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‘You pick good friends.’ Mattia sat forward and placed his hand over her chilled one. ‘Thank you for telling me. I know how hard it is to do that. Now enjoy the rest of dinner.’
From then on they talked only about the ordinary everyday things in their vastly different lives, until finally Mattia drained his glass and pushed his plate aside. Resolve began taking over in his countenance. ‘Right, finished here?’ He didn’t wait for her reply, standing up and dropping a wad of notes on the table, suddenly looking impatient.
Just as well she wasn’t craving that tiramisu on the menu. ‘Sure.’ She hurried after him. ‘What’s the rush?’
He slowed. ‘Sorry. I need some air.’ Had everything caught up with him?
Outside the restaurant Mattia turned right, paused to take her elbow before continuing with long strides that had her almost jogging.
Elene recognised the streets from her meanderings during the day. ‘We’re going to the beach?’
He glanced down at her shoes and shook his head. ‘We’ll stick to the paths running along the top of the escarpment. I can’t see you managing the hundreds of steps down to the sand in those.’
‘Then slow down.’ She was wobbling like a bird trying to balance on an overhead wire in a full gale.
He did. Abruptly. Causing Elene to topple towards him. Instantly he caught her, held her by the waist until she’d righted herself.
‘Thanks,’ she muttered, failing to ignore the heat those hands created through the fabric of her dress. If only this was a normal date where they would kiss and cuddle and follow up with more back at the house. If only Mattia would see her as a woman he might like, might want to get close to, and not just Danielle’s friend and Aimee’s surrogate mother. But there was that fiancée in his past. Not to mention how Craig had changed her thoughts on relationships. Strange how she kept forgetting that around Mattia. Digging deep, she found the strength to pull away from those all-too-exciting hands.
Dropping his arms to his sides, Mattia asked, ‘Are you warm enough?’
‘Yes.’ Her body was heavy with heat from his touch. Stepping sideways put a little distance between them but didn’t cool her body any degrees.
Mattia shoved his hands in his pockets and his chin dropped to his chest as he began strolling along the pathway. After some minutes he stopped and turned to eyeball her. ‘The papers from your lawyer prove you’re Aimee’s legal guardian. And state that I am her father. That’s pretty much it.’
Now her temperature dropped to cool. The battle, if there was going to be one—and she’d be naïve to think differently until otherwise shown—had begun. ‘As I told you.’
‘So we’re in a similar position to a divorced couple deciding where the kids live and who with.’
‘Putting it bluntly, yes.’
Mattia stared at her for a long moment, then began to walk again. ‘Tell me why Danielle did that.’ She must’ve made a sound because he added, ‘I am not saying you aren’t suitable.’
Okay. Not what she’d expected. Maybe she should stop trying to second-guess Mattia and just hear him out.
‘She wanted me to be her mother. Also it was to prevent Aimee ever ending up in the welfare system if things went belly-up.’
‘Why would they do that?’ He sounded genuinely puzzled.
‘Think about it, Mattia. How well did you two know each other? What if you weren’t prepared to acknowledge you were Aimee’s father?’
‘I would never do that.’
‘I know that,’ Elene admitted. ‘I overheard you talking to one of the doctors about a young patient—his father had left him in the care of friends while he went traipsing off on an extended holiday and he refused to come back when he heard of the accident that put the boy in hospital. You were angry, and said you’d always put your child before your own needs. I told Danielle but her past made her wary, hence my name on those papers as Aimee’s mother.’
‘That makes sense.’ He nodded slowly. ‘I remember that kid. He was heartbroken his dad wasn’t there for him. I wanted to wrap him up and take him home, which wouldn’t have helped at all.’
‘You’ve got a big heart, Mattia.’ Something she hadn’t quite accepted before. Did it mean she could expect him to do whatever was possible to keep both Aimee and her happy as they resolved this? Because, as much as she feared losing Aimee, she also knew she’d never get in the way of the little girl’s relationship with her father. Her own past proved the worth of a good dad.
‘Did Danielle ever mention marriage? Before she became ill?’
‘Only in the negative. I raised the idea and she said the fling with you was great but getting together permanently wouldn’t happen because she never wanted to be beholden to a man.’ Elene thought back to the day she’d found out about the pregnancy and how excited her friend was. ‘She wanted the baby, very much. And then—’
Mattia’s hand touched her lower back, his fingers spread wide.
‘Then she learned she had cancer.’
Elene nodded, struggling to hold back the tears. A couple escaped and she let them flow so as not to draw attention to them. ‘It was horrible. I was with Danielle when the doctors told her. We were in shock. It seemed impossible, even though we knew that these horrors happen. Just not to us.’
Mattia was making circular motions on her back as they walked slowly along the path. ‘I presume surgery would’ve been risky for the baby.’
‘It wasn’t happening. Danielle was adamant, even when told of the likely outcome. Her baby came first. She would not risk its life.’ Now she had to wipe away the tears; there were too many to ignore.
Mattia handed her a handkerchief.
‘Thanks.’ She sniffed. ‘I didn’t think anyone used these any more.’
‘I find tissues aren’t quite the thing when helping a crying woman.’
She gave a droopy smile. ‘Someone brought you up to be a gentleman.’
‘That family we were talking about earlier.’
They’d reached a park bench. Elene said, ‘Mind if we sit down? I’d like to take in the view while we talk.’ The distant lights of Naples were a balm to the anxiety building inside her as she reached the sensitive part of her story. Without waiting for a reply, she sank onto the wooden slats and crossed her arms under her breasts.
Mattia sat beside her, his legs stretched out interminably. Long, muscular, slim. An athlete’s build.
Elene tried to drag up images of the man she’d kept at arm’s length for her friend’s sake in Wellington, and all that landed in her head was a picture of Mattia about to kiss her. They’d been wrong to get that far, but in the heat of the moment she hadn’t known anything other than Mattia.
‘Go on,’ he urged.
‘After the diagnosis everything changed.’ Elene’s arms tightened further. ‘Danielle wanted the time she had left to be about her baby. She quit her job to focus on being as fit and healthy as possible. I moved into her apartment to help whenever needed. The being healthy bit didn’t work out. The pregnancy mixed with cancer rapidly drained her. They found lesions on her lungs when she was at thirty-three weeks’ gestation. Doctors suggested inducing the birth. Danielle refused, wanting the best start for her baby, and afterwards she focused entirely on Aimee for the time she had.’
Mattia waited quietly, making it easier to continue.
‘We spent a lot of hours talking about the future.’ Swallow. ‘I believed she should’ve told you before Aimee was born. To me it wasn’t just about Danielle’s needs. Whereas she fully intended having that time with Aimee to herself, saying you’d have years with her if you wanted her, and making me promise not to get in touch with you until after.’ After. That word still wrung her heart.
Not so Mattia. ‘If I wanted my child? What did she think I was?’ He was up on his feet, hands on hips, staring at her as though she was the cu
