laugh that wasn’t a laugh at all was wrenched from Poppy. ‘Kind of an odd choice when before you came home and I made my announcement you were set on eventually getting a divorce,’ she pointed out.
‘But it expresses how I feel.’ Gaetano cleared his throat in obvious discomfiture. ‘When you talk about leaving me, it tears me apart. Because somewhere along the line, somehow, I fell in love with you, Poppy. I know it’s love because I’ve never felt like this before and the idea of losing you terrifies me.’
‘Love...’ Poppy whispered shakily.
‘Never thought it could happen to me,’ Gaetano confided in a rush. ‘I didn’t want it to happen either. I didn’t want to get attached to anyone and then you came along and you were so perfect I couldn’t resist you.’
‘P-perfect?’ she stammered in a daze.
Gaetano dropped down on his knees in the dew-wet grass and reached for her hand. He tugged off the engagement ring and threaded on the eternity ring so that it rested beside her wedding ring. ‘You’re perfect for me. You get who I am, even with my faults. The money doesn’t get in the way for you, doesn’t impress you. You keep me grounded. You make me unbelievably happy. You make me question my actions and really think about what I’m doing,’ he bit out. ‘With you, I’m something more, something better, and I need that. I need you in my life.’
Her lashes fluttered. She could hear him but she couldn’t quite believe him, there on his knees at her feet, his hand trembling slightly in hers because he was scared, he was scared she wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t accept that he really loved her. And that fear touched her down deep inside, wrapping round her crazy fears about Serena and the terrible insecurities that had sent her running out of the house and sealing them for ever. Suddenly none of that existed because Gaetano loved her, Gaetano needed her...
‘I love you so much. I couldn’t stand to lose you and my first thought when you told me you were pregnant was, “She’ll stay now,” and it was a massive relief to think that even though you didn’t love me you would stay so that we could bring up our child together.’
‘I do love you,’ Poppy murmured intently, leaning forward to kiss him.
‘You’re not just saying it because I said it first?’ Gaetano checked.
‘I really, really love you.’
‘Even though I don’t have a single loveable trait?’ he quoted back at her quick as a flash.
‘You grew on me like mould,’ Poppy told him deadpan.
Gaetano burst out laughing and sprang upright, pulling her up into the circle of his arms. ‘Like mould?’ he queried.
Poppy looked up into his beautiful eyes and her heart did a happy dance inside her. ‘I like cheese,’ she proclaimed defensively.
‘Do you like your ring?’
‘Very much,’ she told him instantly, smiling up at him with a true sense of joyful possessiveness. ‘But I like what it symbolises most of all. You didn’t want to let me go, you wanted to keep me.’
‘And I intend to keep you for ever and ever. Anything less than eternity wouldn’t be enough, amata mia.’
‘The baby was a shock, wasn’t it?’ She sighed, walking back towards the house with him hand in hand.
‘A wonderful one. Our little miracle,’ Gaetano said with sudden rueful humour. ‘It took one hell of a baby to get in under my radar, so I’ll be expecting a very determined personality in the family.’
Gaetano halted at that point to claim a kiss. And Poppy threw herself into that kiss with abandon. He pressed her back against a tree trunk, his body hard and urgent against hers and a rippling shudder of excitement shimmied through her slender length.
‘Let’s go to bed,’ she suggested, looking up at him with bold appreciative eyes.
‘We haven’t had dinner yet and a mother-to-be needs sustenance,’ Gaetano told her lazily, trailing her indoors and out to the terrace where the table awaited them.
But neither of them ate very much. Between the intense looks exchanged and the suggestive conversation, it wasn’t very long before they headed upstairs at a very adult stately pace, which broke down into giggles and a clumsy embrace as Poppy rugby-tackled Gaetano down onto the floor of their bedroom. By the time they made it to the bed and he had moved the suitcase she had left there they were kissing passionately and holding each other so tightly that it was a challenge to remove clothes. But they managed through kisses and caresses and mutual promises to make love with all the fire and excitement that powered them both and afterwards they lay with their arms wrapped round each other, secure in their love and talking about their future.
* * *
Poppy glanced out of the front window and saw her children with Rodolfo. Sarah was holding his hand and chattering, her little face animated below her halo of red curls. Benito was pedalling his trike doggedly in front of them, ignoring the fact that the deep gravel on the path made cycling a challenge for a little boy.
Sarah was four years old and took after her mother in looks and her father in nature. She already knew all her numbers, was very much a thinking child and tended to look after her little brother in a bossy way. Benito was two, dark of hair and eye and as lively as a jumping bean. He was on the go from dawn to dusk and generally fell asleep during his bedtime story in his father’s arms.
Sometimes, or at least until she looked at her expanding family, Poppy found it hard to credit that she had been married for five years. Gaetano might have been a late convert to family life but he had taken to it like the proverbial duck to water. He adored his children and rushed home to be with them and it was thanks to his persuasion that Poppy was carrying their third child. Third and last, she had told him firmly even though she liked the way their family had developed. In retrospect she was glad they hadn’t waited and that Sarah had taken them by surprise and not having too big a gap between the children meant that they could grow up with each other.
But, at the same time, Poppy was also looking forward to having more time to devote to her own interests. She had taken several landscape designer courses over the years and was planning to set up a small landscaping firm. She had redesigned the gardens at La Fattoria to make them more child-friendly and had already taken several private commissions from friends, one of which had won an award. The gardens at the London town house and at Woodfield Hall both bore her stamp and when she wanted to relax she was usually to be found in a greenhouse tending the rare orchids she collected.
Gaetano was CEO of the Leonetti Bank and when he travelled, Poppy and the children often went with him. He put his family first and at the heart of his life, ensuring that they took lengthy breaks abroad to wind down from their busy lives. Poppy’s mother, Jasmine, had made a good recovery and was now training as an addiction counsellor to help others as she had been helped. She lived in Manchester with her sister but she was a frequent visitor in London, as was Poppy’s brother. Damien, backed by Gaetano, had recently started up a specialist motorcycle repair shop.
In fact there wasn’t a cloud in Poppy’s sky because she was happy. Sadly, Muffin had passed away of old age the year before and he had been replaced by a rescued golden Labrador who enjoyed rough and tumble games with the children.
‘Guess who...’ A pair of hands covered her eyes while a lean, hard body connected with hers.
