Now they’d all come true.
Christmas morning, Scarlett woke with a smile on her face, hearing her baby’s soft hungry whimper from the nursery next door. She looked at her husband sleeping beside her, and her smile became a beam of pure joy.
She loved him. And he loved her.
She blessed the internet. The crazy advice had worked better than she’d ever dreamed. After he’d taken her body so roughly against the wall, after he’d told her he loved her, Vin had wrapped her shivering body tenderly in his black jacket, and they’d gone into the enormous new kitchen to eat the dinner she’d prepared, homemade bread and fettuccine alla carbonara. Sitting together in the shadowy kitchen, he’d smoothed a bit of sauce off her cheek, looking at her with dark unreadable eyes, and all she could think was that she’d never been so happy.
He loved her.
Vin actually loved her.
After dinner, he’d held out his hand and led her upstairs. In their dark bedroom, he’d silently taken off his clothes and pulled her into the big bed, where he made love to her again, this time with aching gentleness. This time, as he pushed into her, their eyes locked, soul to soul. No separation. No secrets.
He loved her.
Now Scarlett shaped her lips silently into the words, tasting their sweetness again and again.
Creeping out of bed quietly, so as not to wake him, she wrapped her body in a white robe and went to the en suite nursery, where she lovingly swept their two-month-old baby into her arms. Cuddling him in the nearby glider, she fed him and rocked him back to sleep in the darkness. Once he was full and drowsy, she tucked him back in his crib.
Straightening, she looked out the window at the dark frosty dawn breaking over Rome.
She’d never been so happy. She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve such happiness. Her heart was almost breaking with joy. Padding back on the soft rugs over the hardwood floor, she returned to the master bedroom, into the enormous bed that she shared with her husband. Closing her eyes, she pressed her cheek against his naked back and fell asleep.
A noise woke her.
Opening her eyes, Scarlett saw by the golden light filtering through the shades that it was midmorning. She blinked dreamily, smiling. “Merry Christmas.” Then she blinked. Her eyes focused on Vin across the bedroom. “What are you doing?”
“Packing,” he said tersely, tossing more clothes into the open suitcase. He was already dressed, in black tailored trousers, white shirt, a black vest and red tie. His dark hair was wet from the shower.
“Yes, I see that, but packing for what?”
Vin stopped, looking at her. His dark eyes were cold, and the gorgeous mouth that had kissed her into such uncontrollable spirals of pleasure just hours before was now pressed into a severe line. “I’m leaving on a business trip.”
“When?”
“Immediately.”
“What?” She sat up straight in bed. “But your parents are expecting us to drive up to Tuscany with the baby—”
“Impossible,” he said flatly. “I just learned Salvatore Calabrese is in Tokyo to make a deal with another company. It’s my last chance to make him sell to me instead.”
“But you can’t leave!” Scarlett struggled to calm her voice. She sounded like a whiny child, even to her own ears. “It’s Christmas Day!”
He turned on her fiercely. “What do you expect me to do, Scarlett?” His tone was scathing. “Sacrifice my company, our son’s future, just to stay here and play happy family with you over the holidays?”
Yes, that was exactly what she expected. She drew back, hurt and bewildered.
Vin stared at her for a long moment. Then he turned away to pack. “I’m not sure how long negotiations might last. It could be days. Even weeks.”
“You might be gone through New Year’s?”
“You’ll be busy anyway. Packing for you and the baby.”
“Packing for what?”
“We’re moving to New York.”
Scarlett’s jaw dropped. Was she dreaming? She stared at her husband in the bedroom she’d personally decorated, in the villa that, after all her devoted work, felt like home. “What are you talking about? We live here! In Rome!”