by Lilly LaRue
Molly nodded. “I know. He told me.” She struggled to tame her emotions. “It’s for the best. In two years, we can get a divorce, and it will be like this never happened.” She sounded more confident than she felt. How could she ever forget the night she’d spent with Aronne, or the disastrous fallout? As he’d so eloquently said at their ceremony, at least it couldn’t get any worse.
Chapter Three
Two years later…
Molly answered the phone on the third ring. “Hello?”
“It’s Margot.”
“What’s up?”
Margot sighed. “Sophia had a heart attack.”
“Oh no.” Molly moved to the couch before her legs gave out on her. “Is she okay?” She superstitiously crossed her fingers.
“We think so, but she wants you both to come to the hospital.”
“Of course.” She smiled at Cara, who was trying to fit a square block in a triangle opening on her shape ball. “We’ll leave in a few minutes.”
“Molly—”
Frowning at her severe tone, Molly said, “Are you sure she’s going to make it? You sound so worried.”
“I’m pretty sure Sophia will be fine, but you should know Aronne is flying in to see her.”
Molly sagged. A plethora of emotions swept through her, but she forced herself to sound unconcerned when she said, “Good. She’s been missing him, and it will give us a chance to start the divorce proceedings.”
There was silence on Margot’s end for a long second. “What about Cara?”
Biting her lip, she fought for control. “What about her? He has no interest in her, and that’s fine. I’d rather keep it that way.”
“If you say so.” She didn’t sound convinced. “We’ll see you when you arrive.”
“Sure.”
As soon as Molly hung up, she gathered up the toys strewn on the floor to toss them in the toy box near the entertainment center. Cara, showing off her newly acquired walking skills, stood up and toddled after her as she went into the kitchen to grab some toddler snacks before refilling the diaper bag, not knowing how long they would be at the hospital, or if Sophia would even be allowed to see her granddaughter. It was unlikely if she was in ICU—unless she was so severely ailing that it might be her last chance.
Her heart squeezed in her chest at the thought. After their shaky start, she had been surprised when Sophia and Santo welcomed her into the family when they found out she was pregnant. At first, she had assumed it would be a polite interaction to facilitate them seeing the baby after she was born, but they had been warm. Sophia treated Margot and Molly both like the daughters she’d never had, which was something both girls had severely lacked from their own mother. Tracey was a socialite and had always been more content at a party than playing with her children. That attitude had continued even after they’d grown up under the care of their various nannies.
It was a horrible thought, but she couldn’t help wishing it had been her mother instead of Sophia who was in the hospital. Part of that reasoning was Aronne would have had no reason to come home then. She lifted Cara, burying her head in the soft brown curls. By some curse of fate, she looked a lot like her father, but with Molly’s hazel eyes. She was a beautiful little girl, but it hurt to look at her sometimes, when memories overwhelmed her.
“It’s his loss,” she said, kissing Cara’s cheek as she straightened her sundress. That was something she believed whole-heartedly. He hadn’t wanted anything to do with the baby, so he was the one missing out. Cara had lots of other men in her life that cared about her. If things worked out with Carter, maybe she would even have a permanent father-figure. Thinking of Carter made her feel secure, everything she didn’t feel with Aronne. There wasn’t a great passion between them—though she hadn’t made love with him yet, so maybe it would develop—but they were good friends, and he adored her daughter.
Pushing aside her thoughts, she carried Cara into the garage and loaded her into the car seat. They were underway within minutes and arrived at St. Andrews within twenty minutes. They walked into the emergency room a few minutes later, and she found Margot waiting for her.
They exchanged a hug, and Cara reached for her aunt. Margot took her gladly, blowing on her neck to elicit a delighted giggle before her expression turned serious. “They’ve put Sophia in a room in the cardiac wing, but she’s not in intensive care or anything.”
Relief swept through her. “Thank goodness.” She followed Margot through the hospital, to the elevator. They disembarked a few minutes later and walked down the hall to Sophia’s room.
