It could have been a passive aggressive statement but the way he spoke softly, carefully, let me know that he was just acknowledging the differences here; between Elena and Giselle, and between me with each of them. I didn’t blame him. Elena’s Daniel had delayed marrying her for four years and now there I was asking to marry her sister after only six months of knowing her.
“I have the right woman now.”
“She would be happy to live with you in sin forever. She doesn’t need marriage,” he said, because I am sure he felt that he had to.
“I wouldn’t be.”
Another dramatic pause. I was used to them. Sebastian was an actor both on and off the screen.
“I’ll walk her down the aisle.”
She would love that so I said, “Thank you.”
It was a much easier conversation than I had planned for but I had always liked the only male Lombardi and I found that he was often surprising.
So, one thing down and two more to go before I could rest easy in my new life.
Those two things were Caprice and Elena Lombardi.
I started with the easier of the two.
Osteria Lombardi was only two blocks away from my office so I stopped by after work to duck into the kitchen. They were used to me there, the staff knew that I was dating one of the Lombardi women, probably the wrong one, but they let me back without protest so I didn’t care to check.
Caprice was arguing with her Head Chef over something on the menu but it wasn’t yet busy with the dinner rush. She caught my eye immediately and continued to look at me as she finished her conversation. Without a word, she flicked her finger at me to follow her out the swinging doors and into her cramped office.
She sat down and gestured for me to do the same. Her face was set in a fierce scowl that rivaled Cosima’s, and that girl could level a grown man twice her size with one of her looks. I reminded myself that Giselle had gone to bat for me twice now, with Paulson and my parents, and it was my turn to do the same.
“I’m marrying her, Caprice,” I started, because I wasn’t one to beat around the bush and because I knew she would flinch the way she did. I was angry with her for causing Giselle pain so I enjoyed it.
“You refuse to marry my Elena for years and now you want a union with my bambina?” She snorted. “I do not think she will have you.”
“You are wrong. Giselle loves me more than anything,” I said, never confident of anything more in my life. “I know this because I feel the same, if not more, towards her. She is it for me, Caprice. I am sorry that Elena was only a step, a necessary one, along the way. I am sorry she was hurt because I found my soul mate through her but a man doesn’t throw away a gift like that just because it causes someone else, or frankly even himself, pain.”
She blinked slowly at me. “So, you don’t throw her away. You marry her before she can realize what a stronzo you are?”
I smiled slightly but it was sharp, mean. “I am certain that Elle already knows how stupid I can be, she has stood by me through some of my worst decisions yet and I know she would stand by me still. I am going to marry her, Caprice, and treat her like the queen of my fucking heart for the rest of our lives because that is what she is to me. I am not here to ask your permission. I am not even here to ask your forgiveness. I am here to tell you that I unequivocally love your daughter, Giselle, and I am going to make her my wife.”
I wanted to tell her about the baby so badly that the words burned in my voice box, made it hard to swallow and breath without uttering the news. I resisted. That moment was for my siren to share with her mother if she chose and I knew that for now, she was sacrificing that comfort in order to give it to Elena.
God, my girl was selfless. It was both beautiful and hard for me to bear.
Caprice’s lips were thin with strain as she stared at me. “I have known you a long time now, Daniel Sinclair. I was happy to meet you and give you one of my daughters. You chose wrong it seems. I know that happens because once upon a long time ago, I chose wrong too and I hurt my children in doing that. I do not like to see them hurt more.”
“I understand that,” I said slowly. “But you are hurting Giselle by blindly siding with Elena on this. I get that Elena needs you and I still care for her, still want her family for her. But Giselle loves her Mama and you’ve taken that from her. I just wanted to let you know that we are creating our own family. If you stay away too long, you might find that she doesn’t need you when you deem her worthy again.”