including every photo taken of the Meadows family since she was born, until Lara was laughingly forced to call a halt.
‘Poor Alessandro looks tired,’ she told Vivi. ‘He needs a rest now.’
Alessandro’s eyes gleamed with amusement. ‘I am a little tired. Maybe I should lie down on your bed, Mummy. What do you think?’
‘Oh, we can do better than that for you,’ she said, smiling. ‘How about a walk?’
Alessandro’s brows went up and his devil’s smile flashed. ‘It would have to be a very good walk. Ah, I know. How about a drive and a walk?’
To Vivi’s great excitement, he drove them to Bondi, where he and Lara played chasing games with her until Lara collapsed on the sand, feigning exhaustion. Alessandro dropped down beside her, and they watched while Vivi investigated the treasures to be found at the water’s edge, swooping down on shells, squealing with delight every time an icy little wave rushed far enough up the beach to splash her bare feet.
‘Simple pleasures provide such endless delight,’ Alessandro observed, slipping his arm around Lara and kissing her ear. ‘So this is what it’s like being a parent.’
‘This is what it’s like,’ she acknowledged. ‘Full on, day and night. No looking away.’
For a long time he was silent, frowning a little, his chiselled profile brooding against the lengthening rays of the sun.
Lara’s fear, never far below the surface, stirred to gnaw at her precarious happiness.
What was he thinking? Was he feeling daunted? Looking forward with relief to that plane he’d be boarding at the end of the week?
‘That’s-a very lovely gift you gave her,’ she ventured after a while. Unable to help herself, she said softly, ‘Something for her to remember you by?’
He turned and his acute dark eyes shimmered into hers. ‘For her to remember this day by,’ he corrected gently.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ALESSANDRO stayed for dinner. To Vivi’s astonishment he insisted on being the cook, with Lara acting as his willing kitchen hand.
‘Better a kitchen hand than a kitchen slave,’ Lara murmured, inciting a wicked surmise in Alessandro’s eyes. Then after dinner, when Vivi was fast asleep, though he’d intended to return to his hotel, desire swept them away and it seemed natural he should stay the night in Lara’s bed.
By Sunday evening he was a shining prince in Vivi’s eyes, and in her loving little heart as well, Lara could see. And who could blame her? What female could resist being charmed by the Marquis of the Venetian Isles?
Although Vivi was anxious he should stay to dinner again on Sunday, and for ever, as far as Lara could guess, as the day progressed Alessandro became increasingly quiet and pensive. Then late in the afternoon he informed them gently that he needed to go back to his hotel and prepare for the week to come.
It made sense to Lara, who had preparations of her own to take care of. But Vivi was disappointed, and so was she, in truth. She’d indulged herself in a daydream that, having come to visit once, Alessandro would never leave. She smiled goodbye, a tear in her heart when he bent to kiss Vivi, who reached up and put her arms around his neck.
In the morning at work, Alessandro called her into his office. Dressed in his business suit, once again he’d assumed that indefinable aura of the boss, even though he was her lover, and the father of her child. That didn’t stop him from kissing her, however.
When the kiss ended he said, ‘There’s something I have to tell you.’
The ominous words sparked a pang of anxiety in Lara, but she concealed it with a grin. ‘You’re not pregnant?’
He smiled. ‘Not this time.’ He glanced cautiously at her and said, ‘I’m flying back to Italy this evening.’
‘What?’ Shock made her numb. Her knees lost strength, and to her shame her voice wobbled. She could see the end of her golden time, the last precious, joyous day draining away.
But what had she expected? He’d made no promises to her except for one of Vivi’s financial support. There was no commitment. She’d had hopes of one soon, but now…
Her disappointment was bitter. ‘Oh. Already? Didn’t you say-I thought-aren’t you staying on until it’s time to go to-to Bangkok?’
‘I was, but circumstances have changed. But-don’t look like that. There’s no need for you to worry, tesoro.’ He drew her back into his arms. ‘I know it sounds sudden, but there are some urgent things I have to do there. It will only be for a few days. I’ll probably call into Bangkok on the way back.’
She looked doubtfully at him. ‘Really? On the way back here?’
‘Yes, here. Really. I’m coming back.’
His eyes were so warm and sincere, but as she gazed searchingly at him his brows edged together. ‘I am coming back,’ he said in some exasperation. ‘Don’t you believe me?’
‘All right. If you say so.’ But her mind was working rapidly. What if, once he arrived in that other world, circumstances changed again and he was delayed long enough for her and Vivi to recede from his mind? He mightn’t come back for months. Even a year. Her heart chilled. Vivi would have no closure. That goodbye yesterday might be the last for a very long time. Were two days with Vivi enough to cement her image in his heart for ever?
She tried to recover her poise and behave like an adult. ‘What time is your flight? We’ll come to the airport.’
He looked taken aback. ‘Are you sure? There’s no need to go to that inconvenience. What about Vivi’s dinner? I’ll be seeing you both again very soon.’
‘There’s every need,’ she said firmly. ‘Forget about her dinner. Vivi needs to say goodbye.’
In truth, six years hadn’t made Lara any better at farewells. She tried to keep a smile for Vivi’s sake, but when Alessandro held her fiercely against his chest and kissed her for the last time, tears rolled down her face, just like before. And when he picked Vivi up in his arms and kissed her, Lara could barely restrain herself from sobbing aloud.
‘I’ll phone you,’ he said, his deep voice gruff and gentle at the same time. ‘I promise.’
They watched him stride down the immigration corridor until he was out of sight, then turned away, despair in Lara’s heart, at least. Vivi was too young to anticipate heartbreak.
Her mother wasn’t so sanguine.
‘It’s a crying shame,’ Greta said later that evening. ‘He was such a nice lad. I had great hopes of him.’
‘He is coming back, Mum.’
Greta looked grave. ‘Oh, right. If you say so. Good.’ She didn’t sound very confident, and Lara’s hopes sank deeper. Why hadn’t he been keen on them saying farewell at the airport? Had he wanted to make a quick, clean getaway? No tears, no reproaches? No conscience?
At work she went through the motions like an automaton.
‘Get a grip, honey,’ Tuila said, stopping by her desk. ‘He’ll be back. He still hasn’t found an MD. As if he’s even…’
‘Even what?’ Lara enquired.
‘Nothing. Forget I said a thing.’
But what did she say? Lara wondered.
‘That guy’s on a Formula One ride to nowhere fast,’ Tuila muttered.
On Wednesday evening the phone rang during dinner. Lara’s heart leaped up in hope, as it did every time a phone rang, and this time she wasn’t disappointed.
‘Hello, tesoro.’ From across the world Alessandro’s deep voice thrilled down her spine like dark melted chocolate. ‘What are you doing right now?’
Beaming. Thrilling. Feeling my heart fly over the moon. ‘Eating dinner with my family. What are you doing?’
