‘YOU’RE GOING HOME? Already?’ Kate sounded shocked on the other end of the line.
‘The twins are doing really well. Everybody’s happy that they’re ready to go home. Sean’s coming later this afternoon to collect us all.’
‘But the house won’t be ready.’
‘It is. I ducked home for a while yesterday and took all the stuff out of the garage. And I’ve got the car seats and lots of clothes here. We’re all set.’
‘Where’s Matteo?’ Luke was on speakerphone with Kate. ‘He’ll be able to help.’
‘In Italy.’ Georgia had to squeeze her eyes tightly shut. Her hormones were all over the place now and it seemed that she was going to make up for all those years of never crying. ‘His mother’s in hospital, apparently. He sent a text message from the airport. A very brief one. I don’t know what’s wrong with his mother or anything.’
Luke was laughing. ‘Yeah...he’s always treated text messaging like a pager from work. Succinct information with no frills and nothing personal.’
‘Yep.’ The message was burned into Georgia’s brain by now.
Heading to Italy. Mother in hospital. Back when I can. Need to talk.
‘He’s good with Skype, though. You could try that.’
No, she couldn’t. She couldn’t force a conversation on Matteo when he needed time to think.
When he couldn’t think straight when he was near her.
That was one of the two things she was hanging onto at the moment—that he still had to have some fairly powerful feelings for her if it messed with his head that much. And that meant that there was still hope...
‘Send more photos of those adorable babies,’ Kate put in. ‘And have you come up with some names yet?’
‘Yes, I will,’ Georgia promised. ‘And, no, I can’t think of names. My brain is mush.’
She had come up with a hundred names but couldn’t make a decision. Because it wasn’t just hers to make? And she couldn’t send them the photo that had come with Matteo’s text, of him with his babies. Not until they knew the truth and when they found that out wasn’t up to her. It had to be Matteo’s choice. Maybe if it had just been Kate she was talking to, she would have confessed everything but it seemed like Kate wasn’t just Kate any more. She was part of Luke and Kate—an inseparable team. And Luke’s first loyalties after Kate had to lie with his best friend.
The sooner Matteo told them the better, as far as Georgia was concerned.
She was over keeping secrets.
She didn’t want to be the person that Matteo had been describing the other night. Dishonest. Untrustworthy...
Oh, man...another bout of tears was imminent.
‘I’d better let you go,’ she said quickly. ‘It must be the middle of the night for you guys.’
‘It is but it doesn’t matter. Call anytime...and good luck.’
‘I’ll be fine.’
‘Of course you will. Oh, but I do wish I was there to help...’
* * *
Less than two days later and Georgia was also wishing that Kate was there to help.
The home help for several hours a day that was part of her ongoing maternity care had left and she was, once again, alone in her house with the babies. There were still a dozen things she needed to do, like fold the overflowing basket of washing in the corner of the sitting room, put away the rest of the online grocery order that had been delivered moments after her home help had gone and check her neglected email and phone messages.
Georgia stood in the middle of the sitting room, pushing the twin pushchair both babies were lying in back and forth as she sang a lullaby. The singing was on autopilot because her brain was busy trying to prioritise her list. As soon as she could be sure they were really asleep she could do the first thing on that list, but after last night she knew she might have a lot less time than she needed so she had to make sure she tackled the most important task first. Maybe it was finding some food. She was starving...
And then one of the babies started crying.
Her daughter, who still didn’t have a name.
Picking her up, she held her cradled against her shoulder and tried to keep rocking the pushchair with her other hand.
Lucy? Katy? ...Bella?
She liked Bella a lot.
But Bella Bennett? No, it didn’t sound right.
Bella Martini sounded so much better.
And, just like that, her thoughts shot back to Matteo, along with a stabbing sensation in her chest that felt a lot like loss.
The baby was still crying, rubbing her face on her mother’s shoulder, that tiny open mouth communicating as clearly as any words.
Georgia sat on the couch and offered her breast to the hungry baby, still trying to keep the pushchair rocking, first with her foot on the axle and then with a free hand once her daughter was latched on.
