Page 81

More herself than she’d ever been, because being a mother made her strong.

Picking up the baby monitor, she headed down to the piano nobile.

‘Gabe.’ She knocked on his door.

‘You don’t have to knock.’

‘You do on mine,’ Stella said.

She saw his back stiffen, as she denied him all access, then he turned.

‘Your work do?’

‘Yes, for Damon.’

‘You look great.’

‘Thank you.’

And in the middle of leaving him it was odd that the electricity was suddenly back on. That background noise, once ever-present for them, had returned.

‘Stella, I’ll be back in a few days…’

‘You don’t have to give me your plans. I won’t be here.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Sophia and I are moving out tomorrow.’

‘I thought you were overseeing the take down…’

‘I am, but I don’t need to stay here for that.’ She gave him a smile. ‘Thanks for having us.’

His eyes narrowed a fraction.

‘Here…’ She dropped Sophia’s baby monitor on his desk. ‘Gina’s got the night off.’

‘Well, don’t worry, Maria’s here, she’s very used to…’

‘Maria’s gone to Ravello for mass, remember?’

She watched his face pale, and placed the monitor on the desk beside him. ‘I’ll be late.’

It was the hardest thing to walk away.

* * *

Not as hard as watching her leave.

The palazzo had been noisy, with the filming, the constant to-and-fro of people, but everyone was at the party, and Maria was out…

It felt eerily silent, and he picked up the monitor and looked at Sophia asleep…

‘Stay like that,’ he said.

But, unable to concentrate on his charts, he took himself and the intercom upstairs. Walked the long corridor, and past the master bedroom, to this wing and saw the open door and smelt the gorgeous scent of Stella in the air.

And really, she was incredible, he well knew.