LITMIR.BIZ

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with Matteo was over, it was Rini who’d insisted she live with him instead of their father, who’d been grieving since the death of their mother in a car accident. He’d grown weak and needed a wheelchair more and more. He slept poorly. All he would need was a baby around the family villa in Naples.

      Carlo had invited her to live with him, but she didn’t want to intrude when he had a wife and child. She was blessed to have such wonderful brothers, but throughout her pregnancy she would have given anything if her mother had still been alive. They’d been so close. Now she was gone, and a grieving Valentina was going to have a baby without her mother’s loving kindness and help.

      A few minutes later she heard Carlo’s voice talking to Bianca. Grabbing her purse and overnight bag, she walked to the foyer of the villa. He broke into a big smile and took the bag from her. “You’re going to be a mamma in a little while. Let’s get you to the hospital.”

      “I’m fine now.”

      “That’s what Melita said before our little Angelica was born. Bianca was right to call me.”

      “Please don’t tell Papà yet. He’ll just worry.”

      “I agree.”

      She thanked the housekeeper and followed Carlo out to the courtyard, where his Mercedes was parked. As he opened the front passenger door, another pain took over. This one actually stung.

      “Take some deep breaths until it passes, Valentina.”

      Carlo had been through this before with his wife. He had a calming effect on her. In a minute the pain subsided enough for her to get in the front seat. After some effort, he helped fasten the seat belt below her swollen belly. He patted her tummy. “Angelica’s going to have a little cousin before long.”

      “I can’t believe it’s really coming.”

      “Don’t be scared.”

      “I’m in too much pain to be scared.”

      He shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side. Once behind the wheel, he started the car and they left the villa that was perched like an eagle’s nest above the dizzying landscape of the Amalfi Coast.

      The evening summer traffic impeded their progress to the main road leading to the Positano hospital. Valentina could see Bianca’s wisdom in calling Carlo to come and get her. It would have taken Rini too long to get there.

      Another pain, harder than the others, had taken over. She had a feeling this was really it. Her brother knew what was happening and let out a few epithets because someone was blocking the road.

      “I should have brought you in the helicopter.”

      Normally unflappable, Carlo was showing a surprising amount of angst. If she weren’t in so much pain, she’d smile because he seemed to be the one who was scared.

      He honked the horn, but it did no good. At least a dozen cars were backed up with more cars lined up behind them. It took forever to reach the turnoff. The loud, blaring sound of a siren was getting closer. Another pain had started worse than the others. Valentina had always heard a woman comes close to death giving birth. If it was from the pain, she believed it.

      “Carlo—my water just broke!”

      “Hang in there. I’ll have you at the hospital in a few minutes.”

      Suddenly there was a collision and the sound of twisting metal.

      * * *

      “Signor Laurito?”

      What did his private secretary want now?

      “Si? I’m just walking out the door to fly home to Ravello. Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

      “This is an emergency. Signora Corleto is on line two.”

      His pulse raced. He knew his pregnant ex-wife could go into labor anytime now. He turned on the speaker to talk to his former mother-in-law. “Violeta? What’s going on with Tatania?”

      “Oh, Giovanni, the most terrible thing has happened! She started bleeding and we sent for an ambulance. On the way to the Positano hospital it was involved in an accident with two other cars. My precious figlia—” She was crying so hard he could hardly make out her words.

      “How bad is she?” The baby? His heart plunged to his feet. Had she lost it?

      “The collision caused her to deliver the baby in the ambulance. Both are at the hospital on the third floor east wing. I don’t care what she says. She needs you.”

      Giovanni needed answers, but she was too distraught to give him details. “I’ll be right there.”

      He alerted his helicopter pilot, then raced out of the office and took the steps two at a time to reach the roof of the Laurito Corporation in downtown Naples. The flight to Positano took twenty minutes. After the short trip, his pilot set them down on one of the two helipads.

      Giovanni waved him off and hurried inside the hospital. He reached the east wing and approached a doctor putting information into a computer at the nursing station. “Scusi—who can tell me the status of Signora Corleto and her baby?” When they’d divorced, she’d taken back her maiden name of Corleto.

      The doctor looked up. “You are...?”

      “Her ex-husband, Giovanni Laurito.”

      “Ah.”

      “Signora Violeta Corleto, her mother, phoned and told me she’d been in an accident.”

      “That’s correct. She’s in with her daughter now. By some miracle she wasn’t injured, but she had the baby in the ambulance before they could get her here. I’m glad you’ve come. I understand your ex-wife doesn’t want to see the baby or keep him.”

      “That’s right. It’s been settled in court.”

      “Then that means you are the sole parent to your son.”

      “Si.”

      “Why don’t you talk to the pediatrician in the nursery? I just came from there. Your baby is doing fine.”

      “And my ex-wife?”

      “She lost some blood, but is recovering nicely.”

      “So she’s out of danger?”

      “Si.”

      Grazie a Dio.

      “If her mother looks for me, tell her I’ll be in the nursery.” Violeta had never given up hope the two of them would be reconciled. That would be an impossibility.

      “Go down the other end of the hall and through the doors. You can’t miss it. Congratulations.”

      “Thank you.”

      Giovanni was still reeling with shock when he reached the nursery. The clerk alerted the pediatrician, who came out of his office to greet him.

      “Signor Laurito, I’m Dr. Ferrante. Your ex-wife’s doctor told me to expect you. You have a fine boy, who is doing well. Twenty-one inches long, seven pounds and five ounces.”

      “That’s wonderful to hear. How soon can I see him?”

      “Right now. Come in this other room and wash your hands. While you do that, I’ll have the nurse wheel him in here, where you can hold him and inspect him all you want. Later she’ll show you how to bathe and feed him.”

      Giovanni’s heart started to pound hard. He’d played with the nieces and nephews from his two sisters’ marriages, but he’d rarely held a tiny baby. To think this newborn was his own son!

      When Tatania had first learned she was pregnant, she’d threatened to have it aborted. No doubt she’d wanted to punish Giovanni because of their failed marriage that she’d blamed on him. But her father, Salvatore, had threatened to disown her if she went through with it. His will had prevailed, grazie a Dio.

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