Luca flipped a pancake, then looked at her with a disarming smile. “In my family, food is life. All our family gatherings revolve around the meals we make together in the kitchen. Once a kid is old enough to peel a potato, they’re put to work helping with Sunday suppers.”
“Do you have a large family?”
Luca chuckled and flipped over another pancake. “Yes. I’m actually the oldest of six kids. My father is the oldest of five. When we all gather together with the cousins and spouses, there’s easily forty or fifty of us.”
“Did you help with caring for your siblings?”
He nodded. “Have I surprised you with my ability to handle an infant without completely melting down?”
Claire twisted her lips into a guilty smile. “Yes. I’m ashamed to admit it.”
“In addition to my siblings, I have a dozen nieces and nephews that I see from time to time. I have cared for my fair share of children of all ages. Eva is in good hands, I assure you.”
“Why didn’t you say that at your lawyer’s office?” That would’ve significantly reduced her stress level over this decision. She still didn’t want him taking Eva without her permission, but knowing she wasn’t the first baby he’d held made a difference.
Luca shrugged. “You made incorrect assumptions about me and I let you. Now that we’re here—as you mentioned a moment ago—we can get to know each other as we are, not as others perceive us to be. You’ll find most of your concerns are unfounded.” He slid four perfectly golden pancakes onto a plate and added a few crispy pieces of bacon on the side. He placed the plate in front of Claire.
“That’s a ton of food!” she exclaimed as she eyed the plate-sized pancakes.
“Well, that’s the only problem I have in the kitchen. I don’t know how to cook for two people. I cook for an army or not at all.”
Claire couldn’t even imagine having that much family. She had almost none. Jeff’s family had been her own for many years and now... Eva was really all she had. She scooped the baby off her knee and put her into her high chair so she could eat. After she snapped on the tray, Luca put a handful of Cheerios out for her to pick up and nibble on while they had breakfast.
“What about you?” Luca asked as he made his own plate. “What is your family like?”
Claire frowned into her coffee mug. “Nothing like yours,” she said. “I’m an only child. My parents were only children, as well. I didn’t really grow up around our extended family. My father traveled with his job, so it was really just the three of us my whole life.”
“And now?”
It seemed like a simple question, and yet it wasn’t. Claire had family, and yet she didn’t. It was a strange limbo to be in. “And now, it’s really just Eva and me. My father had a heart attack and died when I was in college. My mother remarried, and since I was grown and gone, her life became more about her new husband. I don’t see or talk to her very often because she lives in San Francisco now. I married Jeff not long after she moved, so I didn’t notice the absence. His family was really good about including me for gatherings and holidays even before we got married. They were my family for many years, but now I’ve lost all that.”
Luca settled beside her at the counter with his plate and coffee. “You mean they haven’t included you since your husband died?”
Claire shrugged. “It’s not that simple. His death was hard on us all. And the circumstances made it that much more awkward for everyone. I don’t think they know what to say to me.”
Luca looked at her with concern in his dark eyes. “May I ask what those circumstances were?”
She took a moment to butter her pancakes and pour maple syrup over the top. Claire had told this story enough times now that it shouldn’t bother her anymore, but it did. The truth never got easier to take. “My husband died in a car accident with his mistress. He told me he had to go out of town on a business trip, but he was really with her. I would never have even known the truth, but they went off the road and hit a tree, killing them both. The police seemed to think she was...distracting him, somehow. I didn’t have the heart to ask them why they thought that.
“I was five months pregnant at the time, after years of trying to have a baby,” she continued. “It’s hard to lose someone you love and yet be angry at him at the same time. There’s so many emotions tied up in Jeff’s death for me and for everyone else. I just don’t think his family knew how to face me after that. Whenever they came to see Eva, his death hung over our heads like a dark cloud. And now they don’t have to face it anymore. I haven’t heard from his parents since I told them about the clinic mix-up. Apparently both Eva and I are disposable since we’re no longer their blood relatives.”