Sweet Italian Christmas: Three Christmas Romances

by Helen Scott Taylor

  A sob tore from Gina's throat. She had barely spoken this whole time, and now tears ran down her cheeks.

  Seth cradled her in his arms and kissed her wet face. "It's okay, baby. The creep will be out of your life for good."

  "I know," she snuffled. "I'm so relieved I can't believe it. I'm finally free of him."

  Chapter Eleven

  Wearing her apron to protect her dress, Gina sang along to the Christmas songs as she helped her mother prepare Christmas lunch. It was wonderful to be back where she belonged in the luxurious kitchen in Leo's house. Although in the few short weeks she'd been away, everything had changed.

  The threat of Nico's release from prison that had hung over her like a dark cloud for so many years had come and gone. The terrible threat had a silver lining. If she hadn't hidden from Nico, she would never have been thrown together with Seth.

  Gina grinned as she set out the antipasto on a plate, garnished the cold cuts with olives and cheese, and put them in the fridge. Seth was so gorgeous and wonderful and sexy. When they had finally fallen into bed yesterday after midnight mass and their Christmas Eve dinner, Seth had been so sweet. She'd never known that making love could be so tender.

  "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Trevathan."

  At the sound of Seth's words, Gina whipped around and ran across the room to him. She threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.

  "Buon Natale, my delicious husband." Gina stroked the silky hair on the back of his neck. He smelled so good after his shower, his hair still damp.

  "Can I do anything to help?" he asked.

  "How about you peel some vegetables?"

  "I can manage that. Buon Natale, Signora Marin," Seth said as he followed Gina across the kitchen.

  Gina's mother wiped her hands on a dishtowel, then came and kissed Seth on both cheeks, returning his greeting.

  Gina set a board on the breakfast bar for Seth with a vegetable knife and a bowl. He sat on a stool and started work.

  Her mamma laughed. "Only a few weeks and you already have that boy trained. Well done!"

  "Yes, he's perfect, Mamma."

  Her mother rolled her eyes. "None of them are perfect. You wait and see."

  Gina felt bad discussing Seth in Italian so he had no idea what they were saying. She slipped her arms around his waist and kissed the back of his neck to make up for talking about him.

  "What was that for?"

  "Because I love you," she said. And she did. So much she didn't want to let him go. She wanted to touch him all the time, to lean on him or hold his hand. When she was with him, the world seemed a little brighter and every moment was special. Even mundane things like peeling vegetables became fun.

  Christmas lunch was even more enjoyable than usual, with all her close family and Seth squashed around the table. "You'll have to buy a bigger table," she joked with Leo.

  "So I will." He laid his hand on Claire's baby bump and kissed her cheek. "We'll need to fit in a high chair soon."

  Later Gina took Seth into the family room to show him the presepe. "There, you see what we have instead of a Christmas tree. The bottom shelf is for the nativity scene, the next shelf for a village scene, then treats and sweets above that, and presents at the top."

  "That is some structure." Seth tapped the huge wooden presepe, a triangular-shaped box containing four shelves, with tiny lights draped over it. Just like a man to be more interested in how the presepe was constructed than in what was inside.

  After a few minutes, he crouched and checked out the nativity scene and village scene on the bottom two shelves. "Wow. I can see why you were disappointed by the few figurines for sale in the garden center in Cornwall. This is unbelievable." He picked up a small monkey and squinted at it. "There were monkeys present at the birth of Christ?"

  Gina giggled as she took it from his fingers and put it back. "We use our imagination."

  Everyone came into the family room and chatted over coffee while they shared a few of the nuts and candies out of the presepe.

  She'd asked her brothers to talk in English as much as possible when Seth was there, but it was difficult because her parents only spoke Italian. The conversation flowed, mainly in Italian, and Seth put his hand over his mouth to suppress a yawn.

  He stood and went to stare at the view of the Bay of Naples out the window. Gina followed and rested a hand on his back, feeling strangely protective of him now that they were in her world and he was the one out of his comfort zone. "Would you like to go for a walk? Just the two of us."

  "That'll be great. I'm not used to being inside so much."

  The weather was mild and sunny with a few fluffy clouds drifting across the sky, the Mediterranean sparkling. Gina put her arm through Seth's and they walked up the hill away from Leo's house, past the high walls and electric gates of their neighbors.

  Occasionally a dog barked, and the sound pinched Gina's heart. Tiff was staying with Scott. Although the sweet black dog had Aero for company, Gina still felt bad about leaving her at Christmastime. "Do you think Tiff misses me?"

  "I'm sure she does. You spoiled her rotten, allowing her on your bed, sneaking her bits of food, and throwing the ball for her all the time." He tutted and shook his head, but he couldn't restrain his smile.

