“Cassie, please. You think I’ve betrayed you, but I didn’t, and I’m going to prove it. I love you, and I don’t betray the people I love.”
If he didn’t look so darn miserable, she might find it easier to flay him alive with her acid tongue. That’s if she could find it. Perhaps the past few days of feeling utterly shattered had drained all her witty comebacks? “I won’t take my anger out on your parents bec –”
The doorbell rang.
Giving herself a mental shake, Cassidy visualised her spine turning to steel as Anton opened the door. His parents’ energy and enthusiasm filled the hallway with embraces all round and kisses on both cheeks.
“Welcome, Donna.” Cassidy said, kissing her mother-in-law again for good measure, then she turned to her father in law. “Paolo, it’s lovely to see you too.”
Donna waved the good manners away and said something in rapid Italian to Anton, before turning back to Cassidy, “Call us Mamma e Papà. Sì?”
Oh no, she couldn’t call them the equivalent of Mum and Dad! Not when her marriage wouldn’t see out the week!
“We’re having a dinner with a difference tonight,” Anton said, changing the topic as he ushered them towards one of the lounge rooms, “All the food is from Cassidy’s wonderful bistro. They’ll deliver the main course at seven.”
“You are quiet,” Donna said, touching Cassidy on the arm.
“I’m on my best behaviour,” she shot back with a grin.
“New furniture?” Paolo remarked, looking around the room, “This wasn’t here last time. What a great room.”
“All Cassidy’s doing, she’s an inspiration.” Anton said.
The urge to stick her fingers down her throat took hold, but in the nick of time Cassidy remembered they had company.
On the coffee table – the one she’d picked out – Anton had already set a series of trays filled with canapés, and invited them to sit in the leather sofas. At first Cassidy moved to the single seat, but Anton grabbed her by the waist and guided her to sit beside him on the twin.
Being the smooth operator, Anton had picked all of Cassidy’s favourite foods to nibble on. Oysters Kilpatrick, skewers of sesame prawns with hot and sour sauce, sushi platters with wasabi and wafer-thin slices of rare beef fillet with horseradish cream.
What a bastard to give her all her favourite things!
“Who’d like a drink?” Cassidy asked, making to stand up.
Before anyone could answer, Anton pulled her back down and said, “I’ll get it.” Did he fear if he didn’t make his own drinks, she might spike them? Whatever gave him that idea? Anton poured drinks, then handed them around, before taking his seat beside Cassidy again.
Hurry up and tell them what a sham this is so I can stop with the Stand By Your Man routine.
“While it’s still light, let’s have a walk in the garden so you can see all the great things Cassidy’s done with the place,” Anton said.
“I love gardening,” Donna beamed, “The front looks so green and welcoming now. Much better than it used to be.”
“That’s all Cassidy’s doing as well,” Anton said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Its lingering warmth reminded her of how great things had been.
“Look at this!” Paolo said as he looked over the back garden. “Our business-suit son finally got dirt under his fingernails!”
‘Papà,’ Anton held his clean hands up for his father’s inspection.
A giggle escaped Cassidy’s lips.
Anton grinned. “Cassidy arranged all of this. She commanded a team of experts to get the place looking beautiful and healthy.”
He had to stop throwing so many compliments. Had to stop being nice, otherwise she’d start believing him again. And if she started believing him, it would only lead to more heartache.
“You’re amazing,” Anton wrapped his arm around Cassidy and kissed her on the cheek.
It must be the champagne making her light headed. It couldn’t be the contact, the way her skin and senses betrayed her and wanted his hands and lips on her again.
“What’s this?” Paolo examined tray of greenery sitting in the shade.
“Mini mondo grass,” Cassidy said. “we’ll plant it between the pavers to soften the impact.
“It won’t grow on the tiles.” The old man said, picking up a tray.
“Alright then.’ Anton rolled up his sleeves. “Let’s get busy.”
