, she walked toward the front of the house. As she rounded the corner, she heard music.
Opera music. Italian opera music.
What had Nonna called it? The most romantic music on earth.
What in the world?
The wonderful smell of Italian food—lasagna?—wafted through the air.
As she climbed the front steps, she saw something pink.
Her heart pounding, she reached the top of the steps. A trail of rose petals led her across the porch to a table set for two, topped with a white tablecloth.
She stared at the centerpiece, and tears rose to her eyes.
A ceramic rooster, exactly like the one Charlie had broken the day she’d met him.
No longer could she doubt who was responsible for what she was seeing.
She turned toward the front door. At the same moment, Vito emerged through it, a bowl of salad in one hand and a tray of pasta in the other. He wore dress trousers, a white dress shirt and an apron. Focused on balancing both dishes, he didn’t notice her at first, but when he did, a strange expression crossed his face.
“Lacey,” he said his voice intent. “Wait.” He turned and carefully put down the two items on a side table.
Then he undid his apron and took it off, his eyes never leaving hers.
“How did you...” She broke off.
Walking slowly across the porch, he stood before her, not touching her. “I trespassed. Nonna gave me her key.”
“Nonna...” She cocked her head to one side and reviewed the afternoon. Nonna’s sudden invitation to a party, her insisting that Lacey dress up, the realization that it was the wrong date... “She was in on this. And you fixed my fence.”
“For a good cause.”
“What do you mean?”
He walked around her and pulled out a chair. “Explaining will take a minute. Would you like to sit down?”
She hesitated, feeling a little railroaded, but curious, too. “Oka-a-a-ay.”
He poured iced tea, the raspberry flavor she always ordered at the Chatterbox, looking for all the world like a handsome Italian waiter. But then he pulled a chair to face her and sat down, close enough that their knees almost touched. Almost, but not quite. “The good cause is...an apology. Lacey, I am so sorry for what I did to you. There’s no excuse for dishonesty.”
She wanted to forgive him instantly. The music, the tea, the rose petals, the mended fence, the ceramic rooster—all of it created a romantic little world. But she couldn’t just succumb to it. She needed to be as wise as a serpent, not just gentle as a dove. Not just go with her heart. “I would like to hear why you did what you did. I wasn’t in a condition to listen before.”
He drew in a breath and nodded. “Of course. You deserve that.” Still, he seemed reluctant to speak.
“I can take it, Vito! Whatever happened, it’s probably better than what I’ve been imagining.”
“Right.” He reached for her, then pulled his hand back. “It was only in the last couple of months of Gerry’s life that I found out he’d been unfaithful to you.”
The word stung, even though she knew it was true. “How did you find out?”
“He was burning letters,” he explained. “Building a fire was dangerous over there, so I went to stop him. He said he had just a few more to burn, and he was turning over a new leaf. I still had to stop him—I was his commanding officer by then—and I happened to see a...suggestive card. It didn’t look like something you’d send, so I asked him about it.”
The thought of another woman sending racy cards to her husband made Lacey’s face hot with anger and humiliation. Was that what Gerry had wanted in a woman? Hadn’t her tame, loving letters been enough?
Vito was watching her face, and he reached out and wrapped his hand around her clenched fist. “He was burning it
, Lace. He’d had a couple of risky encounters that had made him think about his life, and he wanted to get a fresh start.”
“Either that, or he was afraid of getting caught.”
“No, I think he was sincere. He really did love you. He just wasn’t used to...” Vito seemed to cast about for the right word. “To monogamy, I guess. That’s why I regret introducing you two.”
“That’s why you tried to warn me about him. You knew what he was like.”
Vito nodded. “But you were in love, and I hoped marriage would change him. And it did. It just took a while. When you let him know you were expecting a baby, it made him want to change his ways, be a better husband and father.”
“He already had a child!”
“Yeah.” Vito sighed. “I found out about that at the very end. You sure you want to hear?”
“Tell me.”
