The Passion Price

by Miranda Lee

  Angelina looked up at her son. So handsome he was in his tuxedo. And so grown up. He’d matured considerably since Jake had come into his life. The two of them spent as much time together as they possibly could, obviously trying to make up for lost time.

  Angelina might have been jealous if both the men in her life hadn’t been so happy. Besides, Jake still found plenty of time for her. Quality time. In bed and out.

  The Wedding March started up, snapping Angelina out of her thoughts. Wilomena took her place in front of the bride and began the slow walk up the aisle, just as they had rehearsed. Angelina’s arms tightened around her son’s when her bouquet started to shake.

  ‘Relax, Mum,’ her son advised.

  ‘How can you be so calm?’ she cried.

  ‘Well, there’s nothing to be nervous about, is there? I mean…we all love each other here. Not only that, if I’m going to do Grandpa’s job, I want to do it with dignity and panache, like he would have.’

  Angelina’s stomach tightened at the mention of her father. ‘Do you think he’d mind my marrying Jake, Alex?’

  ‘Grandpa? Nah. He’d be happy, I reckon. Especially now.’

  ‘You mean because Jake’s turned out to be such a good man?’

  Alex stifled a laugh. ‘Come on, Mum. This is me you’re talking to. Because of the baby, of course! Dad told me all about it.’

  ‘He told you!’

  ‘Yeah, there are no secrets between Dad and me. He said it was all his fault, as usual.’

  ‘Oh…’

  ‘He also said if I ever get a girl pregnant this side of twenty-five, he’s going to skin me alive,’ Alex added with a grin. ‘Hey, we’d better start walking. Wil’s halfway up the aisle.’

  They started walking, Angelina’s head whirling. Jake had told Alex about the baby. And there she’d been, trying to hide her pregnancy, worried sick about what her son would think when he found out.

  ‘You don’t mind?’ she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

  ‘Why should I mind? I always wanted a little sister.’

  ‘You know it’s a girl as well?’

  ‘Yep. Dad’s tickled pink.’

  Which was true. Not that Jake had really cared if it was a boy or a girl. He just wanted them to have a baby together. He’d told her he wanted to experience fatherhood right from the start.

  ‘Smile, Mum,’ Alex ordered.

  She smiled. And then she smiled some more. Alex was right. They all loved each other here. There was nothing to worry about.

  Jake’s heart lurched when she smiled. Then lurched some more when her smile broadened. God, how he loved that woman!

  ‘What a babe,’ Kevin muttered beside him.

  ‘You can say that again,’ Jake returned before he realised Kevin’s eyes were on his fiancée across the way.

  Those two only had eyes for each other. Jake knew that for a fact. Since quitting his job, he’d been spending a lot of time up at the winery, helping out there till he worked out what he was going to do, career-wise. Probably start up his own law practice. Sally had already indicated that she was for hire, at the right price.

  He and Kevin had hit it off right from the start and when Angelina said she’d asked Wilomena to be her one and only bridesmaid, Jake had no hesitation in asking Kevin to be his best man.

  ‘Angelina looks pretty good too,’ Kevin added, and Jake laughed.

  He caught Sally’s eye in the third pew and gave her a wink. She winked back.

  Then he smiled at Dorothy, who was looking just a little tense.

  Dear Dorothy. Smart Dorothy as well. He would be forever grateful for the solution she’d come up with for a problem he had about names. The names of his children. He wanted both of them to have the same surname. His. But Alex was adamant about keeping Mastroianni as his surname and Jake could appreciate that. Still, with Dorothy’s help, he’d sorted that all out. He hoped Angelina would be pleased, he thought as his gaze returned to his lovely bride.

  Dorothy was determined not to cry during the ceremony, but she clutched a white lace-edged handkerchief in her hands, just in case. What a beautiful bride Angelina made. But what a handsome groom Jake was. Most touching of all was the way he was looking at the woman he loved as she came down the aisle. With so much tenderness. So much love.

  Oh, Edward. You would have been so proud of him today.

  But no prouder than she was. Maybe she wasn’t his mother by blood, but she was in her heart. And now there was a baby coming as well. A dear little baby girl for her to help mind. And to love.

  Oh, dear. She dabbed at her eyes.

  Jake tensed when the priest got to the part which he knew would come as a bit of a surprise to his bride.

  ‘And do you, Jake Mastroianni, take…?’

  Angelina reached out to touch the priest’s arm. ‘No, no,’ she murmured. ‘You’ve got it wrong. It’s Jake Winters.’

  ‘Not any more,’ Jake whispered to her. ‘I had my surname changed by deed poll. With Alex’s approval, of course. I’m a Mastroianni now.’ And he glanced over his shoulder at his son, who nodded to his mother with a wide smile.

  ‘You’ve taken my name?’ Angelina asked, looking pleased, but stunned.

  Jake sighed with relief. He’d done the right thing. After all, he had no real attachment to his own name. His poor mother had died some years back and he’d never known any of his other relatives. But it was rather ironic that he was to be called Mr Mastroianni from now on.

  I’ll try not to discredit your name in any way, came his silent promise to the proud Italian man who had once broken his nose.

  ‘Please go on,’ Jake directed the priest.

  The ceremony was a bit of a fog after that, Angelina not surfacing till Jake lifted the veil from her face and kissed her.

  His lips on hers felt slightly different this time. Softer. More tender. More loving.

  She looked up into her husband’s eyes, those beautiful blue eyes that could look so hard at times. But not today. And certainly not at this moment. They were soft and wet with tears.

  ‘Mrs Mastroianni,’ he choked out, and she realised, perhaps for the first time, just how much he did love her.

  ‘Mr Mastroianni,’ she returned softly, and touched his cheek. ‘My sweet darling. My only love.’

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-7306-5

  THE PASSION PRICE

  First North American Publication 2004.

  Copyright © 2004 by Miranda Lee.

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  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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