In less than a minute, they were all working together in the dirt. Digging with small trowels in the soft earth between the pagers, teasing the plant roots loose and planting them in the soil.
“New tradition. What’s say, every time someone comes over, we plant something?” Anton said. “We can call this section Catani Gardens.”
“I think we already have one of them in St Kilda,” Cassidy murmured.
“And now have our own,” he said, standing up to survey the good work.
He’d gone and done it again, Cassidy realised. He’d made people fall for him. Anton knew exactly what his parents loved, and he’d given it to them. A picture of family happiness, all working together to make something. In the garden no less, they place they loved most.
“What about vegetables?” Paolo said, wiping his hands together to get the dirt off.
“No idea,” Anton confessed. “That can be your project, Papà.”
The light faded, treating them to a streaky pink sunset. They moved inside to clean up after the dirty fun. Donna stayed close to Cassidy as they went to the downstairs powder room.
“My beautiful girl, thank you,” Donna said, eyes shining. “You’ve done wonders with him. This house used to feel so cold, but now it is so full of warmth and love.”
Guilt stabbed Cassidy in the heart. “Please, Mrs Catani, that’s not true. I have a terrible confession to make.”
12
DONNA CATANI’S FACE fell, ‘What is wrong? Has he upset you?’
What? Her mother-in-law’s first thought was that Anton had upset her, not that she’d upset him? What kind of mother leapt to the side of the in-law before her flesh and blood?
Unless she knew him far too well?
If the woman didn’t have such compassion in her eyes, if she wasn’t touching her arm so gently with her soft hand, if she didn’t look so trustworthy, maybe Cassidy could have kept her mouth shut.
Instead Cassidy opened the emotional floodgates. Once she started, she couldn’t stop.
“It’s nothing to concern yourself with, really. It’s just bad timing I’m afraid. Anton and I have had a rather horrible fight and things are a bit strained. If you’d come last week, you wouldn’t have been able to prise us apart.”
Whatever problems she and Anton had should stay private. His parents didn’t need to be dragged into this. What was the point in confiding to Anton’s mother when there was no chance of them being friends, especially after the divorce came through?
“You want to strangle him, sì’ Donna pulled Cassidy forward in a warm embrace, “Men eh? What do we do with them?”
Instead of crying, Cassidy found herself laughing, “You’re not supposed to say those sorts of things about your own son.”
Donna gave a broad grin. “You’re not supposed to say those things about your husband either.”
They laughed like old friends instead of stranger.
Donna said, “Men think they rule the world. But only because we let them think that’s how the world works. Tell Mamma what he’s done that’s made you so sad, then I’ll give him a good smack.”
The story would be too long and involved for a mere powder room. They’d need to be sitting down somewhere comfortable, knocking back vino collapso so Cassidy could pour her heart out.
‘Are you two having a conference in there or something?’ Through the door came Anton’s call. No doubt their extended time in the closed room had raised his suspicions.
Or his guilt.
Good. The man deserved to sweat.
With a wink to Cassidy,
Donna opened the door. “We’re having a gossip about you. We may be some time.”
Anton’s Adam’s Apple bobbed sharply in his neck.
The doorbell rang. Their food had arrived. Saved by the proverbial!
“Let’s eat,” Donna said. “This intrigue has made me hungry!” Then she stepped over to Paolo and started talking low and rapidly in Italian. Anton rolled his eyes.
Cassidy still hadn’t stepped out of the powder room. Would it be really rude if she just shut the door and stayed in here all night?
Anton stepped forward and tugging her gently towards him, a cheeky smile growing at the sides of his mouth. “You’re bonding with Mamma, that’s great.”
Bonding? More like unburdening herself. Cut short in the nick of time too! Bonding would mean the two of them could become good friends, and as likeable as the woman was, there seemed little point when she and Anton wouldn’t be together much longer. The sooner this night finished, the sooner she could instruct her lawyers to draw up divorce papers and get this sham of a marriage over with.
