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“Absolutely. With Angelo living in the States and Ryan’s family in Australia, you’re the only family she has in Monte Calanetti. Now hold her. I want a photo for her baby album.”
“Better do what your sister says,” Ryan said.
The vintner’s face was the picture of anxiety as Ryan placed the swaddled baby in Nico’s arms. Looking as if he’d rather be doing anything else, he balanced Rosa’s head in the palm of one hand while the other held her bottom.
“She’s not a bottle of wine,” Marianna admonished. “Hold her close. And smile. I don’t want her first memory of her uncle to be that he’s a grouch.”
“Forgive me; I’ve never held a baby before,” Nico replied. But he did what he was told.
It made for a beautiful photo. Nico with his bronzed movie-star features, baby Rosa with her pink newborn skin. Something was off, though. Louisa couldn’t say exactly what, but something about Nico’s eyes didn’t fit. For one thing, they lacked the sparkle she’d come to associate with his smiles. They looked darker—sad, even—and distant. Not unlike the way they’d looked the other day when Marianna visited.
Did his sister notice? Probably not, since the new mother was too busy directing the photo session. “Go stand next to Nico,” she ordered. “We need one of the three of you.”
“Um... You want me in your baby album?” Louisa wasn’t sure that was a good idea.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Marianna waved at her to move. “Go.”
“Sooner you do it, the sooner she’ll be done taking photos,” Nico said.
She took her place by Nico’s shoulder, and wondered if she would ever get used to being welcome. It didn’t dawn on her until after Marianna showed her the pictures on her phone that she was in her most casual clothes and not wearing a stitch of makeup. The woman smiling back at her from the view screen looked like someone she used to know a long time ago, before she ever heard the name Steven Clark. Someone she hadn’t seen in a long time. Maybe she’d stick around a little while.
“You make an attractive family,” Marianna teased. “Maybe I should sell it to the papers.”
“You do, and I’ll return my breast pump.” That she could have such an exchange without blanching spoke volumes about how well she was recovering from the scandal. She turned her attention back to the phone screen, her gaze moving from her face to Nico’s to Rosa’s and back to Nico’s. There was definitely distance in Nico’s smile...
Meanwhile, Ryan had retrieved Rosa, who hadn’t woken up, and was tucking her into her bassinet. “I meant to tell you,” he said, “the cradle fits the space perfectly.”
“I’m glad,” Nico replied.
“Nico had the family cradle restored,” Marianna explained.
“He did?” She hadn’t known, although knowing his respect for tradition, the gesture didn’t surprise her.
“It has been in our family for generations,” he replied, eyes still on the baby. “Made sense that it be used by the first member of the next generation.”
“The piece is almost too beautiful for Rosa to sleep in,” Ryan said.
“Come with me; I’ll show you.”
After casting a protective glance into the bassinet Marianna led her toward the nursery. “You know, I almost took the baby monitor with me,” she said as they walked up the stairs. “But I thought that might be overprotective.”
“With Ryan sitting five feet away from her, I would say yes,” Louisa teased. Her friend’s extreme mothering was adorable. Might not be so cute when Rosa was older, but seeing as how Marianna had only been a mother for two days, she couldn’t help smiling. The Amatuccis didn’t do things halfway, did they?
The room was a baby’s paradise. The couple had forgone traditional baby colors in favor of restful lavender, browns and greens. The Tuscan hillside, Louisa realized. Stuffed animals and books already filled the shelves, and there were, not one, but two mobiles, one hanging over what looked to be a small play area in the corner.
On the back wall hung a large landscape of the vineyards with baby animals playing peek-a-boo among the vines. Louisa spied a rabbit and a kitten straight off. “Logan Cascini’s wife, Lucia, painted it as a baby gift,” Marianna told her. “There are supposed to be eleven different baby animals hiding in the fields. So far Ryan and I can only find eight.”
“It’s amazing.” This was a gift that would amuse a child for years to come. Something Louisa would want for her own child. “Makes my breast pump look lame,” she said.
