The Italian's Love-Child: The Italian's Stolen Bride / The Marchese's Love-Child / The Italian's Marriage Demand

It earned a furiously resentful glare.

Luc shook his head and delivered the bottom line. ‘If you’re waiting for Skye to go away, you’ll be waiting the rest of our lives.’

Thin-lipped silence.

His mother’s hands fretted at each other as she waited for her husband’s next move.

Luc didn’t wait. He bluntly called the next move for him. ‘You took, Dad. As far as I’m concerned, it’s up to you—both of you—to come to reasonable terms with what I’m about to take back.’

His mother shifted uneasily, her face showing anxiety as she quickly asked, ‘What does that mean?’

‘It means that Skye and I are getting married.’

‘No! This cannot be!’ She rose in agitation, turning in protest to her husband. ‘You said this would not happen, Maurizio. You said—’

He sliced a dismissive wave to silence the outpouring. ‘It’s not done yet, Flavia.’ He turned a frown of intense disapproval to Luc. ‘If you must marry this woman…’

‘Her name is Skye. Skye Sumner,’ Luc repeated, ramming her name down his father’s throat.

‘…a wedding must be planned…a proper church wedding…’

‘More delaying tactics, Dad?’

‘You are my son! Your marriage has to be celebrated in an appropriate manner.’

‘Then you should have come to the party earlier. It’s taken me all these months to win Skye’s trust and I won’t throw it away to accommodate a family who has made no gesture towards welcoming her into it. I’ve finally persuaded her to sign the necessary forms and we’ll be getting married as soon as it’s legally possible.’

‘Which is when?’ his father shot at him.

Luc gave a derisive laugh as he straightened up from the armrest. ‘So you can use the time to stop it, Dad?’ His eyes glittered out and out war. ‘Take one step in that direction…’

‘Enough!’ his mother cried, swinging a fierce gaze from one to the other. ‘Enough, Maurizio! I will not lose this son and I want my grandchild. If we have to accept this woman as Luciano’s wife, we will.’ She turned to Luc with an indomitable air. ‘It must be a proper wedding with all the families invited. I will see to it myself.’

‘Flavia…’ Anger at her insubordination.

She rebelled against it, bristling with her own anger as she stated, ‘I will not have Luciano shame us by marrying in a clandestine fashion. It is bad enough that his bride is not of the Italian community.’

‘With a bastard child,’ his father savagely reminded her.

‘And whose fault is it that my son was born out of wedlock?’ Luc sliced at him.

His father’s chin jerked up in aggressive pride, ignoring the accusation to address his wife. ‘It cannot be supported, Flavia. I will not support it.’

‘You chose a wife for Roberto who could not carry a baby full-term,’ she fired back at him. ‘Where is our future, Maurizio?’

‘In limbo until our son sees sense,’ he said in disgust.

‘Then in limbo it will stay,’ Luc declared with steely resolve.

‘Luciano…’ his mother pleaded.

‘No, Mamma, I will not change my mind. I am sorry to bring you shame by not having a traditional wedding, but you and Dad have chosen to keep Skye alienated, and as long as she remains this woman or that woman to you, I won’t let you near her to plan a wedding or anything else.’

‘She has to do it for you or you will be an outcast, Luciano,’ came the fierce rejoinder. ‘If she loves you…’

‘Skye always loved me. And was put through hell for it. Because of any lack of caring from this family, she brought up our son alone. I need to prove my love for her, not the other way around, Mamma.’

‘There was caring,’ she argued. ‘Your father set up a trust fund.’

‘Which was not administered as it should have been.’ He swung a hard gaze to his father. ‘Right, Dad?’

‘The intention was there,’ he tersely countered.

‘The intention to keep Skye and my son at a distance. Which you’re still doing, regardless of how I feel about it.’

His father threw up his hands in exasperation. ‘You were in shock at learning what was done for your own good. Making rash judgements. But to persist in this folly…to turn your back on your family…’

‘A family that deceived me? Robbed me of five years of my son’s life?’

‘Stop!’ his mother cried vehemently. ‘You are like two bulls locking horns and I will not have it. There is the child to consider, Maurizio. He is our only grandchild.’

‘There is Skye to consider, as well, Mamma. I will not let Matt near anyone who doesn’t treat his mother with the respect she deserves. He’s a happy little boy, very much due to his mother’s caring, and I don’t want any shadow put on his life. He knows nothing but love…’

‘You think I won’t love him?’ his mother cried in obvious angst at the prospect of being kept from the only grandchild she had.