The smell of food sent Cassidy’s senses into a spin. As Anton removed the lids, steam plumes poured and she started salivating.
“We should eat at your bistro tomorrow night. Work out way through the menu,” Paolo said.
A low rumble erupted from her stomach. “I’m starving, let’s eat.”
“Must be the pregnancy hormones,” Anton said.
As one, Paolo and Donna erupted in excitement and rushed to embrace Cassidy and shake Anton’s hand.
No, no, no, no, no, no. NO!
Cassidy cracked. “Stop it, Anton! Stop it right now! Mamma, Papà, please sit down. I’m not pregnant. I don’t know why Anton is being so hurtful. Anton, I tried my best, I really did, but you’re being an absolute pig. This marriage hasn’t got a chance, because you can’t stop telling lies!”
In the uncomfortable silence that ensued, Paolo’s forehead creased and he looked at his watch. Donna got up out of her chair, gave Cassidy a brief hug, then headed towards her son. She grabbed his cheeks in her pudgy hands and verbally castrated him in Italian.
If she’d had any strength left, Cassidy would have walked out of the house and driven back to her apartment. But in her present state she knew she’d crash the car.
‘Looks like my work here is done. Mamma, Papà, I am so sorry for my outburst, but it seems Anton has a way of bringing out the worst in me. I’m going to call it a night before I pass out from the excitement of it all.’
With that she made the most dignified exit she could, taking the stairs and holding onto the handrail for dear life so she didn’t topple backwards. Instinct kept her feet moving one in front of the other, until she found the bedroom.
She should have gone to the guest room, but her head had been too full of fog. Instead, she walked straight into the master suite and crawled under the covers, no energy left to change her mind, the scent of Anton on the pillow as she let exhaustion drag her to sleep.
An unpleasant heaviness filled Anton. He shouldn’t have pushed Cassidy so hard. He should have been grateful she’d even turned up tonight. He should have been grovelling at her feet in appreciation. Instead, he’d driven her further away. Their marriage had been on thin ice before tonight. Now the cracks broke through and he was drowning.
“You’ve met your match in her,” Donna said, switching into Italian to speak her mind. “Pregnancy is nothing to joke about. Do you know how many miscarriages I had before I finally got to keep you?”
Ice filled his veins at the revelation, “I thought you stopped at one because you never had any money.”
“We stopped at one because that was all God would give me. We gave you everything. We refused you nothing. Because you were our precious gift.”
“But you never had any money. You had to grow your own food, like peasants!”
“Because that’s what we liked doing! We worked hard to raise you the best way we could, and how do you repay us? You make lies. Break that poor woman’s heart. How glad I was to hear you were marrying again. To think maybe you found the right one this time. But it’s not the women, it’s you. You drive them away. We didn’t raise you to be like this. I’m so disappointed in you!”
How did she have the power to do this? Reduce him to feeling like an eight-year-old again, as she flayed him with her tongue.
How could he tell them why he did the things he did, when he didn’t even know himself? Tears poured down his mother’s face. A knife of emotions twisted in his gut.
“It’s complicated.”
“Then un-complicate it! Paolo, we’re leaving. We will be at Bistro Vita tomorrow night for dinner. You and Cassidy will sort things out by then.”
“A day? You’re giving me one day?”
“If you can’t work it out in one day, then she,’ Donna pointed to the stairs, indicating the departed Cassidy, “she will walk away. For good. And I don’t blame her.”
The damning words echoed in Anton’s ears long after his parents had gone. The thought of losing Cassidy made something twist behind his ribs. He’d told her he loved her, but it had come too late. And now words weren’t enough. He had to prove he wasn’t lying about releasing her family’s secrets to the media. Prove that he was in this marriage for love, not revenge.
Even his mother thought he was a liar because he’d blurted out the pregnancy claim. That sure had backfired! For the life of him he couldn’t work out why he’d even said those stupid words out loud.
