Dante's Unexpected Legacy(93)
‘Davvero,’ agreed Dante, surrendering Bea to her mother. ‘I am a very lucky man. Welcome, Tom,’ he added, picking up some of the luggage. ‘The car is outside.’
Bea frowned as Dante fastened her into her seat. ‘I don’t like this car, Daddy. I like your shiny red one.’
‘It needed painting, so your Uncle Leo lent me this,’ he said, kissing her nose. ‘But this is your very own red car seat.’
Bea lay back in it like a queen on a throne with Rose and Grace close together beside her. ‘Can we go and see Luca and Chiara tomorrow, Daddy?’ she demanded.
‘Possibly.’ He exchanged a gleaming look with Rose over his shoulder. ‘Andiamo, let us go home.’
‘Not fast!’ warned Bea.
‘No, piccola,’ Dante assured her, laughing. ‘I will not drive fast.’
Because he kept his word, Bea soon nodded off, leaving Rose to enjoy Grace’s company.
‘I’ve no need to ask how you are,’ said her mother, squeezing her hand. ‘You glow.’
‘I enjoyed these two weeks alone with Dante,’ Rose admitted. ‘I missed Bea, naturally, but it was good to have time together before we get back to parenthood.’
Bea woke as Dante turned up the steep, winding road to the Villa. ‘Gramma,’ she said in excitement, ‘Daddy’s house is up here—ooh,’ she squeaked in delight as he drove up through the garden. ‘Balloons! Is there a party?’ She jumped up and down in her seat. ‘Look, Tom, Auntie Charlotte’s on the loggia.’
‘And not just Auntie Charlotte,’ said Grace with misgiving, and grasped Rose’s hand. ‘Do I look all right?’
‘You look gorgeous,’ Tom assured her.
‘Daddy, Daddy, get me out,’ demanded Bea, as an assortment of cousins came streaming from the house. Dante unbuckled his impatient daughter and set her on her feet so she could run to join the youngsters who surrounded her, laughing, then delivered her onto the loggia into the embraces of her Nonna and Nonno. The senior Fortinaris gave Tom and Grace a warm welcome, smiling as a radiantly happy Charlotte kissed the new arrivals then handed them on to Fabio and Leo and Harriet, and finally to Mirella and Franco.
Rose hung back for a moment with Dante just to breathe in the noisy, laughing chaos of the scene. He put his arm round her, smiling down into her flushed face. ‘You are happy, amore?’
‘Yes,’ she said simply. ‘At this moment I have everything in the world I never dared wish for. A beautiful home, a loving, welcoming family, and my mother here with me to share it all today—but most of all, Dante, I have you.’
‘Ah, carissima!’ He took her in his arms and kissed her in passionate gratitude, a move which won much applause and laughter from the crowded loggia.
‘Come, mio figlio,’ said Maria Fortinari, smiling. ‘Release your bride for a moment. She will want to show Grace and Tom to their room to do the freshening up, and then we eat, yes, Rose?’
A few minutes later everyone crowded round the table laid in the garden, the noise level high as they enjoyed the food Maria Fortinari and her cook had helped Silvia prepare.
Under cover of the joyful hubbub, Grace took Rose’s hand. ‘I’ve no need to ask if you’re happy, love.’