‘I doubt that ignoring and disapproving of his mother will seem like love to Matt. He’s a very bright, intelligent child.’ Luc couldn’t resist proudly adding, ‘He could read books, even before he went to school.’

‘You hear that, Maurizio? This child you thought would be no good? At five years of age he can read!’

‘And he shot more goals at soccer this year than any other boy on his team,’ Luc went on, deliberately rubbing in what his father was missing—the game of soccer being one of his passions, as it was with most Italians.

‘It is as well you find some joy in the boy because you will find none in this marriage,’ his father thundered, refusing to be moved from his stance.

‘You’re wrong, Dad,’ Luc said quietly. ‘I feel alive with Skye. She fills the emptiness I’ve known for far too long.’

‘There will be an even greater emptiness when you find yourself ostracised from all the Italian families.’

It would happen, too. His father would make it happen. A line would be drawn, with no crossing over from either side. He remembered the conversation with Skye when she’d said they were prisoners of their backgrounds and he’d expressed a wish to be free of the oppressive constriction of his. She hadn’t believed him—it wasn’t how he was acting—and he realised now why she’d hung back from committing herself to marrying him.

Because he’d been still hanging on, working for the Peretti Corporation, maintaining at least that professional link, hoping for a change of attitude, a change of heart from his parents, wanting an acceptance of his reality, thinking he could force an acceptance— blindly tied to bonds that had to be broken, proving to Skye he was truly free of them.

An act of love for an act of faith.

He looked at his father who’d ruled so much of his life, but would rule no more. ‘My resignation will be on your desk Monday morning, Dad. Effective immediately.’

‘You can’t do that!’ he blustered, clearly appalled by this decision and seizing on a cogent argument against it. ‘You’re under contract for the resort in Far North Queensland.’

‘Then I’m giving notice that this will be the last contract I’ll work on. As soon as it’s done…’

‘You’ll give up everything for this woman?’ he yelled, his face reddening with the intensity of his outrage.

Yes, he would.

He’d told Skye he would.

It was well past time he did it.

He shook his head over his father’s total lack of understanding of what Skye gave him. There was no point in trying to explain what wouldn’t be heard anyway. He simply said, ‘I just won’t be held by your expectations of me any longer. Your father emigrated to Australia on his own to build a new life for himself, Dad. I can make a new life elsewhere, too.’

‘No! No! You must stop this!’ his mother broke in again. ‘You men and your headstrong pride! You are breaking my heart! Both of you!’ She dropped back into her armchair, slumping over, her hands pressed to her chest.

‘See what you’ve done? Upsetting your mother?’ His father bellowed at him, striding over to the chair to put a comforting arm around her.

Emotional blackmail.

The weeping and wailing would start any second.

‘I’m sorry, Mamma, but this situation was not of my making,’ Luc said, softening his tone while still holding to his own determination. ‘We all have choices.’ He cast one last look at his father to state unequivocally, ‘I’ve made mine.’

Then he walked out.

Out of the drawing room.

Out of the multi-million dollar mansion.

Out of the lives of his parents.

He could start a new life elsewhere.

And he would.

His own family, making their own friends, completely free of the past.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

IT WAS there again!

Skye’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of the black limousine, parked directly across the street from her house, as it had been each afternoon for the past three days.

Her last client of the day noticed it, too—so totally out of place in this neighbourhood. As out of place as Luc’s red Ferrari! ‘Is there a wedding?’ she asked, trying to find an explanation for its presence.

‘I don’t know,’ Skye answered.

Her client shrugged, stepped off the front porch and headed towards the gate. The limousine had nothing to do with her. Skye couldn’t feel quite so dismissive of it. The tinted windows made it impossible to see if anyone was seated inside the car, but she felt as though she was being watched.

She quickly shut the door, wishing her anxious tension could be blocked out as easily as the limousine which she found increasingly disturbing. Luc was away this week, having flown up to Cairns in far north Queensland for on-site meetings about a new project. His father would know that. Was someone from the Peretti family behind those tinted windows, looking for ammunition that could be used against her?

There was none.

But that didn’t mean it couldn’t be manufactured.

Or was she being hopelessly paranoid?