“Okay.” He looked out toward the street, his shoulders unconsciously straightening into military posture. “Three of us were cut off from the others, and both Gerry and Luiz were hit and bleeding pretty bad. When Luiz died and Gerry realized the medics might not get there in time for him, either, he told me about Charlie. He asked me to take care of Charlie if Krystal couldn’t. And he asked me to look out for you, and to keep you in the dark about who Charlie was, because he thought it would kill you to know. Before I could make him see it wasn’t possible to do all those things together, he was gone.”
Lacey just sat, trying to process what Vito was saying.
“I tried to save him, Lace. And I tried to do what he asked, though I didn’t succeed very well.” He sighed. “I thought things were okay for Charlie and Krystal. I thought it might be best for you if I stayed away. But then I got injured, and there was the rehab, and then everything hit the fan with Krystal and I found out Charlie was about to be put into the system... Well, first things first, I thought. Charlie is a kid.”
“Of course.” Lacey stared down at the porch floor. “It was my own fault I was so foolish, marrying Gerry. I was vulnerable to anyone.”
“I was foolish, too, but I’ve learned. I’ve learned that honesty and...and love...trump loyalty to a bad cause.”
She froze, not daring to look at him. “Love?”
He squeezed her hand, then reached up to brush a finger across her cheek. When he spoke, his voice was serious. “I love you, Lacey. I... Maybe I always have, kind of, but now it’s grown-up and serious and forever.”
Cautiously she looked at him through her eyelashes, not wanting to let her joy and terror show. She drew in a breath. “I have an apology to make, too. I was wrong to kick you and Charlie out. I was angry at Gerry, really, and at myself, and I took it out on you.”
“Understandable.”
“Is Charlie okay?”
He nodded. “We’ve had a few sessions with his social worker to talk it all through. She helped me understand how much to tell Charlie. Right now, he knows that his dad was a hero, but made some mistakes. That he felt ashamed he wasn’t married to Charlie’s mom. And that none of it is Charlie’s fault. That seems like about as much as he can take in, right now.”
“That’s good.” She bit her lip. “I shouldn’t have taken out my hurt on you, and especially on an innocent child.”
“For whatever you did wrong, I forgive you.”
“And I forgive you.”
They looked at each other. “Are we good?” he asked.
“We’re good.” She felt a strange breathlessness as he stood and pulled her gently to her feet.
And into his arms.
Being held by him, seeing and believing how much he cared, soothed some deep place inside her that wanted to be cared for and loved.
His hand rubbed slow circles on her back. “I hated being at odds,” he said, and she felt the rumble of his voice against her cheek. “I want to be your friend. At least your friend. I want to be more.”
She pulled away enough that she could look up at his face. “What kind of more?” she murmured in a husky tone that didn’t even sound like her.
“This kind.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.
After a long while he lifted his head, sniffing the air, and then pulled away.
Lacey smelled it at the same time he did. “Something’s burning!”
They ran inside and Vito pulled a scorched cake from the oven. “Oh, man, it was chocolate, too!”
She burst out laughing.
And then they were both laughing, and crying, and hugging each other, and kissing a little more. “It was so awful being apart from you. I never want that to happen again,” he said.
“I don’t, either.” She pulled back. “But Vito. That nice meal is getting cold.”
He laughed. “It’ll warm up just fine. Come here.”
He was right, of course. She stepped forward into his arms. “I love you,” she said.
Epilogue
One Year Later
“I predicted this as soon as I saw you catch that bouquet,” Susan Hinton said, looking around the guesthouse lawn with satisfaction.
“You couldn’t have!” Lacey laughed. “Vito wasn’t even back yet.”
“I saw him come up behind you and I knew.”
Gina, Lacey’s sister-in-law, came over to where Lacey and Susan sat, under the party tent they’d put up against a summer shower. “Vito and Buck are exchanging fatherhood tips with Sam.”
Lacey craned her neck and saw Sam Hinton, holding three-month-old Sam Jr. as if he were made of glass. Buck squatted to wipe the cake from little Bobby’s face. And Vito was bending down to speak to Charlie, who looked adorably grown-up in his junior tux.
