“You are such a thrill seeker! Don’t you fear anything?”
“Yes. Fear itself.”
“How original.”
“You asked.”
They quietly followed the man playing the flute. Dana was suddenly reminded of the Pied Piper.
“I hope he doesn’t lead us off a cliff,” she said as she nervously rubbed her neck with her free hand.
“We’re neither rats nor kids so we should be safe.”
When they rounded the next corner, the flute player was gone. In his place was a mandolin player. He leaned against a wall strumming his mandolin and when he spotted them he too began to stroll away as he played the beautiful music.
They followed. Dana was now less nervous and more intrigued.
Then they rounded another corner and came to a sudden stop at the sight. All three players stood to one side playing together. Dana’s eyes were riveted to them as she was instantly transported to another era by the romantic classical music.
She swayed slightly to the music as she leaned against Robert, who stood behind her and slightly to her right, his arm curled around her waist. She could feel him move to the rhythm of the music along with her.
When the musicians had finished the set, both Dana and Robert clapped enthusiastically. The trio bowed and prepared to resume their playing. At that moment, Dana took in the rest of her surroundings. She now noticed that in the middle of the castle balcony was a table set for two. A waiter stood to the side of the romantic layout.
“Surprise,” Robert whispered in her ear.
Dana gasped and swung around to face him. “You…you planned this?”
With a flourish, he bent and kissed her hand. “Si, mia cara.”
She wasn’t a woman given to crying but she felt very close. The setting was over the top romantic, from the torches that lit up the scene to the rose petals littering the ground to the lovely notes that caressed their ears.
After they were seated and had been served their wine, Dana asked, “Why didn’t you give me a warning? I would have gotten more dressed up than this,” she said as she gestured to her blue jeans and blue V-neck crew top. “In this setting, I feel like I should be wearing a gown.”
“You’re always talking about being given notice and warnings. Exactly what fun would that be? Besides, you look divine as always, baby. Perfecto.”
Dana felt a flush creep across her cheeks.
“That music is so beautiful.”
“Sounds like Vivaldi.”
“Roberto, my, my, you’re rather cultured aren’t you?”
“Dana, baby.” His hand reached across the table to capture hers. “There is so much you have to learn about your man.”
During the first course, Dana leaned over and kissed Robert’s cheek.
“Thank you for an amazing weekend.”
His eyes darkened and he dropped a kiss on her lips.
“No. Thank you. I’ve had the greatest time. I’m so proud to share you with my family.”
“You’re very close to your Italian relatives. I never hear you speak about your mother’s side of the family.”
“She never knew them. Ma’s immigrant Irish parents died in a train crash when she was a baby. She survived and was raised by the nuns in a Catholic orphanage in New York.”
“That’s so sad.”
“Circumstances weren’t ideal but she remembers her childhood with fondness. She said that in spite of meager resources they were well loved. She thought of becoming a nun herself.”
“I’m glad she didn’t or I wouldn’t have you.”
“A woman like you would never have lacked for male suitors even if Robert Cortelli didn’t exist.”
“Bobby, no other man in the world could compare to you. If you didn’t exist, I’d die a spinster.”
That wasn’t just idle talk. At that moment, she meant those words with every fiber of her being.
Robert laid a hand over his heart.
“Dana, cara. My heart will burst if you say such things.”
He stood and pulled her to her feet and into his arms. They danced cheek to cheek to the music.
Several minutes later they returned to the table. Dana declined dessert but nibbled a forkful of the tiramisu Robert fed her from his plate.
“You’re making it so that when I go back to Paris I die from withdrawal symptoms aren’t you?” she asked dreamily.
He paused for a few beats then said, “Actually, I don’t want you to go back to Paris. I want you to move to L.A.”
Dana’s eyes widened. She sat back in her chair.
“Is this why you brought me here? To convince me to move to L.A.?”
“Not exactly,” he said as he reached into the breast pocket of his jacket.
“Then why...” Her words died on her lips as she saw what he held between his fingers.
“I brought you here to ask you to become my wife.” He got down on one knee. “Dana, mia cara. I love and adore you with my whole heart. All I want is to be by your side for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
Dana’s breath caught in her throat. She didn’t reply at once. But the tears did fall. She only realized she hadn’t answered when he began to look concerned. He was still kneeling before her with the diamond solitaire ring between his thumb and index finger. She shook her head mentally to wake herself from the trance.
“Yes!” she breathed between sobs. “Yes.” And then she threw her arms around his neck.
Chapter 8
Eleven years later
“Is July a noun?”
“Huh?” Dana Dickson reluctantly shifted her eyes from the message on her phone to her six-year-old daughter, Alexandra, who sat beside her on the bed doing her homework.
“Is July a noun?” Alex repeated.
“Yes,” Dana replied and glanced back at the phone. Robert had messaged her to say that he would not be returning to Los Angeles the next day as planned since he had to reshoot a couple of scenes from his latest film.
She quickly typed a response. “Well, that’s a surprise.”
“Mommy, Santa Monica is a noun right?”
