A Legacy of Secrets(54)

‘Which means?’ Santo demanded.

‘That I love you.’

‘Right answer,’ and she got her reward then. She loved him—she’d always known it, had just held back on it. It actually didn’t matter in that moment if he loved her or not too, because it didn’t change things, and she learned more in those blissful moments than she could learn in lifetime.

She loved him, like it or not, returned or not, quite simply she did. Ella stopped fighting it then, just gave into the bliss of being back in his arms as he took her to a place that only Santo could.

After, she covered herself with a sheet, as she always did, Santo noted, and he turned to her. ‘You love me?’ He grinned.

‘Fool that I am.’

‘I am very lovable.’

‘So your nonna told me.’

Santo laughed, but it faded as she squealed when, mortified, Ella dived under the sheets as the trailer door opened.

‘I didn’t see a thing,’ came a vaguely familiar voice, one that sounded not in the least embarrassed at what he had found. ‘I’ll come back....’ She was just burning with shame beneath the sheets. ‘I was told the interview—’

‘Paulo?’ She heard Santo speak, could not believe he was prolonging the agony. ‘How soon can you start?’

‘Is “now” the right answer?’

Clearly it was, though Ella thought she might die as the conversation continued. Did Santo have to be quite so comfortable with sex? But then again, Ella realised, Santo’s PAs saw an awful lot, so Paulo might just as well get used to it.

‘I need you to sort out a selection of rings,’ she heard Santo say. ‘Engagement rings,’ he clarified as her heart stood still.

‘Is there anything in particular you have in mind?’

‘Her eyes are amber,’ Santo said, ‘but she would think that I was being superficial—’

‘As well as cheap,’ Paulo said.

‘I know.’ And she listened as Santo pretended he had come up with an idea, as if he hadn’t planned every second of this. He was a step ahead of her all of the time. ‘A diamond,’ Santo said, ‘as big as an ice cube, the shape of an ice cube....’

‘Princess cut,’ Paulo said. ‘Leave it with me.’ From beneath the sheet she heard Paulo move for the door. ‘And don’t worry, Ella,’ Paulo called out, ‘you don’t have to take me out for dinner.’

‘He seems good,’ Santo said as he pulled back the sheet. ‘And I can’t see myself ever fancying him. Still...’ He smiled. ‘You know what they say—never say never.’

‘You’re incorrigible.’

‘Only with words,’ Santo said. ‘And from now on, those words are only to you.’ She looked up at him. ‘I’m done,’ he said. ‘I’m through. I will have Paulo cancel my condom order from my shopping list and, if you will have me, I am exclusively yours.’

It wasn’t the most romantic proposal but they were the nicest words she had ever heard.

‘I will never hurt you,’ Santo said.

‘I know.’

She did.

‘I mean it, Ella. I want to marry you as soon as Paulo can arrange.’

‘We’ll just slip away...’ She couldn’t believe they were actually discussing a wedding, their wedding.

‘No.’ Santo shook his head. ‘We will do this properly. A good Sicilian wedding.’

‘How!’ Ella asked. ‘We’ve no idea where your brother is, and my parents would never come.’

‘Hey,’ Santo broke in. ‘I thought you said that you trusted me.’

And she remembered then how much she did. ‘Teresa came and saw me.’ Ella turned to him. ‘She told me some of the stuff that’s going on in your family. I’m sorry I haven’t been there for you.’

‘You’re here now,’ Santo said. ‘And you can make up for lost time—believe me when I say that there is plenty more to come.’

‘I’m sorry your family is such a mess.’ She ran a finger over his bruises.

‘So is yours,’ Santo pointed out. ‘Your father likes to use his fists....’

Ella didn’t want to talk about that now and she went to tell him that, but Santo spoke first.

‘I promise you though, I didn’t hit him back.’ He saw her eyes widen in realisation, an appalled look on her face as she realised that the bruises he wore came from her own stuffed-up family. ‘I went to ask your father for permission to marry you and I saw firsthand how it was.’