“I did,” he muttered.
“That’s interesting. When I came down to the office later to find you, he told me you’d gone. I heard the helicopter. According to him you were no longer interested in drilling for oil on our property. As a footnote he said you thanked both of us profusely for our time.” Her voice quivered, but she couldn’t stop it. “I thought I was in the middle of a nightmare.”
Rini was quiet so long, she couldn’t stand it. “What went on with my aunt behind closed doors that caused you to leave without even having the decency to say goodbye to me in person? If what happened was so terrible, why didn’t you tell me immediately?”
“I held back because I didn’t want to betray a confidence that could bring pain.”
“You’ve said that before. To whom?” she demanded.
He stared her down. “Everyone involved.”
“I don’t understand.” Her tears had started. He brushed them away with his thumbs.
“My feelings for you ran so deep, I was afraid to spend another moment with you. The only thing to do was get away and never see you again.”
She shuddered. “Don’t you know how cruel that was to me? I’d fallen hopelessly in love with you and you knew it.”
“Listen to me.” He grasped both her hands. “I slipped away because I thought it was the best thing to do considering that I never intended to see you again.”
Alessandra couldn’t take much more. “Then why did you come back?”
“You know the answer to that. When I heard about the earthquake and knew your diving team had been affected, I came close to having a coronary. Nothing could have kept me away, not even my reason for leaving you the way I did in the first place.”
“The accident didn’t turn out to be that serious.”
“It could have been deadly,” he argued. “Don’t you know you were the most important person in my life? To think of losing you was so terrifying, I flew out of my office and left for Crotone. I had to search for you at two other hospitals before I found you. The moment I saw you again and your doctor told me you would recover, I realized I couldn’t walk away from you a second time.”
“Even if what you’re about to tell me will hurt everyone?” Her question rang inside the tent.
“Yes. I have to risk it because I’ve just asked you to be my wife. But I was premature and don’t want your answer until you’ve heard the whole truth from me.”
A groan came out of her. “How long are you going to make me wait? Please just tell me what it is and let it be the end of all the secrets.”
The sick look on her face devastated Rini, but she needed to hear everything. He drank part of his bottle of water first, then screwed the top back on. “Did you know that Dea flew to Taranto to see your aunt the morning after being on the yacht?”
A delicate frown marred her features. “That’s news to me. I thought she told you she had some fashion shows that kept her in Naples.”
Rini nodded. “That’s what she told me. Does your sister have a special bond with your aunt?”
“Yes. Many times over the years she’s gone to stay with her. My aunt took care of her after she was born so Mamma could have a break from two children at once. I usually spent time with our mother. I adore my aunt, but I’m pretty sure Dea developed a deep attachment to Zia Fulvia that has lasted. Our aunt is very glamorous and exciting. Naturally it meant the world to her since she couldn’t have children.
“I’ve always appreciated that Dea and I were raised to be individuals. Neither Mamma or Fulvia played up our twin status. We were never dressed alike or put in the same classes at school. They wanted us to be able to express ourselves in our own way and have our own friends. Dea gravitated to Fulvia.”
“Yet interestingly enough, in some ways you’re more like your aunt than she is.”
“You told me that before.” She took a ragged breath. “You still haven’t told me why Dea went to see her.”
After listening to the explanation of Alessandra’s background, Rini was beginning to understand a great deal. “Your sister wanted to talk to her about me.”
A haunted look crept into her lovely face. “I’m surprised my aunt would reveal something that private to you.”
“So was I, until she explained herself. I’m convinced that what she told me was motivated out of pure love for both you and Dea.”
Alessandra lowered her head. “What did she do? Ask you to stop seeing me?”
“No. That’s exactly what she didn’t do. For the first few minutes she told me a story about a wonderful, brilliant girl who fell in love with a chef from Catania named Francesco and got her heart broken. Fulvia feared this girl would never get over it and never be able to forgive her sister, whom she’d always felt was more beautiful and loveable than herself. To Fulvia’s great surprise and joy, this girl did get over her heartache. She seized life to the fullest without blaming her sister for anything.”
“What?” Alessandra’s head flew back in shock.
“That’s right,” Rini murmured. “Then she told me a story about another exciting, bright girl who fell for an engineer named Rinieri Montanari. He represented her prince incarnate, but she discovered he didn’t feel the same way about her and she wanted to die.”
Alessandra’s chin trembled. “Oh, Rini...”
“Oh, Rini is right. Your aunt asked me to think carefully before I took another step. She feared Dea might not be as strong and courageous in battling her heartache as was the scholarly twin she’d always envied.”
“Dea envied me?”
The shock on her face was priceless and told him this was a woman without guile. “She left me with a question and a warning before she went up to bed. Her exact words were, ‘Is the recent love you feel for Alessandra greater than the lifetime love between twin sisters? Whatever you decide, you’ll have to live with the consequences forever.’”
Rini didn’t know how she’d respond after telling her the truth, but he hadn’t expected her to turn away from him and sob into her pillow. “Cara—” He lay down next to her with his arm around her shoulders. She convulsed so much, all he could do was hold her and kiss her cheeks and hair until the tears eventually subsided. “Talk to me, bellissima.”
After a long time she turned over, her face blotchy from crying. “The warning she gave you felt like someone just walked over my grave.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because when I found out you’d met Dea first, I determined to put you out of my mind. Nothing was worth coming between my twin and me since we’ll be sisters forever. I was taken by surprise when Papà asked me to drive you around the property. Much as I wanted to be with you, I knew it would be taking a great risk. Fulvia’s words have just confirmed my worst fears.”
Gutted
