by Trish Morey
‘I never knew my parents,’ he started. ‘My mother was young, of Italian descent, apparently. My father I have no knowledge of, but he was probably young too. But her family were ashamed and put me in foster care, preferring someone else to take care of their mistake, and to preserve the worth of their daughter.’
‘Dante,’ she said, her heart going out to him. A child no one had wanted, so different from her own conception where her parents had been so desperate to have a child they’d almost bankrupted themselves in the process. ‘I had no idea.’
‘There’s more,’ he said. ‘When I was barely two years old a family came to see me. They were professional people, older and both workaholics, but they’d had a child late in life, a boy the same age as me.’
Her skin prickled. ‘You don’t mean Sara and Jonas?’
He flicked her a look that told her she was right. ‘They took me in to live with them.’
‘But that can’t be. The Douglas family had only two boys, Jake and—’ cold shivers descended her spine as she put two and two together ‘—Danny. Daniel Douglas,’ she whispered, her mind fixing the pieces together, latching onto the truth while her eyes searched his face. She tried to remember the old photos she’d seen, tried to see the similarity. ‘Jake was the brother killed in a car accident, but Danny disappeared without trace.’
He looked down at her, his expression bleak, and she saw something akin to pain flash through his eyes.
‘You’re Danny, aren’t you?’
He looked bereft and she wanted to reach out and comfort him, to take him in her arms and cradle him, this man who had been a boy unwanted. But he hadn’t been totally unwanted—he’d been taken in by one of the wealthiest families around.
‘Sara and Jonas adopted you. And yet this is the way you repay them? I don’t understand.’
‘They didn’t adopt me!’ he shouted, jumping to his feet, holding his hands upside down like claws. ‘They harvested me! They chose a child the same age as theirs for the sole purpose of giving their progeny a playmate, a diversion, a distraction. Someone that would keep him company when Sara and Jonas weren’t there. Because they were never there.
‘I used to wonder why it was that we never had sleepovers with friends, never were allowed to join school sports teams. We were closeted in the grounds before and after school. And I was there solely to keep Jake amused.’
She was shaking her head. ‘But that’s so cold-blooded. It’s too horrible. Surely nobody could do that to a child—to children?’
‘I wanted to think that too. I knew they were busy. They were making millions. And I had been selected to live in the lap of luxury after being rescued from foster-care obscurity. Who was I to complain?’
He trailed off, and in the ensuing quiet Misty ventured back into the room, curling her way around Mackenzi’s legs before exploring further, sniffing out their visitor warily before getting too close. ‘So what happened?’
‘It was Jake’s seventeenth birthday,’ he said. ‘His birthday was two months before mine and there was a big party. They’d given him a Porsche, and we couldn’t wait to take it for a spin, but we had the party to get through first. We couldn’t wait.
‘But, before the party was over, Sara and Jonas called me into their office. It seemed odd, though at the time I wondered if they just wanted to find out what I’d like for my birthday, or whether it had to do with the trip overseas we’d both planned together at the end of the year. I wasn’t worried about the cars; thrill-seeking was always Jake’s get-out. He was always my hero, the big brother, the risk-taker. Always the thrill-seeker.’
‘And what about you? What were you like?’
He looked at her, his eyes misty with remembrance. ‘I had dreams. I was fascinated by what Sara and Jonas had achieved. I used to listen to them talking late at night when I was supposed to be in bed, talking about property and rates of return and discounted cash-flows. I longed to go to the university they’d tried to talk Jake into and study business and be just like them.’
‘Then why did you disappear?’
He gave a sad laugh. ‘I didn’t exactly “disappear”. On that night, the night of Jake’s birthday party, they told me. They didn’t need me any more, they both said. I’d served my purpose and it was time for me to go.’
‘They threw you out?’
‘That very night. They gave me a cheque for ten-thousand dollars and told me not to bother to say goodbye to Jake, because he knew and he didn’t care, but just to get out of their lives.’
