“Never. In fact, you would have been amazing in either of those roles had it not been for the family you were born into.”
I nodded. He was right. As much as I had harboured a desire to be a kickass lawyer, prosecuting the bad guys or the police officer catching them, it could never have been, not in this world that was my home. I went to school, did fashion design of all things, something that could never be drawn into this world and a little over a year ago, I came back, for a wedding of all things, but also ready to pledge myself to Dante, except it all went wrong.
“Where are you?” he asked, drawing my attention back to him and the present.
“It doesn’t matter.”
A groan of disbelief vibrated in his throat.
I wasn’t having this conversation, not now. Not ever. “I’m back now, perhaps not as we planned or imagined, but I am back.”
“Yes, you are.” He leaned in, preparing to kiss me.
“Dante, I need to take this slowly.”
“Of course . . . is it because of Amina’s father, did he hurt you? Who is he?”
“Dante.” I repeated his name, a little more firmly now. “I can’t talk about this with you.”
“One day you will need to, Anna, you have to know that.”
I was stupid if I ever thought he wasn’t going to ask about him, and even more stupid had I ever imagined he wouldn’t want answers, but I had none for him, none he would want to hear. Perhaps none he’d believe. “We might have to agree to disagree on that.”
He growled, sounding more frustrated than angry. “Why is he not around? How did he allow you to dance in that place?”
“He’s dead.” Technically that wasn’t a lie, he was dead to me and that was all that mattered.
“I’m sorry–”
I didn’t need platitudes or sympathy so I cut him off. “Don’t be. I’m not. The man was a pig and deserved everything that came to him, I’m only sorry his end wasn’t at my hands.”
A hand came to rest on my cheek, his fingers sliding through my hair until he cupped the back of my head then landed the sweetest, gentlest and briefest of kisses to the tip of my nose. “That explains why he’s not around and preventing you from working in that club!” Now he sounded angry.
“You don’t get to judge how I made enough money to keep a roof over my own and my daughter’s head.”
“Stop!” His voice wasn’t raised but was firm. “I am not judging you, mia ragazza, never. I am judging myself for allowing anyone to have ever hurt you, and you working in that damned place meant I found you again. It brought you back, you and Amina, and you won’t ever need to do anything you don’t want to in order to keep a roof over yours or her head again because my roof is your roof.”
“Dante, I will need you to tell me what you did to Aldo . . . where he is . . . I need to give my brother a fitting goodbye, a burial.”
“Goodnight, Anna.”
Clearly these were not questions he was ready to answer, but his reluctance to discuss what he had done to my brother and where he was, and his abrupt replies wouldn’t stop me from continuing to ask.
CHAPTERSEVEN
DANTE
Waking with Anna, as I had these past couple of weeks, felt like I had won the lottery or a gold medal. I had woken before her and actually lay watching her for almost an hour before Amina began to stir. Climbing out of bed, I moved to stand over the crib where the baby lay, her arms and legs waving as she gurgled and babbled to herself. She stopped briefly when she became aware of me standing over her and with a huge gummy grin and the cutest giggle I had ever heard. She began to bounce, her arms appearing to move up, almost asking me to pick her up, well, that’s what I told myself.
“Good morning, you really are a principessa.”
She buried her face in my neck and my heart bloomed. If she wasn’t the living image of innocence, love and perfection, I didn’t know what was. A small cry of protest left her lips as I adjusted her position.
“Bella ragazza, we need to get ready for breakfast,” I told the baby as her restlessness increased. This would be the first morning that Anna and Amina were joining the family for breakfast. Anna had needed time to settle and despite the overwhelming urge to insist she came down from day one, following a talk with Gina, I had been persuaded to give her some time to acclimatise to her surroundings again. The first few days, Anna had remained in my room but accepted visitors. By the end of the first week she had eaten with my parents a couple of times when nobody else was around, and she had forged a relationship with my sisters and sister-in-laws, but today was the first day of being a fully paid up member of the household, starting with breakfast.
“Good morning.”
The sight of Anna sitting up in bed, her face free of make-up, her hair beautifully dishevelled as it fell around her face and shoulders took my breath away. If there had been any doubt in my mind that this is where Anna belonged, they were dispelled in that second.
