Dominic smiled ruefully down at Abby. "I do, you know. Completely lose my head around you."
Abby tearfully, joyfully smiled back up at him. "That's ok, because I'm very comfortable telling you what to do."
His smile became a bemused grin. "And what is that, Abby?"
Never one to be at a loss with advice, Abby squared her shoulders and stated, "Well, in order of execution, I believe you should go hug your mother and tell her that you love her. You should give Marie a hug, too, because as a stand in mom I think she has done a fabulous job. And then I think we should invite everyone inside before we all melt in the sun."
Dominic's eyes widened with wonder. "Is that it?"
"For today," Abby joked and stepped back from him. "Tomorrow I start a whole new list."
There wasn't a dry eye in the group when Dominic opened his arms to her mother and she flew into them, sobbing. Dominic hugged her, closing his eyes to hide what Abby suspected was a flow of his own emotion.#p#分页标题#e#
Eventually, he released her to hug Mrs. Duhamel. Before long the two older women were hugging each other, each grateful for the role the other had played in caring for the son they both loved.
Lil burst out, "Ok, I can't take this anymore. It's like a soap opera. I'm bawling my eyes out over here. Can we go in the house yet? Colby must be starving."
Jake looked down at the baby he'd forgotten he had in his arms. "Is that why she's eating my tie?" It was partially soaked with drool. For a man who had a baby phobia, Jake was taking his role as a glorified chew toy in stride.
Mrs. Duhamel moved forward to take the little girl. "If you have a bottle, I'll feed her." Then she looked at Dominic's mother and said, "Why don't you help me, Rosella. You might as well get back into the habit, because the way those two are all over each other—you'll probably be Nonna Rosa before you know it. They'd better pick a wedding date soon."
Dominic's mother flushed with real pleasure. "This is so much more than I dreamt possible when I called Thomas." Happy tears began to pour down her face. "Dominic, you have so many cousins in Montalcino. Your children could summer with me there and get to know my side of the family."
Dominic made a pained sound deep in his chest.
In response to what was to her a horrific thought, his mother asked, "You do want children, don't you, Dominic?"
Mrs. Duhamel answered for him. She said, "Of course, he does, Rosella. He's just still in shock. Come inside, we'll feed Colby and plan their wedding."
Dominic sputtered something incomprehensible then looked down at Abby for support. She laughed and fell even more in love with the gloriously flustered man who had maintained his composure while being grilled by the international press, but lost his ability for speech in the face of family.
Jake was equally amused by his friend's predicament. His smile didn't dim, not even when Dominic glared at him. "I'm laughing with you," he stressed.
Dominic growled, "I'm not laughing."
Jake continued to chuckle and winked at Abby. "Minor technicality."
Shaking his head with self-deprecating humor, Dominic joked, "Do they know that I am now one of the ten richest men in the world? I should command some respect."
Abby patted his arm in mock sympathy. "I know, honey." She took him by the hand and led him toward the house. "Let's go inside and cool off. Your secret is safe with me."
Once within the much cooler walls of the mansion, Abby settled everyone in one of the living rooms and asked the staff to bring refreshments. Emotions were running high, but there was a general comfortable banter within the group.
Abby and Dominic sat on one couch, Jake and Lil on another with Thomas and Dominic's mother on still another. Mrs. Duhamel circled the room, feeding Colby and gazing down at her warmly as if she'd known the baby from birth.
Thomas patted Rosella's leg, but looked across at Dominic. "While we are all clearing the air, I also owe you an apology, Dominic. I've always known where your mother was. I helped her escape and fake her death, but I thought keeping the truth from you would keep you all safer. I thought you'd stay with your father and eventually take over his company. I was wrong and by the time I knew how wrong, too much time had gone by; I didn't see a way to unravel the mess I'd help create."
Dominic studied the older man sitting next to his mother and said slowly, "You love her."
Thomas and his mother exchanged a meaningful look. "Yes, but I kept myself away from her for the same reason I kept you away. Your father would never have allowed her to be happy away from him. He had a cruel streak that I couldn't risk unleashing on Rosella."