Stephan shrugged. “I’ve seen it work.”
Max said, “And Gio thinks I hang out with a questionable crowd?”
Stephan asked, “Do you love her?”
There were many things that Gio was no longer certain about, but he knew the answer to that question. “Yes, I do.”
“Then go get her. Tell her you love her. Everything else will work out.”
A ray of hope lit and grew within Gio. Could it be that easy? Could he choose love? “You’re right. I have to tell her how I feel. I’m going back to New York. I wish I knew what flight she was on.” He looked at his cousin in apology. “It’ll mean I’ll miss your wedding, but I have to find her.”
Stephan groaned. “I know someone who can find out anything. He could probably tell us if she’s en route or at the airport. He can access almost any database.”
“You mean a hacker?”
“He doesn’t like that term, but yes.” Stephan made a brief phone call, then said, “She has a two-hour layover in Rome.”
Determination filled Gio. “I still have time.”
“Just make sure you’re back for the ceremony tomorrow,” Stephan said in resignation. “Or Nicole will kill me.”
Gio hesitated before he left. He looked at his three smiling brothers and said, “I know I haven’t always been that easy to get along with, but when I get back we need to talk. I need to make some things right.”
Nick made a face at Luke. “Why does love make you sound so much like you’re dying?”
Julia used some of her time in the airport to check her phone messages via a public phone—an expensive necessity. She needed to reconnect with her life. Now. Her father had called twice. He said there was nothing important but asked that she call when she had time.
She had a couple of messages from friends back in Rhode Island who were wondering how New York was treating her. Only her closest friends were going to hear the real story, and even then she wasn’t sure she’d be able to talk about any of the past week for a long time.
What are the five stages of realizing you just did something too stupid to tell your friends?
Denial: It was not a bad idea to run away to a foreign country with a man I barely know.
Anger: Until he turned out to be a complete jackass who didn’t fall in love instantly the way everyone does in books.
Bargaining: I’ll never do anything like this again if I can just fall out of love with him as fast as I fell in love.
Depression: I can’t believe I did this. I told myself not to. I knew it would end badly, but that didn’t stop me, did it? Instead of doing something important—like saving my family’s company—I go off and get my heart broken by someone who told me he wasn’t looking for anything serious.
But do I listen?
No, I see only what I want to see.
Acceptance? Not likely to happen for a while.
Julia hit the button for the final message. She’d half hoped it would be from Gio, but it was a woman whose voice she didn’t recognize. “Hello, my name is Lisa. I’m Mrs. Rockport’s personal assistant. I’m calling on her behalf to invite you to her house next week. She’s received so many compliments on your necklace that she’d like to commission it in gold and diamonds as well as look at your other designs.”
Julia played the message a second time, and then a third.
I did it.
I found my buyer.
She called her father to tell him. He was happy, but not surprised. He said he always knew she would sell them. She promised to start sending him money as soon as it came in and, just as she knew he would, her father told her it wasn’t necessary.
“Dad, I’ll be able to come back now. I can help you figure out the books and work everything out with the bank.”
“You don’t have to, Julia. I accepted a buyout offer.”
“Oh, Dad. No.”
“It’s okay, Julia. It’s what I wanted. I was hanging on to my factory because I didn’t want to let my employees go. But the new owner says he’ll keep everyone on. I have some money in the bank now and more time to be with your mother. This was for the best.”
The news was bittersweet to Julia. “I’ll come see you next weekend, Dad.”
“We’ll be here, honey.”
Julia hung up the phone and fought back the wave of sadness that filled her. She couldn’t imagine her family without their furniture store.
It also meant there was no longer any reason for her to be in New York. She could create Mrs. Rockport’s orders anywhere. She could return to her apartment in the city, but she wouldn’t be happy there. Not without Gio.
Her flight number was called and Julia walked to her gate. The attendant looked at her ticket, then let her through. Although Julia was lost in thought, she stopped midway down the enclosed ramp and noted that no one was behind her. She hadn’t seen anyone in line in front of her either.
Maybe I’m early?
No, they said it was time to board.
The stewardess at the plane ushered her forward, which put her somewhat at ease. Julia stopped again before the plane door and looked over her shoulder again.
Did I actually think he would come after me?
I’m hopeless.
With that, Julia stepped through the door of the plane. It was empty. She looked around and gasped. Every seat in first class was overflowing with pink roses. She walked down the aisle. Every seat in the next section was also covered with pink roses. She stood in the middle of the plane and started to cry.
“When I pictured this moment, I didn’t imagine you crying,” Gio said from behind her.
Julia spun. She wanted to run and throw herself in his arms, but she was afraid. Afraid to have her heart broken for a second time that day.
He walked to her and held out a hand, but she stood frozen in place. He let his hand drop to his side and said, “I’ve been an ass.”
Julia nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
“I’m not good at talking about how I feel.”
Still Julia silently watched and waited.
