Anger flared inside her. Well, if he wouldn’t say something, she would! Sergio had lifted Nico onto a chair that had been fitted with an additional cushion so that the little boy could reach the table. Now, as Sergio sat down next to Kristen, she glared at him.
‘I think you should make it clear that we...’ she began, but the rest of her words were lost as Sergio’s head swooped towards her and he dropped a hard kiss on her lips that stole her breath.
‘I agree we should reassure my father that although there were problems in our relationship which led to you and Nico living in England, we are now both committed to putting our son’s interests first and doing what is best for him. Isn’t that so, cara?’
‘Yes...but...’ She broke off as, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nico reach for the water jug. ‘Wait, Nico, let me help you...’ She spoke too late and watched resignedly as he knocked the jug over and water quickly soaked through the tablecloth.
‘It doesn’t matter. Let him come and sit here next to me.’ Tito was clearly captivated by his grandson. ‘Do you know who I am?’ he asked the little boy. ‘I am your nonno.’
‘Nonno,’ Nico repeated, and grinned at his grandfather.
Tito looked over at the pretty dark-haired little girl sitting beside Salvatore. ‘It is good to hear a child talk. You should do more to help Rosa, Salvatore. She may be unable to hear, but she should learn to speak.’
‘I am looking for a speech therapist to work on her language skills,’ Salvatore replied curtly. His dark eyes showed no expression when he glanced at his daughter and Kristen felt a tug of compassion for the little girl who was growing up without her mother and clearly needed more support from her father.
For the rest of the lunch she concentrated on reminding Nico of his table manners, and when he had had enough to eat she took him to play in the garden and offered to take Rosa too. Nico seemed completely unconcerned that Rosa did not speak, and within a short time the two children had worked out a way of communicating with each other.
Kristen did not have an opportunity to talk to Sergio privately until they were in the car driving back to Casa Camelia. ‘Why didn’t you explain to your father that we are not in a relationship?’ she demanded. ‘He seems to have the crazy idea that we are going to get married. Why on earth didn’t you deny it?’
Sergio parked outside the villa and immediately jumped out and went to help Nico out of the car. ‘We’ll discuss it later,’ he said coolly. ‘I’m going to take Nico swimming this afternoon.’
‘That’s not a good idea so soon after he was ill,’ Kristen said immediately. ‘I think he should take things easy for the rest of today.’
‘I’d like to see you persuade him to slow down,’ he murmured drily as they both watched Nico running up and down the driveway, pretending to be an aeroplane. Sergio gave her an intent look. ‘You’re going to have to get used to sharing him with me because I’m not going to walk out of his life, however much you might wish me to,’ he added perceptively.
‘Can you give me your word on that, Sergio? I’m scared you’ll let him down.’ Kristen admitted her greatest fear. ‘Fatherhood is a big commitment, and you need to decide whether you want to be part of Nico’s life for the long haul, or not at all.’ She could not bear for Nico to grow close to Sergio and then be rejected by him, like she had been rejected by her stepfather.
He had hurt Kristen badly four years ago, Sergio recognised. He had not found it easy to share his feelings, let alone examine what those feelings were. But the situation was different now. They had a child together and, for Nico’s sake, Sergio realised that he had to face the demons in his past so that he could build a future with his son and perhaps with Kristen too.