The Unwanted Wife(41)

“Thank you,” she mumbled. Her cell phone rang and she retrieved it from the kitchen counter where she had left it to charge the night before. A quick glance at the screen told her it was Lisa.

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Hey yourself, Birthday Girl,” her cousin greeted, and Theresa started. It was her birthday. She’d completely forgotten. “Rhys and I are taking you and Lily out to lunch. Our treat. But we’re doing some serious birthday shopping first.”

“I’m not sure…”

“No arguments, cuz. I’m sure Sandro will understand. He won’t expect you to spend your birthday by yourself while he goes off to work…and he can have you this evening.” Theresa glanced over at Sandro, who was playing peekaboo with a slightly groggy Lily. A helpless smile tugged at her lips as she watched him earnestly play with their daughter. Lily looked confused, but at least she hadn’t started wailing yet.

She refocused on her conversation with Lisa, certain that Sandro had no clue that it was her birthday, and she wasn’t about to inform him, not when she knew how angry this new Sandro would be with himself for never bothering to discover that information.

“Uhm…okay, what time do you want to meet?” She and her cousin quickly worked out the logistics of their meeting, and she hung up shortly after they’d finalized their plans.

“You are meeting Elisa?” It was a question more than a statement. Sandro had lifted Lily from her carrier and was cuddling her to his chest while she suckled on one of his knuckles.

“Yes, some shopping and lunch.”

“Do you want me to take Lily to the office while you enjoy your girls’ day out?” She smiled at the inherently selfish offer, knowing that he would love showing his daughter off at work.

“I appreciate the offer, Sandro, but while she’s still breastfeeding, I don’t think having her away from me for that long is a good idea.” He grimaced at that logic. She knew he missed Lily while he was at work. After a month of paternity leave, he had very begrudgingly gone back to work, but he called every day, claiming to miss “his girls.” It was sweet.

She watched him go back to muttering sweet nothings to his daughter between sips of coffee.

“Sandro, do you know who leaked that story about our marriage to the press?” She surprised herself by asking, and she could tell by the way he jerked that the question had thrown him. He lifted his eyes to her, absently rocking Lily as he tried to gauge her mood.

“My oldest sister, Gabriella, had indiscreet conversations about our private family business with one of her friends. When my father died, the family was in the news for weeks, and this ‘friend’ saw a golden opportunity to make some money. Our marriage wasn’t the only thing that was dragged out for public scrutiny. My sister Rosalie’s teenage abortion hit the news, my other sister Isabella’s cheating husband…” He shook his head in disgust. “Ours was just the biggest news because of your father’s involvement. It made a bad time for the family even worse. I was so busy doing damage control after the news of Rosalie’s pregnancy and subsequent abortion that when the story of our marriage first hit, I wasn’t even aware of it until my mother brought it to my attention. I dropped everything and flew home to you. I couldn’t stand the thought that you’d think it was true…that you’d think I valued our marriage so little that I would file for a divorce without even talking to you about it.”

“What happened to the friend?”

“She sold our secrets for a pittance but the status she had in our society has diminished to nothing. She is no longer welcome in the circles she once ruled. Trust me, there’s no greater punishment for someone like her. Gabriella has learned a valuable lesson in discretion, and a few Italian publications are currently being sued for libel when they completely fabricated a lot of the so-called ‘facts’ to back up the already juicy story they’d been handed. Like the ‘fact’ that I was filing for a divorce.”

“Also…” She paused.

“Also?” he prompted.

“Why didn’t you call? You promised you’d call every day,” she whispered.

“Cara, my father had just died. My sisters, mother, and Nonna were emotional wrecks…I had so much to take care of but, every time I spoke with you, all I wanted to do was get the hell out of there and come home.” That was the second time in as many minutes he’d referred to their house as “home,” and the word warmed her down to her soul. “Trust me when I tell you, the urge to come back was so strong that I actually ordered a car to take me to the airport after one of our awkward little conversations. I was torn between following my heart and honoring my responsibilities. But if I hadn’t strictly rationed our phone calls, I would have abandoned those responsibilities.”

