“You okay?” he asked.
She forced a smile. They were in this magical castle, and she refused to think about what would be waiting for them upon their return home.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Just nervous about your trying my first authentic Italian meal.”
As he came back with bread, Mia poured a glass of water from the pitcher he’d had on the table. “What’s this?” She tapped on the stainless-steel bowl with lid.
“Open it,” he told her, taking a seat across from her.
Mia lifted the lid, stared at the contents and laughed. “All green M&M’s?”
He shrugged. “Just in case your homemade dessert didn’t turn out, I knew you liked those.”
Mia’s heart swelled even more. There was no question Bronson loved her. How many ways had he shown her? Did she need him to say the words? They would be nice to hear, but she knew he wasn’t ready to say them, and his actions had seriously spoken louder than three simple words could.
But what she prayed for more than anything was that he trusted her. And that he would still trust her when he discovered the truth about Anthony. That he would come to her, let her comfort him and explain why she hadn’t been able to tell him what she knew.
Because if she lost Bronson from her life, she truly doubted that she would ever find love like this again.
Fourteen
“Another surprise, Bronson?” Mia asked as she climbed into the sporty silver rental car.
After a night of passionate lovemaking and testing her scrumptious dessert in bed, Bronson woke her with orders to get dressed and be ready in an hour.
“Trust me,” he told her as he started the engine. “You may love this surprise most.”
“More than a castle getaway, the cooking lessons, my own bowl of green M&M’s?”
He smiled, steering them down the narrow street. “More.”
Now that had her even more intrigued. “Can you tell me what it is?”
Reaching over, he grabbed her hand and laughed. “You have really got to learn some patience, Mia.”
“I will. Tomorrow. Now tell me where you’re taking me.”
The infuriating man merely laughed as he drove. They traveled for nearly an hour before coming to a beautiful little town with bistros and specialty shops.
“What are we doing here?” she asked once he’d parked.
“Shopping.”
Mia jerked around. “You like to shop?”
“Not really, but I love seeing you happy. We’re looking for baby furniture.”
Mia squealed. “Baby furniture?” She glanced out the window at the small, locally owned shops. “Do they have a furniture store here?”
“Even better. They have a store where you can custom-order your furniture and it’s all made and shipped to you.”
Was this a dream? And she’d thought in Cannes she’d outdone Cinderella. This was much, much bigger than anything she could’ve ever imagined.
“The owner has made some pieces for my mother and Victoria,” Bronson told her as he unbuckled his seat belt. “I’ve never been to his store, but I’ve spoken with him on the phone a few times with this day in mind.”
Unable to contain the excitement bubbling within her, Mia shoved open the car door. “Let’s go.”
Bronson came around, took her hand and led her to the store down the block. “I called Fabrizio yesterday and informed him we’d be in. He’s fluent in English and is known worldwide for his baby furniture collection.”
Anticipation spread through her as Mia entered the quaint store, a small bell chiming overhead. Sample pieces of intricate headboards made of solid oak sat along the wall. Tables of all shapes, sizes and various stains were all around them. Classy chairs and sofas upholstered in an array of fabrics anchored the room, drawing her eye to the middle-aged man coming toward them.
“Mr. Dane, welcome.” The man closed the gap, shaking Bronson’s hand. “And you’re the lovely Mia. I’m so thrilled you chose to come here. It doesn’t seem like that long ago I was building a crib for your parents.”
Mia’s breath caught as she risked a glance to Bronson, who merely smiled and nodded. He’d planned this. Love flooded her as she looked back to Fabrizio.
She slipped into Italian so easily. “Avete conosciuto I miei genitori?” You knew my parents?
The elderly man smiled. “Ero un amico d’infanzia con il tuo padre.” I was childhood friends with your father.
Mia couldn’t stop the tears from collecting. “I’m honored to meet you,” she told him, switching back to English. “I’m even more honored you’re going to make my baby’s furniture.”
“Oh, my pleasure. My Viviana and I had eight children of our own. There’s nothing as special as welcoming a child into this world.”
He motioned for them to follow as he made his way toward the back of the store. “Come into my office. I’ve pulled some books for you to look at. Some old designs, some new.”
Mia followed the Italian man with a heavy accent and graying temples. Of course with eight kids, it was a wonder the man wasn’t bald.
Mia rubbed the side of her belly as a little flutter tickled her. She couldn’t wait to see her baby, to savor the treasure of motherhood and communicate with her child face-to-face.
They went into a small office where many binders and loose pictures were displayed across the desk. Mia took a seat in a cozy, curved, velvety chair and picked up one of the pictures.
“These are amazing,” she murmured, truly taken aback by the beauty. “I’ve never seen anything like them.”
“After Mr. Dane called me, I wanted to give you a variety.” He leaned a hip on the edge of his desk. “If there’s something you like in more than one picture, we can try to combine styles or colors. Whatever you like, I’ll try to make it happen.”
After several minutes of looking in silence, Mia choked up as she studied the perfectly round crib with a little pink canopy over the top. Easily she could see her baby snuggled in a deep slumber beneath the silky canopy.
As she looked through more pictures, Bronson remained standing, not saying a word. Did he want to distance himself from this? Was he just letting her choose because he still had doubts about whether this baby was his?
