The Costanzo Baby Secret Read Online Free

you in the morning.”
     
    As soon as the two women, one so sturdy, the other so frail, left the entrance hall and disappeared toward the lower left wing of the house where the guest bedrooms were located, he turned in the opposite direction and along the corridor that led to the library and his home office. Closing himself in the latter, he picked up the phone and called Giuliana, his sister, who lived next door.
    “I was hoping I’d hear from you,” she said, picking up on the first ring. “Did Maeve arrive home safely?”
    “She did.”
    “And how is she? Is it as bad as we feared?”
    “Ah, Giuliana!” Horrified, he heard his voice crack and had to take a moment to collect himself. “She’s fragile as spun glass, inside and out. The journey down here exhausted her. We got in just a few minutes ago and she went straight to bed.”
    “Poor thing! I wish I could see her and tell her how much I love her and how glad I am to have her back among us.”
    “I wish it, too. I wish you could bring her son home and have her look at him and recognize at once that she’s his mother. Sadly, the time’s not yet right.”
    “I know, Dario. Small steps, isn’t that what her doctor said?”
    “Yes, but not, I fear, as small as he’d like. Already she’s wormed too much information out of me and knows our marriage was on shaky ground. Not exactly the best way for us to start trying to put our lives back together, is it?”
    “But it can be done if you love each other enough to fight for what you once had. The question is, do you?”
    “I can’t speak for her, Giuliana.”
    “Then speak for yourself. I know that the way you started out together wasn’t ideal, and that you married her because you believed it was the honorable thing to do and you had no other choice, but it seemed to me that you were making it work.”
    “Until it all went horribly wrong.”
    And therein lay the crux of the matter. Could either of them get past what had happened, or had they lost too much ground ever to trust each other again?
    Seeming to read his thoughts, his sister said softly, “Maeve loves you, Dario. I am certain of that.”
    “Are you?” he said wearily. “I wish I was. But I didn’t call to burden you with my doubts, I called to find out how you’re holding up having an extra child to care for. Is Sebastiano wearing you out?”
    “Not in the least. Marietta is an enormous help. You werelucky to find so capable and willing a nanny. As for Cristina, she loves her little cousin and plays with him all the time. And he’s such a contented baby. He only ever cries if he’s hungry or tired, or needs to be changed.”
    “He’s the one bright spot in this whole unfortunate business.”
    “And too young to understand what’s happened.”
    “Let’s hope he never will.” Dario paused. “Has anyone else in the family stopped by to see him?”
    “If by that you mean our mother, then, yes. She came by this morning and again this afternoon. She’s quite adamant that he should be staying with her, and I’m equally adamant that he should not.”
    “I’d hoped she’d go back to Milan with our father. The last thing Maeve needs right now is to run afoul of her.”
    “Unfortunately, she seems set on staying here. But don’t worry, Dario. I can hold my own with her, as you very well know, and Lorenzo certainly can. He won’t stand for her interfering in our arrangement.”
    That much he knew to be true. His mother might be a handful at times, but his brother-in-law was no more a man to be pushed around than Dario himself was. “I’m grateful to both of you for your support. Kiss my son good-night for me, will you? I’d come over and do it myself, but—”
    “No,” his sister cut in. “Tonight, at least, it’s more important that you stay home in case Maeve needs you. It wouldn’t do for her to find herself alone before she gets her bearings.”
    And how long before that happened, he wondered moodily, ending the