will it be right?’ Luc mocked. ‘The truth is you had Skye unjustly trashed and can’t bring yourself to offer her the apology she deserves, let alone acknowledge the beautiful person she is, and has always been.’
It earned a furiously resentful glare.
Luc shook his head and delivered the bottom line. ‘If you’re waiting for Skye to go away, you’ll be waiting the rest of our lives.’
Thin-lipped silence.
His mother’s hands fretted at each other as she waited for her husband’s next move.
Luc didn’t wait. He bluntly called the next move for him. ‘You took, Dad. As far as I’m concerned, it’s up to you—both of you—to come to reasonable terms with what I’m about to take back.’
His mother shifted uneasily, her face showing anxiety as she quickly asked, ‘What does that mean?’
‘It means that Skye and I are getting married.’
‘No! This cannot be!’ She rose in agitation, turning in protest to her husband. ‘You said this would not happen, Maurizio. You said—’
He sliced a dismissive wave to silence the outpouring. ‘It’s not done yet, Flavia.’ He turned a frown of intense disapproval to Luc. ‘If you must marry this woman…’
‘Her name is Skye. Skye Sumner,’ Luc repeated, ramming her name down his father’s throat.
‘…a wedding must be planned…a proper church wedding…’
‘More delaying tactics, Dad?’
‘You are my son! Your marriage has to be celebrated in an appropriate manner.’
‘Then you should have come to the party earlier. It’s taken me all these months to win Skye’s trust and I won’t throw it away to accommodate a family who has made no gesture towards welcoming her into it. I’ve finally persuaded her to sign the necessary forms and we’ll be getting married as soon as it’s legally possible.’
‘Which is when?’ his father shot at him.
Luc gave a derisive laugh as he straightened up from the armrest. ‘So you can use the time to stop it, Dad?’ His eyes glittered out and out war. ‘Take one step in that direction…’
‘Enough!’ his mother cried, swinging a fierce gaze from one to the other. ‘Enough, Maurizio! I will not lose this son and I want my grandchild. If we have to accept this woman as Luciano’s wife, we will.’ She turned to Luc with an indomitable air. ‘It must be a proper wedding with all the families invited. I will see to it myself.’
‘Flavia…’ Anger at her insubordination.
She rebelled against it, bristling with her own anger as she stated, ‘I will not have Luciano shame us by marrying in a clandestine fashion. It is bad enough that his bride is not of the Italian community.’
‘With a bastard child,’ his father savagely reminded her.
‘And whose fault is it that my son was born out of wedlock?’ Luc sliced at him.
His father’s chin jerked up in aggressive pride, ignoring the accusation to address his wife. ‘It cannot be supported, Flavia. I will not support it.’
‘You chose a wife for Roberto who could not carry a baby full-term,’ she fired back at him. ‘Where is our future, Maurizio?’
‘In limbo until our son sees sense,’ he said in disgust.
‘Then in limbo it will stay,’ Luc declared with steely resolve.
‘Luciano…’ his mother pleaded.
‘No, Mamma, I will not change my mind. I am sorry to bring you shame by not having a traditional wedding, but you and Dad have chosen to keep Skye alienated, and as long as she remains this woman or that woman to you, I won’t let you near her to plan a wedding or anything else.’
‘She has to do it for you or you will be an outcast, Luciano,’ came the fierce rejoinder. ‘If she loves you…’
‘Skye always loved me. And was put through hell for it. Because of any lack of caring from this family, she brought up our son alone. I need to prove my love for her, not the other way around, Mamma.’
‘There was caring,’ she argued. ‘Your father set up a trust fund.’
‘Which was not administered as it should have been.’ He swung a hard gaze to his father. ‘Right, Dad?’
‘The intention was there,’ he tersely countered.
‘The intention to keep Skye and my son at a distance. Which you’re still doing, regardless of how I feel about it.’
His father threw up his hands in exasperation. ‘You were in shock at learning what was done for your own good. Making rash judgements. But to persist in this folly…to turn your back on your family…’
‘A family that deceived me? Robbed me of five years of my son’s life?’
‘Stop!’ his mother cried vehemently. ‘You are like two bulls locking horns and I will not have it. There is the child to consider, Maurizio. He is our only grandchild.’
‘There is Skye to consider, as well, Mamma. I will not let Matt near anyone who doesn’t treat his mother with the respect she deserves. He’s a happy little boy, very much due to his mother’s caring, and I don’t want any shadow put on his life. He knows nothing but love…’
‘You think I won’t love him?’ his mother cried in obvious angst at the prospect of being kept from the only grandchild she had.
‘I doubt that ignoring and disapproving of his mother will seem like love to Matt. He’s a very bright, intelligent child.’ Luc couldn’t resist proudly adding, ‘He could read books, even before he went to school.’
‘You hear that, Maurizio? This child you thought would be no good? At five years of age he can read!’
‘And he shot more goals at soccer this year than any other boy on his team,’ Luc went on, deliberately rubbing in what his father was missing—the game of soccer being one of his passions, as it was with most Italians.
‘It is as well you find some joy in the boy because you will find none in this marriage,’ his father thundered, refusing to be moved from his stance.
‘You’re wrong, Dad,’ Luc said quietly. ‘I feel alive with Skye. She fills the emptiness I’ve known for far too long.’
‘There will be an even greater emptiness when you find yourself ostracised from all the Italian families.’
It would happen, too. His father would make it happen. A line would be drawn, with no crossing over from either side. He remembered the conversation with Skye when she’d said they were prisoners of their backgrounds and he’d expressed a wish to be free of the oppressive constriction of his. She hadn’t believed