“You wouldn’t have,” she said with an incredulous little laugh.

“Don’t underestimate your allure, sweetheart. I would have…in a heartbeat. I know it was selfish of me not to call, but it was the only way I could think of to control the impulse to just hand the whole mess over to my sisters and come back to you. At the same time, our very stilted conversations weren’t helping matters. I was worried about you, though, so I called Phumsile practically every day for updates on how you were doing. I swore her to secrecy and practically gave her the third degree every time we spoke. When you and I spoke, I was so frustrated and hated how emotionally distant you sounded. I was also afraid of saying the wrong thing and alienating you even further. It was driving me into the wall.”

She laughed slightly.

“Up the wall,” she corrected.

“What?” He looked baffled.

“It was driving you ‘up the wall’…not into it.”

“Into the wall, up the wall, over the wall, whatever.” He flicked a dismissive hand. “It was driving me crazy.” Charmed by his failure to grasp the English idiom, Theresa laughed again and decided to let the matter go. His explanations had gone a long way toward dispelling some of her lingering uneasiness with their relationship. Lily started to fuss and Theresa reached for her before quickly and efficiently baring a breast, she winced slightly when Lily latched on hungrily. Sandro dropped his jaw into the palm of one hand and watched them possessively. He enjoyed watching her feed Lily. In fact he was so completely fascinated with the new shape and size of her breasts that he handled them with gentleness and a bit of reverence whenever they made love.

“Thank you for answering my questions,” she said after a few moments of silence, broken only by the snuffling sound of the hungrily feeding infant.

“I’m happy to answer any others.” His voice trailed off in invitation and she nodded.

“Good to know.” She needed to ask him about Francesca, about their future…but she was meeting Lisa. Later, she promised herself. She would ask him later. She ignored the tiny voice in the back of her head that called her a coward.




“So what are the plans for tonight?” Lisa asked curiously as Theresa enjoyed the decadent slice of chocolate mousse cake she was having for dessert.

“We’ll probably have a quiet evening.” She shrugged. “Sandro doesn’t know it’s my birthday.”

“Oh.” Lisa glanced away for a long moment before turning back to Theresa. “Do you want me to tell him?”

“No, he’d feel awful if he knew.” Lisa’s lips tilted at the sides.

“Well, at least he wouldn’t be indifferent,” Lisa said. “Which is probably what he would have been a year ago.”

Theresa nodded.

“I know.” She paused. “He told me he loved me…about a month ago. And he’s said it every day since. But, I can’t quite seem to bring myself to believe him.”

“Theresa, it’s been pretty obvious to me for a while now that he’s in love with you,” her cousin startled her by saying.

“It has?”

“Yes…I think I started to see it when he tried to forgive my debt for no good reason and then when you fainted after your amniocentesis and started crying when I got there. Rick was right, the man looked devastated when you burst into tears. I think you should start believing in him. I know that he hurt you badly in the past, but it’s time for you to decide if you can forgive him or not. Because if you can’t, then there’s no point in staying in this marriage, but if you can, then I think this man is going to do his damnedest to make sure that you’re happy for the rest of your life.”




Lisa went home with Theresa that evening deciding that they should have an impromptu birthday dinner for her. But when they got back to the house and Theresa got a phone call from Sandro telling her that he had to work late, Lisa grimly bullied Theresa into a pretty dress, called Rick, and said that they were taking Theresa and Lily out to what she called a “fancy” restaurant.

Theresa was in no real mood to celebrate, and when they got to the restaurant, she dragged her feet to the entrance, where Rick stood waiting. He looked quite dashing in a tuxedo and was well matched with Lisa, who was wearing one of the pretty evening gowns she had bought on their shopping expedition that afternoon.