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“Is it my hair? I can take it down.”
“It’s not your hair.”
“Maybe it’s the dress. It’s a little big.”
“Everything in your wardrobe is big.”
“I never bought new clothes after I had Joe. But I don’t mind. And no one’s really going to be looking at me tonight, right?”
He smiled with his eyes. “Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.” And then he drew a velvet pouch from his pocket. “But maybe this will add a little sparkle and shine to your black frock.”
Shyly she bent her head forward so that he could fasten the elaborate gold clasp at the back of her neck. The choker was snug, the strands heavy with precious stones.
“Turn around,” he said.
She did, and for a moment he said nothing and then he tipped her chin up with one finger. “Green eyes tonight.”
She nodded.
“How did you know you’d be getting emeralds?” he asked, sounding amused.
“I didn’t.”
“You just decided to swap out your colored lenses tonight?”
She fingered the precious jewels at her throat. “I decided I was tired of hiding, so I threw away the contacts.”
“Your real eye color is green?”
She nodded.
“And what is your real hair color? Red?” he guessed.
“How did you know?”
He’d been smiling but his smile died. “It’s the one color you’ve never been.” Vitt reached out to her smooth chignon and touched the twisted strands at her nape. “My wife has red hair and green eyes. How odd to think I’ve never really known her.”
“But you have. This—” and she gestured to her face and body “—this is the real me. The only me. The one you met in Istanbul. The one you took to the villa. The one who had your baby.”
“Good. Because you are the one I wanted in Istanbul, and you are the one I loved in Bellagio, and you are the one I want to help raise our son.” Then he took her hand in his, kissed her hand, before tucking it in the crook of his arm.
Together they descended the staircase and entered the grand dining room with the pale blue-and-cream frescoes on the walls. Jillian stiffened in the doorway when everyone turned to look at them.
“I know it’s a lot of people,” Vitt murmured reassuringly, “but just be yourself and everyone will love you.”
She nodded, even as she pressed her hand tighter into the crook of his arm.
They hadn’t made much progress into the room before two attractive women moved toward them.
“My sisters,” Vitt said beneath his breath. “They take after my mother. Just do your best.”
“That’s not comforting at all,” she answered in a whisper.
Vittorio made the introductions. “Bianca and Carlina, I’d like you to meet Jill, my wife. Jill, this is Carlina, the youngest of my sisters, and Bianca, the oldest. Guiliana isn’t here. She lives in Europe with her family.”
The four of them made small talk for a few minutes before Bianca and Carlina came up with an excuse to get Jillian alone. Knowing his sisters wouldn’t be satisfied until they’d had their time with her, he allowed them to drag her off toward a private corner. He in the meantime went to greet his paternal grandmother who was already sitting in her chair at the table.
He stooped to give her a kiss. She was small and rather frail but her mind remained sharp. “Nonna, how are you?” he asked, sitting down in a chair close to hers and taking her hands in his.