Dana’s phone gave a message alert. She glanced at it. It was from Robert. “I didn’t plan this,” she read.
She was so distracted she didn’t respond to Alex.
“Mom,” came the impatient cry.
“Umm…what is a noun, Alex?” Dana asked as she tried to pull her eyes away from the phone to focus on the pretty child with the long black pigtails beside her.
“Never mind.”
Alex pulled the lap desk closer and looked back down at her book.
“What do you mean ‘never mind’?”
“I’ve got it. It’s a noun.”
Dana nodded. “That’s right.”
She typed out a message to her husband. “Nothing is ever your fault. Your kids’ birthday is tomorrow. How can you not be here?”
She didn’t await his response this time. She set the phone to silent and threw it on the bed in disgust.
Aaron burst into the room. “Mommy, may we watch TV now?”
“Aaron, how many times do I have to tell you to knock first?”
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“What is it?”
“May we watch TV? Adam and I have finished our homework.”
“No, Mommy, don’t let them watch TV until I’ve finished my homework!” interjected Alex.
“Oh, shut up,” Aaron retorted.
“You shut up.”
Dana held up her hand. “That’s enough. Neither of you is watching TV. It’s a school night remember?”
Adam bounded into the room and said, “So what’s the answer?”
Aaron looked back at him. The trio looked practically identical. They were the image of Robert Cortelli from their thick black hair to their sparkling brown eyes. Every time Dana looked at them she was reminded of their father. The mostly absentee father who lived three-quarters of the year on movie sets.
&n
bsp; “The answer is N - O,” Dana replied
“Awww! But tomorrow’s our birthday,” Adam whined.
“Unfortunately for you, it’s also a school day,” Dana pointed out with a sympathetic smile.
“Our birthday should be a public holiday,” Aaron declared.
“Yeah,” the others agreed.
Dana laughed. “Finally, something all three of you can agree on!”
Hours later, after she had tucked the kids into their beds, Dana sat cross-legged on the king-sized bed in the huge lonely room and wondered how her life had come to this.
The day she had said ‘I do’ to Robert Cortelli at their sprawling Beverly Hills wedding had been the stuff of fairy tales. The guest list of over 300 guests had read like a who’s-who of Hollywood royalty. She had been the happiest woman on earth. Finally, she had found the man of her dreams, a man who loved her for more than her looks, a man who had vowed to walk side by side with her throughout life.
They had been so happy the first few years. Although she had changed her base from Paris to L.A., she was still in high demand and had to travel several times a year for photo shoots and runway jobs. Dana comforted herself that those assignments were just for a few days, a week and most. During those times, she and Robert chatted every night over Skype as they had done when they were dating. Robert had seemed fine with that arrangement.
‘Seemed’ was the operative word because one day, on their third anniversary no less, as they sat side by side on the beach at their vacation home in Barbados, things came to a head.
They had been chatting about his oldest brother having just had another addition to his family of two kids when Robert suddenly quipped, “I wish I was a father too.”
She had been surprised to hear him blurt that out. Even though they weren’t using birth control she hadn’t gotten pregnant. She hadn’t sought to investigate the reason because they hadn’t yet discussed starting a family, and at twenty-seven she figured she hadn’t exactly run out of time.
“I’m sure it will happen for us eventually, honey. We’ve still got time,” she’d said as she placed her hand on his arm in a gesture that was meant to be comforting.
He shook it off and exploded.
“It will happen for us eventually?! How do you know that? Do you know what the future holds? I sure don’t.”
Robert’s outburst had literally left her dumbfounded. After several tension-filled minutes had stretched between them, she asked carefully, “So are you blaming me for the fact that we haven’t gotten pregnant yet? I don’t see how this gets to be my fault. For all you know it may be yours.”
“And you don’t care to find out whose fault it is either from the looks of it. I swear I thought that after we got married you’d finally settle down and focus on starting a family with me but you’re not about to break your stride are you? The hottest supermodel in the world is not about to let any man get in the way of her career is she?”
She shook her head, stunned at his diatribe.
“Where is all this coming from? You never once told me you had a problem with my traveling.”
That had led to a loud discussion during which he’d admitted that he hadn’t wanted her to think he expected her to give up her career to accommodate his desire to have a family. Instead, he had hoped that she would have seen the need to start a family herself.
They agreed to visit the doctor when they returned home.
Following a series of tests, they discovered that Dana hadn’t been ovulating regularly. The doctor prescribed medication to solve the problem and three months later she found out she was pregnant with not one, not two, but three kids.
She had happily reduced her assignments from that day and soon after the triplets were born had given up her runway jobs altogether. She was still the face of a few major cosmetic, jewelry and couture companies, but she had since turned her attention to acting.
It seemed, though, that as her travel decreased, Robert’s increased. He began hopping from movie set to movie set like he was the one writing the checks for each production.
When the children were very young, he asked her to travel with him on location and she had enjoyed doing that. Two and a half years ago, however, things changed. Dana enrolled the children in school in California, began to seriously pursue an acting career, and the trips with Robert came to a screeching halt.