No. If he didn’t believe he was the father, he wouldn’t have done this for her and their baby. She had no doubt he was still frightened that something would happen to the child, but still, she wished he’d say something. Take some part in this decision.
Mia went back to the first picture that had captured her attention. The soft colors and delicate woodwork were appropriate for either gender.
“I want this one.”
Fabrizio nodded with a smile. “Any changes you’d like made?” he asked.
“None. But I don’t know if I’m having a boy or girl, so I’m unsure of the bedding.”
“You can call me and let me know, or we can choose a unisex color for the bedding. There are so many nice materials for a universal crib.”
Mia’s mind worked overtime, thinking of the layout of her cottage, the way the windows let the morning sun in and how that would affect the color scheme.
“Could I see the materials and pick one for a boy and one for a girl and let you know?”
The man smiled. “Of course. It will take a few weeks for me to complete this design. But I’ll try to have it ready in two weeks because you are a special client.”
“We have an appointment in two weeks to learn the sex of the baby,” Bronson told the man. “I’ll give you a call.”
“Fine.” Fabrizio motioned for them to follow him out of the office and onto the showroom floor. “Now let’s look at fabrics.”
After choosing all the necessary materials and designs for either sex of the baby, Mia couldn’t help but impose on Fabrizio another few moments to question him about her parents. This was the closest connection she’d had to them, other than the locket around her neck, and she wanted to hold tight to that thread of similarity.
Bronson stepped outside the office, giving them privacy, and Mia delighted in hearing childhood stories about her father, then about how he and her mother were so excited to be having a baby.
Mia choked up a few times, but Fabrizio was a gentleman and offered her a tissue as he continued reminiscing.
Before long, an hour had passed. Mia apologized and promised to keep in touch and send baby pictures once her little one was born.
Now more than ever Mia knew Bronson loved her. He’d purposely found this man who knew her father. He’d set up this meeting, this day, all so she could have that glimpse into her past as it collided with her future.
So many emotions whirled around inside her, and she just didn’t know how to react. One thing was certain, though, she needed Bronson to still feel he could trust her once they returned home and he discovered the truth she’d been hiding from him. She hadn’t come this far to lose him now.
After lunch at a small bistro and some more shopping in the cute little specialty stores, Mia was thankful to be back at the castle and put her feet up.
“I had no idea a baby could zap so much energy from your body,” she said, sinking into the leather sofa in the main living room. “This is all starting to seem so real. The baby, I mean.”
Bronson laughed, settling in beside her. “You mean the morning sickness wasn’t a sign of it being real?”
She shuddered at the thought. “Oh, yeah. That was real enough, but this trip, being here with you, feeling the baby move, picking out furniture. Everything just seems so…right.”
As Bronson wrapped an arm around her, Mia settled in closer to his side. They only had one more day here, and Mia had so much she wanted to tell him. So much she needed him to see about her life so he would understand her actions when he discovered the truth.
She rubbed the scar on her hand, as if to draw courage from the fateful night that had changed her life, molding her into the person she was today.
“You know I’m not lying about this baby.” Silence answered her, sending a stabbing pain through her chest. “I need to know you believe me, Bron.”
“I do.” His voice, thick with emotion, enveloped her. “I’ve been afraid to admit it for fear of losing another baby I loved, but I know.”
Months’ worth of worry, of fear, evaporated at his heartfelt declaration. He loved this child.
“I know this is probably hard for you, but I promise nothing is going to happen to this baby.” Mia rested her hand on Bronson’s denim-clad thigh. “I don’t know how to thank you for all you’ve done for me. Introducing me to Fabrizio… I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
“You don’t have to thank me.” He toyed with the ends of her hair. “I care about you and this baby. I wanted you to get a glimpse of your past. I have my family, and I’m glad I got to show you a side of yours.”
Mia glanced up at him. “You’ll be a wonderful father. You have such a loving family, and you’re all so close. This baby won’t want for anything.”
“My father passed away when I was ten,” he told her. “The media actually handled it better than my mother thought they would by letting us have our privacy. I always wanted to be like him. He was the man of the house, and it didn’t bother him at all that my mother was a Hollywood icon. Some husbands would’ve been jealous, but he was so proud of her.”
Mia watched a play of emotions cross Bronson’s face. “I knew my career in the film industry would come before anything, but once I had my footing, I wanted a wife, a mother for my children, and I wanted to be my dad. Devoted, loyal, loving.”
Why couldn’t he see he was all those things and more?
“I met Jennifer on a movie set and thought I’d found the one,” he went on, staring into the fireplace as if watching the movie unfold before him. “Then she lost the baby. We argued about everything. Looking back I know we weren’t compatible, but lust screws up the senses. She knew about my feelings toward Anthony—hell, everyone in the industry knows we don’t get along on set. She’d worked on a film with him in the past and told me he was the father of the child.”
Mia’s heart ached for him and for Anthony. This entire fiasco between these two was, she feared, going to get a whole lot worse before it got better.
“You know she was lying, right?” Mia asked. “I mean about Anthony. I can’t say if she had an affair or not with someone else, but I know Anthony and I know how much he loves his wife. I’ve seen firsthand how hard he fights for their marriage.”