‘They did that to you?’
He nodded. ‘But not before telling me my real name wasn’t Daniel Douglas, as I’d grown up believing, but Dante Carrazzo. To preserve my heritage, they told me that night—but I know it was so that I could have no claim on them, no link, no connection by name with the family that had taken me in only to cast me out when my purpose was fulfilled.’
‘And so you left.’
‘I had money,’ he said. ‘The money they’d given me. And I had a passport they’d applied for in my real name, using a photograph intended for the passport that I thought I was applying for to accompany Jake.
‘So I took the money. I was so shellshocked I took the money and left that night, and never saw them again. But I didn’t blow the money like I’m sure they were convinced I would. I didn’t end up fading into obscurity like they would have hoped. I bought a one-way ticket to London, finding a job as a clerk in a real-estate business, looking after plumbing callouts and rental short-payments and gradually working my way up through the ranks until I could start my own business.’
‘No wonder it seemed like you’d come from nowhere. And you never got to go to university?’
He gave a wan smile as Misty started patrolling his legs, first carefully around the perimeter, before venturing in between, curving her spine up around his shins.
‘No. And maybe I should be grateful to Sara and Jonas for that. Because I’m sure I learned one hell of a lot more doing property boot-camp. I know they must have been surprised by how much I learned. I broke out and started my own property-management business, adding investment and property-development strings to my bow.’
‘You used that strength to get back at them.’
‘I did,’ he said, without a trace of noticeable remorse. ‘I’d been in my first job two years when I learned that Jake had died three months before, and then only through a tiny article on the newspaper wrapped around my takeaway fish and chips. I couldn’t believe it. Jake had been the chosen one, the heir, he’d been given everything he wanted and more, and yet it hadn’t done him any good. And they’d never let me say goodbye. I should have said goodbye. I know he never would have wanted me to leave.’
He took a deep breath. ‘And it was then that I decided that I’d make them pay—for Jake, for me, for the parents they’d made out they were and yet had never been.’
‘And so you set out to destroy them.’
He smiled then. ‘It took a while. They were streets ahead of me, but with time I gradually caught up, especially once Jonas started gambling. It must have blown them away when they found out who it was who’d come courting. I often wondered about that, and whether they’d spill the beans to the press and tell them who I really was.’ He looked at her, his eyebrows raised. ‘But they couldn’t, could they? Not without revealing the whole sorry story. And who would possibly feel sorry for them then?’
Mackenzi was speechless for what seemed like minutes, the ticking of her ancient mantel clock the only noise—that and Misty’s purr as she settled on Dante’s lap and pushed her head into his large hand, almost as if she sensed that right now Dante needed something physical, something real, to mend the pain.
‘It’s horrible,’ she said at last. ‘I had no idea. They always seemed such nice people.’
He shrugged. ‘Maybe they were. They just should never have had children.’
‘So that’s what you have against Ashton House,’ she whispered. ‘Their final h
olding, the star in their crown.’
He gave a hard, grating laugh. ‘Oh yes. Not to mention it was the site of Jake’s seventeenth-birthday party.’
She looked at him in horror, suddenly realising the full depth of his abhorrence. ‘Oh my God,’ she said, unable to sit down any longer, reaching out a hand to his. ‘No wonder you hate it so much. No wonder you can’t wait to see it torn down.’
He shrugged and smiled strangely. ‘It used to seem important, but just lately it doesn’t seem to matter so much.’
‘But you’re closing the hotel, you said that. Why would you do that?’
‘It’s true,’ he said, leaning closer, collecting her other hand and enclosing them both in his own. ‘You see, I had this idea. You kept telling me I should be building things and not destroying them, and I knew you wanted me to save the hotel. But the world has more than enough hotels, don’t you think?’
She laughed a little too nervously, trying to keep up, unsure where he was going but appreciating the change in tone, the enthusiasm he was demonstrating. More than anything appreciating the warm of his skin against her own. ‘So what did you have in mind?’
