Miracle for the Girl Next Door / Mother of the Bride: Miracle for the Girl Next Door

“I’ll get it.”

One of the staff from the kitchen wheeled in a tea cart with their meal. Valentino gave him a tip, then shut the door and pushed it across the room to the table. With her beautiful body still taut, she held onto the back of one of the chairs while she stared out the window.

Intrigued by her behavior, he put everything on the table and invited her to sit down. “We need to eat our food while it’s hot. I wanted this to be special for you. Earlier you admitted you were hungry.”

The reminder eventually forced her to comply. Gratified to see her food start to disappear, he poured them some wine and picked up his glass. “I’d like to propose a toast.”

Her fingers tightened around the stem of her wine glass as if she were barely holding onto her control and would like to crush it. After a minute she lifted the glass. “Let me go first.”

“By all means,” he murmured.

“To our old friendship.”

He’d seen that one coming. After he touched her glass, they both drank.

“Now it’s my turn.” Trapping her gaze, he said, “To our new one.”

The second the words were out, she looked down without drinking. He swallowed the rest of his wine while he waited for her to absorb what he’d just told her.

She pushed her glass away. “We can’t have a new one. I’d like to go home now, Tino.”

“Not until you’ve heard me out.”

Her head reared back. Green sparks flew from her eyes. “I’m not trying to be intentionally rude, but I don’t want to listen to anything else.”

“Not even if this is vitally important to both of us?” When she didn’t immediately shut him down he said, “Last night I went to see Father Orsini, but there was one thing I couldn’t bring myself to confess to him.”

He saw the shiver that ran through her body. “If you’re thinking of telling me what you couldn’t tell him because I’m dying, please don’t. I’m not a priest.”

His chuckle permeated to her insides. “No, you’re not, grazie a Dio. But you are the woman I want to marry as soon as possible.”

After a long silence, he heard hurtful laughter come out of her. “Me—marry you—” she mocked in a brittle tone.

“Yes.”

“It sounds like you’ve come to the rock bottom of your many excellent adventures. I thought you were the one person who wasn’t like everyone else, but I was wrong.”

Like the lash of a whip, he felt her salvo. “That’s the first unkind remark you’ve ever made to me.”

“Maybe it’s because even a dying farm girl doesn’t relish the idea of being the object of Valentino Casali’s pity.”

She got up from the table hot-faced and made a dignified exit from the room. He hurried down to the front desk to pay the bill, then raced after her. When he crossed the parking south of the hotel he found her waiting for him in the cab of the truck with her hat on.

They started back to Monta Correnti. He noticed she stayed close to the door so neither their arms or legs would brush by accident. “Pity comes in many forms, piccola,” he began. “It depends on the point of view. I’m counting on yours to save me from myself.”

Clara didn’t want to listen. Valentino had a way of twisting words and meanings until he threw her into a state of confusion. Maybe she was having some strange, distorted dream where the impossible was happening and everything was out of her control.

“Before you consign me to my rightful place, which is a great deal lower than the angels, you need to know I called my doctor in Monaco. Among the things we talked about, he said I can be trained to help you do dialysis at home so you don’t have to go to the clinic. They have these new machines so you can even travel with them and carry on your activities.”

She couldn’t imagine anything more wonderful, but not at Valentino’s expense.

“Your mother can show me what kind of meals to make for you. I’m a good cook. I’ve had to be. The villa has a view of the town and valley from every window. Your family can visit all the time. You can visit them and still run the fruit stand if you want.

“While we’re waiting for a kidney, we’ll do everything together like we did when we were at school. We’ll have fun. When was the last time you had fun? I know I haven’t had any. I have to reach back to those years with you to remember what it was like to enjoy a carefree day. Marry me and make me respectable. I need you so much more than you need me.”

Oh, Tino. The issues with his father had robbed him of so much confidence. She’d never dreamed they were this serious.

“Allow me to take care of you, piccola. Now that I’ve come home, I can’t be around my family, my aunt and cousins, without your help. Since you talked to me about my father yesterday, you’ve made me realize I have to try harder.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What about the woman in your life? I’m not talking about Giselle now.”

“What woman?”

“Don’t tease about this, Tino. It’s too important.”

“I agree. I guess it’s confession time. There have been other women, but not as many as you have imagined. Even the few I had a relationship with didn’t inspire me to get married. I suppose I didn’t feel I could count on them for the long haul. If I’d wanted to make a lifelong commitment with one of them, I wouldn’t be here now.”

“Even so—”

“Even so nothing! What about the men in your life? Don’t tell me there haven’t been any because I wouldn’t believe you.”

“No. I won’t tell you that, but my illness has changed everything.”

“Then there’s no problem.”

She sucked in her breath, trying to keep her wits about her. “Of course there is! You can’t just give up your racing and let your team down.”

“You haven’t been listening to me. Though I haven’t officially announced it yet, it’s over.”

“Since when?”

“It’s been over in my mind for quite a while. Isabella has been after me to come home, but it wasn’t until I knew I wanted to marry you that the issue was finally settled for me. Our marriage needs to take place right away so we don’t lose any more time. Something quiet and private that won’t wear you out.”

What he was saying had shaken her to the foundations.

“When we get back to the farm, I want to tell your family so we can make plans right away. The one thing they won’t be able to say is that we haven’t known each other long enough. From the age of seven to eighteen, I probably saw or spent time with you every day of your life, whether at school or church.”

Clara stirred restlessly on the seat, trying to get her bearings. “That’s true, but they’re going to ask about all the years since then.”

A smile hovered around his male mouth. “Surely your parents read about mine or watched it on TV. My last nine years have been lived in a fish bowl. The public seems to know more about my life than I do, but the one thing no one knows except you is my pain. It’s time for the pain to end for both of us. Don’t you agree?”