She smiled again. “I know. Now, tell me what happened.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”
“Ah.”
“I think Luca thinks I did it on purpose, but I swear I didn’t. When I tried to explain to him that I hadn’t planned it and he didn’t need to think I would ask him for support and financial help because I would take care of the situation myself, he got the entirely wrong impression and thought I wanted to get rid of the baby.”
“Oh dear,” she murmured sympathetically.
“He was absolutely furious, Melania. I’ve never seen him in such a rage. He even said, if I didn’t want the baby, I should hand it over to him when it is born. It is all such a mess. The thing I can’t understand is how I could possibly get pregnant when I am on the pill and I have never missed a day or changed the times I take it.”
She looked at me curiously. “Have you ever been sick or vomited? Because that can stop the pill from being effective too.”
I frowned as I tried to think. “No, I don’t think so,” I began, only to stop and stare at Melania in horror. “Oh my God,” I whispered.
Yes, I remembered clearly that I had been sick, the night before I met Luca. I’d just taken the pill, then Salvatore had asked me to take him into my mouth. I was so disgusted I had gagged, and then been actually sick in the toilet. Since I had skipped dinner, only liquid had come out. And it never even crossed my mind that my pill could have come out too.
“Oh my God, Melania. I was sick the night before I met Luca. Should I tell Luca about it? Explain to him how it happened?”
She shook her head. “No, that’s not a good idea. He’s not ready to hear that. He’s heard it before.”
“What do you mean?”
Through the window, I saw Luca’s car on the driveway. It was traveling away from the house. I jumped off the stool, ran to the window and watched it until it disappeared out of sight.
“Luca,” I breathed. It felt as if he was gone forever.
“Come here, Madam. I have something to tell you.”
I walked back slowly to the counter and sat down. I felt dead inside.
“Before the master bought this house, he lived in a big mansion in the heart of Boston. He had many admirers who used to come to the house. Sometimes they would even stay a few nights with him. One of them was a woman called Alessa. I have to admit I was completely fooled by her. She was the warmest friendliest woman who he had ever brought to the house. She had dark hair and she laughed easily.”
She turned her head away from me and looked out of the window.
“I actually hoped he would settle down with her, but he didn’t and after two weeks it was over for him. Even though she was gone she used to call me and treat me as if she truly cared about me. About a month later she came back to see the master. She was pregnant. I heard the argument they had. She pretended one of the condoms must have been torn, but I remembered something. I once saw a used condom stuffed under her pillow. Somehow, she had taken the used condoms and impregnated herself.
“I didn’t tell anyone what I saw and that was my mistake. If I had he would have been forewarned and known not to trust her. He married her. Once he married her she changed. All the warmth was gone. She treated me coldly, as if I was nothing more than her servant. I think she thought the master would come to love her, but as time passed he moved further and further away from her. In his heart he knew that somehow she had tricked him.”
I inhaled sharply. Now I knew why he had looked at me as if he was seeing me for the first time. He thought I had tricked him too!
Melania continued with her story. “But when the baby was born was when things really took a turn for the worse. She had mistakenly thought that it was her pregnant body that he did not want and once she had given birth to the baby he would start to want her again. The opposite happened. He completely lost interest in her and fell in love with the baby instead. I had never before and never since seen a man love a child the way he did. He loved that child more than he loved himself. He would have walked into fire for his son. Actually, there is nothing he would not have done for that boy.
“And Alessa, she simply grew more and more bitter. She was jealous of her own son. He was such a good child, but one time I came into his room and I saw her pinching him for no reason at all. I was so shocked I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to tell on her, but I knew the child had to be protected and most of its care entrusted to another person so I advised the master to get a nanny.
“Once the nanny arrived she would only see the child when the master was in the house. Then she would pretend to love him, and touch him, and coo at him. By this time, the master had moved out of her bedroom.
“He was two when it happened. The nanny had called in sick and I had already planned to keep the baby with me for the morning, but I had an urgent order to make for the kitchen. I thought I would make it first so they could deliver it later that evening, then go to his room, but before I could even finish the order I heard her wailing and screaming. When I ran out she was at the bottom of the steps curled over his dead body.
“The coroner said he died from a broken neck. He did not suffer. He died on the spot. He ruled it an accident. But I knew. And the master knew. It was no accident. I don’t know why she did it. It was not as if it would make the master stop loving the boy and love her instead. It was just so completely senseless. So inhuman. So heartless. So unforgivable.
“The coffin was white. I’d never seen a coffin so small. She wore a black designer dress and a black veil to the funeral. In her hand she held a white handkerchief with a lace border which she used to dab at her dry eyes. For the first time since I’d been with the master I saw him sobbing. He fell on his knees next to the coffin and sobbed. Once the funeral was over we all came back to the house. I couldn’t even look at her.
