“I haven’t heard from you in two days!” she whisper-shouted.
“Oh. That.” His cheeky smile bloomed again, irrepressibly charming. “I wanted to surprise you.”
She flung the diaper bag at his head.
He caught it deftly, looking baffled.
“Don’tdothat to me.”
He stood and moved towards her.
“I thought you were dead!”
“I will tell you next time,” he said solemnly. “I did not honestly expect to surprise you.”
“You just disappeared!”
“I told you that I would be back as soon as I could. When you did not hear from me, I thought that you would know that I was on my way here.”
“Well, I didn’t know.” She deflated and leaned back against the car. “How’s your dad?”
“He is well.Allora…well enough. He is home, and he is stable.” Lorenzo peered through the open window at their son. “I think our little lion has grown just in the time I have been gone.”
“I’m sure he has.”
“I missed you.” He opened his arms cautiously, inviting a hug.
Akemi stepped forward, and his arms folded around her. She leaned into him, breathing in the fresh scent of clean linen and – was that her grapefruit shampoo?
Had he been waiting for them all morning?
She leaned into him, and the last of her anger melted away.
“I want to stay.” Lorenzo’s voice rumbled through his chest, and his accent washed over her like warm water. “I want to be with you, Akemi. Whatever that looks like, wherever we live. I don’t want to be apart from you – or from Leo.”
She leaned back to look at him. “And Rory?”
“Of course Rory. I will take all the time I can get with Rory, but…” He looked away for a moment. When he lifted his eyes again, they were sad.
“Rory already has a dad in her life,” he said. “Her stepfather is a good man. He took her into his family and treated her as his own before I even knew that she existed. She has siblings there, and a real home.
“My daughter calls mebabbo, but with her I feel more like an uncle than a father. I adore her, I would give my life for her, and I very much want to spend more time with her… but she does not need me. Not in the way my son will.
“I want to be a father to my son. A real one.”
He looked at her for a long moment, brushing one knuckle down the line of her jaw.
“And I do not love Rory’s mother. I mean to say, I am notinlove with Rory’s mother. I am in love with you.”
Slowly, he took her face in his hands and kissed her.
“You’ll stay for good?” she asked a moment later. “No more surprise trips back to Italy?”
He brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “I cannot promise no more trips,amore. My family is my family.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I just– I need to know if I can count on you.”
“I’m here for you. This is my home now. We will find a house together, you and me. Or I will live here with you, whichever you prefer.”
