LITMIR.BIZ

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others who lived on gossip. Those lies about her being shallow and of little substance had colored his thinking for years.

      He left the living room and remained outside the doors for several minutes to get a grip on his emotions, before taking the stairs two at a time. When he entered the nursery, he found his father helping Concetta stack some blocks. Sullisto saw him in the doorway. “Well...I guess I don’t have to ask how it went. Your eyes say it all.”

      Leon nodded. “You were right. This was one reunion that was meant to be. Come downstairs and see for yourself.”

      He plucked his daughter from the floor, still clutching one of her blocks, and they headed out the door with Rufo. When they’d descended the staircase and entered the living room, he discovered the two women still seated on the love seat, deep in conversation punctuated with laughter and tears.

      “Forgive us for barging in on you, but my daughter wants to join in.”

      “Concetta...” Luciana rushed over to take her from Leon’s arms. Belle was right there with her. Both women fussed over his daughter, laughing, and his little girl broke out in smile after smile. She’d never had so much loving attention in her life.

      Leon glanced at his father. They shared a silent message that left no doubt this watershed moment had changed the fabric of life in both Malatesta households.

      “Dinner’s ready. Let’s go in the dining room. Tonight we’ll all eat together.” Leon’s words delighted the women.

      After he brought the high chair in, they both begged him to put Concetta between them at the candlelit table. Happiness reigned for the next hour, with most of the attention focused on the baby.

      Leon looked around, realizing he hadn’t felt this sense of family since before his own mother had died. His father hadn’t seemed this relaxed and happy in years, either. As for Luciana, being united with her daughter had transformed her to the point Leon hardly recognized her. Gone were the shadows and that underlying look of depression.

      But it was the new addition to his table that filled him with emotions foreign to him. Since Benedetta’s death, Concetta had been the only joy in his life. Having lost his wife, he hadn’t been able to think about another woman. As for marriage, he had no plan to marry again. His daughter was all he could handle, all he wanted to handle.

      Before Benedetta had died, she’d been Leon’s comfort. With two losses in his life, plus Dante’s aloofness, it was Concetta who was the beat of his heart now. Though she was loved by his staff, he guarded her possessively, afraid for anything to happen to her.

      He’d been functioning on automatic pilot at work, unenthusiastic about the pleasures he’d once enjoyed. His good friend Vito had phoned, no doubt to make some vacation plans, but Leon hadn’t even called him back yet.

      While he’d been going along in this whitewashed state, Belle Peterson had exploded onto the scene. Her presence reminded him of someone who’d come along his private stretch of beach and purposely destroyed the sand castle he’d made for his daughter with painstaking care.

      In Belle’s case it wasn’t intentional. Far from it. But the damage was just as bad, because nothing could be put back the way it was before. Leon didn’t like having his world turned upside down, leaving him with inexplicable feelings percolating to life inside.

      He should never have kissed her. Obviously, he needed to start dating other women. There were many he could choose from if he wanted to. But it was disconcerting to realize that none of them measured up in any way to Belle.

      When Carla came into the dining room to pour more coffee, he asked her to tell Talia to come and put the baby to bed. Concetta was too loud and squirmy, a telltale sign she was tired. But after the nanny arrived and pulled her out of her high chair, his daughter cried and fought not to be taken away. To his astonishment, she reached for Belle and quieted down the second his houseguest grasped the baby to her.

      Diavolo! He couldn’t blame it on the green suit or the shape in it. Belle herself, with her creative ways of doing things, had captured his daughter’s interest.

      Those dark blue eyes sought his with a trace of concern. “If it’s all right with you, I’d love to get her ready for bed.”

      This wasn’t supposed to happen, but what could Leon say? “I’m sure that will make Concetta very happy.” When he saw the way she interacted with Belle, it came to him that his daughter needed a mother. Until now he’d been thinking only of his own needs. It had taken Belle’s advent in their lives for him to realize a father wasn’t enough for Concetta, who deserved two parents to make her life complete.

      “Oh good! Come with me,” she said to Luciana. “We’ll do it together.”

      “You’ll find a stretchy suit in the top drawer of the dresser,” Leon suggested.

      “A stretchy suit?” Belle said to the baby. “I wonder how many pink ones you have.”

      “It’s a beautiful color on her, but then she’s lovely in every color,” Luciana said as they left the dining room, chatting together like a mother and daughter who’d never been apart. “She’s already a great beauty.”

      Once they were alone, Sullisto eyed Leon. “I can see that Luciana won’t want to be separated from Belle now that they’ve found each other. You say she’s flying back to New York on Sunday?”

      “That was the plan,” Leon muttered, not able to think that far ahead.

      “Well, as long as she’s in Rimini, she’ll stay with us at the palazzo. I’m anxious to get them both home.” After a slight hesitation, he said, “I haven’t told Luciana this yet, but I’m planning to adopt Belle so she’ll be an integral part of the family.”

      After learning how much Luciana had suffered since giving up her daughter, Leon wasn’t surprised by the announcement. What it did do was convince him how deeply his father had learned to love Belle’s mother.

      Feeling restless with troubling thoughts he hadn’t sorted out yet, Leon got to his feet. “I’ll go up and make sure Concetta is settling down without problem. Have you told Dante about Belle?”

      “No. Pia has been so upset because she hasn’t conceived yet, he took her to Florence for a little break. They won’t be back until sometime tomorrow afternoon. It’s probably a good thing. I want to give Luciana and Belle the next twelve hours or so together before we break the news to them.

      “They don’t have your advantage of getting to know Belle first, and her reasons for coming to Rimini. It will take time for him and Pia to absorb everything that’s happened while they’ve been gone.”

      Dante wouldn’t be the only one. Leon was still attempting to deal with the reality of Luciana’s daughter, whose response had almost sent him into cardiac arrest earlier. Sullisto had been brilliant at keeping his wife’s secret from their family. But for some reason his plan to adopt Belle didn’t sit well with Leon.

      He left his father at the table and went to the kitchen to find Talia, asking her to get Concetta’s bottle ready and take it upstairs. “You outdid yourself on the dinner,” he said to Simona, before bounding up the staircase.

      He found a beaming Luciana holding his daughter, who’d been changed into a white stretchy suit with feet. Belle stood next to them, playing with his daughter’s toes. The baby was laughing out loud.

      Luciana saw him first. “Oh, Leon, she’s the dearest child in the whole world.” There was a new light in her eyes.

      Belle’s expression reflected the same sentiment. “We wish she didn’t have to go to bed.”

      “I’m sure she doesn’t want to be put down, either, but it’s time.” He walked over and reached for his daughter, who clung to him with satisfying eagerness. Talia wasn’t far behind with the bottle.

      She sat down in the rocker, so he could hand her the baby, who’d started to fuss the second he let go

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