LITMIR.BIZ

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from her daughter. Frankly she didn’t know what to do with herself.

      Don’t think I’ll stay the night. If I leave after cake can be home by midnight. ‘Send’.

      Paige checked her watch, doing a quick calculation in her head. Yep. She could definitely make it home by then.

      ‘Everything okay?’

      Paige glanced up into the bride’s face. Nat had fresh bluebells threaded into her blonde locks, which brought out the colour of her eyes and matched the crystal beading decorating the neckline of her ivory gown. Alessandro’s hand rested possessively on her shoulder and Paige felt a sudden yearning she couldn’t explain.

      Why? She’d been where they were. Had the divorce to prove it. She certainly had no desire to do it again.

      She smiled at her friend. ‘Just telling Mum I might not stay the night.’

      ‘Paige? No.’ Nat grabbed her hand. ‘Your parents have booked and paid for it. Including breakfast. Your mother would skin me alive if I let you leave.’ Nat squeezed Paige’s hand. ‘It’s just one night. Don’t you think it’s time you enjoyed a well-deserved break?’

      Paige shied away from the earnestness of her friend’s expression. Everyone said that to her—you need a break, Paige. But she was a mother first and foremost and McKenzie needed her. That’s just the way it was. Nat would understand one day too.

      The phone vibrated and Paige grabbed it, relieved to break eye contact with the bride. She opened the message and read it three times, a ghost of a smile touching her lips. She held it up to Nat.

       Don’t. You. Dare.

      Nat grinned. ‘Have I mentioned how much I like your mother?’

      Paige rolled her eyes. ‘Okay, okay. I’ll stay.’

      ‘Good.’ Nat squeezed her hand. ‘The speeches are about to start.’

      A deep laugh floated towards them and Nat looked across to where Valentino was chatting with some nurses from their work. ‘You should take a page out of Val’s book. He’s certainly having a good time.’

      Paige felt her gaze drawing to him again. ‘Isn’t he just,’ she said dryly.

      Nat sighed. ‘I tell you, if I wasn’t utterly besotted with Alessandro and was up for a brief fling, I’d be over there too.’

      ‘Hmm,’ Paige murmured noncommittally.

      ‘Do you know he used to date Adrianna de Luca?’

      Paige gave her friend a mystified look. ‘Who?’

      Nat rolled her eyes. ‘One of Italy’s top catwalk models.’

      Of course he did. ‘Fancy that.’

      ‘They were in all the magazines last year.’

      Paige hadn’t read a magazine in for ever. Or a book. Sunday newspapers were about her limit. ‘Of course they were.’ Her voice dripped with derision.

      Nat regarded her friend seriously. ‘Not all men are like Arnie, Paige.’ She looked up as Valentino laughed again and poked her elbow into Paige’s ribs. ‘Come on, you have to admit, he’s a bit of a spunk.’

      ‘I hope you’re talking about me, il mio tesoro,’ Alessandro interrupted, nuzzling his new wife’s neck.

      ‘But of course.’ Nat smiled, turning to Alessandro, her lips poised to meet his as he lowered his head.

      Paige felt a tug at her dress and was grateful for a reason to avoid the blissful clinch she knew was happening beside her. She looked down to see, Juliano, Alessandro’s four year old son.

      ‘Where’s McKenzie?’

      Paige smiled at the boy. ‘Juliano, you look magnificent!’ He was dressed in a mini-tux and was the spitting image of his father.

      With the boyishness and dimples of his father’s cousin.

      Juliano stood a little higher. ‘Nat says I’m handsome.’

      ‘Nat is one hundred per cent right.’

      Juliano beamed. ‘Is McKenzie sick?’

      Paige shook her head, saddened that it was such a natural conclusion for Juliano to jump to. ‘No. She’s at home with her grandparents.’

      Juliano’s face fell. ‘I wanted to ask her to dance.’

      Paige’s heart just about melted and she pulled Juliano in for a big hug. ‘You are so sweet. I see you have your father’s charm.’ She glanced at Alessandro, who winked at her. ‘Another time, huh?’

      Nat had wanted McKenzie to be her flower girl but Paige had declined. The truth was, crowds made Paige very nervous for her daughter. As an ex-prem with chronic lung disease and poor immunity, every single person was a potential source of infection, a silver bullet to McKenzie’s weak defences. It just wasn’t worth the risk.

      ‘Okay.’ Juliano nodded, squirming out of her embrace. ‘See ya,’ he chirped, and ducked away, heading for the dance floor.

      Paige watched him, smiling even though her heart ached. What would she give for her daughter to be so ablebodied, so carefree? She returned her attention to her phone and replied to her mother’s text.

       Promise you’ll ring if there’s a problem.

      It took five seconds for the reply. I promise.

      Paige texted back. Anything at all. No matter how trivial. She released the message into the ether and held on fast to the phone, tension tightening her stomach muscles.

      She knew people thought she was too uptight about her daughter but what did they know? It was she who lived every day with the reality of McKenzie’s fragile health, not them. And one thing was for certain—being vigilant had kept McKenzie alive.

      With the operation only a couple of months away now, Paige was determined to keep McKenzie healthy and avoid any more delays. It had been rescheduled three times already. No more.

      The phone vibrated in her hand and Paige opened the message. I’m switching the phone off now. Go and have fun. That’s an order.

      Paige smiled. She’d obviously stretched her mother’s patience enough for one night. Thank God for her parents. She would never have got through the past few years without them.

      A tinkling of cutlery on glass cut through the low murmur and Paige turned to see Alessandro standing. She pushed all thoughts of the world outside the room aside, determined to follow her mother’s orders, and motioned for the drinks waiter.

      

      ‘So,’ Valentino said, topping up Paige’s half-full glass with some more champagne, ‘I believe it is a custom in your country for the best man and the bridesmaid to dance the bridal waltz together.’

      His voice was low and close to her ear and her body reacted as if he had suggested something much more risqué than a customary dance in front of a room full of people. It took all her willpower not to melt into a puddle. Not to turn her head and flirt like crazy.

      Except it seemed like a million years ago now that she’d last flirted and she was pretty sure she didn’t have a clue how to go about it. And why she would choose to do so with a man who was all glamour and sparkle, after her experience with Arnie, was beyond her.

      The bitter burn of memories was never far from reach.

      ‘That’s right,’ she said, refusing to look at him, focusing instead on the bubbles meandering to the surface of her champagne.

      ‘Eccellente. I’m looking forward to that.’

      Well, that made one of them. The thought of them dancing, his arm around her practically bare back, their bodies close, was sending her heart into fibrillation. Sitting

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