“Tony’s deal with his grandfather. He’ll get thirty million for producing a male heir. That’s the only reason he was going to marry Alice. They had a deal. But then along you came, already pregnant. Rather convenient, don’t you think?”
It wasn’t true. She was just messing with Lucy, playing with her emotions. “If you say so.”
“But first he had to marry you. That was part of the deal. And now he has.”
It was a lie. She knew it was. Carrie’s way of getting back at her for hurting Alice. It couldn’t be true.
“Ask him. He’ll tell you.”
Carrie would love that, wouldn’t she? If she made such a horrible accusation Tony would be hurt that she didn’t trust him.
This time when Lucy tried to walk away, Carrie let her pass, calling after her, “Enjoy the rest of your party.”
She would, damn it. She would not let this ruin the happiest day in her life.
Brushing off the bad vibes, Lucy walked through the family room to the French doors that led out onto the deck. But when she put her hand on the knob, she couldn’t seem to make it turn.
Tony loves you, he’s your husband, you have to trust him. Go to him, have fun.
But her feet betrayed her. She walked back to the spare room instead. Heart in her throat, she knocked softly, half hoping Nonno was asleep.
“Yes,” he called.
She opened the door and found him sitting on the edge of the bed, almost as if he’d been waiting for her. He would tell her that it was a terrible lie.
“I need to talk to you.”
He looked so tired and sad. “I know.”
“Did you hear what Carrie said to me?”
He nodded.
“Is it true?”
“Why don’t you ask your husband?”
Oh, no. No, no, no. “Because I’m asking you. Did you offer Tony money to have a male heir?”
“The Caroselli name was about to die out, and those boys aren’t getting any younger. They needed incentive.”
Her heart splintered, then split down the middle, with a pain so intense she couldn’t draw a full breath. “You were supposed to be my friend. The grandfather I never had. How could you plot behind my back like that? How could you not tell me?”
Pride leveled his chin. “My loyalty will always be to my grandson. Family comes first.”
“I don’t have a family. I thought I did. Clearly I was mistaken.” She turned, started to walk out.
“Lucy, stop.” He wasn’t used to people walking away from him, and when she didn’t stop immediately, his tone went from arrogant and entitled to pleading. “Lucy. Please. This was my fault.”
She paused just outside the door, despair tugging at her soul.
“Don’t make Tony pay for my mistake. He’s a good man. A loyal grandson.”
She turned to him. “But not a very loyal husband.”
At least now she knew why Tony was so eager to marry her, and why he waited until after the ultrasound to propose a second time. All those things he said about her being his hero...were those lies, too? Just a way to manipulate her? Was anything he said to her true?
“Lucy, he loves you.”
He had an unusual way of showing it. “I’m sure you’ll understand when I say that sometimes that’s just not enough.”
She closed the door and walked away, not even sure where she was going, reminding herself to breathe. Inhale, exhale. Breathe in, breathe out. Every part of her ached. Even her hair seemed to throb. Old wounds in her heart swelled, then burst, poisoning her blood with the vile seeds of hurt and rejection. She felt like she was falling apart, one piece at a time.
The repercussions were almost too much to bear. This was why Tony was okay about buying a house, and spending so much of his money. He knew he had a big chunk of money coming in when the baby was born. He knew he was set.
Congratulations, Mom, you hit the nail on the head. Men like him only kept girls like her around for one reason. And she sure had been keeping him happy in that department lately, hadn’t she? He’d played her, and the worst part was that she didn’t know if he even realized he was doing it.
“Lucy?”
She turned to see Tony standing behind her and her knees went weak. He was so beautiful it hurt to look at him. How could he do this to her?
Looking worried, he said, “Is everything okay?”
Talk about a loaded question. She refused to give Carrie the satisfaction of knowing she had ruined Lucy’s wedding, even if it was all just an illusion. A deal between relatives.
Because family always came first.
She pasted on a smile and said, “I’m just tired, and I’ve had a nagging backache all afternoon.”
At least that much was true.
“I’m exhausted, too.” He walked over and hugged her, kissing her forehead. It took everything in her to hold her tongue, to stop herself from beating at his chest and asking him why. Why, after all she had shared with him, after all they had been through, would he do this to her? Was he really that heartless? That cold? Or maybe this was his twisted interpretation of what he thought love was supposed to be.
She closed her eyes, concentrated on not falling apart. Loving him and hating him all at once.
He looked down at her, cradling her face in his hands, “The party has taken on a life of its own. I doubt anyone would miss us if we left.”
Thank God, because she wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
“How about we say our goodbyes and go home?”
Home. That word had taken on a whole new meaning in the past fifteen minutes, but she smiled and said, “Let’s go.”