She wondered about them allowing this many visitors, but figured a little name-dropping had led the medical staff to overlook standard rules for the Giannis family. To her surprise, Sophia was sitting up, looking pale and haggard, but otherwise okay. Molly rushed forward, bending down to press a kiss to her motherin-law’s cheek. “How are you feeling?”
“I feel like Santo is standing on my chest,” she said with a smile. Being so delicate in comparison to her husband’s rounder frame, it would be a painful experience if he had been. “Other than that, I am fine and ready to go home.”
Cristiano, Santo, and Margot all said a firm no at the same time.
With a sigh, Sophia held out her arms. “At least let me cuddle my grandbaby.”
Margot transferred her, careful of the wires and monitors.
Molly held her breath, wondering if the oxygen mask and various machines would frighten Cara. After a small lip wobble, she reached out to pull on the hose, dislodging the cannula from Sophia’s nose. Her grandmother laughed with delight and murmured nonsensical words of affection while cuddling her.
Time passed, and they all took a turn running down to the cafeteria for each other. Cara passed out in Molly’s arms about an hour after her normal bedtime. She curled up on the hard couch, holding her baby, and reminded herself she needed to leave soon. Not yet though, since she wouldn’t risk coming back for a visit tomorrow. Aronne would certainly have arrived from Rio by then, and she had no wish to see him for the first time in two years at Sophia’s sickbed. In all honesty, she wanted to never see him again, but would make an exception for signing the divorce papers. There definitely wouldn’t be a custody hearing, so they should be able to settle everything with their lawyers, since they wanted nothing from each other.
♥♥♥
Aronne rushed to his mother’s room as soon as he got the number from the flirtatious little nurse at the desk. Cristiano had given him updates, but he was still fearful. The entire time he’d been trying to make it back, he’d tortured himself with the thought that he wouldn’t arrive in time.
He’d also come to the conclusion that it was time to come home. Two years had passed, so he could rid himself of the albatross of a wife and never see her again. He frowned, finding less pleasure in the thought than he’d expected.
As soon as he entered the room, he saw his father dozing in one chair near his mother’s bed. Cristiano and his wife sat side-by-side in two other chairs, and someone lay on the couch. He looked at his mother and walked over to her. “Mamma?”
Sophia blinked. Her eyes were warm, and her mouth curved in a smile. A second later, the welcoming look dimmed. “I told Cristiano you wouldn’t need to come. I am fine.”
He swallowed his hurt. “I wanted to make sure for myself.”
She nodded, eventually taking his hand. “It is good to see you.”
The note of stiffness always in her tone during their weekly phone calls remained even now. She had been distant for more than a year. At first, he’d thought it had something to do with his debacle with the Powers girl, but it hadn’t started until several months after the wedding. It was perplexing, but she had resisted his efforts to discuss it, claiming he didn’t want to know when he tried asking about it. It was frustrating. “It’s good to see you too, Mamma.”
“Get a chair and come sit by me.” She pointed to the corner, at a lone chair near the couch.
&
nbsp; They had awakened, and Aronne nodded to Margot and Cristiano as he went to get the chair. He’d prepared himself for the force of Margot’s eyes, steeled himself against responding to her, and was pleasantly relieved to discover he had no untoward reaction to his brother’s wife. Two years had eliminated that forbidden attraction.
Leaning down to pick up the chair, he froze as he recognized the figure sleeping on the couch. What the hell was she doing here? He almost roared the question, but found himself speechless when he looked down and saw a baby lying in the crook of her arm. She opened hazel eyes that looked just like her mother’s and smiled at him. The sweet expression hit him in the solar plexus, taking his breath. Without thought, he reached out a hand to touch the little round face. As he did so, Molly jumped, and her eyes flew open too. Unlike the baby she held, there was no smile on her face. He automatically stepped back under the force of hatred in her gaze.
