LITMIR.BIZ

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feeling as if she would never feel the sun on her face again she could feel its beams spread through her.

      He loved her!

      ‘I was also afraid that if you had a bolt hole to escape to you would be more tempted to use it,’ he continued. ‘I should have guessed you would use this place as your bolt hole.’

      ‘I couldn’t face being in the apartment without you,’ she confessed. ‘So I turned up at Rocco’s door claiming asylum.’

      He laughed. ‘He must have been delighted to know we’d fallen apart.’

      ‘No,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘When he realised I was actually in love with you, the chip he’d been carrying went. He became my brother again.’

      His lips were so close to hers. She craned her neck forward, suddenly desperate to feel them upon her, to be cradled in his embrace but he gripped her neck at the side, gently but with enough firmness to stop her moving.

      ‘So, you do love me?’ For the first time she saw his vulnerability.

      ‘Yes. I love you. With everything I have.’

      She’d hardly finished speaking before his mouth crushed hers, his essence filling her with such sweetness the tears really did fall.

      ‘Oh, my love,’ he said, wiping her tears away. ‘I never want to see you cry.’

      ‘They’re happy tears,’ she said with a sniff. ‘You’re not the only one who’s always felt unworthy—I’ve spent my whole life feeling like a poisoned chalice, put on Earth to destroy anyone who gets close to me.’ She stroked his cheek. ‘I wanted you to employ Kerstin because I thought she was the perfect woman for you.’

      Incredulity spread over his face. ‘You were trying to engineer me being with her?’

      ‘I thought she could make you happy. You wouldn’t have to compromise your time or sacrifice…’

      Her words were cut off by a hard, possessive kiss.

      ‘You’re perfect for me,’ he said when he pulled away, cradling her cheeks to gaze into her eyes. ‘Just you. We’ve both made sacrifices. I would make them again a thousand times over.’ He bowed his head and brushed his lips against hers. ‘I love you. You’re my world.’

      ‘And you’re my everything,’ she answered softly.

      For the first time Alessandra felt a tinge of sympathy for her father, who had gone so off the rails when he’d lost the love of his life. After a fortnight without Christian, she had a little insight into what he must have gone through. She would never be able to forgive him, not for the way his actions had so hurt Rocco—and they had hurt her brother more than her because Rocco remembered a time when their father was a loving man who had adored his small family—but a whole chunk of the bitterness she felt towards him fell away.

      ‘I love you, Christian.’

      ‘Always.’

      ‘Always.’

      And they did.

       EPILOGUE

      ‘IT’S A GIRL!’

      Alessandra didn’t know who was the most excited at the giving of the news—the obstetrician or her husband, who announced it in unison while the midwife held the baby—her daughter—up for a few brief seconds before the cord was cut and they whisked her away to clean her up

      Christian was back at the top of the table, bed or whatever it was she was laid upon, raining kisses all over her face, muttering prayers and thanks in Greek, English, Japanese, Cantonese and any other language he could conjure.

      ‘You are wonderful,’ he said into her ear in a reverential fashion.

      ‘You’re pretty wonderful yourself.’ She laughed, stroking his hair.

      It felt good to laugh.

      It felt even better when they placed her daughter on her, allowing a little skin-on-skin time before whisking her back off for swaddling.

      ‘Look in my bag,’ she whispered.

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Just look. There’s an envelope in the side pocket.’

      Doing as he was bid, Christian tore the envelope open and studied the document inside.

      After long moments he faced her, his eyes brimming with so much emotion it was like looking into an overflowing bucket.

      ‘Thank you, Kiria Markos.’

      ‘You’re welcome Kyrios Markos.’

      It was a document making official Alessandra’s name change from Mondelli to Markos.

      This was her gift to him, her statement to them both as much as to the world that they were a unit. Their love was for keeps. Cut one and both would bleed. Their baby made them a family. She wanted their little family all to have the same name.

      ‘There is one little problem.’

      ‘Oh?’

      He reached into his back pocket and pulled out an envelope.

      Inside was a document making official Christian’s name from Markos to Mondelli.

      Thus, when their swaddled baby was handed to them properly to begin their journey as a family, the first thing their daughter heard was the sound of her parents’ laughter.

      As beginnings went, it couldn’t be bettered.

      ‘Three, two, one, drink!’

      In unison, Christian and Rocco raised their glasses to their mouths and downed their shots.

      ‘To Letizia Markos,’ said Rocco, picking up his next shot.

      ‘To my beautiful baby,’ Christian agreed. ‘And to my beautiful wife.’

      ‘Three, two, one, drink!’

      Christian had already celebrated the birth of his baby with Rocco, Zayed and Stefan four months before.

      Tonight it was Alessandra’s turn. She was having her own version of wetting the baby’s head in the bar next door with her sister-in-law and some other friends. He suspected theirs would be a much more civilised affair than his had been. But not by much.

      Thinking about it, he realised Alessandra hadn’t drunk any alcohol for well over a year, what with the pregnancy and then the four months of breast-feeding she’d done.

      Her tolerance would be minimal.

      Theos, and she’d insisted on wearing her five-inch heels.

      He was all set to bolt out of the bar and hover over her like her own personal guard when Rocco called the barman over for another round.

      ‘Now we need to drink to baby Mondelli,’ Rocco said with a knowing look.

      ‘Baby Mondelli?’ It took a moment for the penny to drop. ‘Olivia, she is…?’

      Rocco couldn’t hide the beam on his face. ‘Yes. I’m going to be a father.’

      ‘That is wonderful news!’ Embracing in a manly fashion, the two men then downed their final shots, got to their feet, walked out of the bar and into the next one, both eager to be with the women they loved above all else.

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