LITMIR.BIZ

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wasn’t a lie.

      She went downstairs. Her case stood at the front door and her parents sat at the table, looking at the photos the estate agent had taken of her nonna’s home.

      The home meant for her and Nico.

      ‘The part I don’t understand,’ Aurora said now, as she stood by the window, still awaiting her taxi, ‘is why you would have been happy for me to live there, with a husband who did not love me and did not want me, but you would rather sell that house than give your pregnant daughter a home for her child.’

      But they just wanted the problem to go away. By withdrawing their support her parents were assuming that Aurora would be forced to give her baby away.

      ‘Aurora is career-minded,’ her mother would declare in the village shop as she chatted to her friends. ‘And she’s making better money than Nico Caruso paid…’

      And then, a few months later, Aurora would return to the village, minus the family shame, and pick up where she’d left off.

      That was the unspoken plan in her parents’ heads, but deep down they knew Aurora.

      She would not be giving her baby away.

      ‘You’ve bought shame to this family, Aurora,’ her mother said. ‘How do we hold our heads high when you don’t even know who the father is?’

      Aurora gave a soft mirthless laugh, for though her mother spoke in anger, it was half true all the same: Aurora didn’t know who Nico was. Not really.

      An ex?

      That would mean they had actually been a couple at some point.

      A family friend?

      Sort of.

      Her boss.

      Not any more.

      ‘We trusted you to go to Rome,’ her mother said, her voice thick with tears. ‘We trusted you to behave.’

      ‘It wasn’t a school trip, Mamma.’

      ‘Less of your cheek,’ Bruno stood. ‘While you’re under my roof—’

      ‘But I’m not under your roof any more,’ Aurora said as the taxi finally pulled up outside. ‘You’ve asked me to leave, remember?’

      ‘Because you don’t even know the father’s name.’ Mamma’s lips pulled in disgust, as they had when Aurora had first revealed the news that she was expecting a baby.

       Tell them. Tell them who the father is. Tell them that you love Nico, your baby’s father, with all your heart.

       No!

      And again Aurora knew why.

      There would be shocked gasps, then shouts of anger, but eventually it would be all smiles and delight.

      Because Nico would do the right thing by their daughter.

      And Nico would.

      You could take the man out of Silibri, but you could not take Silibri out of the man.

      Oh, Nico might snub some of the village codes, but the basic ones were ingrained.

      He would marry her for the sake of their child.

      Aurora knew that down to her bones.

      Beyond her bones, she felt it in her womb, and she felt it in the place low between her ribs—a little knot that tightened when she imagined their wedding.

      Only not the way she had once envisaged it.

      Now she saw the villagers’ smiles, and heard their cheers, and she could even see the large bouquet she carried to cover her surprise pregnancy—but only for the photos.

      Everyone would know about the baby and how delighted the villagers would be. Nico Caruso was putting down roots—back where he had always belonged. And she and Nico would wave and smile and kiss for the cameras, and that night they would lie in bed and have sex because—well, it would be their wedding night.

      She could almost feel his resentment as he thrust into her. For Aurora Eloise Caruso had got exactly what Aurora Eloise Messina had always wanted.

      Even if Nico never had.

      So, no!

      She would tell no one the truth.

       CHAPTER TWELVE

      AS THE TRAIN pulled into Stazione Roma Termini, the main train station in Rome, Aurora felt none of the excitement as she had the last time she’d arrived here.

      Then she had been with colleagues, looking forward to training at a luxury Rome hotel. Then she had felt as if her career was on course.

      Then she had been looking forward to seeing Nico.

      Now…

      Aurora did not know.

      Yet she had chosen to come to Rome.

      Was it in the hope of seeing him?

      No, for she dreaded that.

      Or had she come with the intention of telling Nico that he was to be a father?

       No.

      One day she would tell him, but she dreaded that too.

      It was more that her world felt safer when Nico was near.

      She had arranged accommodation at a very basic hostel, but she would be spending only her nights there. Every day was to be devoted to trying to find work.

      But it seemed most restaurants weren’t hiring. At least not a visibly pregnant waitress.

      And it was the same for cleaning work too.

      Every day, on her way to interviews, Aurora passed Nico’s grand hotel. And every day, after yet another slew of rejections, she grew more and more tempted simply to land unannounced at his door and demand to see him. To hand over the problem to Nico to deal with.

      It was his baby after all.

      Yet she could not bear the thought of his disappointment, or the way he would reluctantly carry out his duty.

      She would find accommodation and work and she would be in a better position when she told him the truth.

      Her family’s reaction had hurt Aurora deeply, and if the people who loved her could cast her aside it left her with little hope for Nico’s reaction to the news.

      But then hope arrived, in the shape of a family of two young children, a stressed mother, and a father who travelled extensively for work. They lived in the Prati district, which was close to Parioli, where Nico resided.

      ‘I need someone for nanny duties and some light cleaning,’ Louanna explained. ‘Our last nanny left us with no notice…’

      ‘I won’t let you down.’

      It was a gorgeous old house, and Aurora had her own summerhouse at the bottom of the garden. Louanna was kind, and told her she had all the essentials Aurora’s baby would need.

      But then she added, ‘You will have three little ones to care for…’

      Aurora knew she would care for ten if it meant she had a home and could provide for her baby. For the first time since she had found out she was pregnant, she felt in control.

      But then Louanna’s husband returned, and the whole mood in the house changed.

      ‘A pregnant nanny?’ he said rudely to his wife. ‘What the hell…?’

      ‘Shh…’ said Louanna as she closed the study door on them. ‘Aurora is wonderful and she’s a great

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