They made the rounds, her cheeks aching from forced smiles. There was nothing about it that didn’t completely suck. Emotionally, she was barely hanging by a thread when they finally made it to the car. Just fifteen more minutes she told herself as he started the engine, then they would be at the apartment where she could unravel in private. Decide what she was going to do with the rest of her life.
She’d never felt so sad. So utterly and completely alone.
Arching against the dull ache in her back, she turned her head to the window, rolled it down so she could feel the warm air on her cheeks, to dry the tears that had started falling.
It wasn’t fair. But life never was. Not for her.
He dropped her at the door and she went upstairs while he parked. For a brief moment she caught herself thinking how nice it was going to be to have a garage. Would she? What would happen now? Divorce? Annulment?
She stepped into the apartment. They’d left the light on in the kitchen—they always forgot that one—and the lamp beside the sofa was lit. She looked around at his things and her things all mixed in together, like they belonged that way. It felt like home. But it was all an illusion.
She set her backpack down, and armed with a box of tissue, locked herself in the bathroom, giving herself permission to let go and sob her heart out. But of course the tears refused to come. Maybe she was so broken, she was numb.
Giving up, she walked to the bedroom and flopped down on the bed in the dark. Now what? Pack a bag? Wait it out?
She heard Tony come in, the jingle of his keys as he dropped them on the table, where he would inevitably lay the newspaper, or forms from the contractor. Which would instigate a search for said keys, and Lucy would usually find them before he did. It was almost a routine.
Was she just supposed to forget that?
“Still awake?” Tony asked upon seeing her sprawled out. Probably looking a bit like a beached whale. One with stretch marks and fat ankles.
She felt like she could close her eyes and sleep for a month, and at the same time she felt as if she would never sleep again. H
e had turned her entire world upside down.
“I’m awake,” she said.
He switched on the light by the bed. “It’s too bad we can’t fool around.”
“The doctor said not in my last month. You wouldn’t want to prematurely induce my labor, would you?” She shifted, trying to get comfortable. Her back was really killing her now. She’d been fanatical about not taking any sort of pain reliever while she was pregnant, but she might have to break down and take an aspirin.
“You look uncomfortable,” he said.
“Of course I’m uncomfortable,” she snapped. “I’m eight and a half months pregnant, as big as a house, my feet look like balloons and my back is killing me.”
He winced, as if he could feel her pain. “Maybe you could try rolling on your side and hugging a pillow.”
She wished he would stop being so nice. He seemed so sincere. So concerned. And damn it, it did feel better when she rolled on her side.
She couldn’t do this anymore. Not with her heart breaking. She had to say something.
He walked to the bathroom, and a minute later she heard him brushing his teeth.
Do it, Lucy. Be brave.
“So I guess Rose kinda hit the nail on the head about this family having secrets, huh?” she called to him.
She heard him mumble something incoherent.
“Because everyone has secrets,” she said. “Even you.”
He poked his head out the bathroom door and grinned, toothpaste on his chin, looking so adorable she wanted to punch him. “My life is an open book.”
With pages missing. Big pages.
Time to fill in the blanks.
“Are you sure about that?”
She heard him put his toothbrush away, and knew he was wiping his chin on the towel hanging beside the sink. He would shove it back in the ring haphazardly, backward so the stripes were on the wrong side. She knew his routine like the back of her hand.
He walked out of the bathroom wearing only a pair of boxers. “Nothing is coming to mind.”
“Think harder.”
He sat on the mattress beside her, stroked her belly. “Lucy, what’s wrong? Did something happen at the party? Did someone say something that hurt your feelings?”
Rather than throw Carrie under the bus, since she was only supporting her best friend, Lucy said, “Thirty million dollars. Now, that is a sweet deal.”
Tony dropped his head and mumbled a curse. He knew he was busted. “Who told you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Lucy—”
“I don’t even know what to say to you.”
“You need to know that it’s not about the money. It was never about the money.”
“I’m just supposed to take your word for it?”
“Well,” he said calmly, as if this whole thing was just some silly understanding. “I would have hoped that by now you would trust me, but if you need definitive proof, I have it.”
Fourteen
This should be good, Lucy thought. “So prove it.”
“I can’t. Not yet.”
How stupid did she look? “Not yet? What is that supposed to mean?”
“I can prove to you that I am telling you the truth. I just can’t do it right now.”
That was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard. With effort she sat up. “Why not?”
“I’m already in the doghouse. If I break a promise now, I’ll never live it down.”
“A promise to Nonno,” she said, the empty space in her soul growing larger by the minute. Trumped by family once again.
“No. Not Nonno.”
“That surprised her a little. “If not Nonno, then who?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Why not?”
“The act of telling you who I made the promise to would in itself be breaking the promise. Does that make sense?”
“None at all. You realize that our marriage is on the line here.”
