LITMIR.BIZ

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Lasted longer. Surely it wasn’t... But the look on his friend’s face told him all he needed to know.

      He hadn’t dated since he’d returned to Italy and didn’t see himself doing so anytime in the near future. And those plans to revisit his decision to leave Atlanta permanently? Put off over and over until it was far too late to do anything about it.

      He hadn’t been able to stomach going back to his hospital in Rome either. His parents and two sisters lived there, and he hadn’t felt like answering a million questions. Oh, there’d still been the worried texts and phone calls about why he’d suddenly returned to Italy, but since they hadn’t been able to see his face, he was pretty sure he’d put their fears to rest. As far as they knew, he’d simply decided to practice in his own country. A short tenable statement. One he’d stuck to no matter how hard it was to force those words past his lips.

      He ignored the churning in his stomach. “Okay, where is she?”

      Instead of answering, Lorenzo pushed the door farther open and came into the room, revealing the woman who’d driven him out of the States and back to Italy.

       Hell!

      Chaotic memories gathered around, all of them pointing at the figure in front of them. He swallowed hard in an effort to push them back.

      “Elyse? What are you doing here?” There was a slight accusation in his tone that he couldn’t suppress. A defense mechanism, another way to hold back the wall of emotion.

      Dio. He’d fallen for this woman, once upon a time, and then she’d gone and stabbed him in the back in the worst possible way. Better to let her know up front that he hadn’t forgotten.

      But why was she in Italy?

      When she didn’t answer, Lorenzo turned and handed her the baby. Shock flared up his spine. He looked from one to the other as a sudden horrible thought came to him. Did the two of them know each other? Was that why she’d made sure he was fired?

      No. Of course not. Lorenzo had never been out of Italy as far as he knew. There was no way the two of them could have met.

      “I’ll go so you can talk.” Lorenzo glanced at Elyse. “It was very nice meeting you.”

      “Thank you. You as well.”

      Then he backed out of the room and closed the door behind him with a quiet click.

      Something in Luca’s brain had frozen in place, the gears all stuck for several long seconds. His ass was also still firmly in his chair, something his mother would have frowned about.

      But the memories were still doing their work, each one stabbing his heart and sticking there, like darts on a dartboard.

      She ventured closer to the desk. “Luca?”

      Somehow he dislodged his tongue, making a careful sidestep around the biggest question in his head while he puzzled through it. “How’s your mother?”

      He glanced at the baby. Elyse didn’t have any siblings, so that wasn’t a niece she was holding. Had she adopted a child after he’d left?

      “She’s still hanging in there. The Parkinson’s progression has remained slower than average.”

      They’d tried an experimental treatment a few years back that had helped tremendously, even if it hadn’t rolled back the clock.

      “Good.” Of course she hadn’t traveled all this way just to report on her mother’s condition. That left one question: Why was Elyse Tenner standing in the middle of his office, holding a baby? He nodded toward the seat in front of the desk. “Would you like a coffee?”

      She sank into one of the chairs with what looked like relief. “I would love one, thank you.”

      “When did you arrive?” He got up and measured grounds into his coffee press and turned on the kettle to heat the water. The mindless task gave his fuzzy brain time to work through a few of the more obvious items: yes, she was really here, and he was pretty sure she wouldn’t be if he’d simply left his toothbrush at her place. So it had to be something important. Important enough to travel across the ocean to see him.

      His eyes went to the baby again before rejecting the thought outright. She would have told him before now.

      “My flight arrived this morning.”

      “You have a hotel?”

      And if she didn’t? There was always his place. His thoughts ventured into dangerous territory.

       Not happening, Luca.

      He carried the pot with its water and coffee to the desk and set it down before retrieving two cups off the sideboard.

      “Yes, I stopped at the hotel first, before coming here.”

      He poured the coffees and reached into the small fridge beside his desk, hiding his disappointment by concentrating on the mundane task before him. She’d always taken her coffee like he did, with a splash of milk. He added some to both, stirring a time or two before pushing one across toward her.

      He studied her face. It was pale and drawn, her cheekbones a little more pronounced than they’d been a year earlier. “So what brings you to Italy?”

      There was a marked hesitation before she answered. “You, actually. I need to tell you something.”

      That jolt he’d experienced earlier turned into an earthquake, pushing all other thoughts from his head except for the one staring him in the face.

      “You do?”

      “Yes.” Elyse slowly turned the baby to face him. “This is Annalisa.” Her eyes closed, and her throat moved a time or two before she went on. “She’s your—she’s our daughter, Luca.”

      * * *

      A hundred emotions marched across that gorgeous face over the course of the next few seconds, ranging from confusion to shock before finally settling on anger. His hands came together, fingers twining tightly, the knuckles going white. “My what?”

      The words were dangerously soft.

      He’d heard what she’d said. He just didn’t believe it. And Elyse wondered for the thousandth time if it wouldn’t have been better just to leave well enough alone. To raise Anna on her own and let Luca stay in the dark about his part in her existence. But she owned it to Annalisa and, if she was honest, to Luca himself, to own up to the circumstances behind their daughter’s birth. If he rejected her claim outright, then at least she’d tried.

      She probably should have tracked him down during her pregnancy, but it had been a difficult time. She’d been so caught up in grief over his leaving that she hadn’t realized she was pregnant until she’d missed her third period. A test had revealed the worst. And she knew exactly when it had happened. That day in her office. The day he’d left the States forever.

      She had been going to call and tell him, but each time she’d picked up the phone, she’d gotten cold feet, afraid that hearing his voice would undo any tiny bits of healing that had taken place. She’d kept telling herself she’d do it tomorrow. Except a month of tomorrows had gone by, and then things had suddenly started to go wrong with her pregnancy. She’d been placed on bed rest. Her parents had come to the house to help her. Her mom had been a trouper, despite her own medical issues.

      Elyse wasn’t even sure the baby would survive at that point, so she’d elected to keep the news to herself in case the worse happened.

      And now she couldn’t...would never be able to...

      Annalisa was the only chance she would ever have to do this right. She swallowed back her fear.

      “It’s true, Luca. She’s yours. I thought you should know.” She settled the baby against her shoulder once again.

      He swore. At least she thought it was a swear word, from his tone of voice.

      God,

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