Though Robert had increased his weekend visits, he had not stopped making movies overseas. Over the last two years alone, he had released a whopping five films! Great for him. Not so great for the foursome he left behind.
So, they were now effectively leading separate lives. When Robert returned home for a couple of months between movies, it was usually to spend a few weeks resting just before he started to make the rounds to various talk shows and jet around the world to promote his latest vehicle.
In fact, these days they were rarely seen in public together. She hadn’t even accompanied him to his last two movie premieres. This had not gone unnoticed by the press. For the last several months the rumor mills had ground with news of their marriage’s impending doom. They had no idea how close they were to the truth. She felt well and truly fed up with her marriage. She felt abandoned. Trapped and abandoned. Trapped because they had three kids and any separation would devastate them.
“I can’t do this anymore, God. I really can’t. He’s never here. We’re living separate lives.”
Dana felt God speak to her heart. My grace is sufficient for you.
Tears trickled down her cheeks.
“I don’t want to do this anymore. Please forgive me, God, but I can’t go on like this.”
She finally fell into a fitful sleep.
~*~*~*~
The day of the triplet’s birthday was a flurry of activity. Dana cooked them their favorite breakfast, hash browns, bacon, scrambled eggs and waffles.
“Your dad’s not going to be here,” she announced at the table.
Alex started to tear up but Aaron admonished her immediately.
“Stop crying like a baby. Dad will be here.”
“But mom just said–”
“Dad’s going to be here, you’ll see.”
Alex’s tears instantly dried up.
Dana didn’t argue. She didn’t want to see her daughter begin to cry again but she was concerned for her children. She didn’t want them to be disappointed when he didn’t show up.
After she had dropped the kids at school, Dana worked out with her personal trainer and then met with her agent to discuss a new script over lunch. Afterward, she went shopping for the children’s birthday presents, rushed to pick up their birthday cake and then collected them from school.
“First things first,” Aaron declared as soon as they reached home, and the three kids attacked the gifts she’d laid out for them.
As Dana watched them, she was amazed that her children didn’t seem concerned that Robert wasn’t there. As she twisted her wedding rings around her finger, it suddenly dawned on her that it was probably because he’d never missed a birthday before. She had to give that to him. It must have been a difficult decision for him to miss it this year and it must have been unavoidable. She felt her heart soften a little. Then it hardened again as she remembered that he had not even called to wish them happy birthday. At least, he could have done that.
“Cool stuff,” Aaron exclaimed, looking with awe at the Xbox One console box, the gift he shared with his brother.
“Thanks, Mum. I love it,” said Alex as she eagerly removed the EZ bake oven from the confines of its packaging.
Adam rushed up to Dana and encircled her waist with his bony arms, burying his face in her stomach.
“We totally needed an upgrade from the Xbox, Mom, thanks.”
Dana spoke with Maria, their middle-aged Hispanic executive housekeeper, keeping her voice low as the kids were within earshot.
“Did Mr. Cortelli call while we were out?”
Maria’s brow wrinkled.
; “Um…yes…this morning, just after you left with the kids,” she said nodding.
Dana released the breath she’d been unconsciously holding and relaxed.
“He called. Okay. What did he say?”
Maria smiled. “Both he and Mrs. Cortelli said they had wanted to wish the kids happy birthday and would call again little later this evening.”
Dana’s shoulders sagged.
“Michael. I thought you were speaking about Robert. So he didn’t call.”
Maria said hurriedly, “I don’t think so. Let me check the voice mail to make sure.”
Dana didn’t hold out much hope that the news would be positive. Why would Robert leave a message on their voice mail when he could have called her cell phone?
When Maria returned, she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Cortelli. No message from Mr. Robert.”
While it was a rarity these days for Dana to cook, given the presence of the family’s personal chef, Hunter, she always cooked for the kids on special occasions like their birthday. Shortly after they opened their gifts, the kids went to have their baths while Dana prepared their favorite dish, lasagna, for dinner.
Two hours later they’d finished their meal and were tucking into birthday cake and milk. Dana excused herself to go the bathroom.
As she descended the stairs on her return to the kitchen, she heard a commotion and the elated cries of her children. She smiled. It was no doubt Michael and Reba who had come to deliver wildly extravagant presents to their grandkids.
Dana realized she was wrong a few seconds later when she heard, “Daddy, you’re home!”
Dana paused just outside the kitchen door. She felt her own rush of adrenaline. Robert was home! She always felt it at first. But she worked to get it under control. What was the use in getting excited? He’d be gone as quickly as he’d come. Mr. Houdini. Now you see him, now you don’t.
When she felt sufficiently composed, she walked in to find Robert bundled up with the kids. From the wrapping strewn about on the kitchen table, it looked as though they had just opened presents.
“Wow!” they exclaimed as Robert helped them strap watches onto their wrists.
“They’re from Switzerland. Swiss made spy watches,” he explained in a conspiratorial tone. “They look like ordinary watches…but…if you do this…and push this button here…they can take pictures, record conversations even video tape stuff. Way cool, huh?”
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