Yet, despite him acquiescing to her request, she missed him so much: the little flurry in her stomach that existed whenever there was the prospect of seeing him; the small shared smiles; the occasional dance; and, most of all, the prospect of a late night alone with him...
Instead, she stood in the grounds of what had once been the family home and tried to push Gian out of her heart and focus on the nuptials. Mia looked utterly gorgeous and Dante looked so proud and happy as his bride walked towards him.
‘That didn’t take long, did it?’ Nicki nudged.
‘What?’
‘She’s showing!’ Paulo said.
Ariana pressed her lips together. Only family had been let in on the secret that Mia was pregnant. Dante had assured them all that nothing had taken place before Papà died, although for four months Mia did appear rather, well, large.
‘It must have been going on for quite some time,’ Nicki whispered. ‘Your pa only died in January...’
‘Thanks for pointing that out,’ Ariana sniped, but Nicki didn’t notice for she had moved on. ‘Where’s Gian? I thought he’d be here.’
‘I’ve no idea,’ Ariana said, practising her shrug, as if Gian De Luca was the very last person on her mind.
As the vows were made, and Nicki jostled to take photos on her phone, Ariana asked herself why she hadn’t told Nicki about what had happened with Gian. Neither had she told her the truth about her parents...
Paulo she wasn’t so close to, but she and Nicki were supposed to be best friends.
It was a question of trust, Ariana realised.
Deep in her soul, Ariana realised that she did not trust the woman who sat by her side and it had nothing to do with Gian’s opinion of Nicki...
The answer had arrived in its own time and the conclusion Ariana came to was all hers.
Ariana said nothing, of course. She just smiled through the proceedings and raised a glass when Dante announced in his speech that he and Mia were expecting twins—likely the reason for her showing so much. Not that Nicki corrected her earlier assumption. ‘You’re going to be an aunty...twice!’ Nicki screeched, and called to the waiter for another bottle of champagne.
‘Make that two bottles,’ Paulo said, and Ariana’s eyes actually scanned the room for Gian, as if hope and need might make him somehow appear.
He did not.
Apart from his absence, it was a wonderful wedding, their love so palpable it made Ariana both happy and pensive.
‘It will be your turn soon.’ Nicki smiled as they took a break from the dancing. ‘And I shall be your bridesmaid...’
‘You’ll be the oldest bridesmaid in Rome if you wait for me,’ Ariana said. ‘I want a career.’
‘Why?’ Nicki frowned. ‘It’s not as if you need to work. You have Daddy’s trust fund. Didn’t he leave you an apartment in Paris? We should go there and check it out...’
‘It’s not enough—’
‘Please,’ Nicki scoffed. ‘Poor little rich girl.’ Her narrowed eyes snapped back to wide and friendly and she pushed out a smile. ‘Let’s join Paulo.’
‘You go,’ Ariana encouraged. ‘I’ll just sit here awhile.’
Her rare absence on the dance floor did not go unnoticed. ‘Get off your phone, Ariana,’ Dante called. ‘Come and dance...’
Except it wasn’t her own phone that Ariana was going through, it was her friend’s. Some might call it dishonest, or an invasion of privacy, a breach of trust...
Except, from where Ariana now sat, those titles belonged to Nicki.
There was a sneaky little shot of Mia in profile as she made her vows, a definite confirmation of the pregnancy that had been announced only to family and friends. That could be excused, though, as lots of people had been taking photos.
What could not be excused was an earlier image of Mia and Dante, locked in a passionate embrace. It was the photo that had been taken at the ball, the one that had caused so much pain.
To a heart that Ariana had thought could not be broken further, the knowledge that her friend had betrayed her added another river of pain.