“I do. I still can’t say.”
What was she missing? Who would Tony be so loyal to that he would put his marriage in jeopardy? And what could he possibly say that would prove he wasn’t interested in the money.
“Think about it,” he said. “The act of telling you who I made the promise to would in itself be breaking the promise.”
He was getting at something, but she had no idea what. “You’re going to have to give me more than that.”
He shrugged. “I can’t.”
She concentrated, trying to clear her head, determined to figure this out. Who would he have made a promise to? And what did it have to do with him being in the doghouse. What could he say to her to prove it wasn’t about the money?
Something clicked, and she gasped, then a laugh burst from chest. “Oh, my God. We’re having a girl.”
Tony’s smile said it all.
A little girl.
And he knew all this time.
He pulled her into his arms and held her. What was she was always saying about giving people the benefit of the doubt? Instead she had rushed to a conclusion and made herself miserable for no reason at all.
After all they had been through, she should have trusted him.
“I’m such an idiot,” she said.
“No, I should have told you about the money,” he said. “But I made a promise to Nonno—”
“And your family always comes first. Yeah, I know.”
He cupped her face. “No. You come first. You and the baby. Always.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. “I love you, Lucy.”
“You could have told me. You can trust me.”
“I screwed up. I didn’t want to be that guy.”
“What guy?”
“The one who deep down knows he doesn’t deserve the woman he loves, and figures that if he tells her the truth, she would never forgive him his profane stupidity.”
Forgive him? It was what she loved most about him.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her hand. “Lucy, I was a mess when you left. And yes, I made some pretty lousy decisions, like not telling you the truth immediately. I screwed up. And I’ll screw up again, because apparently, that’s who I am.”
She could live with that.
“There’s something that’s been bugging me,” he said. “How did you know that I was getting married to Alice. Who told you?”
“A friend.”
“Who?”
“The email was signed, ‘from a friend.’ I didn’t recognize the address.”
Tony laughed. “Are you saying that you don’t know who sent it?”
She bit her lip and shook her head.
“That was some leap of faith on your part.”
Or sheer stupidity. Either way, everything turned out like it was supposed to.
She wrapped her arms around him, holding on tight. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you. It won’t happen again.”
“No, it probably will. Because that’s who you are.”
She hated to admit it, but he was right. It was in her nature not to trust people. It was etched deep in her soul. “I’m sorry. I’m trying.”
He touched her face. “Hey, it’ll take time, but we’ll get there. Both of us. It’s not supposed to be easy. Right?”
No, it wasn’t, and presently, they were only making it harder on themselves. “From now on, if there’s a problem, we come to each other first. I don’t care what it is.”
“Agreed,” he said.
Her back throbbed and she arched against the pain.
“Lay down,” he said. “I’ll rub your back.”
She curled onto her side around a pillow.
“Is it your sciatic nerve acting up again?” he as
ked, gently kneading the muscles, and after a minute they began to loosen and uncoil.
“That’s a sharp, intense pain, like a hot poker in my butt cheek. This is a dull ache. Like a spasm.”
“So it’s a spasm that comes and goes?”
She looked at him over her shoulder. “Isn’t that what makes it a spasm? The coming and going?”
“How often have you been getting these spasms?”
“I’m not sure. I wasn’t really keeping track.”
“Maybe we should.”
“It’s just a backache.”
“Are you sure?”
“Labor is sharp and intense, and in the front. What I feel now is more like a dull ache across my lower back.”
“I remember my cousin Jessica saying that she had back labor with her kids.”
“It’s too early.”
“You’re thirty-eight weeks. That’s considered full term.”
“Tony, I am not in labor. I’m not ready.”
“I don’t think it works that way.”
Jeez, would he give it a rest. “Less talking, more rubbing,” she said.
“Like I haven’t heard that before,” he teased.
She smiled and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the room was dark, and Tony lay wrapped around her, sound asleep.
* * *
Tony slept like the dead. He woke sometime around three-thirty, and when he reached for Lucy the mattress beside him was warm, but empty. Assuming she was in the bathroom, he drifted back to sleep. He woke several hours later, as the initial, pinkish glow of dawn leaked through the partially open blinds, and discovered he was alone again. Only this time her side was cold.
How long had she been up?
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he rolled out of bed and tugged on a pair of jeans and went looking for her. She was in the kitchen sipping a cup of tea and pacing.
She looked exhausted.
“Good morning,” he said, and she stopped moving only long enough to kiss him. “Back still hurting?”
“It’s driving me crazy,” she said wearily. “I think you may be right.”
“You think it’s labor?”
“That or kidney stones. I tried timing the pains, but they’re all over the place. Two minutes, then fifteen.”
Caroselli's Accidental Heir Page 15