For a few moments at least, a blessed silence fell.
‘He’s coming back,’ she whispered, her forefinger gently stroking the cheek of the baby she held. ‘Your daddy. He would never abandon you. He loves you.’
She might be saying it simply to reassure herself but Georgia believed her words. Because of that photo. Because Matteo had looked so happy holding the babies. He looked like the proudest father ever. He might not trust her and he might even want to fight for custody of his children but, right now, that didn’t scare Georgia the way she would have expected it to.
Because she had seen something else in that photo. That Matteo was experiencing that same kind of life-changing, all-encompassing love that she had been swamped with from the moment she had first held both of her babies.
Because she wanted him to be part of his children’s lives.
She wanted him to be part of her life, in whatever way they could make it work.
How weird was that?
The complete opposite of what Kate had referred to as her ‘hare-brained’ scheme. The one where she gave up on men completely and was going to have a baby all by herself...
What would her mother have said about that?
Probably something like, ‘Be careful what you wish for, love...’
Tears gathered so easily these days. Maybe it was just hormones. Or maybe a dam had been breached that night she had told Matteo about the scar on her arm and she was going to have to release all the tears that had accumulated in the years of being banished.
If only she’d been brave enough to tell him the whole truth that night.
She was feeling a little bit sorry for herself at the moment, in all honesty.
She had given up on that scheme to find an unwitting sperm donor at the competition.
But look at her now...
Alone. With two babies. She’d been so happy to find out that she was pregnant. So confident that she would be able to cope. Still so determined that she didn’t want their father having any influence on how she brought them up. Of being any kind of a threat.
But this was Matteo she was talking about.
And that was why everything had changed.
She loved him so much. And love like that had its roots very firmly buried in trust. Her heart knew that. It was just that her head had decided to override it for far too long.
Rocking wasn’t cutting it for her baby boy and within seconds whimpers from the pushchair became a heartbreaking wail.
She used her little finger to gently break the suction on her breast, feeling guilty as she did so. Her daughter’s eyes were drifting shut and maybe she would sleep for long enough for her brother to be fed. But Georgia could feel how damp her nappy was as she laid the baby into the nest of cushions on the couch beside her and her eyes were open again. She might have fallen asleep on the breast but her damp bottom was obviously bothering her now. Or maybe she hadn’t had enough milk yet?
She’d seen pictures of women breastfeeding twins at the same time but how on earth did they manage it? Surely the only way it could be possible would be to have someone else to help position them?
Both babies were crying now.
And so was Georgia.
She desperately needed help and she missed her mum so much it hurt.
She missed Kate, too.
But most of all she missed Matteo.
The noise level in this small house was so overpowering it was astonishing that Georgia could hear anything else—like the slamming of a car door. Maybe she noticed because it happened more than once.
Was it Sean, perhaps? Or some of her other friends from work?
Whoever it was, she wasn’t going to be able to pretend that she was coping brilliantly but she could, at least, try. She pushed tangled tresses of her hair back from her face and then scrubbed at those tell-tale tear tracks.
She could hear voices outside now.
A firm, male voice, speaking in...Italian?
Georgia’s heart leapt. Matteo was here.
He had come back...
But he wasn’t alone. She caught a snatch of female voices, who seemed to be arguing with him.
Her heart dropped like a stone from the astonishing height it had just achieved.
This had been her worst fear, hadn’t it? Having to face an entire family of angry Italians who were determined to claim their own.
Somehow, she managed to scoop both her babies into her arms and, as if they sensed the significance of what was happening, they both stopped crying as the door opened and their father walked in.
One look at the way Matteo was standing told her that he was as tense as he had been the last time she had seen him, when he’d come into her hospital room. And one look at his face told her that he had, indeed, come to claim his own.
The question that she couldn’t begin to find an answer to, however, was whether she could possibly be included in that number.
‘I need you to tell me something,’ Matteo said quietly.
He had said that to her once before, hadn’t he? In the car that night after Kate and Luke’s wedding. When he’d been about to ask her if she’d already known she was pregnant the night they’d first made love.