Molly sat up, clutching the baby to her protectively.
When he got a good look at the baby, it was like being hit all over again. How could he fail to recognize her face, when he looked at one very similar several times per day, whenever he glanced at a mirror? “Who is that?” His angry tone made the baby and Molly flinch.
She glared up at him. “Who do you think it is, Aronne?”
“I have no idea.”
She snorted. “I guess you assumed I just had an abortion. That would be easiest, right?”
Aronne collapsed into the chair, suddenly unable to stand as her implication hit him. “Is she mine?” The question seemed to come from far away, summoned by something other than his brain, which still spun. The fire spitting from her eyes let him know he’d asked the wrong question, though he wasn’t sure why.
“You bastard. Is that why you refused to have anything to do with her? Did you really think she was someone else’s?” She leaned forward. “Or did you just hope, so you wouldn’t have to upset your life with a baby?”
He caught his breath at her confirmation. Anger stirred in him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Molly blinked, clearly stunned, and Margot’s gasp filled the room, reminding them they weren’t alone. “I sent you two letters, an ultrasound picture, and her birth photo. You never replied, and the last two packages came back marked ‘return to sender’, so I stopped trying. It didn’t take long for me to realize you had as little interest in my daughter as you did me.”
He winced at the accusation. “I never read them,” he said softly. He hadn’t wanted to encourage her to continue writing, and he hadn’t wanted to face up to any reminders of how deplorably he’d behaved with the woman who was his wife, so he’d thrown away the first two unopened. With the third package, he’d decided to be a little harsher by sending it back, trying to get across the message he didn’t want to hear from her. He’d done the same with the last envelope, having expected to feel relieved when the letters stopped coming. Instead, he had been more disappointed than anything that she had given up.
He turned an accusing gaze to his brother. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Cristiano shrugged. “You put an embargo on any discussion of your wife or marriage. After you hung up on all of us a couple of times when we attempted to broach the subject, we no longer tried.” He frowned. “We didn’t realize you were such a coward that you hadn’t even read the letters Molly sent.”
Aronne stiffened at the insult, but didn’t respond in kind. Instead, he returned his gaze to Molly, who seemed as shocked as he was. “I didn’t know.”
After a moment, her expression changed, and her mouth became a thin line. “It doesn’t matter. You can’t pretend like you would have done anything differently had you known.”
“I would have been here.” Her skeptical look made him angrier, but also filled him with discomfort. He couldn’t fault her for having that opinion.
Cara babbled something that ended with, “Mommy, where Puppy?”
Molly’s face softened as she looked down at their daughter, and he found it hard to breathe. He quaked under the strength of her obvious love, and his stomach clenched as it started to sink in just how much he had missed.
“He’s right here.” Holding the baby with one hand, she reached down, fumbling for a bag near her feet. He lifted it and handed it to her. Molly didn’t look at him as she took the bag and extracted a purple stuffed dog. The baby squealed and lunged for it. He put up his hands to catch her, expecting her to keep flying, but Molly steadied her with an ease born from practice.
She looked over at Sophia. “I’m going home now, Sophia, but we’ll come visit you in a day or two.” Molly stood up, holding the girl in one arm and lifting the bag with the other.
Automatically, Aronne stood up too. “Wait.”
She didn’t even look at him. Her generic goodnight parting was meant for everyone except him. Though exhausted from his frantic trip, he followed her out to the corridor. “Wait, Molly.”
She paused after taking another step, turning her head to look near him, not at him. “What?”
“We need to talk.”
She arched a brow. “I can’t see any reason. Have your attorney contact mine. She’s Crystal Sharaton. The divorce petition is ready to file once we sign. I was just waiting for our two-year anniversary, but I think your parents will cut us some slack now. We’re only ten days short of that happy occasion.” Sarcasm dripped from her words.
“What about her?”