Lacey felt fully recovered from the devastating news about Gerry being Charlie’s father. There even seemed to be a strange rightness in her helping Vito to raise Gerry’s child.
Nonna approached Vito and took his arm, pulling him toward Lacey. She seemed years younger than she had after her heart attack; indeed, she was helping to teach heart attack recovery classes at the Senior Towers and was so happily enmeshed in the social circles there that she’d decided to live at the towers full-time.
“I need to talk to the bride and groom,” Nonna said as she reached Lacey and her friends. “Alone.”
Vito lifted an eyebrow and reached to pull Lacey from her reclining position. The very touch of his hand gave her goose bumps. They’d spent glorious time together during the past year, getting to know each other as the adults they were now. Vito had finished his online studies and student teaching, and had the offer of a job for the fall. Meanwhile, he’d been working with Lacey at the guesthouse, which had become so successful that she’d had to hire help—help that would now manage the place while she and Vito honeymooned.
The thought of their honeymoon on a South Carolina beach made Lacey’s skin warm. She couldn’t even regret that they could only manage a long weekend, with the guesthouse to run and Charlie to parent. She was so, so ready to begin married life with Vito.
“I’m afraid I’ve been interfering again,” Nonna said, a twinkle in her eye.
“Nonna! What now?” Vito’s tone was indulgent.
“You have that look on your face,” Lacey added. “What have you been up to?”
Nonna looked from Vito to Lacey and bit her lip. “First, I have a confession to make.” She hesitated, then added, “My interfering has been going on for a while.”
“What do you mean? The matchmaking date?” Lacey had suspected for some time that Nonna had arranged for her and Vito to go out with Daisy and Dion, knowing it would push them into acknowledging their feelings for each other.
Nonna patted Lacey’s arm as if she were a bright student. “Yes, the whole matchmaking service was a scheme to get the two of you together. Of course, it’s grown beyond that.” Lou Ann and Mi
ss Minnie had become Nonna’s first lieutenants, matching up the singles of Rescue River.
“I’m just wondering when you three ladies will do some matchmaking on each other,” Vito said. He didn’t sound particularly surprised about Nonna’s interference, either.
“Oh, no!” Nonna looked shocked. “We’re having far too much fun to weigh ourselves down with cranky old men.”
That made Lacey burst out laughing. “You’re incorrigible.”
“Well, and it didn’t begin with the matchmaking service, either.”
“What else?” Vito put on a mock-serious tone. “Tell us everything.”
“I...well, I may have arranged for Lacey to take care of me, and my home to be unavailable, when I found out you were coming home, dear.” She looked up through her glasses at Vito, her face tender. “You’re going to be a wonderful husband, but I was afraid you’d be my age before you figured it out. When I ended up on Lacey’s floor at the hospital, and heard about her history, and saw how lovely she’d grown up to be...well, I may have done a little scheming.”
“Nonna D’Angelo!” Indignation warred with laughter in Lacey’s heart. Laughter won on this glorious day.
“I have a way to make it up to you,” Nonna said hastily. “You both know I came into a small inheritance when my cousin Paolo died last year.”
Vito nodded, and Lacey just looked at Nonna, wondering where this was going. What would Nonna think of next?
“I’ve been trying to decide what use to make of it. What can I do, at my age? I have a few plans, but the first one is I want to give you this.” She reached into her handbag and pulled out a small, gift wrapped box. She handed it to Lacey. “Open it.”
The box was featherlight, and inside, there was nothing but paper. “I think you forgot to put the gift in—”
“Nonna!” Vito had pulled out the papers and was scanning them. “You can’t do this!”
“I can, and I’ve already done it. You’re booked for a week at a villa in Tuscany, and then a week in Rome and Venice. You leave tomorrow.” She crossed her arms and smiled with satisfaction.
“But...our reservations in South Carolina...”
The Soldier's Secret Child Page 18