  Gina hadn't imagined it was possible to miss cold, wet England, but she did miss dashing around Seth's yard, playing ball with Tiff, and cuddling in front of the log fire when it was cold and windy outside.

  She would never turn into a country girl—she liked the convenience of the city too much—but she would enjoy having her own land where she could walk and play with Tiff. "Can we buy a house a little farther out of town than Leo's? Somewhere up in the hills where we have a view but a nice garden as well?"

  • • •

  "Let me think about it, love." Seth stopped and rested a hand on the top of a low wall, staring down over the luxury villas to the city center and the curved Bay of Naples. There was no denying it was lovely here. And warm too. The last few winters in England had been so darn cold, he'd become fed up with them.

  He'd known Gina would want to live in Italy. She was close to her family, and he didn't want to keep them apart. Anyway, apart from Natalie, his closest family member was Emily, and she was here as well. It would also be great to see his godson regularly and watch him grow up. Yet he wasn't sure about living in Italy.

  Seth rubbed the back of his neck.

  "What's the matter?" Gina said.

  "Why do you think there's anything the matter?"

  "You rubbed your neck. You always do that when you're worried."

  Seth laughed and pulled her close, kissing her. He loved her so much. Today had been wonderful, seeing her so happy. Life was not going to be straightforward living with Gina, but she was his and he adored her. She needed him, but he needed her as well. They were a team, and being in the military had taught him how important teamwork was.

  "The truth is, I'm not sure I can learn to speak Italian. I was rubbish at French when I studied it at school."

  "Oh, Seth." Gina poked him playfully. "Of course you can learn. I'll teach you, and Emily will help. She taught Claire."

  "Did you know Savino really did offer me the job as his head of security at Marin Innovations?"

  "I thought he would."

  Seth gripped the back of his neck again and sucked in a breath. "Oh, Gina, what am I going to do?"

  "You're going to stay in Italy with me."

  Seth hugged her and rested his cheek on her hair. "I wish I could just forget my old life and start afresh here. Unfortunately life doesn't work like that." Before he could move, he had a lot to sort out in England.

  "I have to fly home on the fourth of January. I have an appointment at the bank on the fifth." He had a nasty feeling they were going to reduce his overdraft. If that happened, his outdoor pursuits business was finished.

  "Oh, Seth. You won't be here for Epiphany. That's important to us. In Italy it's like Christmas."
>
  "I know, darling. I don't want you to miss out. You stay here and celebrate with your family." Seth swallowed hard. He didn't want to be parted from Gina, but he didn't want to spoil her celebrations.

  Gina was quiet for a few minutes, snuggled against his chest as they both stared out over the view.

  Finally she looked up at him, her brown eyes warm with love. "I'd rather come home with you."

  "Are you sure?"

  "I want to be with you, Seth. We'll celebrate Epiphany together. I made us stockings when I was at Home Farm. Anyway, I can't let you go home on your own or you'll start eating those horrible processed dinners again."

  Seth laughed and hugged her tighter. Gina was his life now, and if that meant coming to Italy to live, that was what he'd do.

  The truth was, life as he knew it had been swept away by the flood in Robin's Cove a year ago. It was time to move on to a new challenge. Learning Italian and running the security operation at Marin Innovations would keep him busy.

  "We won't stay in England for long. I'll sell everything in Cornwall, and we'll move here and buy a place in the country with a big garden. I might even buy myself a few orchards and fields and start a small holding. That will give you something to do while I'm at work. You can dig the ground and pick the fruit. That's much better exercise than the gym."

  He jumped away to avoid her flying hand as she aimed for his backside. She chased after him and he ran up the hill, gasping he was laughing so hard. At the top, they collapsed on a bench in each other's arms.

  Seth breathed in the sweet fragrance of Gina's hair and closed his eyes. He had never been happier.

  "We'll have to get married again," Gina said as she caught her breath. "Mamma says we aren't properly married in the eyes of God unless we speak our vows in front of the priest."

  "Anything you want, darling." Seth would remarry her every year if it made her happy.

  Gina was the most important thing in his life, and he couldn't see that ever changing.

  Epilogue

  The sun beat down upon the white limousine as it glided to a stop outside the golden sun-kissed stone walls of the local family church where Gina had worshiped her whole life. She clutched her bright bouquet of red and yellow roses, and shivered with anticipation. She was so excited, she had barely managed to sit still during the drive up the hill from Leo's house.

  Her mother opened the car door, and Gina stepped out while her father got out the other side. The perfume of flowering verbena drifted on the breeze from the nearby gardens.

  Tiff barked and tugged on the leash that Violet was holding, towing the little girl out of the shade of a gnarled old olive tree.