“What about her? You’ve missed fifteen months, Aronne. She doesn’t need you.” This time when she walked away, he let her go, his mind in turmoil as he returned to his mother’s hospital room, trying to absorb that he had not only abandoned his new bride, but also his own daughter. It seemed impossible to believe he had behaved so terribly. Again. Could he do anything but make mistakes with Molly?
Chapter Four
Molly was relieved not to see Aronne for several days, somehow able to time her visits to Sophia with his absences. She was still reeling from the knowledge he hadn’t bothered to read her letters and hadn’t known about Cara. How could he have been so immature? Did he imagine she’d been writing him heartfelt letters full of desperate love, begging him to return to her? She snorted at the thought.
Her luck ran out as she and Cara returned home after an afternoon outing with Carter. He parked his sedan in her driveway, and she groaned when she saw Aronne standing on her porch.
“What’s wrong?” asked Carter.
“That.” She pointed to Aronne.
“Is that him?” Usually mild-mannered, he sounded irked. “Is that your almost ex-husband?”
“He can’t be my ex fast enough.”
“Do you want me to walk you up?”
Molly shook her head. “I might as well get it over with, and I think the talk will go faster if we’re alone.” She leaned forward to press a small kiss to Carter’s mouth. “Thanks for a nice day.”
“You’re welcome. I had a great time at the zoo.”
“So did Cara,” she said as she got out. “Poor baby is exhausted.” Molly retrieved her daughter, leaving the car seat, since it was one Carter kept in his car. She waved as he backed away, glad he had given in gracefully to her request to face Aronne alone. Not that she’d expected anything different from him. He respected her wishes and didn’t treat her like crap—more than her darling husband could say.
He made no secret of his annoyance when she stepped onto the porch. “Who the hell was that?”
“My boyfriend,” she said, striving for a cool tone. “Hold this.” She tried to thrust the diaper bag at him, but he snatched Cara from her before she could stop him. “Give me back my daughter.”
“She’s my daughter too,” he said in a soft voice that still smoldered with antagonism.
After a second, she turned to unlock the door and stepped inside the small bungalow. The air conditioner had made it pleasantly cool. She held the door until he’d crossed the threshold before closing it. “Follow me. You can put her in her room, s
o we can talk.”
Every one of her senses tingled, and she didn’t know why, other than his presence. It definitely couldn’t be physical attraction, because that had died long ago. The last trace of any kind of warm feelings for him had disappeared the night she gave birth to Cara by herself. Well, she’d had Margot and her midwife, but not a loving partner. Accepting, finally, at that moment she would never have one in Aronne, she had forced herself to move on.
She opened the nursery door and let him precede her. Proud of the décor, which she had done mostly by herself, she watched him assess it, knowing he couldn’t find it lacking. Like a hawk, she watched him carry Cara to the crib and lay her in it. She held her breath, waiting to see if the baby would stir, but she didn’t. Instead, she curled into a ball and kept sleeping.
Molly clicked on the monitor and gestured for him to leave the room. Preparing for the likelihood of raised voices, she closed the door and led him into the living room. “Have a seat.” Before taking a chair herself, she turned on the portable monitor she kept on a side table. Not bothering with social niceties, like offering him a drink, she asked, “What’s on your mind?”
“Cara.”
So, someone had told him her name, meaning he probably knew more than that. “Why?”
He looked put out. “She’s my daughter. It’s natural to think about her.”
She waved a hand. “You’ll get over it once the shock wears off. By the time you’re back in Rio, you won’t even remember her.”
“I’m not going back to Brazil.”
Molly blinked. “I see. Why not?”
“I’d already decided to stay when Mamma had her stroke. Now, I have another reason to stay too.”
She shook her head. “No.”
He frowned. “What do you mean, no?”
“There’s no place for you in her life.”
He scowled. “I suppose your boyfriend fills that slot?”
She shrugged. “He adores her, and she loves him.”
Aronne got to his feet, pacing. “Did it ever occur to you that married women shouldn’t have boyfriends?”