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“Lorenzo, can we talk about Clara?”
“What about her?” His tone was instantly sharp.
“I’ve noticed that Clara seems to do much better when you’re at home. I’m finding her apprehension increases when you leave for work, and she always appears to be anxious about when you are coming back.”
“She’s still getting used to you,” he said tetchily. “You can’t expect that to happen overnight.”
I took a deep breath, telling myself not to let his abruptness put me off. “I don’t think I’m being unrealistic with my expectations—I realize that it will take time for the children to get to know me and trust me. But it’s more than that. I still think Clara is experiencing separation anxiety.” I wanted to add that it might be an after-effect of losing her mother, but I decided not to lead the conversation into unsafe territory.
He looked carefully at me as he considered my words. “What would you suggest?”
I licked my lips. “I was thinking that perhaps you might be able to work from home sometimes?” Before he could dismiss my idea, I carried on quickly. “My papà always worked from home when he could, and I know my siblings and I enjoyed having him around.”
He considered my words. “Fine, I’ll see what I can do. Rita didn’t like me working at home, but I have no problem working out of the study when my schedule allows for it. But I’ll only be able to do this on occasion since I’ll still need to visit our various businesses and enterprises.”
I was shocked that he had even mentioned Rita to me, but I didn’t comment on that. Instead, I gave him a smile in thanks and told myself that things were slowly improving—and that as the situation with the children improved, so would my relationship with Lorenzo.
After our discussion, Lorenzo began working from home at least a couple of days each week. I knew that the children liked having him around more, particularly Clara, and I hoped that this was a sign that things were starting to get better.
***
I still wasn’t getting Clara to eat as much at lunchtime as I would have liked. Lorenzo was never normally home for lunch except on the days he worked at home, and I knew I had to do something to try and distract Clara from her anxiety when he was at work.
I had the idea to take the children to a nearby playground I’d seen when Giuseppe had driven us to the mall. I’d seen picnic tables there, so I was going to ask Adelina to prepare a picnic lunch which we could eat there after the children had played and had a runaround. Clara might eat more if lunch was a fun activity like a picnic.
After getting the children ready and loading the picnic hamper into the back of the SUV, I drove to the gate.
Getting out of the driver’s seat to make room for our bodyguard, I greeted Giuseppe. “Hi Giuseppe. Can you assign a guard to come with us to the playground?” I didn’t dare go out without a guard again, especially since I had the kids with me.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. We’ve no spare soldiers at the moment. The boss needed some extra men today, so we only have the minimum number at the mansion today and they’re all required to keep the property secure.”
I let out a small breath of exasperation as I leaned against the car door.
Another black SUV had just pulled into the gate, and its blacked-out window rolled down.
“Hey, Anni.” It was Aloysius.
I smiled at him. “It's you again.”
“I work pretty closely with my brother so I'm in and out of the house all the time.” He noticed my expression. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing now.” I sighed. “I was planning on taking the children to the playground for a play and then a picnic, but there isn’t a spare soldier to accompany us there. I’m going to have to postpone the outing and disappoint the children.”
“I can take you,” he immediately offered.
“Really?” I smiled at him. “That would be great. I really don’t want to have to disappoint the children. Are you sure it wouldn’t be too much trouble?”
“It’s no problem at all. I just need to drop these papers to Lorenzo’s study and then I’ll be with you.”
He got back into his SUV and drove up to the mansion, and I waited while he did what he needed to do in Lorenzo’s study.
When he came back out, he walked back over to me. “We’ll take your vehicle as the kids are already strapped in.”
He got into the driver’s seat and turned to look over his shoulder. “Hey, kids.”
“Hey!” Clemente chortled, while Clara gave him a shy smile
“I hear we’re off to the playground today.”
