At first she thought she’d imagined the ringing of his cell phone. But when Ric started to fuss, she realized someone was trying to reach Giovanni.
He was slow to respond. “Who would be calling me this time of night?”
“You’d better answer it before both babies are awake.”
Giovanni gave her a swift kiss before reaching for the phone he’d left at the bedside table. When he sat down on the side of one of the beds to talk, she knew this was important. Taking advantage of the moment, she reached for her robe and hurried into the bathroom for a shower.
Not liking the smell of chlorine in her hair, she washed it and wrapped it in a towel. Once she’d thrown on her robe, she washed out her bikini, then walked into the other room. Something of importance was going on. He was still on the phone.
She wandered over to Ric’s crib. He’d settled back down, thank goodness. Vito hadn’t been disturbed. The sound of Giovanni’s phone was familiar to the baby. That had to be the reason he’d stirred.
Valentina sat in one of the chairs and dried her hair while she waited. Her watch said ten after eleven. He kept his voice low so she couldn’t make out actual words. Finally he hung up and put the phone back on the table. His head turned to her.
“Give me a minute to shower, and I’ll tell you what that was about.” Reality had intruded on the rapture they’d shared. It couldn’t be recaptured. Not tonight. She suffered real pain. The only thing to do was counteract it.
After he disappeared, she reached for her brush to put her hair in some semblance of order and got in bed. Giovanni came back in the room a few minutes later wearing his robe. He sat on the side of her bed and reached for her hands.
“Was that your father?”
“No. Violeta. She wanted me to know that Tatania has her six-week checkup with the doctor at Positano hospital in the morning at nine thirty. She’ll be driving her. Violeta believes that if I’m there with Ric waiting for her in Violeta’s car when she comes out of his office, it will be the perfect time and place to talk. She’ll leave the door unlocked so I can get in. Anywhere else and she might refuse to see me.”
“Do you think it might be too big of a jolt for her?”
“I said the same thing to Violeta. But her mother’s instinct tells her that Tatania needs a jolt to break her out of this funk she’s been in. As she pointed out, her daughter has reached rock bottom. If seeing me and the baby doesn’t do anything but make her angry, then what does it matter? Tatania is already angry.”
Valentina lowered her head. “A mother’s instinct is a powerful thing as we both know. In order for you to get there on time we need to leave here early.”
He nodded. “I’ll drive us back to Ravello and send for the helicopter to take me and Ric to Positano. You must realize this wasn’t the way I expected our overnight to go.”
She squeezed his hands tighter. “If you want to know the truth, I’m glad she phoned. You need to do this, the sooner the better. Not only for our sake, but for Ric’s. Tatania has lost time bonding with him. Of course it’s not too late, but I believe Violeta is right. Shock might be the one method to wake her up.”
Valentina heard a sharp intake of breath before he lay down on the bed and pulled her into his arms. “What would I do without you?”
“I’m not planning on your finding out,” she whispered against his cheek.
“Will you let me hold you tonight?”
“After we held each other on the cruiser, do you have to ask?”
“Yes. What other woman in the world has your ability to love and be so decent at a critical time like this? I want to deserve you.”
“Oh, Giovanni.” She nestled closer against him.
“You and Vito will be at the house waiting for me when I get back? No more letting anyone else influence you to leave early?”
She burrowed against him. “No one has the power to wrench me from your side.” For the rest of the night she held this incredible man in her arms.
At six in the morning after feeding the babies, they left Laurito for Ravello. Giovanni was deep in thought. Paolo and Stanzie were there to greet them when they walked across the patio to the sunroom.
Giovanni hugged them before going upstairs to get ready. Valentina put the babies on the floor and kissed their tummies until their laughter filled the room. While she played with them, she heard the helicopter. He came back to the sunroom. After kissing the boys, he kissed her fiercely.
“I’ll be here when you get back,” she spoke before he could say it. Their eyes clung before he put Ric in his carry-cot and wheeled away with him.
Stanzie came in after he’d gone. Her eyes looked anxious. “Is everything all right?”
Valentina sat back on her heels. “It will be, no matter what happens.” In the next breath she told Stanzie where he was going and why.
The other woman sank down in a chair. “I wish he would have done this a long time ago. This is your doing.”
“Don’t give me any credit. He wanted to meet with her, but was waiting until Violeta was on board.”
“It’s a good woman who puts her child’s happiness first.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Please thank Paolo for getting Giovanni back here so fast. His method worked. Except something tells me you were the one who came up with the idea.”
Stanzie smiled without saying anything.
The day wore on. First lunch, then dinner. By bedtime Valentina realized something important was going on, otherwise he would have been home hours ago. Not until she climbed into bed did she hear the sound on her phone. He’d sent her a text.
Will be home tomorrow. Kiss Vito for me.
Valentina suffered another sleepless night, tossing, turning and worrying. The next morning she looked out the window and discovered a cloudy sky overhead. Hoping it wasn’t a bad omen, she went to the nursery to take care of Vito.
