“No, I wouldn’t, and if you really knew me at all, you would know that.”
“I told you that was something I planned to correct.”
“Be still my heart.”
“Do not mock me, Faith.”
She took a fortifying sip of tea. “I don’t have to marry you.”
“You would deny my child his father?”
“Sheesh, Tino, you are so all or nothing. First you think I’m going to have an abortion and now you think I’m going to refuse you parental rights.”
“Are you?”
So much for his trust in her integrity. “No.”
“So, marry me.”
“There are other choices.”
“None that are as good.”
“Right, because marriage for the sake of a baby is going to create a family that baby is going to love being raised in.”
“We are compatible—there is nothing wrong with this picture.”
“You left out one little aspect that is supposed to exist in marriage.”
“What?”
Could he really be that dense? “Love, Tino. I’m talking about love.”
“We care for each other.”
So much that this was only the second time he had ever been to her apartment. “It’s not enough.”
“It is. Many people marry with less.”
“I loved Taylish and he loved me.” Maybe they hadn’t felt the same kind of love for each other, but the love had been there.
Tino’s jaw hardened. “I loved Maura, but she is gone as is your Taylish. We are here now. That is all that matters.”
“Not even. You were completely unwilling to entertain the idea of marriage before.”
“I did not know you carried my child.”
Did he have any concept of the kind of damage his words were doing to her heart? Of course not. Love had not come up between them until she asked for it. He couldn’t begin to understand how much his attitude hurt.
She hunched her shoulders, hugging herself, but the cold was seeping into her heart, anyway. “I knew it.”
“Knew what?”
“That if I told you I was pregnant, you would insist on marriage. Do you even begin to see how feudal-lord your thinking is?”
“I am a Grisafi.” As if that said it all.
“Well, I’m not and I’m not sure I want to be one, either.”
His already-tense jaw developed a tic, but his voice remained even. “My mother’s heart would be broken to hear you say that.”
“I wouldn’t be marrying your mother.”
“I should hope not.” He laughed, the sound low and sexy despite the topic of their conversation—or maybe because of it.
Marriage to Tino. A dream come true for all the wrong reasons.
He put his arm over her thighs in a proprietary gesture she did not miss the meaning of. “You say there are other options.”
“There are.”
“Name them.”
“I didn’t say you were going to like them,” she felt the need to warn.
“If they do not include marriage between us, I think that is safe to assume.” The Zen tone of ultimate patience was back.
“They don’t.”
He just waited.
“Fine, but I want to point out that I’m in no condition to argue.”
Amusement flickered in his dark gaze. “I did not notice you having any trouble doing so up to this point.”
“I mean it, Tino. I’ve had my limit of upset for the evening.”
His expression went ultraserious. “I will not distress you again.”
She nodded, knowing full well she was taking advantage. But the truth was? She didn’t want to argue. Her emotional reserves had been in the negative totals for weeks now.
“I could go back to America and raise the baby there. You could visit.”
She waited for the explosion, but it never came. He simply sat there staring at her.
“Nothing to say?” she had to ask.
He shook his head, and it was then she realized his jaw was clenched tight.
“I don’t want to do that.”
“Good.” He bit the word out, but the sense of relief he felt was palpable.
“I was just pointing out that it was an option.” And trying to hurt him back a little for the pain he had dealt her? The thought mortified her. She was not that kind of person.
“Noted.”
“I want to stay in Sicily,” she said quickly, wanting him to know right away she wasn’t going to hurt him with the baby. “I love it here and I want our child to grow up knowing its family. The Grisafis are all he or she has in the way of extended relatives, and they’re wonderful people to boot.” She tried a tentative smile.
He did not return it. “So, marry me.”
She wanted to, badly, but not merely for the sake of the baby. “I could stay here.”
Appalled was the only word to describe his look. “In this apartment?”
“It is kind of small for a baby.” She bit her lip, wincing when it drew blood. “I could find a bigger place.”
“You can move into the family home.”
“I considered that.” She had, after examining every other alternative—living with the Grisafis was the only way she could give the baby the life it deserved. Not monetarily—she was set in that regard—but the daily access to people who would love the baby and the baby would grow to love. Including its father.
That didn’t mean he would have access to her. That point was not negotiable. But she wanted her baby to have a family. The pain of growing up without her parents had dulled with time, but never disappeared. She wanted her baby to have its grandparents, its brother, its father close by—to live in a home filled with love and people who would enrich the baby’s life.
The Grisafi home was big enough to accommodate her and the baby in a set of rooms that would be much like having her own apartment. And yet there would be easy and consistent access to familial ties important to the baby’s well-being.
“So, you will marry me.”
“That’s not what I said. I can live in your family home without being your wife. It’s definitely big enough.”
“Why would you deny me my rightful place in my child’s life?”
“I will not do that. You will be named on the birth certificate, the baby can have the Grisafi name.”
“But you do not want it.”
She was about to say no, but she could not force the word from her mouth. So she shook her head.
“Why, Faith? When you wanted marriage before I knew?”
“That’s exactly why.”
“I do not understand.”
“I think you do.”
“You feel slighted because I will marry you for the baby’s sake and not your own.”
“Yes.”
“That is childish thinking, Faith.” Not, I care about you, too. Not, It’s not the way it looks. No, just an accusation of immaturity.
Faith’s resolve not to be pressured into anything doubled. “Believe what you like, but I am not running to the courthouse for a quickie marriage.”
His bark of laughter was mocking. “As if my mother would allow such a thing.”
Faith just glared at him.
“You will move in, though?”
“I said it was something I was considering. That it was an option.”
“It is the best option you have suggested so far.”
“Actually, you suggested it.”
“But you had considered it?”
“Yes.”
“Favorably?”
“Yes.”