‘This is probably crazy,’ he admitted. ‘God knows, Adrian tried to talk me out of it. But, when I think back on it, that first foster-family was the only family who ever really wanted me. They took me in and gave me a home and cared for me when no one else would. And for no other reason than because I needed it. And so, when you made me promise to keep Ashton House, I thought about turning it into a place where families could go—foster families, with kids who didn’t belong anywhere or to anyone, but who’d been taken in anyway. To give them a break and a chance to breathe some fresh air and get a new outlook on life.’ He looked at her expectantly.
She smiled. ‘So that’s why you’re closing the hotel? So you can turn it into a respite-care centre for foster kids and their families?’
He was nodding. ‘Yes. Would you mind? You made me promise not to close Ashton House, but you never said it had to stay a hotel. What do you think?’
‘I think it’s the most wonderful idea I’ve ever heard.’
His smile widened, his eyes glinting with pleasure. ‘You do?’
‘I’m so proud of you,’ she said, throwing her arms around him. ‘To go through what you’ve been through. I had no idea. I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you when you promised to save Ashton House.’
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in tight. ‘You were right not to believe me. I was determined to destroy it all along—I’d instructed Adrian to close the hotel even before you found out you were pregnant. But when you made that marriage ultimatum I finally had to look at what I had in mind. And suddenly it didn’t matter any more. I tried, but I couldn’t hang onto that hatred, and your words made sense to me—that I could build something, rather than destroy it.’ He looked down at her and smiled. ‘You taught me that, and I will never know how to thank you enough.’
She beamed up at him, suddenly biting her lip. ‘I’m sorry I ran out on you today.’
‘I’m not.’ And when she frowned and pulled away he pulled her back. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I meant that until today I didn’t realize what you meant to me. I knew I liked having you around, and I had the bonus that you were carrying my child, but until today—until I thought I’d lost you forever—I never realized just how much you meant to me.’
Her heart jumped, skipped a beat and resumed again, louder than ever. ‘You mean…?’
He smiled. ‘I love you, Mackenzi Rose. I love you so much it almost killed me to think I’d lost you. Never do that to me again, promise?’
‘Only if you promise never to scare the hell out of me with any of your surprises, okay? If you’ve got something good to tell me, please tell me.’
He laughed and squeezed her tighter. ‘It’s a deal.’
‘And while we’re on the subject of being honest…’ She looked up at him and decided there were better ways than words. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, pouring every bit of herself and her love into it.
He growled when finally she withdrew. ‘Does that mean what I think it means?’
She purred. ‘It does. I love you, Dante Carrazzo. For now. And forever more.’
‘Hmmm,’ he said, moving into the next kiss. ‘I like the sound of that.’
There was a rattling at the front door, a scrape and then the sound of rickety footsteps down the hallway. ‘Oh, it’s you,’ Mrs Gepp said, finding them in the lounge. ‘I heard a noise and thought I’d better come looking. I thought you were supposed to be off getting married.’
‘I was,’ she said, smiling. ‘I mean, we are.’
‘Goodness, girlie, you’d better get going then. So who’s this, then—not the fellow you’re marrying?’
Dante took her gnarled hand in his own. ‘Dante Carrazzo, at your service.’
‘Good,’ she said, holding on tight and pulling him down to her height like she was confiding in him. ‘Then you’re just the person I want to talk to. I get worried the time Mack puts into her job. She’s always working late and sleeping over. I can’t count the number of times she’s rung me to say she’s not coming home and asking if I can feed Misty for her. She needs a real reason to come home. She needs a man to set her straight about what’s important in life. I know she won’t listen to me—’
Mackenzi cut her off with a nervous laugh. ‘Thanks, Mrs Gepp, I guess we’d better be getting back to the wedding. You sure you won’t join us? You’re more than welcome, you know.’
‘Not with this dodgy hip,’ she complained, nursing her side. ‘Besides, weddings always make me cry. Not a good look when you’re pushing eighty-five or so. You two run along now.’