“That night she called me and asked me to bring her a glass of warm milk. I remember that night well. She was lying on her bed wearing a soft pink negligee and her matching fluffy pink high-heeled slippers. She did not look sad or unhappy. In fact, she was watching a rerun of Pretty Woman on her iPad. She had already taken her make-up off, and I could see that her eyes were not red or swollen from crying. She had killed the only ray of light and laughter in that house and she looked completely unperturbed. As if nothing had happened. I thought then that I hated her and I wished I didn’t have to work for her.
“My wish came true. That was the last time I saw her. The next morning, she was nowhere to be found. A few days later her body was fished out of a river. She was wearing a full face of make-up, the black dress she had worn to the funeral and a bit of the black veil she had worn was still stuck to her hair. She had lost her shoes in the river, but in her closet the black Jimmy Choo shoes she had worn to the funeral were missing.”
I gasped in shock and Melania nodded.
“Yes, it was revenge. An eye for an eye. A life for a life. It is their way and for once I cannot condemn it. The story that ran in the paper was she was so distraught by her son’ death she had committed suicide. Everybody in the house knew it was not true, but no one spoke about it. No one mourned for her. But ever since then the master changed. He became unrecognizable. He sold that house, bought this place and installed all his old staff here, but he hardly ever came to stay, and he never brought women here… until you.”
I took a deep breath. It was a shocking story. “Oh my God. What a terrible, terrible story.”
“Yes, it is a terrible story. Now do you understand why he reacted the way he did?”
“My God, he thought I wanted to kill his unborn child. No wonder he wanted me to hand the baby over when it was born.”
“Yes, the scar has never healed. I honestly think he was falling for you, but unfortunately this happened.”
“What should I do?” I whispered.
“Nothing. Do nothing. He must defeat his own demons and find his way to you. Stay here and be yourself. One day he will r
ealize you are not her. You are an angel who has come to save his life.”
My eyes filled with tears. “I love him so much, Melania.”
“I know,” she said and covered my hand with hers. “But you are strong and you can do this. Only you can save him.”
Chapter 52
Skye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t99KH0TR-J4
-The Show Must Go On-
Luca did not come back in one day or two, or three, or four, or five. The days became a week and then two weeks. My heart ached with his loss. Then my father came back from Switzerland. I sent a message to Luca’s phone to ask if I could bring my father to stay for a while at Torrington Hall. It would be good for him, I explained. The fresh air, the clean, wholesome food, the beauty of the land. After an hour he sent his reply.
Yes.
I stared at the one-word message for a long time. It felt as if a knife had pierced my heart. Eventually, I found the strength to answer him.
Thank you. It really means a lot to me.
Then I put my phone away and I went for a walk. I knew me being depressed and unhappy was bad for the tiny life growing inside me so deliberately I turned my thoughts away from Luca and thought of how lucky I was to be living in such splendor. And better still my father and Laura could come here and benefit from all this beauty too. The snow was beginning to melt and I began to look forward to spring.
When I started to tire I went back to the house. Madam was waiting for me with a cup of her special hot chocolate. I didn’t know how she knew I was hurt, but she always did.
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “Have faith. He will come around.”
I sat by the fireplace and drank the chocolate. When my father came back from his stay abroad, Sergio went to pick him and Laura up and bring them over. I was so happy to see him. He looked bright and alive. His skin had lost its papery feel. As for them they couldn’t believe how beautiful Torrington Hall was. They went around in a stunned daze. I installed them in the east wing where they could have some privacy. Also I knew Laura would want to have Diana over and I figured this way she could come in through the east entrance and go straight to their suite of rooms. I would not need to see her.
My father and I walked the grounds together. We talked and laughed. One day, he put his hand on my belly and with tears in his eyes told me, he was so proud of me sometimes it felt as if his heart would burst out of his chest.
The weeks turned into a month.
One night, I was fast asleep when I felt him come to me.
Instantly, I opened my arms and he slipped my clothes over my head, pulled my panties down my legs, and entered me. I could smell the alcohol on his breath as I held on tightly to him while he thrust into me like a man possessed. A man who could take it no more and snapped.
When I climaxed it was suddenly over very quickly.
He pulled away from me then and sat at the edge of the bed with his hands clawed in his hair. I knew he had not come yet. He looked so tormented that my heart bled for him. When I reached out to touch him, he jerked away and looked at my naked body the way a man who despises his weakness looks at the object of his addiction. With a groan of self-loathing, he stood, zipped up his trousers and left.
I had taken to talking to my child so I put my hand on my stomach and told my little seed that everything would be fine. He just needed to find his way home again. Valentine’s Day came and went. Luca never came or even called. Madam bought me a little cupcake with a red heart on it and a card. The message on the card said, One day. One day.
I slipped into his bedroom one morning. He had not been there for weeks, but the faint smell of his cologne lingered in the air. I walked to his bed and lay on it. Obviously, the pillowcases had been changed a long time ago, but I still buried my face in his pillows. When I turned my head and looked at the bedside table, I found myself looking into the laughing eyes of a small, dark-haired child. I reached out a hand and touched the innocent face. He seemed so alive, so vital.