As he sat in the empty kitchen, he understood why he’d said it. Because he’d wanted those words to be true. He and Cassidy had never raised the issue of having children before, but the idea stuck fast. He really wanted them. With Cassidy’s fiery eyes and cleverness, and a bit of him too. Actually, if they were mostly Cassidy they’d be better off.
He wanted to give his parents grandchildren, lots of grandchildren, to make up for all the stupid grief he’d put them through. To make up for the prat he’d been.
But first he had to make things right with Cassidy, and if he wasted any more time feeling sorry for himself, he’d lose any chance of that.
He grabbed his phone and started surfing the internet, searching for private investigators. So many names filled his screen he didn’t know where to start.
Come on, let’s be methodical about this. You have less than a day. Who could be hungry enough to get everything I need in a day?
Of course, he should have thought of it earlier. His ex-wife’s legal team, linked to the PI –oops, Inquiry Agent – Cassidy had done that favour for.
The favour that had ultimately brought them together.
Good. Because he needed that same agent to save his marriage.
Cassidy woke up in Anton’s bed and felt her stomach clench. Yet she hadn’t finished even one glass of champagne last night, so why did she feel so wretched?
It wasn’t a hangover, yet it was much more than a headache. A guilty, horrible sickness growing in her chest, twisting her valves tight and constricting her heart.
The pillow beneath her cheek felt damp. She must have cried in her sleep, but couldn’t remember her dreams. Anton must have taken the spare room because his pillow looked smooth and unruffled.
She grabbed her things, jumped in the shower and started planning the rest of her workday. Keeping busy would keep her mind off Anton and the impossible position he’d put her in.
Oh Anton, it could have been so good, she thought, willing her brain to snap out of fantasyland and back to reality. Fantasy was Anton’s realm, like claiming she was pregnant in front of his emotional parents. That was seriously uncalled for.
Those deceitful words he’d said stayed in her mind as she washed the soapy bubbles from her skin, across her belly where there was no baby. It matched the empty ache in her heart.
The moment she opened the door, she saw two cars parked in the street with television logos on the side panels, cameras at the ready when she left the house, hoping for a comment abo
ut her father.
Plastering on a smile and huge sunglasses, she walked briskly to her car. Thank goodness she had tinted windows, so the cameras wouldn’t be able to capture how puffy and red her eyes must be.
As the day wore on, Cassidy was grateful to keep busy. Hard work would help keep her mind off just how annoyed she was with a certain person.
Unfortunately, two of the customers in the bistro included Anton’s parents. Not that she had anything against them personally. They just reminded her too much of someone who threw her emotions in a blender. The same person who would no doubt turn up in a little while, making her heart beat that bit faster and her stomach do silly fluttery things.
Even after everything he’d done, she still loved him, which was completely stupid. Proof, if any was needed, that she was her mother’s daughter. Madly in love with the wrong person.
At least she wouldn’t continue the mistake. Next week, when she had the strength, she’d call her lawyers and get this over with.
Greeting her in-laws, Cassidy found her smile came readily, “Mamma, Papà, please come with me and I’ll get you a table.”
She hadn’t meant to greet them with such familiarity, but these people had such honest, open faces she couldn’t help it. Maybe she felt comfortable around them because they had something in common – they all loved Anton even though he disappointed them.
“What’s the special tonight?” Donna said as they took their seats.
“How about I get chef to create a selection of his favourites?” Cassidy suggested as Paolo checked his wallet. “Put that away Papà. For goodness sake, you’re family.”
A tiny voice inside her head asked, “for how much longer?”
“I’ll meet you in the office in a few minutes,’ she told him, getting away from him as fast as she could. The kitchen – full of heat and knives and boiling oils – was a far friendlier option than talking to her husband right now. She made her way to the till and put in the Catani’s meal order for a bit of everything, then made sure it came through as complimentary.
Be Mine: Valentine Novellas to Warm The Heart Page 80