By afternoon Giovanni still hadn’t arrived. Unable to stand it any longer, she put the baby in the stroller and took a long walk beyond the villa to work off her nervous energy. He slept on and off.
Maybe Giovanni had been in talks with his father about his future with the company. Many thoughts ran through her mind until she was a nervous wreck. Near five o’clock she started back to the villa beneath a darkening sky. On the way, she heard the sound of rotors in the distance. Her heart jumped to look up and see the helicopter overhead.
Giovanni—
She started running as she pushed the stroller along the road. Valentina had walked farther than she’d realized and couldn’t believe how long it was taking her to get back. As she turned onto his private road leading up to the side of the villa, she saw Giovanni running toward her. If there weren’t good news, he wouldn’t be flying down the road to reach her.
The second she could see his eyes, she parked the stroller and ran toward him. He swung her off her feet and clutched her to him without realizing his strength. One look at his face and she saw a different man.
“Violeta’s plan worked!”
“I can see that,” she answered breathlessly. “Where’s Ric?”
“With his mother. She’s going to keep him for a few days.”
Those words told her everything she needed to know. The guilt he’d been suffering for so long was gone. In its place was a man at peace. “Oh, Giovanni. I’m so happy for you.”
“You have no idea.”
Yes, she did.
“Violeta drove us to their villa. We talked all day and all night discussing everything, including how to handle visitation. Tatania was like a different person. When she looked at Ric for the first time, I saw a light enter her eyes. It was as if she’d come alive.”
“So have you.” She cupped the side of his hard jaw with her hand.
He kissed it. “Come on. Let
’s take Vito and spend the night on the cruiser. I need to tell you everything.”
CHAPTER NINE
THE FIRST RAIN of the season hit after Giovanni anchored off Furore, the little mountain village between Ravello and Positano. He’d wanted to show Valentina the fjord where a cluster of old fishermen’s houses clung to the side of the rocky gorge. But she wasn’t disappointed when the weather forced them to stay below with Vito until the storm passed over. She loved the cozy feeling of having the man and son she loved so close to her.
After eating dinner in the galley, they moved into one of the cabins and put the baby in his carry-cot in the other cabin. She sat on the side of the bed. Giovanni grabbed a pillow and stretched out on the floor.
“I’d come up there with you, but if I do that, I won’t be able to talk and we have a lot to discuss. What do you want to know first?”
At last she was going to have answers. “Was Tatania’s father there?”
“He walked in the villa after flying in and discovered the four of us in the living room. Ric was cuddled in her arms. Before I could say anything, Tatania told her father that she and I had said our goodbyes, but she’d decided to be a mother to her son. I didn’t know she had it in her to stand up to him. Naturally he was nonplussed and walked over to look at the baby.”
“That must have been an amazing moment.”
“Oh, it was. Tatania had changed before our very eyes. We’re going to set up times during the week and every other weekend to parent him. I told her I needed to discuss the schedule with you, then I’d get back to her.”
She frowned. “Me—”
“We’re partners, Valentina. Everything I do, I plan to run through you first.”
Partners? That word again. Don’t panic yet, Valentina. “Did her father talk to you about your decision to step down?”
“No. His pride won’t allow it, but I had a long conversation with my father earlier today. He’s aware I want to run the marketing division and is probing the members of the board to see where they would stand.”
“That’s a beginning.”
“Yes. These things take time.”
“How did Ric behave with her?”
“As I expected, he started to cry, but then Violeta was there and talked to him. Soon Tatania broke in. The sweetness in her voice touched my heart and soon touched Ric’s. He stopped crying and let her feed him a bottle.”
Giovanni leaned forward and put his hands on either side of her legs. “It’s going to be all right. Thanks to you, Ric is going to grow up with his birth mother, who loves him. If you could have seen her with him... The baby has changed her.”
She nodded. “They’ve changed all of us. That’s what babies do.”
He was working up to something. “Valentina Montanari, I’m so deeply in love with you, I can’t wait any longer for this. While I’m on my knees, will you tell me the thing I want most to hear in this world?”
“That I want to be your wife? As if you didn’t know.” Suddenly she got down on the floor and showed Giovanni how she felt about him with a kiss that sent him reeling. He rolled her over so he could look down at the beautiful vision before him.
“Right now I could eat you alive and want to get married right away. Saturday if we can work it.”
“Saturday?” she half gasped. “Don’t you think we need to give Tatania time to deal with the fact that I’m going to be Ric’s stepmother? She’s not going to like sharing your baby with me.”
“Valentina—she knows we’ve been living together. Violeta has learned to like you very much. She’s seen the loving care you’ve given Ric. Trust me, it’s not going to be a problem.”
A shadow crossed over her face. “There are other considerations.”
“Name one.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t get married this fast.”
“Why not?”
She searched his eyes. “You haven’t even been divorced a year.”
