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They departed, with a new bodyguard I’d never seen before following to keep a close eye on them.
Vittoria stayed by the window, straightening the get-well cards they had brought me. She cleared her throat.
“Thank you,” she said awkwardly, “for saving my daughter.” Her voice was stiff, but I could hear her pain behind them, and how hard she was working to keep her emotions in check.
Sadness for her welled up in my heart. How awful it must have been for her to learn what Jacob, the man she loved, had done.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.
She looked at me sharply. Her expression tightened when she saw the look on my face, and tears glimmered in her eyes.
She nodded. “It would seem I am not quite the judge of character that I thought I was. Chiara always was so angry with me for no reason, even before that first break-in. I just thought it was her being a teenager. I had no idea she’d caught on about me and Jacob, and disliked it. I should have talked to her more back then.”
“She would have told you if he scared her, I think,” I said. “I don’t think any of us had any inkling what he was planning.”
She nodded. Stiffly. Still uncomfortable with me. And yet I sensed a softening. I couldn’t believe she had even confided that much to me.
She took a deep breath. Then came to sit in the chair beside my bed.
“I misjudged you,” she said with blunt honestly. “It became obvious when the girls were so upset after you left. Especially Amara. And Marco too, though he would not admit it.”
I did not know what to say to that.
“He misses you,” she continued. “If you choose to come home with us, you will be welcome. Please don’t stay away on my account.”
Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones, but her words brought forth a gush of tears. I quickly wiped them. Shook my head. “It’s not that. I just need some time. I’m not sure Marco’s life and mine are well suited. I… It’s frightening.”
She nodded, her eyes sad. “Maybe it won’t always be that way. I live in hope.” She patted my hand. “I hope you will come to visit us often. The girls will miss you. Come any time you like.”
With those astonishing words, she departed.
I caught a couple of hours of more peaceful sleep than I had had in weeks, and when I awoke, Marco was sitting in the chair his mother had vacated.
“Sleeping beauty,” he said. “I could watch you all day.”
“You flirt,” I accused him.
He only smiled, tiredly. “The doctor has discharged you, if you’re okay with that? Bernie came to see you while you were napping. She’s packed up all your things for you.” He indicated the bags at my bedside.
“Oh, I wish I had seen her.”
“She said she’ll phone you later. I told her I’ll be driving you home.”
I could imagine what Bernie would have said to him in response. Something tart about us not being together any more, no doubt.
His lips twitched, and I knew she truly had told him off.
I was quiet in the car on the drive back. A deep sadness was welling up inside me and I was trying awfully hard to hold back my tears until he was gone.
Why was he being so damn cheerful when I was feeling so miserable?
He was the man who had risked his life to save me. He was everything I had dreamed of ever since I’d first laid eyes on him. The thought of life without him was horribly bleak. More frightening than everything that had come so far.
I kept telling myself I was overwhelmed with everything that had happened. I just needed to hold it together for a few more minutes and then I could go home and sleep and clear my head.
And soon I would be busy building my arts business. It was all I’d ever dreamed of. Wasn’t it?
Then he parked up outside my house and kissed me on the cheek, and his hand settled lightly on my stomach as if he was kissing the baby goodbye too. I burst into tears.
