not in his usual limo, but in a flashy sports convertible that Hannah had never seen before. Jamie leapt up and down with excitement at the prospect of travelling in such a vehicle; Luca had even gone to the trouble of installing an appropriate car seat.
‘It’s perfectly safe,’ he told Hannah, even though she hadn’t said anything. ‘I can see the worry in your eyes. But this car has been crash-tested in all sorts of situations.’
‘Is it yours?’
‘Yes, although I don’t drive it as often as I could. I usually prefer to be driven, and use the time to work.’
‘You do have an admirable work ethic,’ Hannah said with a smile. She buckled Jamie into his seat. ‘So where are we going?’
Luca waggled his eyebrows. ‘You’ll see.’
She smiled, enjoying seeing this lighter side to the man she loved. ‘It’s a surprise?’
‘Yep.’
The surprise turned out to be a visit to a private airfield, with Jamie being allowed to scramble in and out of planes, from private jets to a retired fighter plane, culminating in a helicopter ride over London. Jamie’s eyes were huge as he pressed his face to the window and Luca pointed out the London Eye, Big Ben. Hannah’s heart felt so full she couldn’t keep from grinning. From squeezing Luca’s hand the whole ride, simply because she needed to show him how much he meant to her.
They had a luxurious picnic lunch that Luca had arranged on a field overlooking the planes, and as Jamie cavorted around, running off his excess energy, Hannah turned to Luca and put her hand over his.
‘Thank you. This day has been amazing. Jamie will remember it for ever.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘But, you know, the park or the zoo would have been fine, too.’
‘I know not every day can be like this,’ Luca admitted wryly. ‘But I suppose I wanted to make a good first impression.’
‘Trust me, you’d already done that with the cakes.’ She paused, her hand still over his, longing to know more about this man her heart had already yielded to. ‘How is it you grew up with so little and yet now you have so much?’
Luca shrugged. ‘Hard work, a lot of determination, and a good dose of luck.’
‘Where did you grow up?’ Hannah asked. ‘I’m ashamed to admit I don’t even know.’
‘A small village in Sicily.’ Luca’s expression closed, and Hannah knew this had to be hard for him. ‘My mother was unwed when she had me, and in that kind of remote, traditional community we both suffered badly, albeit in different ways.’
‘Oh, Luca, I’m sorry.’ Now she understood why he’d asked if she’d been married when she’d had Jamie.
‘It made me determined to escape.’
‘And foster care? Was that hard?’
He shrugged, the negligent movement belying the deep emotion she saw fermenting in his eyes. ‘It was what it was. A home for orphan boys in rural Sicily—what do you expect? But I had a good teacher and he encouraged me to apply for a scholarship. From there I went to university, and when I was twenty-two I bought my first property, a falling-down building in one of the worst districts in Naples.’
‘And what did you do with it?’ she asked, intrigued.
‘I developed it into a halfway house for homeless teens and sold it to the government.’
‘You’ve never forgotten your roots,’ Hannah said slowly. She’d known that Luca had been committed to certain principles in all of his property deals. She just hadn’t understood what had motivated him.
‘I never have,’ Luca agreed, his voice going a bit flat. ‘And I never will.’ His tone had turned ruthless, almost menacing, and it made Hannah afraid to ask any more questions. In any case, Luca asked one instead. ‘Tell me about Jamie’s father.’
Hannah tensed even though she knew he had a right to ask the question. ‘What about him?’
‘Did you love him?’
‘Yes, but it feels a long time ago now.’
‘You told me you knew what it felt like for someone to expect you to slot in his life.’
Hannah sighed. ‘Yes, that was what Ben expected, and I didn’t realise it until I stopped.’
‘What do you mean?’
She hesitated, not wanting to access all these old memories yet accepting that Luca had a right to the truth. ‘I met Ben while in college. He had dreams of travelling afterwards, seeing the world. When we’d started dating we planned this carefree life, traipsing around Europe and Asia, taking jobs as we could, living totally free.’
Luca studied her, his gaze both serious and intent. ‘And then what happened?’
‘And then I fell pregnant. Accidentally. And I realised that I wanted to keep the baby, that Ben’s dreams of travelling the world weren’t really my dreams, even though I’d convinced myself they were. I’d never been anywhere, as you know, and I liked the idea of an adventure. I just liked the idea of a bigger adventure, of being a mother, better. I couldn’t turn away from that.’
‘And how did...Ben react?’
‘He wasn’t pleased, to say the least. He was furious with me, and he demanded I have an abortion.’ She tucked her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on top as she recalled that last, awful confrontation, felt the ensuing, needling guilt. ‘I could sympathise with him a little, because I’d done a complete about-face, and now wanted something we’d both agreed to not wanting, at least not for a long while.’ She paused, her gaze unfocused as she recalled Ben’s parting words. I’ll damn well go alone, then.
‘Hannah?’ Luca’s voice was gentle, breaking into her unhappy thoughts. He squeezed her fingers. ‘What happened?’
‘We had a huge row. He said he was going to travel anyway, and leave me behind. And then he stormed out and jumped onto his motorcycle, and twenty minutes later crashed into a lorry. He died instantly.’ She raised her eyes, giving Luca a sorrowful smile. ‘I’ve chosen to believe that he might have come round. He was shocked, and understandably so, and he always did have a temper. And I felt terribly guilty, still do really, for yelling right back at him. But he would have come round. He wouldn’t have left me or our child, not if he had a choice.’ Luca didn’t answer and Hannah let out a wobbly laugh. ‘You probably don’t believe that. And maybe he wouldn’t have, but I don’t want Jamie to know that about his father. You’re actually the only person I’ve told.’
‘Not even your mother...?’
‘I didn’t want her to think badly of Jamie’s father...and I felt guilty for my part in the whole mess.’ She sighed. ‘But it did make me realise what I wanted a relationship to be, and it’s not simply wanting to be with someone when they go along with your plans. It’s wanting to be with someone whatever the plans. Because plans fall apart. People change. I’ve learned that lesson more than once.’
Luca turned her hand over, stroking her palm with his thumb. ‘So have I.’
