‘And I thought the only reason you asked me marry you was because you wanted your son.’
He shook his head and threaded his fingers through her hair. ‘It was always you, my golden girl. Having Nico is a bonus. You are the love of my life—’ his voice roughened ‘—but I was afraid to tell you and risk being rejected.’
As he had been rejected by his mother, and believed he had been rejected by his father, Kristen thought emotionally. ‘You need to have a chat with Tito,’ she murmured.
‘What I need to do is make love to the woman who is very soon going to become my wife,’ he said firmly, suddenly all dominant Sicilian male. But he kissed her with a tender passion that brought tears to Kristen’s eyes, and her heart turned over when she saw that his lashes were wet.
‘I will never stop loving you,’ she said urgently, desperate to dispel the faint shadows still lingering in his eyes. ‘You, me and Nico, and any other children we might have, we will be the family you never had. And, when we are old and grey, our grandchildren will hope that they find love as deep and long-lasting as the love we share for each other.’
Sergio did not reply. He could not when he was so choked with the emotions that he had held inside him for so long. But he told Kristen in myriad other ways how much he loved her. He claimed her lips in a sensuous kiss that made them both tremble. And when he undressed her and stroked his hands possessively over her breasts and stomach before moving lower to slip between her thighs, his gentle caresses spoke of a love that would last for all time.
‘Ti amo,’ he whispered against her lips as he made love to her with exquisite care. And the words healed him, completed him and left him with a deep sense of peace because he knew that Kristen loved him.
* * *
They married two weeks later in the little chapel on the Castellano estate. Kristen wore a simple white silk gown decorated with crystals on the bodice, and the garland of pink rosebuds in her hair matched the exquisite bouquet of roses that Sergio had placed on the bed on the morning of the wedding, while she had been getting dressed. The attached note simply read: ‘I love you’ but those three words meant everything to Kristen. Sergio’s unhappy childhood had made him suppress his emotions and he couldn’t change overnight. But he was determined Kristen would never have reason to doubt that she was his sun and Nico was his moon. And knowing that his love was returned gave him the confidence to share his feelings.
Nico was an adorable pageboy and his cousin Rosa was a pretty flower-girl. The wedding was a glorious, happy occasion and even Salvatore, who had the role of Sergio’s best man, gave one of his rare smiles when the groom kissed his bride in front of the congregation of family and friends in the chapel.
‘I wish your brother could fall in love and be as happy as we are,’ Kristen said to her new husband as they stood on the steps of the chapel for photographs.
‘I wish so too. But I don’t think any man could be as happy as I am,’ Sergio told her in an unsteady voice. He drew her into his arms and looked into her eyes, which were as blue as the summer sky above them. ‘You are my wife, my lover, my best friend and the love of my life, and I am the luckiest man in the world.’
Kristen blinked hard. ‘I am the luckiest woman, and I’m so happy that I’m going to cry,’ she said huskily.
‘I love you, Krissie,’ Sergio murmured against her cheek as he caught a tear on his lips. And then he kissed her with such tender passion, such love, that no words were needed.
* * * * *