does the Valsecchi family do?”
“Many things—investment banking, shipping, exports and manufacturing throughout eastern and western Europe. Now that my grandfather is deceased, my father, Guilio, is the CEO and oldest living member of the family.”
“Is it a big family?”
“Average. The board consists of his two brothers, my uncle Carlo and my uncle Tullio. Reporting to them are their five sons, my ex-wife’s brother and my stepbrother whom you’ve already met. Each one of them holds the position of vice president for the various departments within the business.”
“Where do you fit in?” she asked quietly.
“That’s a long story. I was twenty-six when my mother died. You already know her feelings about wanting me married to Mila, so I became engaged, but I didn’t set a date for our wedding because I needed more time. Except for a war separating you, I don’t understand putting off marriage if you sense it’s right in your gut.”
He put his empty coffee mug on the side table. “Within six months my father remarried a widowed aristocrat from Genoa. She had a son, Fabbio, who was twenty-seven and a bachelor. He fell for Mila. If her ambition hadn’t been so great, she would probably have been happy with him.
“Father saw what was happening. About that time he announced he’d been diagnosed with cancer. I believed he might have been making it up to manipulate me. I’m sorry to say it worked. I acceded to pressure and married Mila. After she became pregnant, father ended up in the hospital with prostate cancer. At that point I felt guilty that I had doubted him.
“He thought he was going to die and appointed me acting CEO. Up until then I’d been his assistant. At that point he transferred the title to me. Naturally these moves infuriated the rest of the family and the lawsuits started flying. It was brother against brother, cousin against cousin.
“To defuse the maelstrom, I refused the title. That not only upset my father, it infuriated Mila and her family. They treated me like a pariah. In time my father recovered, but wasn’t speaking to me.”
Irena made another sound in her throat. “How ghastly for you.”
“With our baby on the way, I won’t pretend it wasn’t a hellish period. I was away on business for a lot of the time. By the time Dino was born, we were at war. As I told you earlier, she wouldn’t let me have anything to do with him, so I divorced her. You know the rest. The cruel part began with the visitation order that pretty well stripped me of my rights.”
She stared at him in a daze. “Where were you living until then?”
“In one of the smaller family palazzos overlooking the water in La Spezia. After the divorce, Mila continued to live there.”
“And your father?”
“In the former ducal palazzo with his second wife where I was raised. It’s higher up the hillside.”
“I thought Mila went back to Florence?”
“She spent time in both places, but when it was my visitation, she managed to be in Florence. Anything to make it more difficult for me. These days she splits her time between Florence, La Spezia and Milan. Again, when it’s my time to be with my son, I have to travel, but naturally I don’t mind.”
“How did you come to live in Riomaggiore?”
“The Valsecchi company owns several hundred houses and apartments in Cinque Terre that are rented out. I decided to take the one I’m in because I favor it, and it’s near the plant in La Spezia where I work. Antonello’s was part of my mother’s dowry when she married my father.”
The fasten seat belt light flashed on. They were coming into Genoa.
“You’re right,” Irena murmured, fastening hers. “Your family life has been much more complicated than anything that has happened to me.” She smoothed the hair away from her face. “Vincenzo? Why has marrying me allowed you to gain joint physical custody?”
He’d known that question was coming and had hoped he could put off answering it for a while longer. “I’ll tell you when we’re in the car. From the looks of it, jet lag is already catching up to you. Your beautiful eyes are doing that little flutter thing.” His comment caused color to seep into her cheeks.
But Vincenzo knew that his wife, who still had yet to sleep in his bed, deserved to know what was happening. Their marriage might have been for convenience’s sake, but he longed to make their marriage real. The truth was, he didn’t dare make love to her until he’d cleared it with her doctor tomorrow. If being intimate could put the baby’s life in any danger with the test looming, he would wait as long as it took. After all, he had the prize he wanted.
It was 10:30 p.m. by the time he’d ordered a limo to drive them to his car. Once he’d stowed the luggage and they’d headed for Riomaggiore, Irena had fallen asleep against the door. When he reached the apartment, instead of it being Dino he put to bed, it was his exhausted wife he carried to his son’s room.
He removed her shoes and put a light quilt over her, relieved their talk would have to be postponed until tomorrow. Satisfied she wouldn’t wake up, he went back to the car for their luggage and put as much away as he could.
After turning out the lights and locking up, he walked back to his bedroom and shut the door. Unfortunately he couldn’t put off a certain phone call he’d promised to make as soon as he’d returned from his honeymoon. It was part of the bargain he’d struck with his father. With a sense of inevitability, he reached in his pocket for his cell and called him.
“So Vincenzo—you’re home?”
“Sì, Papa.”
“How’s my little Dino?”
“After all his new adventures, he’s thriving.” He and Dino should have had a lot more like them over the years. Vincenzo struggled to tamp down his anger.
“Bring your wife to the palazzo tomorrow. Silviana and I have everything ready here for you to move in.”
Bands constricted around Vincenzo’s chest, making it difficult to breathe. “Tomorrow I’ll bring her to the office. I’d rather your first meeting with her took place where I’ll be working. I want to show her around, introduce her to everyone. Give us two weeks here at the apartment, then we’ll make the move. Since we were married, I haven’t had any time alone with her, Papa.”
“You’re that besotted?”
His father could have no idea. “I knew she was my soul mate the moment she was shown into my office and smiled.” It got better from there. So much better that by the end of her business trip to Italy, they’d made love with a passion that still robbed him of breath. For those magical hours he knew in his gut she hadn’t been thinking about Simonides.
“I guess I’m not surprised. I overheard Fabbio telling Tullio she was the most breathtaking woman he’d ever seen. That described your mother the first time I met her. How does Dino like her?”
Vincenzo cleared his throat. “I think very much, but you’ll have to ask him if you want specifics.”
“I intend