“It doesn’t matter. No man knows our history except you and me. You know the truth of everything. That’s all that’s important. We fell madly in love that first day. I need you with me mentally, emotionally and physically as soon as possible.”
“I want that, too. You know I do.”
“If any couple ever needed a honeymoon, we do.” He kissed her again, long and hard.
When next she came up for air she said, “Don’t you know how much I want that, too? But I haven’t been for my six-week checkup yet. My doctor warned me to refrain from intimacy until he examines me.”
“How soon is your appointment?”
“Next Monday.”
“I guess I can wait that long. I want your doctor’s seal of approval, too. After we leave his office, we’ll get married.”
“But how can we do it so fast? Don’t we have to wait the customary three weeks?”
“I have connections that solve the problem. But I’m being selfish. If you want a big wedding that takes weeks and maybe months to plan, we’ll do it.”
She shook her head. “I think we’re both way beyond that.”
“Grazie a Dio.”
A soft laugh escaped her lips he couldn’t stop tasting.
“Where do you want to be married, adorata?” After he’d asked the question, he kissed her mouth again and again. She’d become his addiction. When she didn’t answer right away he said, “I’m going too fast for you, aren’t I?”
“No.” She pressed her forehead against his. “It’s what I love about you. No grass grows under your feet. Is there a church that has special meaning for you?”
“This wedding isn’t about me.”
“There’s a church in Naples near my parents’ villa the family has attended, but I don’t have a favorite place. Something tells me you do.”
“If the truth be known, I like the countryside church outside Laurito.”
“The little white one hidden in the trees?”
“You remember?” He kissed her neck.
“Of course. I found it charming.”
“For years I’ve been friends with the older priest who presides there.”
She smiled at him. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. Your ancestors came from that area.”
“What would you think if he marries us in a private ceremony? Afterward we’ll stay at the quaint locanda nearby for the night and drive home to the children the next day. Maybe two weeks after that we’ll throw a party at the villa for our families to announce our marriage. When we’re sure the babies can handle it, we’ll take an extended honeymoon.”
She wound her arms around his neck. “You know exactly what I think. I’m fathoms deep in love with you, Giovanni. My heart and soul are yours, but you’ve been aware of that from the first. It’s embarrassing how transparent I’ve been.”
“Embarrassing?”
“That first night when we took the babies home, I couldn’t wait for morning. If you hadn’t phoned, I would have phoned you. I thought to myself, ‘Signor Laurito will make this all right.’ Even then, I knew you had the answers for my whole life.”
“I had a revelation that you were the answer to mine,” he said in a half-savage tone. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear those words?”
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a blue diamond ring mounted in white gold. Finding her left hand, he found her ring finger and slid it home. “I had this made for you two weeks ago, but needed to find the right time to give it to you.”
Valentina held it up. “It’s beautiful. Oh, my love—” She pressed a hot kiss to his mouth. “You’re such a beautiful man, I can’t stop looking at you.”
Giovanni chuckled. “Don’t let anyone else hear you say that.”
“Any woman who hears me will be thinking the same thing.�
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He plundered her mouth once more. “We’ve got things to do. If you want to go to school, you know I’m behind you on that. Whatever happens we’re going to do everything together. You’ll have to cancel on your apartment.”
“I can’t think about anything right now. You’ve just proposed and I’m the happiest woman who ever lived.”
She didn’t know the half of it. “Do you think your father is still awake? I’d like to phone him and tell him how much I love his angelic daughter.”
“He has trouble sleeping. I’m sure a phone call from you will bring him a lot of peace. He’s been worried about me. While you do that, I’ll phone Rini. I want him to know our plans. He won’t say anything.”
“Let’s do it in a minute. I need another kiss to let me know I’m not dreaming all this.”
* * *
“Papà?” It was Sunday night. Giovanni had been waiting at the villa for the important call from him. Valentina was downstairs playing with the babies on the patio. “What’s the verdict?”
“Not good, figlio mio.”
“That means Salvatore has garnered enough votes to keep me out.”
“Afraid so. He’s outraged that you’re living with Valentina.”
“So being a grandfather hasn’t softened him up. For Tatania’s sake, that’s too bad.”
“My concern is for you. What are you going to do?”
“I have something in mind I’ve been considering for months.”
“What is that?”
“I’m going to branch out on my own, but it’s a subject for another day. I’ll be in touch with you again soon. Give Mamma my love.”
“Giovanni—wait!”
“I have to go. Buonanotte, Papà.”
He left the bedroom and went downstairs to the kitchen. Stanzie and Paolo were eating dinner. “I’m glad you’re both here. We need to talk.” He sat down at the table with them.
Stanzie’s eyes lit up. “Is this what I think? I saw the diamond on her finger. It’s the same blue as her eyes.”
Giovanni was warmed by her excitement. “The closest match I could find. After her doctor appointment tomorrow, we’ll be getting married at the church in Laurito in an evening ceremony.”
The Billionaire's Baby Swap Page 14