“I thought I was happy before I met you, Julia. But I wasn’t. I was comfortable with being miserable. That’s not the same thing. I didn’t want to change. I didn’t think I could.” He stepped closer to her and took one of her hands in his. “You told me that I wouldn’t let you in, and you were right. I had gotten used to closing myself off. I forgot how to let anyone in.”
Julia gave his hand a supportive squeeze and held his eyes.
“I didn’t find all the answers I was looking for in Venice, Julia, but I learned something about myself.”
“You did?” Fresh tears poured down Julia’s cheeks.
“Yes. I don’t want to repeat the mistakes my parents made. I don’t want to spend my life hiding what I feel.”
Julia laid a hand on Gio’s cheek and smiled up at him through her tears. “And how is that?”
“I love you, Julia. I can’t promise that life with me with be easy, or that you won’t need to walk me through some of this, but I can promise you that no one will ever love you more than I do.” He kissed her with all the love he’d been holding back, and the last of Julia’s fears fell away.
When their kiss broke off, she said, “I love you, too, Gio.”
“I should have told you what happened on the island. I was angry and I’m used to burying those feelings.”
“What happened?”
He hugged her to him, tucked her beneath his chin, and said, “Alessandro told me that my mother had returned the deed for the island to him. She’d told him we didn’t want the island. All this time I hated him for thinking I wasn’t one of them enough to give it to me, when it was my mother who didn’t want me to have it.”
Julia hugged him tightly. “Why would she do that?”
Gio shook his head sadly. “I don’t know. She never liked my father’s family. That’s actually putting it mildly. She couldn’t tolerate being around them at all. Apparently her h
atred of them took priority over the feelings of her sons.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not.” He kissed her forehead. “I needed to know the truth. I was trapped in all the lies. Suffocating beneath them. My brother was right—I needed that smack with a lamp. I needed to wake up.”
“What will you do now?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I know that we can figure it out together.”
“We . . . I like that. It still doesn’t feel real. Are you really here?”
“I sure hope so, or I paid all of the passengers from this plane a lot of money to find alternate flights for nothing.”
She pulled back in surprise and asked, “You paid everyone to take another flight?”
He pulled her against him again. “You’re marrying a very rich man. I get what I want.”
Julia’s stomach did a somersault at his words. Did he just say? Did he just ask? “Was that a proposal?”
He raised one eyebrow—at first neither confirming nor denying. “You know I don’t ask when the outcome isn’t in question.”
“And what makes you think—”
He cut off her question with a kiss that left them both breathless. “I don’t think. I know. You’re marrying me, Julia. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
She raised her hand and touched his cheek softly. “Well, I suppose if I have no choice.”
“Absolutely none.”
“What am I going to do with you?”
A lusty smile spread across his face. “I have plenty of ideas.”
She shook her head and laughed. “Here on this plane?”
He took her by the hand again. “My plane is refueling now.”
“Where to this time?”
“Anywhere you want to go.”
“It’s a shame we missed the wedding.”
“We didn’t miss anything. They postponed it until tomorrow.”
“For you?”
“For us.”
“We should go back.”
He nuzzled her neck. “Tomorrow. Tonight, come away with me, Julia, one more time. We’ll find a quiet place. Just you and me.”
She hopped with excitement beside him, then stopped as a thought suddenly came to her. “Hey, I finally sold some of my jewelry pieces. Can you believe it?”
He pulled her close and hugged her. “With you, Julia, I believe in everything again.”
Epilogue
Maddy D’Argenson watched Nicole Corisi spin in her Marchesa wedding gown before a floor-length mirror in her bedroom suite. The amazing white gown was long-sleeved with a high neckline and lace bodice, the skirt layered in silk organza with tulle petals. Her long black hair was confined to a tight chignon on the crown of her head that would soon sport a long veil.
Nicole was radiant, smiling, and beautiful in a way only a bride can be.
Maddy sat on the edge of a chaise lounge, happy Nicole had allowed each attendant to choose her own style of bridesmaid gown. She’d chosen a figure-forgiving empire-waist chiffon one. She wasn’t sure she would have fit into something with less give, considering how her stomach had seemed to double in size in a way it hadn’t for her first pregnancy. “My father and Uncle Victor are already arguing over names for your first child. Are you sure you want to do this?”
Looking over her shoulder at Maddy, Nicole smiled. “I love your family.”
“Our family,” Maddy said seriously. “It’s about time that you’re officially part of it, too. Stephan should have married you the first time around. Uncle Victor should have never gotten involved.”
“He meant well,” Nicole defended her future father-in-law.
“He was wrong to try to break you up. At least he finally apologized.” Maddy placed a hand on her stomach as her baby kicked. “If you ask him, he still says he did it because he cares about you and thought his son needed time to grow up. I hope I don’t ever meddle in my children’s lives like that.”
“You? Meddle? Never,” Nicole said, tongue in cheek. In a more serious tone, she continued, “It was easy to forgive Victor. He did it out of love. You have no idea how lucky you are that you have a family who cares so much about each other.”
Maddy made a sympathetic face. “You have your brother, Dominic, and his wife. They both love you. You’ve mended your relationship with your mother. You have family who loves you—today all you’re doing is doubling the number of them.”
