Massimo let out a huff of laughter. “Even I know not to say that to a woman.”
Alessandro scrubbed his face with his hands. “I didn’t say it.”
“But you wrote off her words just the same.” His brother’s voice was more serious.
That was true, but why was Massimo being so obtuse about this? Alessandro took a deep breath and laid out the unvarnished reality. “I know our parents are negligent and our mother says things that should never come out of anyone’s mouth, but let’s not pretend that her words are not based in the truth. Iwasthe problem child. Ididcreate havoc in this house and drove them away. We both know I would have failed out of school without a little help from money, and I still got us kicked out three times for fights I dragged you into. The last time I almost took you down with me.” Alessandro shook his head slowly. “If we hadn’t gotten another chance after that, I would have never forgiven myself. I have devoted my life to getting our family’s business back for you because I will not let you down again. But a family life? That’s not in the cards for me.”
His brother was looking at him with an expression that looked very close to stunned. In fact, Alessandro could not remember a time when he had seen his brother looks so surprised.
“Alessandro, it’s true that I am very dedicated to our family business. But do you know why I threw myself into it? It was for us. So we wouldn’t get pulled in opposite directions. So we could be on a path together.” He frowned. “Why do you think I jumped into all those fights with you back at school? Half the time you deserved to get beaten up. But I don’t think you ever thought a step further than that fight. What would happen if you walked down to the headmaster’s office alone? Our parents would have split us up in a minute. They wouldn’t have thought twice before sending you to another school far away. You are my family, and getting split up from you was my personal idea of hell.”
The words shook him. Alessandro never considered the larger possible consequences of his fights. It never occurred to him that they could be split up, though now it seemed so obvious. And life without his brother would have been untenable. Unthinkable.
The same way that leaving Ann-Sophie and the baby felt right now.
He pushed that thought away and shook his head. “The moment I go off the rails, I’m going to bring someone down that I love—”
He cut himself off as the echo of his own words rattled through him. Helovedthem. Not just the tiny, beautiful baby, so fragile he was afraid to hold him. He loved Ann-Sophie. And he was afraid he was going to destroy that love.
His brother raised his eyebrows, as if he could read all of Alessandro’s thoughts. Then he ran his hand through his hair.
“If it wasn’t your temper, it would have been something else,” said Massimo, his voice harder. “Mother needed an excuse. Shecouldn’tcare about us, and she was always searching for ways to blame us. It might have been my nightmares if Olivia hadn’t hidden them from our parents—because she knew it would make me a target.” He expression softened. “I’m sorry it was you. If I had understood any of this at the time, I would have defended you.”
A strange heaviness washed over Alessandro as Massimo’s words sank in. It felt as if his anger was draining out of his body, leaving what had lay underneath it the entire time: The heavy sadness that their parents had found every excuse to blame the boys for the fact that they just didn’t care very much. Alessandro had done everything not to see this most obvious truth.
The room was silent. Finally, Alessandro gave a rough laugh. “Have you been googlingtraumatic childhoodagain?”
Massimo smirked. “Catarina drags this kind of thing out of me. Something about emotional openness.”
Alessandro and Massimo scoffed in unison, the way they had so many times when they were younger, but Alessandro could see that Massimo wasn’t one bit unhappy about his situation.
“If your temper was incompatible with caring for someone, I would have left you behind at one of those schools long ago,” he said pointedly, then raised an eyebrow. “I saw Ann-Sophie’s necklace at the wedding. I assume you went to see our grandmother. What did she say to you?”
Alessandro shrugged. “Some nonsense about being so in love that I forgot to invite her to the wedding.”
“When I was there for the ring, she said that I had spent my life defying our parents in every area. Why wouldn’t I do it for love?”
Alessandro gave him a derisive smile. “What a touching afternoon that was for you.”
“Don’t be thick about this. It applies to you, too,” Massimo said, his voice laced with exasperation. “You messed up, and you need to do something about that. Something more than an internet search. But this woman genuinely seems to care for you. And while I’d argue with her taste, I have no doubt about her sincerity.”
Alessandro flashed to their wedding, as she’d walked toward him in the church, with flowers in her hair and a mesmerizing dress that emphasized her full belly. It was love he had felt in that church. It was love that burned inside him, and until his parents came, it hadn’t turned bad. It had burned brighter all night long.
His brother put his hand on Alessandro’s shoulder. “Stop punishing yourself for your teenage mistakes. Facing the past is hard and painful, but it’s more than worth it. Especially when you have so much to gain.”
Chapter Twelve
ANN-SOPHIE HELD THEbaby close as he slept. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Peeking out from under the white knit cap were a few silky tufts of hair, and his eyelids were so thin they were almost translucent. His soft bronze skin, his dark brown eyes… Everything about him reminded her of Alessandro and she didn’t know what to do about it.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway, and a nurse peeked in her doorway. “There’s someone to see you.”
Her heart took off in her chest. Had Alessandro changed his mind? Her stubborn heart thumped in her chest, hoping, despite everything that had happened. He was comingwith her belongings, she reminded herself. And then he could leave.
“Send him in,” she said, schooling her expression into something that came closer to neutral.
“I’ll sendherin,” said the nurse before she disappeared out the door.
Before Ann-Sophie could register the comment, her mother walked through the door.Her mother, so fierce with a beauty not shaped by her features but rather, who she was. Margarita Svensson wore her years of experience etched on her face, and joy still sparkled through it. She was the polar opposite of Alessandro’s mother.