Mackenzi dipped to give her a kiss and a quick squeeze. ‘Thanks for everything, Mrs Gepp.’
‘One more thing!’ she yelled out as they ran for Dante’s car. ‘I always thought it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding.’
Dante looked at Mackenzi and smiled. ‘Not this time,’ he said.
Barely at the end of the driveway, he suddenly braked the car to a stop and switched off the ignition. Then he turned to his bride-to-be, his eyes dark with self-recrimination. ‘You frequently stayed overnight at the hotel. Mrs Gepp said so.’
‘If I was working late, sure. It didn’t make sense to drive all the way home if it was really late or if the weather was bad.’
There was a too-long pause. ‘Like the night I arrived.’
She stole a lungful of air, hung onto it and then let it go in a rush. Because, in the scheme of things, the past didn’t matter. She loved this man. The past meant nothing any more, except for whatever demons Dante still had left to put to rest. She gave a brief nod. ‘Yes. Exactly like the night you arrived.’
‘You weren’t waiting for me at all that night,’ he said. ‘You weren’t lying in wait to seduce me. Like you told me before, you were merely making use of a vacant bed. I didn’t believe you.’
She looked away. She’d given him every reason to think what he had, but still the memory of that night’s disappointment—the fact he’d written her off so easily and accused her of being little more than a whore—was surprisingly still all too real. Looking over the gum-tree-studded hills around them, she said, ‘I worked late that night preparing the projections for you in preparation for your visit. And, with the Melbourne airports closed with the weather, nobody figured you’d get there until at least breakfast. I thought you’d never know if I borrowed your bed for a few hours.’ She shrugged as she turned back. ‘Nobody expected you’d drive instead. Nobody realized what it meant to you.’
He touched a hand to her neck, cupping her ear. ‘And I never even bothered to look at those projections.’
She swallowed, feeling her colour rising, sending him a shaky smile—thinking he’d got a look at far more that night than he’d bargained for. ‘Those reports are irrelevant now that you’ve decided on a dif
ferent course. Whatever I prepared for the hotel, it doesn’t matter, not now you have something better planned.’
He frowned. ‘I accused you of orchestrating the whole situation. I was so wrong. And I was wrong to take advantage of you, to assume you were no more than a wh—’
‘Oh no,’ she said, stopping him with a hand to his lips. ‘It doesn’t matter now. You didn’t take advantage of me. You didn’t.’
He looked away. ‘But I gave you no choice.’
She grabbed hold of his jaw and yanked it around until he faced her. ‘I had a choice. Yes, I was surprised to find you turn up that night. I was shocked and blown away to find a naked stranger making moves on me—but I had a clear choice. I could have screamed blue murder when I came to. I could have fled from that bed right then and there.’
His eyes creased at the corners. ‘But you didn’t. And that would be because…?’
She let her hand slide from his jaw and screwed round ninety degrees in her seat. There were some things she couldn’t admit face to face. ‘For me,’ she said. ‘Because I didn’t want you to stop.’
There was hushed silence in the car.
‘Why did you let me do that to you, to put you in that position?’
She looked out the windscreen at gum-tree tops amid blue sky and gave a wan smile. ‘Because nobody had ever made me feel as good as you had, awake or asleep. And, even when I’d woken up and realized who you were, and knew I was risking everything, I couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t say no. I wanted to feel more.’
‘You thought I was your ex-boyfriend.’
‘If I did it was only because I felt so different to how I felt with him! He’d always told me that I was an ice queen, unfeeling and cold.’ She instinctively hugged her arms around herself and, like a weighted pendulum, started to rock forward in her seat.
His arms came around her like a vice, dragging her off course and against him instead. ‘He was an idiot.’
She tried to smile. Tried and failed miserably. ‘He knew I was an IVF baby. He told me that’s why I couldn’t feel anything with him,’ she said. ‘Because I wasn’t a real woman. Because I’d been manufactured.’