Nicole cocked her head to one side.
“Okay, quadrupling them,” Maddy amended. “You know what I mean.”
“I do.” Turning to face the mirror again, Nicole tucked a loose lock back into place. “You’ll never know how grateful I am to your family. You not only gave me Stephan, but you also brought my brother back into my life. I want to cry every time I think about him walking me down the aisle. This whole day is better than I ever dared dream it could be. I might throw up.” With a shy smile, Nicole said, “Is every bride this nervous? Are they all afraid to wake up and discover it was a dream?”
“You cannot vomit on a dress that beautiful.” Maddy chuckled. “And don’t worry. This is real. If it were your dream it wouldn’t have been postponed a day.”
Nicole turned, clasping her hands nervously in front of her. “I understood why Stephan asked me to. He couldn’t let his cousins leave upset.” Nicole looked out the window. “He brought them all back. Even Gio. I heard he flew in this morning.”
“He would have returned last night, but he and Julia had quarreled. Looks like they made up because she came back with him.”
Nicole smoothed the skirt of her gown. “I really like her.”
“And?”
“And he looks happy when he’s with her.”
“And?”
Nicole shook her head in confusion.
Maddy gave her an impish grin and a triumphant wiggle. “You can say it—I was right about her.”
Nicole laughed delicately and nodded in concession. “You were definitely right. She’s probably still a little afraid of you since you practically kidnapped her to introduce her to me, but your idea that helping Gio and his brothers find love might bring them back to the family seems to be working. At least with Gio.”
A light knock on the door announced the arrival of the other women in Nicole’s bridal party, each dressed in similarly colored dresses of different lengths and styles.
Abby Corisi rushed over and hugged her sister-in-law. “You look stunning.”
Abby’s sister, Lil Walton, followed suit and gave Nicole a bone-crushing embrace. “I didn’t think I could be happier than I was at my wedding, but I will probably bawl through this whole ceremony. Every time I think about you almost losing Stephan this summer, I get goose bumps. I mean, to have gone through so much and then . . .”
“Lil,” several of the women in the room said in unison to halt her from saying more, then realized what they had done and burst into laughter.
Lil stepped back and smiled sheepishly. “What I mean to say is—enjoy every moment of today. You two have earned it.”
Nicole chuckled. She’d grown to love Lil’s impulsive bouts of honesty. She looked around the room and grateful tears came to her eyes. After a lonely childhood, to be part of this large and loving family was more than she’d ever dared wish for. She hugged Lil tightly. “I knew what you meant, and thank you.”
Lil plopped onto the chaise lounge beside Maddy. “So, about our bet. I see only one of the Andrade cousins brought a date. Was she anyone’s? Alethea and I planted an IT ex-swimsuit model we thought would be perfect for Gio, but apparently he’d already met—what’s her name again? Julia?”
“Yes, Julia,” said Abby. “I spoke to her this morning and she and Gio are engaged. No ring yet, and they don’t plan to announce anything until after the wedding, but isn’t that exciting?” Then she looked at her sister and asked, “What do you mean, ‘planted an IT person’?”
Lil looked away at the ceiling as she said, “We didn
’t do anything illegal. We just made a few phone calls. Cogent had an opening. If everyone else’s online résumés disappeared, is that so bad?” Lil’s expression turned skeptical. “Are you honestly telling me that you didn’t plant anyone?”
Nicole jumped in with a smile. “Engaged. I knew it would happen fast for them the moment I saw them together. But don’t try to look all innocent, Abby. You had to have planted someone. Even Maddy and I did. Although we didn’t think Gio would be the first one to cave. We found an amazing woman who is going to school to work with young children and has a chauffer’s license. We thought she’d be perfect for Nick, but she was transferred to another department of Cogent soon after being hired.”
“Marie and I thought Nick would be the easiest one, too,” Abby finally admitted. “We gave his normal secretary a position at Corisi Enterprises and sent over someone we loved. She was efficient and adorable but she was transferred also. I’ve spoken to her, though, since then and she says she loves her new job. I think we all will have to be more subtle with our next one.”
Lil snapped her fingers. “So Julia was an independent choice. Looks like none of us won this one.”
Maddy stood and crossed to the window. She looked down at Gio and Julia standing with her father. Nick, Luke, and Max were mingling with the other guests. Her heart swelled with hope. “I’d count this as a win for all of us.”
Nicole joined her by the window and nodded. “I know exactly what you mean.”
Meeting Nicole’s eyes, Maddy said, “I just wish I’d been able to convince their mother to come. She seemed interested when I told her about Julia. I thought she’d like to know her son had finally met someone.”
Abby joined them. “You didn’t tell me that you went to see Gio’s mother. How did that go? I thought you said she and your family didn’t get along well.”
Maddy shrugged sadly. “They don’t. I wish I knew why. I told her that Stephan and I were actively trying to mend our relationship with her sons. I’d hoped she would join them here this weekend.”
Nicole said, “I don’t know, Maddy. I’m not sure she wants the family back together.”