God, how could she? How could she?
One month rolled into another and another. I went for my scan. “Oh, look at his little willie, the nurse,” joked.
I went back home. “It’s a boy,” I told Melania, with tears in my eyes.
“Time for some hot chocolate,” she said with a sad smile.
I sat by the fireplace and drank my hot chocolate quietly. I was preparing myself to call Luca. When even the last dregs of chocolate were gone, I picked up my phone and called him. He answered on the third ring.
“I went for a scan today. It’s a boy,” I whispered.
He made a sound. It was a cross between a sob and grunt of pain. Then the line went dead in my hand. I put the phone down and gently laid both my hands on my swelling belly.
“See, your daddy loves you so much, he can’t even speak,” I told my unborn son.
Then I went to find Melania. She had become like a mother to me. Laura could never really be my mother because Diana was so possessive of her. Now Melania had become that figure I’d always craved. I lay on her bed and must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up it was morning and Melania was gone. I could see by the dent in her pillow that she had slept next me.
Spring came and it was beautiful. There were fields of daffodils on the grounds. The morning sickness and the tiredness were all gone and I walked the beautiful grounds for hours. My father went for his operation. I hoped I would see Luca at the hospital or that he would at least call, but he never did. I ran in to Diana once at the hospital and I could see that she was heading my way, her eyes on my belly, but I turned around and walked away from her. I was not letting her poisonous eyes touch my child.
He was my gift to Luca. The most precious thing I could give him.
Two nurses came to live at the house. They cared for my father day and night and he became strong quickly. It might have been Torrington Hall. It might have been all the love Laura and I poured into him, but his recovery surprised even his doctors.
My flowers began to bloom. John stood beside me.
“Wow! They are amazing. You have green fingers,” he said.
“Thank you, John.” I was proud of myself.
“Shall I cut them and take them up to the house for you?”
I turned to him with a smile. “No, let them stay here. They’ll brighten up the place for us.”
He smiled back. “You know you’re right. They really brighten up the pIace. I think we should plant more flowers.”
“I think so too,” I said. In a way, I think I had become the daughter he lost. Quite often I invited him up to the house to eat dinner with my father, Laura, and me. On those days, he would drink too much ale, and sleep over in one of the spare rooms.
A wedding invitation arrived from Sienna. My heart began to beat like a drum. I knew Luca would be there. I carefully detached the reply and sent it off. An unworthy part of me said, maybe he was already with another woman. Maybe he would even bring someone else, but I refused to listen to it. He will find his way back to me.
One day. One day.
My stomach was getting bigger and bigger. It was the beginning of summer and I was six months pregnant when a woman came to the house. She told me she had been hired as a nanny for my child. It hurt like crazy, but I understood instantly. Luca didn’t trust me with his child. I gave her a room in the house. It was good that this big cold house was filling up with people, and voices, and laughter.
Not mine. Not yet.
Chapter 53
Skye
The Wedding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfihYWRWRTQ
-Love Me Again-
The wedding was held in an abbey in the old town of Portofino.
I sat in my lavender dress with my father and stepmother. My stomach felt tight with nerves. A door to the side of the altar opened and Angelo came out. He was wearing a morning suit and he looked like the happiest man on earth. Luca, who was Angelo’s best man, followed behind.
He did not look for me.
My father reached out and squeezed my hand. I looked at him and his expression said, chin up, you can do this. I nodded and smiled at him. Today, I was determined, would be all sunshine and rainbows. At that moment the music changed and there was a noise at the back of the abbey. We all turned to watch the incoming train of almost twenty bridesmaids and groomsmen, dressed in baby pink floaty chiffon dresses and pristine white suits.
As Sienna came closer, I could not help but be amazed by how fabulous she looked. The new mother and blushing bride was dressed in a beautiful lace and pearl embroidered wedding dress that made her look like a fairytale princess. She was so petite no one would have ever been able to guess she’d had a baby only two months earlier. I wondered if I’d be able to snap back as quickly as she had. Unconsciously, I rubbed my belly.
“Two months to go. Come out safely, my sweet angel. Mommy and Daddy are waiting for you,” I whispered to my bump, then realized I must appear mad to civilized society, and quickly looked up.
But no one was looking at me, only my father, and he smiled reassuringly. I flashed him a brilliant smile back. My father didn’t know the details of my relationship with Luca and neither had he ever asked, but sometimes he would look at me with sadness in his eyes. Of course, Laura and him knew something was wrong. Luca never came to visit me and yet we were all living in luxury in his estate.
I watched him as Sienna eventually arrived by her groom’s side. I couldn’t keep my eyes on the happy couple, my eyes had only one focus, on the man standing tall and handsome by their side.
Beauty and the beast: A Modern Day Fairytale Billionaire Mafia Romance Page 23