“Everyone has been so busy with their own lives. I just decided to keep things quiet until there was something to tell.”
“How’d your dad take the news?” Ariella asked.
“Ah.” She sighed, “you know Dad. He’ll adjust eventually. He’s concerned that we’re rushing things, and that he had no idea who my groom even was. I had to remind him that he and my mother met and eloped within a month. He didn’t want to hear that.”
Ariella smiled. “I imagine not.”
Hoping to shift the subject, Francesca decided to use the topic of fathers to fulfill her first obligation to Liam. “Can I talk to you about something?”
“Sure,” Ariella said. “Anything.”
Francesca nodded. “Okay. Now I want you to tell me ‘no’ the moment you’re uncomfortable with the idea, but I told Liam I would ask. Now is as good a time as any.”
“He wants an interview?” she said wearily. Francesca could tell the last few months were really wearing on her friend.
“Not exactly. He wants to offer you and President Morrow the opportunity to meet and get your story out there. A televised reunion show. No spin, no intruding interview questions. Just you and your father, however you want to do it. Liam has even said he’d put me in charge of the show to make sure you’d be comfortable with it. I told him that I thought it was—”
“Okay.”
Francesca’s head shot up and she stared at Ariella. Surely she’d heard that wrong. “What?”
She shrugged. “I said okay. If the president is okay with doing the show, I think it’s a great idea. We’ve gone too long without saying anything publicly, and I think it’s starting to hurt both of us in the court of public opinion. Neither of us has done anything wrong, but the silence makes us look like we have something to hide.”
“But do you think television is the right place for you to be reunited with your birth father? Won’t that be hard for you?”
“Not any harder than anything else that’s happened this year. Frankly, I’d be relieved to clear the air so the news networks can find some other story to sniff out. Tell Liam I’m in.”
Francesca took another large sip of her champagne punch and sighed. Everyone had lost their minds—she was certain of it. “Okay, great,” she said, feigning enthusiasm. “I’ll let Liam know.”
*
Liam had to admit that it was an excellent engagement party. One of the better ones he’d been forced to attend over the years. He was exhausted and well-fed, as he should be. If and when he did get married, he intended to keep D.C. Affairs Event Planners in his address book.
It was dusk now. The party was winding down, with guests making their way out amid glowing paper lanterns and white twinkle lights.
He’d lost track of Francesca a little while earlier as he started talking politics with a few other men. Now, he picked up his champagne glass and went in search of his elusive fiancée. That sounded so odd to say, even just in his head.
He found her sitting alone at a table near one of the cherub fountains.
“Hey, there,” he said as he approached. “Thought you’d run off on me.”
Francesca smiled wearily and slipped off one of her heels. “I’m not running anywhere right now.”
“Are you ready to go?”
“Yes. I think the party is over. And was successful, I might add. I got several people to agree to buying tickets to the Youth in Crisis gala next week.”
“You’re not supposed to recruit at our engagement party.”
She shrugged. “Why not? It’s what I do, just like you talk politics all the time with folks.” She slipped her shoe back on and stood gingerly. “Ahi, i miei piedi.”
Liam watched her hobble a few steps and decided the walk to the car would be too far for her. “Stop,” he insisted, coming alongside her and sweeping her up into his arms.
“Oh!” she hollered in surprise, causing a few people left at the party to turn and look their way. They immediately smiled at his romantic gesture and waved good-night to them.
Francesca clung to his neck, but not with a death grip. “You didn’t have to do this,” she said as he walked the path to the front of the house.
“I don’t have to do a lot of things, but I do them because I want to. Gray Lexus convertible,” he said to the valet, who immediately disappeared to the car lot.
“I think I can manage from here.”
“What if I’m doing this for selfish reasons? What if I just like holding you this way?” he asked. And he did. He liked the way she clung to him. The way her rose perfume tickled his nose and reminded him of their time together in the elevator. His body tightened in response to the press of her breasts against his chest and the silk of her bare legs in his arms. He didn’t want to put her down until he could lay her on a plush mattress and make love to her the way he’d wanted to for days.