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He turned and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a glass from the cupboard before approaching the sofa I was sitting on. I moved over to indicate that he should share it with me, rather than sit across the room in the armchair and thankfully he didn’t argue. Picking up the wine bottle from the ice bucket, I poured it into his glass as he held it up. He took a sip and closed his eyes, dropping his head back against the sofa.
“You are a wine drinker then?”
“Only white,” he responded without opening his eyes. “I have never been able to get on board with red. I just don’t have a sophisticated palate, I guess.”
“Hmm, it is hard to beat a good white.”
We sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments and my whole body started to tingle with the anticipation of being alone with him again. The last time we were alone was in my kitchen and, well, I had given in to my desires far quicker than I thought I would have.
“I have always loved coming here. This is a beautiful chalet,” he broke the silence by opening his eyes and looking around the room. Of course, he had been here many times before with my family. When Gio and Elle were younger, he would have to take them down the slopes while Vinny and I had some ‘alone’ time. And he came with us a few years ago when we brought Olivia with us.
I turned my gaze to him, an intriguing thought catching my attention.
“Marco, you must have seen a lot behind the scenes in this family. Far more than most.”
He raised his eyebrows a little and lifted his glass to his lips.
“I am not sure how I should answer that,” he chuckled.
“It is not a trick question,” I smiled. “I just mean that you are always around. A strong, silent protector always watching everything unfold. You must have seen a lot of crazy stuff happening, making you want to scream at us or laugh at us or I don’t know…”
His smile turned a little mischievous, showing the whites of his teeth as he scratched his chin.
“Yes. You are all quite entertaining. I have seen and heard a lot. But that is my job. Sometimes, I see and hear too much and I just turn a blind eye. It is none of my business after all. It is only okay to interfere if someone is unsafe.”
“I bet you know more about my family and my children than what I know,” I smirked, curling my legs up under me to face him. “Come on! Tell me something funny that you haven’t told anyone that you’ve seen.”
“Are you asking me to rat out your children, Cecilia? I could never!” He laughed.
I grabbed his muscular shoulder in my hand, my excitement spilling out of me.
“Oh please! Okay tell me one thing about each of my children and I won’t ask again. I promise!”
He rolled his head to each side, but his smile said he was caving already. Tilting his face towards me, we locked eyes.
“Okay. When Olivia first arrived as their nanny, Sani and Raya, but Sani in particular, gave her hell. I honestly thought she would quit after her first day. But I should have given her more credit because she came back the next day with a vengeance. By the end of that second day, Sani was smitten. He asked me to help him write her a love letter a few days later.”
“No!” I screamed, slamming my hand over my mouth. That was hilarious. I knew both my sons held a torch for the girl but a love letter! He was only six!
“Yes. I think it went along the lines of ‘Olivia. You are very pretty. I like your hair the best. And I am sorry I was naughty. I promise to be good now but you have to marry me. Sani.’”
I burst out laughing as my heart squeezed with love for my little boy. “Oh, that is so sweet. What did you say?”
“I sat him down and we had a man-to-man chat.”
“What? Oh, how did that go?”
“I gave him some advice which I think helped,” he smirked, drinking more of his wine.
“Stop being so secretive! Come on, I want all the juicy details.”
He sighed, caving once again. “I explained that even though Olivia was very pretty now, when he is old enough to actually marry her, she would be old and wrinkly, and her hair may even be grey. He scrunched his nose up at the thought. I then told him that a ‘first love’ is very special but it is not always your ‘last love’.”
“She would not be that old! You liar!” I laughed and he chuckled.
“The kid was six. He didn’t understand maths.”
“Well, you did the right thing. I hope his poor little heart wasn’t broken too badly,” I smiled.