  "Come here, my sweet doggy girl." Gina stroked Tiff's velvet ears and bent to kiss her head, drawing a cry of displeasure from her mother.

  "Mind your dress. That dog will dirty it."

  "Tiff's not dirty, Mamma. I gave her a bath yesterday. Stop fussing." She now knew why they'd never had a dog when she was growing up. Her mother was not a dog person.

  Gina adjusted the red and yellow ribbons around Tiff's neck, and Violet tugged her leash and took her back into the shade.

  "Let me look at you." Gina's mother beamed at her. "My beautiful girl. You are the prettiest bride in all of Italy." Her mamma kissed her on both cheeks and squeezed her hands. "We are so proud of you. Aren't we, Papa?"

  "Of course. You make a beautiful bride and you have chosen well, Gina. A good steady man to look after you."

  "Pftt." Her mother rolled her eyes. "Gina will look after him."

  "No. We'll look after each other, Mamma."

  Her mother nodded as she arranged Gina's veil. "Wise words. Our girl has grown into a sensible woman. That young man is lucky to have such a wife."

  Gina smoothed a hand down the front of her simple ivory satin sheath dress. She'd planned something fancy and elaborate, but in the end she'd not even ordered a custom design. She'd picked out a ready-made wedding dress. She and Seth had been too busy restoring the old farmhouse they'd bought for her to have time to spend long on shopping.

  Seth's daughter, Natalie, approached, looking so grown up with her long blond hair artfully arranged on her head, clad in a cornflower-blue sheath dress of a design similar to Gina's.

  "You look beautiful," Natalie said in Italian.

  "Grazie." Gina kissed her cheeks and the teen beamed at her. She'd spent her Easter school vacation in Italy and had picked up Italian quickly. She was thinking of moving in with them permanently and transferring to an Italian school.

  Violet wore a cornflower-blue dress of the same satin fabric only in a looser style, and Giorgio wore his little gray shorts with a white shirt and blue bow tie.

  Gina took her father's arm and climbed the steps to the church door, then waited while her mother organized the children.

  Violet walked behind her with Tiff on her leash, then Natalie came next, holding Giorgio's hand so he didn't run around screaming.

  The mandolin played and as soon as her mother had gone in, Gina and her father followed.

  They stepped inside the welcome shade of the church, paced through the vestibule into the nave, and started down the aisle.

  Seth stood in front of the priest, so handsome in his dove-gray suit and red cravat. His blond hair stood out among the sea of dark heads. He turned and smiled at her as she passed between the pews full of her family and friends. As she progressed, Leo and Claire's five-month-old baby boy, Matteo, let out a wail.

  Claire passed him to Leo, who cradled him against his shoulder and rubbed his back. The little boy stopped crying and blinked big brown eyes at Gina as she passed. Savino stepped out and took Giorgio's hand, leading him to his place in the pew.

  As Gina stopped beside Seth, Giorgio started shouting, "Doggy, doggy."

  "Can the dog sit with us?" Savino said in a stage whisper. Gina glanced over her shoulder, grinning as her sophisticated brother, who ran a billion-dollar company and was used to people doing what he told them, tripped over Tiff and got dog hair on his trousers.

  This was normal for Marin family gatherings now. Gina could barely remember a time when there had not been small children to entertain everyone. Once she'd thought she would never have children of her own, even though she loved them. She hadn't believed she'd cope with a child when she had trouble managing her own mental state.

  Things were different now. With Seth by her side to help her, she knew she would love being a mamma. As the priest started the service, Gina smiled at Seth and slid her fingers into his palm.

  This man was her rock. Whether she was feeling up or down, Seth helped keep her feet on the ground. He'd encouraged her to do things she'd never dreamed she was capable of. She'd discovered she had a gift for interior design, and was even good with a paintbrush. They had so many plans for the new farmhouse, she didn't have time to dwell on herself anymore.

  After they'd exchanged vows, Seth slipped her wedding ring back where it belonged on her finger beside the huge diamond she'd chosen as her engagement ring. Then the priest pronounced them husband and wife.

  Pulling her close, Seth kissed her, smiling against her lips as everyone clapped and Matteo started crying again.

  "Time to make our escape, I think," Seth whispered. "The soft bed in our lovely remote farmhouse seems very inviting right now."

  Gina swiped him on the arm. "Not yet. We have a wedding reception to attend."

  "I know, darling. I'm looking forward to it." He kissed the end of her nose.

  With the mandolin players competing valiantly with Matteo's wailing, Gina and Seth walked outside into the sun and ducked beneath the shower of rice as their relatives wished them love and happiness for the rest of their lives.

  If you enjoyed the Sweet Italian Christmas trilogy and would like to be the first to hear about Helen's new releases, please sign up for her NEWSLETTER.

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