Passionately Ever After

“It’s not just the feud,” she countered. “Look at everything that’s happened to my family just since we started seeing each other.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about all the things that have gone wrong this past year beginning with that fiasco in February with the launch of the new passionfruit flavor for Baronessa Gelati. And then there was the fire at our plant. Then Derrick and Bianca were kidnapped. And now, now Derrick’s been accused of kidnapping your sister.”

“And your point is?” he asked, not liking at all the direction in which she was heading.

“The point is there’s more bitterness between our families now than ever.”

“Maybe there wouldn’t be if your family hadn’t accused mine of sabotage,” Steven defended. While he had never shared in his family’s dislike of the Barones or bought into what he considered a silly feud, he knew his family well enough to know that they would never resort to something that was both illegal and immoral. And the sabotage and fire at the Barone’s business were both.

“Can you blame them?” Maria countered. “Look at all the tragedies my family has suffered because of the Conti curse.”

Steven swore at the mention of the curse. “There is no curse.”

“Try telling that to your Aunt Lucia since she’s the one responsible for putting the curse on my family in the first place.”

Gritting his teeth, Steven said, “That so-called curse was nothing more than the foolish rantings of a brokenhearted and angry teenage girl nearly seventy years ago. It isn’t real. There is no curse.”

“Why? Because you say it doesn’t exist? Well, I’ve got news for you, Steven Conti. Just because you don’t believe in the curse doesn’t mean it’s not real. It is real. I know it is.”

“Maria, love, listen to yourself,” Steven reasoned. He searched to find the right words to allay her fears. He didn’t believe in the Conti curse, never had, never would. As far as he was concerned the curse was exactly what he’d claimed—the lashing out of a brokenhearted teenager who’d been jilted. Yet over the years the stories about the curse had taken on mythic proportions. Well, he’d be damned if he was going to let some crazy superstition stand in the way of his and Maria’s future. “Think, Maria. Think. You’re one of the smartest women I know. Surely you can see that all this talk about a curse is… It’s absurd.”

“Maybe to you. But not to me. And not to my family. The curse exists, Steven. We Barones have been on the receiving end of it for far too long to pretend otherwise.”

Steven realized that Maria’s heightened emotional state due to her pregnancy might allow her to buy into the idea of the curse more easily now than she might have under other circumstances. But he had enough obstacles to overcome in order to convince Maria to marry him. He simply couldn’t allow that blasted curse to be one of them. “I’m not saying your fears aren’t real. I know they are. But the Maria I know and love would never let fear dictate how she lives her life.”

“It’s not only my life I have to consider now. It’s the baby’s life, too.”

Steven moved closer, stared down into her eyes. “Don’t you know that I’d never let anything or anyone harm you or our baby?”

“I know you wouldn’t. But there are some things that are beyond even your control.”

“So you’re willing to throw away our future and our child’s future on the basis of an old wives’ tale about a curse,” he accused, frustration eating at him.

“I told you. It’s not just the curse that’s the problem. It’s our families. They’re enemies. And with the exception of my cousin Karen, no one has any idea that we’ve been seeing each other, let alone that I’m pregnant. Can you imagine how my family is going to feel when I tell them that you’re the baby’s father?”

They’d be as shocked as his family would be, he admitted in silence. “So, it will come as a surprise. But once they realize how we feel about each other, they’ll come around.”

“They’ll think I betrayed them.”

Her words cut through him like a knife. Worse, he had a sick feeling in his stomach that it wasn’t just her family Maria was talking about. “Is that what you think, too? Do you think you’ve betrayed your family by being with me?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“No, you claimed you won’t marry me because of our families and because of the curse. But maybe the real reason you’re putting up such a fuss is because you’ve had second thoughts about being involved with me. After all, I am a Conti.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

“It means that maybe you’re wondering if your family was right about us evil Contis. That maybe you too think we’re behind all the problems your family’s had this year.” Gritting his teeth, he accused, “Maybe you think that I had something to do with the sabotage and the fire.”

“I don’t believe any such thing.”

“Are you sure?” Steven pressed, temper and hurt driving him.

“I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer.”

When she started to move past him, Steven stepped in front of her, blocking her path. “Prove it. Prove you don’t believe I’m the enemy, that you don’t regret what we’ve shared.”

Maria narrowed her eyes. “How?”

“Marry me. Right now,” he said, not wanting to give her any more time to think about all the reasons they shouldn’t be together.

“Now? You expect me to marry you right this minute?”

“Yes.”

“That’s crazy. We couldn’t get married today, even if we wanted to.”

“Sure we could,” he insisted. “All we have to do is find a justice of the peace. I’m sure there’s at least one somewhere in Silver Valley.”

“But what about our families?”

“We’ll go back to Boston and tell them together. After we’re married,” he informed her.

“No. No, we can’t do that,” she said with a shake of her head. “We couldn’t spring this on them like that. I can’t even imagine how they’d react.”

“Hopefully, they’ll offer us their congratulations.”

She shot him a reproachful look. “You know they won’t.”

“They might surprise you, Maria. Your family loves you, and my family loves me. They’ll want us to be happy. Besides, my mother’s been making noises about wanting grandchildren. She’s been on me to get married for years.”

“I doubt she had me in mind.”

“Maybe not. But she’ll get used to the idea,” Steven assured her. “They all will.”

“Including your aunt Lucia?”

“She’ll come around,” Steven told her and hoped he was right.

“She hates anyone named Barone. You can’t honestly believe that she’ll ever accept me as your wife.”

“If she wants to remain a part of my life and our baby’s life, she’ll accept you,” Steven told her. But he knew Maria was probably right. His aunt Lucia wasn’t likely to accept their union. As much as he loved the older woman, he wasn’t blind to her faults—the biggest of which was her all-consuming hatred of the Barones. Unfortunately, Lucia Conti had spent nearly seventy years nurturing that hatred. He’d come to the conclusion long ago that his aunt had chosen to close herself off to any chance of ever loving again and had opted instead to make him and his sister her surrogate children. Sad as it was to admit, he suspected that he and Bianca had filled the void of a husband and children in his aunt’s life. Aside from them and the restaurant, her only passion in life was her hatred of the Barones. As much as he would hate to lose his beloved aunt in his life, he would hate even more to live his life without Maria and their baby.

“Does the same hold true for your parents and sister?” Maria asked. “If they refuse to accept me as your wife, are you going to shut them out of your life, too?”

“If that’s what it takes for us to be together, then yes, I will,” he told her without hesitation. And he meant it. While he hoped it would never come down to having to choose between his family and Maria, he would do so if necessary.