And she had felt as if any safety barriers around her had just evaporated. That she was standing on the edge of a cliff and the slightest wrong move would be catastrophic.
She was on that cliff edge again but this time the catastrophe would be if Matteo was going to vanish from her life, not insist on being a part of it.
‘Were you telling the truth when you said you loved me?’
And here it was. An opportunity to tell Matteo the absolute truth and Georgia didn’t hesitate for even a heartbeat.
‘Yes. With all my heart, Matteo. From the moment I met you, I think. And for always...’
For a long, long moment he was silent, his gaze holding hers from across the room.
The corners of his mouth curved as if he was about to smile and, in that moment, Georgia knew that everything was going to be all right. Better than all right, judging by the way her heart was soaring again. She needed to learn to trust what she could feel and she wasn’t going to let her head argue the toss about anything this time. Matteo still loved her. It looked as though he had even forgiven her.
But both babies chose that moment to start crying again and, at the same time, a sound from behind made him turn his head.
‘I said to wait outside, Mama... That Georgie and I need to talk...’
‘She can’t wait,’ another voice said, in heavily accented but perfect English. ‘And neither can I.’ A tall woman with a tumble of black, curly hair and a rounded belly of early pregnancy edged past Matteo and walked straight towards Georgia.
‘I’m Adrianna,’ she said, her smile lighting up her face. ‘Matti’s sister. It’s so good to finally meet you, Georgia. He’s told us so much about you.’ Her gaze dropped to the bundles cradled protectively in Georgia’s arms. ‘Oh, Mama...you have to see. It’s Mita and Lia all over again...’
‘I have to find somewhere to put this lasagne. Matteo...where’s the oven?’
‘I’m sorry, Georgie,’ he said. ‘I tried to stop them. I said I had to talk to you first, and make sure you were okay with this...’
There were tears rolling down Adrianna’s face now as she gazed at the twins. ‘They’re just perfect, aren’t they?’
There weren’t many people who could look at screaming babies who needed both feeding and changing and describe them as perfect, but the upward glance from Matteo’s sister told Georgia that this woman knew exactly how she felt about her babies. And how stressful this was.
‘Let me help,’ she said softly. ‘Please?’
‘And me.’ Teresa Martini was an older, smaller version of Adrianna. With the same smile that was brimming over with love. ‘My heart was broken when I heard that you didn’t have your mama to help. Don’t blame Matteo. We couldn’t let him come back without us.’
‘But... I thought you were sick. That you were in hospital...’
‘Pff...’ Teresa flapped a hand. ‘It was nothing. I’m fine.’
‘They thought it was a heart attack.’ Matteo had come close. ‘And then that it might be angina. They kept her in to do all the tests but she is fine. It was something muscular, probably.’ But he was looking worried. ‘This is too much, isn’t it? I knew it would be. I tried to tell them.’
Both women were reaching for the babies.
It should have been terrifying and Georgia knew that, if she wanted it, Matteo would tell his mother and sister to back off.
But it wasn’t terrifying.
It felt like...family...
And if her babies were being held for a little while by a loving aunt and grandmother, then there would be nothing in the way of Matteo holding her...
* * *
‘So...Isabella Kate, then? Bella for short?’
‘Sì...’
They’d had to wait until they were alone together, after a taxi had been summoned to take Matteo’s mother and sister to their hotel, to start talking about private things. Like how much they loved each other and how sorry they were that things hadn’t been handled well and, of course, what they were going to name their precious babies.
It had taken too long but how could he complain when he could see how the first representatives of his family were taking Georgia and the twins into their hearts so willingly. Nurturing them with food and love and laughter and tears.
And Georgia hadn’t been totally overwhelmed by this small invasion, even when they’d taken over completely and tidied the house by putting away groceries and folding washing while they waited for the lasagne that his mother had carried all the way from Italy to get thoroughly heated in the oven.
