Boss Meets Baby(97)

‘I never read them myself,’ Vito admitted.

Lily stared at him in frank disbelief, too startled to mask her reaction. For a moment he actually appeared to wince with embarrassment.

‘You never read them?’ she gasped. ‘Surely you followed up the result—repeated the test or got a second opinion?’

‘No.’ Vito hung his head for a moment, then took a deep breath and looked her in the eye to continue. ‘I was devastated. All my dreams of becoming a father, of continuing— the Salvatore line, were shattered. It seemed like an assault on my very existence.’

‘Why did she do it?’ Lily asked. ‘What would make Capricia lie to you like that?’

‘I don’t know,’ Vito said. ‘I’ve been wracking my brain all night, trying to work it out. The only solution I have is that she didn’t want children. I knew she didn’t want to come off the Pill—but I thought I’d persuaded her to try to start a family. Presumably she just carried on taking the Pill all along.’

‘I think you’re right.’ Lily thought about how Giovanni had described Vito’s first wife. It was ironic that the old man had got her measure better than Vito. ‘It must be painful to realise that the woman you loved tricked you like that.’

‘I don’t know if “painful” is the correct word,’ Vito said. ‘I’m furious with her. Furious that what she did led me to hurt you so badly.’

‘You should have read the results yourself,’ Lily muttered. She knew it was harsh to point that out. But she couldn’t help noticing Vito had not denied loving Capricia—a woman who had deceived and cheated him. For some reason that really hurt.

‘I’m sorry,’ Vito said again. ‘I’ve treated you unforgivably.’ —

Lily gazed at him sadly, swallowing against a hard lump in her throat. She ought to accept his apology. He was the victim of a wicked deception. If Capricia hadn’t lied to him, he would never have treated her so badly.

But none of it was her fault. The only thing she’d ever done wrong was fall in love with Vito.

‘Nothing’s changed in the way I feel,’ Lily said miserably. ‘You never trusted me—you had to get Capricia’s doctor to send you proof.’

‘Something did change yesterday. I saw your fear when the doctor took the blood sample.’ Vito sucked in a deep, shuddering breath and raked his hands roughly through his black hair. ‘I spent the night in an agony of confusion. Once I’d admitted the possibility that you might be telling the truth, I was desperate— for that to be the case. But, after Capricia left, I spent so long denying my feelings that it was almost impossible to get out of that rut. The security of encasing your deeper feelings in a layer of cold rock is hard to give up.’

His heartfelt outburst tugged at Lily’s sympathies, but it was a cruel kind of torture to listen to him describing— how he’d battened down his emotions after Capricia had left.

‘You must have loved her very much,’ she said.

‘Capricia?’ Vito looked at Lily in surprise.

Her hazel eyes were wide in her pale face, and the dark shadows of fatigue around them accentuated their size. She looked so small and vulnerable, sitting there in the white hospital bed, that his chest contracted painfully.

‘I don’t think I ever loved Capricia,’ he said. ‘Not really.’

‘Then why did you marry her?’ Lily asked.

‘I was young,’ Vito said. ‘She was beautiful. Venetian. And at the time I foolishly thought she’d make a good wife and mother.’

Lily didn’t reply, but he could see in her face what she thought of his judgement. It was terrible. It had always been terrible. In business it seemed he could do no wrong. But, in his personal life, everything he’d done was wrong.

Until one day, in a moment of good fortune, he’d met Lily. And then he had set about ruining that too.

‘I’m sorry. I’ve ruined everything,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t necessary to force you into this. I’ve married you when I didn’t need to.’

Suddenly he saw her eyes fill with tears. As the liquid pooled and spilled down her cheeks it felt as if someone had ripped his heart from his chest.

‘Don’t cry,’ he said, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking her hands in his. They felt pitifully cold in his grip. ‘I know we are married—but I don’t see how I can hold you to that now.’

‘But what about your grandfather?’ she said, her voice uneven with the sound of crying.

Vito held her hands, gently warming them between his palms. Then suddenly he realised something.

Lily was more important than his grandfather.

His desire to see Giovanni end his days in contentment— was still powerful. But not at the expense of Lily’s happiness.

‘My grandfather doesn’t need to know,’ Vito said carefully. ‘You’ve given him the heir he desired. And, with your friendship, so much more than that. I can’t ask you to give up your life.’

He looked at her sad face, his heart contracting painfully— at her distress, and suddenly all he wanted was to take away her sadness.

‘Don’t cry,’ he said again, leaning forward to kiss away the salty tears that were streaming down her cheeks. ‘You’re tired. It will seem better later. We’ll work things out.’