“Oh, James! I thought she was doing better. I’ll catch the first flight in the morning … No, no, I’ll meet you at the hospital. I take it she’s at North Mid?” Her voice was calm, but her hands shook. She spoke with James a couple more minutes before hanging up the phone.
She glanced at Luca and her heart flipped. How could she decide between her husband and her dream? Her future was such a disaster, she might as well go back to the past.
Chapter 15
Luca had already gotten out of bed and was standing next to it, wearing his dressing gown, holding hers out for her to slip into.
“I am coming with you,” he said firmly.
She gazed up at her husband and saw compassion, and something else she couldn’t identify on his face. “Luca, I would love for you to come. But I don’t think this is the most appropriate time for you to meet my family. If my mum really is dying, then finding out in her last hours that I’m married will only upset her. I can’t tell her our marriage is a business arrangement; she wouldn’t understand. All she’ll think is that her oldest daughter didn’t even invite her to the wedding. And it will remind her of how crappy a mother she’d been to me. I’d rather she went to her grave in peace.”
A flicker of pain crossed Luca’s eyes, and his hand flew to his chest as though she’d stabbed him in the heart. Then he blinked and the expression disappeared, although he still looked ready to argue with her. “Can we compromise and you come out for the funeral? You can meet my father and the rest of my family then. Also, if the doctors are wrong and she lives longer, you won’t have to fly back and forth. Don’t you need to sign a bunch of contracts for the hotel project this week?”
“I told you that you would never have to cope alone again, and I meant it.” He paused, as if considering her arguments. “Okay. I will wait for your call. But I am serious, call at any time and for any reason, and I will be on the next plane.” He took the clothes out of her hands that she’d been picking up from the floor. He tossed them on the sofa across the room and pulled her against him.
“Thank you,” she mumbled into his chest. She didn’t want to leave his warm embrace. Her career might provide her with some financial security and personal satisfaction. But it couldn’t compete with the haven of his arms, or the bliss that filled her when he smiled at her.
“Pack a bag and I will book you a seat on the first plane in the morning.” Luca leaned back and seemed to search her face. She could feel the walls build up inside of her again as she prepared to face her family.
With an enigmatic shake of his head, he finally let her go to make the necessary arrangements. She listened to the messages on her mobile phone—several from James and one from Olivia telling her that she had given James her home number and asking her to call back no matter what the time.
• • •
Leaden skies greeted her arrival back in England. The early morning sunshine in Italy seemed a lifetime away. This stormy weather, however, reflected her state of mind. Automatically, she scanned the crowd waiting for arriving passengers. Warmth filled her as she caught sight of a familiar face. She hadn’t anticipated how happy she would be that Olivia hadn’t listened to her about not coming to the airport.
“I saw a uniformed man holding a card with your name on it. Did your gorgeous husband arrange a car for you?” Olivia said, after embracing her.
“Probably. He made all the arrangements last night while I packed. Luca wanted to come, but I managed to convince him that now wasn’t the best time to spring a husband on my family.”
“No, I guess not. But you’re going to have to tell them soon. I don’t think it will be too long before you have a gaggle of children following you.”
“What do you mean?” Sophia could feel the heat creep up her neck.
Olivia laughed. “You no longer have that gaunt, haunted look, as if waiting for the final blow to do you in. You now look healthy, radiant even. Like a flower that has at long last been moved into the sunshine. Marriage suits you. I’ve never seen you look better.”
“You should try it. You look exhausted. Are you still burning the candle at both ends?” She noted the dark circles under Olivia’s eyes that her friend had unsuccessfully tried to conceal.
“No. I broke it off with Stuart. I realized he only wanted me for my looks. When we would go out he would show me off to his friends, but at home he just ignored me. He wasn’t interested in what I wanted or needed. He was like all the others. That’s it. I’m off men for good.”
“Oh, Livy, I seriously doubt that. You have too much love to give to go solo for the rest of your life. The right man is out there, you just need to be a bit more … selective.”
“Well, one thing is for certain. I am going to take a leaf out of your book, and I’m not jumping into bed with another man until there is a ring on my finger—preferably a wedding ring. Then I’ll know it’s serious.”
The drive to the hospital was accomplished in near silence. Sophia’s thoughts alternated between the bleak reunion that awaited her, and the ever-constant worry about her and Luca’s conflicting careers. If someone had told her four months ago that she’d be sitting in the back of a luxury car, trying to decide whether to accept a 50,000 euro contract or join her gorgeous and kind Italian millionaire husband living in one of the most beautiful parts of the world she’d ever seen, she’d have laughed.
Before she’d resolved her dilemma, they arrived at the hospital. As they walked into the hospital, both women wrinkled their noses and shivered. They put their arms around each other at the shared memory of fleeing the hospital together in the middle of the night.
“Give me your bag. I’ll be in the waiting room down the hall.” Olivia said as they stood outside the room number James had given last night on the phone.
“It’s not really necessary … ” Sophia began.
“It is necessary. Don’t be a bore and argue. I have a delightful book to read, another one of your habits I’ve taken up … and handsome doctors to ogle.”
“That sounds more like you. Sworn off men, my foot.”
Olivia hugged her, then took her bag before gliding down the hall. Sophia took a deep breath, opened the door to the room, and stepped inside. Her mother lay in the bed, eyes closed, exceedingly pale, her skin almost transparent. Her father sat in a hard plastic chair, holding his wife’s hand, his head bent as he slept. Although his face was relaxed, he looked drained, as though his life, too, was ebbing away.