The meal could have been in a courtyard garden back home, with grapevines overhead and tired children sleeping in corners like puppies. A little bit of Italy in rural Scotland. The best of both his worlds because Italy was his homeland and Scotland was the homeland of the woman who was the centre of his world now.
Matteo blinked hard to prevent his vision being blurred by any tears. He stooped to place the softest kiss imaginable onto the swaddled bundle in the bassinet. ‘Ciao, Bella,’ he murmured. ‘Sleep tight.’
His arm tightened around Georgia’s waist as he straightened. They both shifted their gaze to the neighbouring bassinet.
‘And our son?’
‘Bella was my choice. Maybe you should choose his name.’
‘You’ve given Bella a name of your closest friend. Maybe he could be Luca? And Pietro after my father for his middle name.’
‘Oh... I love it.’ Georgia’s sigh sounded like relief. She followed his example and bent to kiss their baby boy. ‘Ciao, Luca,’ she whispered. ‘You sleep tight, too. Please...?’
She was smiling as she turned back to Matteo.
‘They’re not going to believe it.’
‘Who?’
‘Kate and Luke. That we’ve named our babies after them.’ Georgia’s smile dimmed. ‘They’re not going to believe any of it. Kate’s going to be so hurt that I never told her the truth.’
‘She didn’t know?’ Matteo was astonished. According to his sisters, best female friends told each other absolutely anything.
‘She knew I was having twins. She has no idea who the father is but I think she decided it was a New Zealand guy that we’d met the first night at the competition.’
‘Yes...she told me something like that.’ Matteo wrapped his arms around Georgia. ‘Did she know about your father? The story about your scar?’
‘No...’ Georgia’s response was quiet. ‘You’re the only person I’ve ever told about that.’
He just held her for a long moment after that. It made him feel honoured that she had trusted him enough to share something so huge. That he was the only person she had trusted this much.
‘I don’t really want to tell her now either.’
It made him feel even more protective, too.
‘You don’t have to. It’s our secret now. Nobody has to know when, or how, I knew I’d become a father. Or that things were...difficult between us for a while. All they need to know is that everything is as it should be now. And the date for our wedding, of course.’
He felt Georgia go very still in his arms.
‘You still want to marry me?’
He eased his hold so that he could capture her gaze.
‘I knew that you were the woman I was destined to marry from the first moment I saw you.’ His lips quirked. ‘I didn’t expect to have to fight so hard to win, mind you. I had to fight myself as well as you.’
Her face crinkled apologetically. ‘I messed up, didn’t I?’
‘Sì...’ But Matteo could feel his smile trying harder to emerge. ‘But I understand why. When I held our...when I held Bella and Luca for the first time, I understood how powerful love can be. How it can make you do things that you might never really want to do. How someone else’s safety can be so much more important than your own.’
He tilted his head so that his forehead rested against Georgia’s.
‘That’s how much I love you, too, tesoro... I want to keep you safe and love you. For always and for ever.’ He swallowed hard. ‘So...will you marry me?’
‘Yes. A thousand times, yes. Or should I say sì?’ There was laughter in her eyes as she lifted her head. ‘I’d already decided that Bella Martini sounded much better than Bella Bennett. I’m going to have to learn to speak Italian, aren’t I?’
‘You might even want to live in Italy. We have so many things to talk about but all I want to do right now is to lie down with you. And hold you. And never let you go.’
‘You might have to let me go sooner than you think. You have no idea how much our babies love their food.’
‘They’re half-Italian. Of course they love their food. They’ll be eating Mama’s lasagne before we know it.’
‘Mmm...’ Georgia licked her lips. ‘I might just go and eat a bit more of it myself.’
‘I should call her. She will want to know the names of her newest grandchildren.’
‘We should call Kate and Luke, too.’
They held each other’s gaze. Matteo could see that Georgia was thinking the same thing he was.
That this was their time. A bubble that they would never have again. The first, amazing moments of believing that they could hold onto happiness like this for ever.
It was too special to share with anyone else.
They both spoke at the same time as they wrapped their arms around each other and sank into that closeness like no other.
‘Tomorrow...’
* * * * *