‘You’re right. You are a teacher, a supposed upstanding citizen, and on paper you probably look good. And at the end of the day Lily needs a mother figure in her life.’
‘So you won’t contest it when I apply for custody?’ She could scarcely comprehend it would be that easy, that Rico would give up with barely a fight. But he nodded and she felt her breathing even, her pulse-rate slow down as Rico’s eyes met hers and he gave a small smile.
‘Of course not.’ For a second she relaxed—a stupid move when Rico Mancini was in the room, for he struck like a viper the second her defences were down. ‘Why would I fight with my wife when we want the same thing?’
‘Your wife?’ Bewildered eyes met his, her mouth opening and closing as speech evaded her.
‘My wife,’ Rico confirmed, a malicious smile carving his strong features. ‘That is what you want, after all.’
She moved to deny it, opened her mouth to protest, but the words died on her tongue before they were even formed. Rico was right. That was what she wanted—for the last year it had been all she had wanted, all she had secretly craved. But not like this. Never, ever like this.
‘Antonia and my father can afford the best lawyers—’
‘So can you,’ Catherine cut in, but he withered her with a stare.
‘This could go on for years. Years,’ he repeated, making sure she understood. ‘And in that time Lily would be dragged between us. But if you and I unite, if we tell the social workers we are married, that Lily is our first and only priority, we would stand a chance. At the very least I’m sure we’d gain custody. and it would be up to my father and Antonia to try and prove
we were not fit.’
‘But marriage…I can’t believe you’re suggesting…’
‘Oh, but this isn’t a suggestion,’ Rico corrected. ‘This is what we will do.’
‘You can’t order me to marry you.’ She gave an incredulous laugh. ‘You can’t drag me up the aisle screaming, Rico.’
‘There will be no aisle; there will be no church. I think a quick discreet service would be more appropriate.’
‘You really think you’ve got it all worked out, don’t you?’
‘Of course I have,’ Rico said with annoying patience, as if he were addressing a petulant two-year-old. ‘A young professional couple will certainly appease the family court judges.’
‘And I suppose once it’s all sorted we arrange a discreet divorce?’ Her words were laced with scorn. ‘What would happen to Lily then?’ Catherine fired. ‘I suppose I’d have her during the week and you’d rock up at the weekends?’
‘She’s not a parcel to be passed around; we will do the right thing by her.’
Catherine shook her head, brown eyes blazing, appalled that he thought it could all be so easy. ‘A loveless marriage isn’t the right thing, Rico. A convenient divorce isn’t the right thing by Lily. She deserves better.’
‘And she will get it.’ He didn’t raise his voice, but something in the icy deliverance of his words told Catherine he meant business. She stepped back slightly, swallowing nervously as he walked over and took her none too gently by the shoulders, fixing her with a menacing stare. ‘You are the one who mentioned the word divorce…’
‘You can hardly expect me to sign my life away for ever.’
‘But that is what happens when you have a child,’ Rico pointed out. ‘That is the commitment you make. Yesterday you told me you wanted custody, that you wanted to do the right thing by your niece.’
‘And I do,’ Catherine protested, but not quite so forcibly. ‘But, Rico, what is a marriage without love?’
‘Ha!’ He gave a scornful laugh. ‘Love is for fools.’ Seeing her shocked face only egged him on further. ‘Love is a false state of mind, a fantasy one chooses to live in.’
‘You don’t believe in love? You don’t believe a man and a woman can love each other?’ She truly couldn’t comprehend the magnitude of his words, but Rico was only too happy to enlighten her.
‘Of course they can.’ Rico shrugged. ‘If they choose to mess up their lives. Look at Janey and Marco. Marco loved her, adored her, and in the end it killed him.’
‘But surely…?’ Catherine started, but Rico was on a roll now.
‘My parents.’ He held up his hands then clapped them together. ‘Sham! My father and Antonia.’ Again he clapped his hands. ‘Sham!’ Picking up the newspaper, he waved it for an angry moment before tossing it aside. ‘I bet this is full of happy couples telling the world how love saved the day. Only this time next year we will be reading how she drank too much, or he hit her.’ He clapped his hands together again. ‘More shams! Love is for fools, Catherine,’ Rico said firmly. ‘Love leaves you bleeding. The last thing I want or need in my life is a marriage that is a sham. But this way…’
His eyes narrowed and he eyed her thoughtfully, his voice low and husky but utterly determined as he continued. ‘You and I—well, I believe it could work. For centuries my ancestors decided their children’s fate, chose their partners for them. There was no love there, no stars in their eyes, no promises that their passion might conquer all—and there was no divorce,’ he added triumphantly. ‘No fools believing that love would get them through. They made a commitment, worked at their marriage, stuck at it even when times were hard. Maybe the old ways had some merit—’
‘Your argument is utterly, utterly flawed,’ Catherine interrupted. ‘Nobody got divorced in those days unless they were incredibly brave or incredibly rich. But it didn’t mean they were happy!’ She closed her eyes for a second, massaging her temples as she tried to assimilate Rico’s strange logic into the twenty-first century. ‘And it isn’t our parents choosing a suitable match; it’s two people—’