Having the Billionaire's Baby(23)

Rosa sat up straighter. "No grandson of mine will live in sin."

"We're not going to live together." His tone was firm but resigned. He obviously knew what was coming.

Rosa's chair scraped across the terra-cotta floor tiles as she pushed it   back from the table and stood. "Come," she barked the order at Nick.   Then she nodded sympathetically at Callie. "I will talk to him. Un   momento, per favore."

"But-"

Nick touched a hand to Callie's shoulder and shook his head to silence   her protest, then stood and followed his grandmother to a door leading   off the kitchen. Just before he passed through it, he turned back. "Her   bark is worse than her bite," he said in a low voice, "but it's loud  all  the same."

"You told me she didn't bite at all."

He was smiling as he closed the door behind him. The slab of solid wood   did little to disguise the tirade of angry Italian coming from the  other  side of it. Callie wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for him or  to  laugh.

But her conscience would only let her sit there for so long while he   took all the blame for the fact that there would be no wedding. She   stood and followed them, pushed open the door to see Rosa, who scarcely   came up to Nick's shoulders, with a finger in his chest. They both   looked at her, and Rosa's diatribe halted.

"Mrs. Brunicadi-"

"Rosa," the older woman quickly interrupted.

"Nick asked me to marry him." A strong hand came to rest on her   shoulder. She looked across at Nick, who'd come to stand beside her,   caught the small shake of his head and ignored it. "It's not what I   want," she said as she looked back at Rosa.

"Of course it is."

"No. It's not," she said quietly, aware of two pairs of surprised eyes on her.

Rosa harrumphed, glared for a while longer at Nick, then, with an air of injured dignity, went back into the kitchen.

Nick stood in front of her, his head tilted to one side, his green eyes   curious. "I don't think anyone's ever done that before. Tried to defend   me to Rosa." A half smile tilted his lips. "You didn't have to."                       
       
           



       

"It seemed only fair. Besides, I get to leave after the end of the festival. Escape any more fallout."



The smile turned rueful. "She'll come around. But she needed to rant, to get it off her chest."

With one reassuring hand at the small of her back, he guided her back to   the table, and unperturbed, waited for her to sit. They ate in  relative  companionability, though every now and then Rosa muttered to  herself in  Italian, and either frowned at Nick or looked pityingly at  Callie. And  Callie knew that she still thought it was Nick's fault  there would be no  wedding, that no woman in her right mind would turn  down his offer of  marriage. It was easy to see why she thought that  way.

Nick watched Callie swallow the last of her gnocchi and edge her bowl   away. "I'll show you the guest cottage." As seductive as watching her   eat was, he needed to get her away from Rosa, who couldn't be counted on   to forbear on the subject of marriage much longer. And while he wanted   Callie to come to accept that marrying him was the best option, she   needed space to do that, not badgering.

She paused as they rounded a bend in the path. "Cottage?" she challenged   with a grin and a glint in her eyes. That grin was its own version of   sunshine and temptation. Shaking her head, she kept walking toward the   house that was a smaller version of the family home.

Nick held open the door that led into a spacious and light-filled interior furnished in creams and neutrals.

She trailed behind him as he showed her the bedroom, its broad, high bed   piled with pillows, and the marble bathroom with its deep spa bath.

Back in the living room a ceiling fan spun lazily above them, barely   moving the warm air. Nick leaned against a door frame, watching her and   waiting for her reaction as she crossed to the wide windows and looked   out over distant rows of green vines stretching across the hillsides.   She turned. "It's beautiful here," she said, her expression enchanting.

She turned back to the window. "It's so peaceful. It quiets something   inside. Gives a perspective that makes you believe everything will be   okay."

That was how he'd always felt coming here. Cypress Rise was good for his   soul. And she felt it too. That thought troubled him almost as much as   it pleased him. He needed her to like it here. He didn't need to feel   that she belonged. That she, too, might be good for his soul. Because   his soul was just fine without her.

He stepped back. "Whenever you're ready I'll take you back to the vineyard office."

"I'm ready now."

In his car again, she looked at him. "I can't see that Melody's going to be thrilled at the prospect of me having your baby."

He reached across, touched his hand to her shoulder. "It's our business,   Callie. Not anyone else's." He put his hand back on the wheel. "Though   they'll definitely try to make it so. Still, you don't need to worry  at  the moment. Rosa won't tell anyone about the pregnancy yet, although  we  won't be able to stop her from knitting."

"When will you tell Melody?"

"Maybe after the festival, when she doesn't have so much on her mind.   She'll know you better by then. You two will like each other."

"Is that another Brunicadi prediction?"



"No. This is a knowledge of people. Of Melody and of you."

"You don't really know me."

"I know you better than you think, better than you want to believe."





Nine



M elody was on the phone as Callie walked into the office. The remnants   of a salad-filled sandwich and an apple core lay on a plate in front of   her. A second phone on her desk was ringing. Callie gestured toward it   and Melody nodded for her to pick it up. Odds were it would be about  the  festival.

"Cypress Rise."

"Darling. I forgot to say-"

"Jason?" Funny, a part of her observed, how the sound of his voice did   nothing to her. She was still annoyed at him. But it was an unemotional   kind of annoyed.

"Callie." The pause was long. "I've been meaning to get in touch with you to explain-"

There were no explanations she needed or wanted from him. "I assume you want Melody." She lowered the phone and held it out.



As Melody finished the call she was on, Callie passed over the phone,   busied herself in paperwork, humming quietly to drown out whatever   Melody was saying. And when Melody hung up they picked up where they had   left off before Callie had gone for lunch.

The afternoon was just as busy as the morning. They spent time with the   vineyard staff, as well as with artists and musicians arranging and   rearranging details of the weekend. There were the usual last-minute   hitches and panics, but by six o'clock Callie was confident everything   was under control. The to-do list for the rest of the week was full but   manageable.                       
       
           



       

Melody sat back in her chair and breathed a heavy sigh. "We should go up   to the house. Rosa expects everyone to eat dinner together." She  patted  her faintly rounded stomach. "And I'm finding I have to eat  really  regularly anyway. This little boy is doing terrible things to my   appetite. I'm going to be the size of a house by the time he comes."   Melody's jaw dropped and the hand that had rested on her stomach   suddenly clapped over her mouth.

Did Melody think Callie didn't know about the baby? "I heard a whisper   at the wedding. It's wonderful news." Callie tried to put her at ease.   "I haven't congratulated you and Jason yet-" because your brother   forbade me to talk to either of you "-but I wish you all the best with   your pregnancy. I'm sure you'll be wonderful parents." She meant every   word, didn't feel any of that sense of inadequacy she had when she'd   first heard about their pregnancy.

She really had moved on. And that was due in part to Nick. For better or   worse, he'd presented her with enough issues in her own life that she   didn't have the time or energy to spare to be anxious about anyone   else's life.



Melody's smile was a mix of relief and pride. "I didn't know whether … How   you'd … If … " She tripped over her words, her eyes wide in her delicate   face. Callie could suddenly see why Jason had fallen for her. Not only   was she beautiful and sweet, but there was a fragility about her that   Jason would want to protect. She would let him be the big, strong man he   pictured himself as. Callie had never let him be that for her.