“I’m not. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get you some. I’ll just have some juice or whatever I find in the fridge.”
“Oh. Okay. That sounds good.” Maybe some caffeine would help straighten his thoughts.
“You know, I’ve been doing some thinking about our situation,” Elena called out from the kitchen. “I’ll tell you in a few minutes.”
There was a knock at the door.
“I wonder who that can be,” Elena said. “I’ll get it.”
Luca leaned his arms on the railing surrounding the balcony. He stared off in the distance. He couldn’t believe that he finally knew what he wanted, but it was just out of his reach.
It was like having an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. One prompted him to use his relationship with Elena to gain an audience with the king. It was the only viable way he could get a quick resolution to the lemon grove’s troubles.
But the other prompted him to put Elena first. It was a tremendous favor to ask her to get an audience with the king while he was sequestered. The only way to do it would be for her to sneak him in. And that would leave her in a very awkward position with her father.
“These arrived for you.” She handed over a newspaper and a big manila envelope.
“Thank you.” He glanced at the return address on the envelope. He knew the significance of both items and set them aside.
“Aren’t you even going to look at the package? It might be important.”
“The envelope contains our wedding photos. I thought you might want them, so I had the photographer rush over the proofs.”
“Oh. Okay. And is there any significance to the newspaper?”
He nodded. “We’re in it.”
“What?” She rushed over, grabbed it and found their photo on the front page. “But how did they get this? The picture is from our wedding at the church.”
“I leaked it to the press.”
“But why?”
“Because I was tired of their lies. I wanted them to have the truth. Now the world knows we’re married.”
Her gaze searched his. “You
don’t care if everyone knows that you married a...” Using air quotes, she said, “‘Home wrecker’?”
“You are anything but. In fact, I should make that Steven guy come clean to the world—”
“No! Don’t.” When he sent her a puzzled look, she added, “It’ll just dredge up that mess all over again.”
He sighed. “I guess you do have a point. I just hate the thought of him getting away with lying to you.”
“He’s not. Not exactly. His soon-to-be ex-wife is making sure he’s miserable.”
“Nothing like a scorned woman.”
Elena smiled. “Exactly. I’m sure she can make him squirm in ways you can’t even imagine.”
“Hmm...I’ll have to make sure I don’t get on your bad side.”
“True.” She smiled broadly. “But you don’t have anything to worry about after last night. Right now, I feel like anything is possible—”
“Elena, don’t go getting too excited.”
“Don’t worry. I know that we still have steep hurdles to cross. But if you give a little and I give a little, maybe we can meet somewhere in the middle. And our child will win by having both parents in their life.”