Compromising Positions(25)

“I watched you that night. I saw the pain on your face, and I felt guilty that I had put it there, but I didn’t regret it. But then…” Bianca’s voice broke, something Mina had never heard before, and it took a moment for her to regroup. “Then I saw Marco.”

“He struck his brother. I couldn’t believe it. Never, not through their entire childhood, did he ever raise a hand to Gio. Gio was brilliant, and stubborn, and enough to drive a saint to madness, but Marco knew he was bigger and stronger.” She remembered something and laughed. “Oh they fought, cats and dogs those two, but it was never physical.”

“At first I thought it was temper finally catching up to him, Italian men are famous for it, but then I looked in his eyes. It wasn’t temper,” she looked at Mina, her face solemn, “it was fear. He was afraid of losing you.”

Mina swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, but she could find no words. She was stunned into silence by what she was hearing.

“That evening, after he figured out what Serafina and I had done, he turned on me as well. It was as if someone had replaced him with a caged animal, and at that point I was afraid of losing him.”

It was easy to imagine. Marco had always had something of the predator about him, but without something to stalk, without prey, what is a predator?

“So you lied to him.” The words were out before she could stop them. It was never wise to call someone a liar, especially someone like Bianca Genovese.

The woman didn’t seem to mind, though. She met Mina’s eyes squarely and nodded.

“Yes. I knew you would need time and space before you’d be willing to listen to what he had to say,” she said. “I know how it hurts when one you love betrays you, and you obviously felt betrayed.”

“And Marco was furious with you--blindingly, so. I didn’t realize until he explained later that you had walked away from him once before--yet another proof to me that you weren’t the woman I thought you were--and your leaving opened a wound in his pride that hadn’t yet fully healed. If he had found you that night, or even the next day, he would have yelled at you, pushed you harder than you could take. It would have ruined everything, so I sent him away. I pricked his ego, told him you never wanted to see him, knowing that would send him flying after you. Tale è l'uomo.” She gave a little Gallic shrug, as if the logic of it all was plain as day.

“Such is man, eh?” The voice from the doorway made them both jump. Marco stood there, barefoot and shirtless, jeans slung low on his hips and Mina’s was amazed again by how beautiful he was. “So it was all part of your plan? Send me halfway around the world, all the time knowing she was less than an hour away. Manipulating us, like you tried to manipulate me and Serafina? Didn’t you learn your lesson with that disaster?”

Bianca pulled herself to her full height and glared at her son.

“If it was a disaster and I was the cause, wasn’t it my place to fix it?” Her eyes glittered fiercely. “I wasn’t going to let you finish destroying what I had already damaged. So yes, I lied to you. I am not sorry, and I would do it again. It was for your own good, and I love you enough to suffer your anger if I know it will mean your happiness in the end.”

Mina’s head was spinning. She looked at the woman she’d blamed for everything and began to see her in a new light.

“So you don’t mind that I’m back?” Her bravery tanks were less full than before, but with Marco standing beside her she felt she could handle the answer.

“No, Mina,” Bianca said her name for the first time, “I am grateful you have returned. You hold my son’s heart, and with him is where you belong.”

Marco stepped up and wrapped his arm around her waist. He looked across the room at his mother, and Mina could feel the tension still in him.

“I hope that in time, you will come to understand an old woman’s motivations. I only wanted what was best for him.”

The fight had gone out of the matriarch and she suddenly seemed old and frail.

“Mamma,” Marco started but Mina cut him off.

“Signora, I think I understand now. I would do anything to make sure the ones I love are happy as well.”

Dark eyes searched hers, looking for something. She must have found it because she nodded.

“I believe you would.” There was respect in her voice for the first time. “I am glad for that.”

Marco refused to be kept silent.

“I’m going to marry her,” he announced, and he and his mother shared a silent conversation.

Bianca nodded. “I am counting on it.”