Skye tried to shake off her worry as she threw off her masseur clothes on which she’d spilled some oil, took a shower, then dressed in jeans and T-shirt to go and pick up Matt from school. Only three more weeks now and the school year would be over. Her life here at Brighton-Le-Sands would be over.

Luc wanted to get married before Christmas and once they were, she and Matt would move to his Bondi apartment where they’d live until this last contract with the Peretti Corporation was completed. Then they’d relocate, close to wherever Luc decided to set up business for himself.

It was all settled.

Except the black limousine made her feel unsettled.

Skye decided she would tell Luc about it tonight when he called, as he called every night to chat with her and Matt over the phone. He had informed his family about their forthcoming marriage. Predictably the news had not been met with joy. Luc had insisted it didn’t matter. The future he wanted revolved around her and Matt.

Skye believed him. All this year he’d shown he was happy with them, persuading her that a marriage between them was workable, despite his family lurking in the background. His decision to resign from his position in his father’s business empire was the ultimate proof of freedom from an influence she’d still feared. It gave her far more confidence in their future together.

But would his family leave them alone?

The limousine was still there when she left the house to walk to Matt’s school. She could have driven the Alfa so as not to feel exposed to watching eyes, but it was a fine sunny afternoon and it wasn’t her habit to drive when a walk would be pleasant. Besides, she had nothing to hide.

Matt was bubbling with news about the end of year school concert. They’d just had a rehearsal for it. His class was doing a selection of nursery rhymes in song and action and he was demonstrating how he twinkled like a star, singing away at the top of his voice as they turned into their street.

The limousine had not moved.

Matt broke off his song to comment, ‘The big black car is there again, Mummy.’

‘So it is,’ she replied, trying to sound careless.

‘Maybe a giant lives in it,’ he speculated. ‘His legs are too long to fit in an ordinary car.’

‘You could be right,’ Skye lightly agreed while her mind painted in a scary giant, like Maurizio Peretti whose great wealth gave him a very long reach.

‘Look, Mummy! The door is opening!’ Matt cried excitedly, delighted at the prospect of seeing the occupant.

The driver’s door! So someone was inside behind the tinted windows! Skye felt herself tensing up but the chauffeur who emerged was not enough in himself to confirm her fears.

‘It’s just a man in a uniform,’ Matt said in disappointment.

The man in the uniform rounded the bonnet of the limousine and opened the far side passenger door, perking up Matt’s anticipation again.

‘There must be someone else, too.’

Just keep walking, Skye told herself, determined not to be intimidated by the someone else.

‘It’s a lady,’ came Matt’s surprised commentary.

A lady, indeed, Skye thought bitterly, her spine instantly stiffening as she recognised Luc’s mother. No doubt now that the limousine was associated with his family. The chauffeur escorted Flavia Peretti across the street and was dismissed by her when she was safely on the sidewalk, right next to the front gate where Luc had stood waiting, nine months ago.

‘Is she coming to our place, Mummy?’ Matt asked, curiosity enlivened by this strange visitor who was watching their approach.

‘Maybe she wants to ask for directions, Matt,’ Skye temporised, unsure what to expect from this meeting and unwilling to expose her son to a relationship that might prove harmful.

Flavia Peretti looked very imposing, elegantly dressed in black, her hair more grey than Skye remembered, though perfectly groomed as always. She had a strong-boned face and a very upright figure, tall enough to carry her weight well, very much an Italian Mamma, although the softness of her womanly curves belied the hardness of her judgemental character. She was staring at Matt, just as Luc had done—the son of her son, her only grandchild.

‘Why is she looking at me?’ Matt asked.

‘Perhaps you remind her of someone,’ Skye answered, worrying that an introduction was about to be forced.

And then what?

Her stomach was churning. Her mind was, too. Why had Flavia Peretti come now? What was the point of this visit? To try to stop her from marrying Luc? To get to her while her precious son was away, destroy her trust in their love?

All Skye’s protective instincts told her to keep Matt out of any confrontation with Luc’s mother. Needing to distract attention away from her son, as soon as they were close enough, she called out, ‘Can I help you?’

Flavia Peretti lifted her gaze from Matt, looking at Skye with a determined directness that mocked any pretence of not knowing who she was. ‘Miss Sumner…’ she started, letting her own identification of Skye hang for a moment.

‘Yes? Do you want to make an appointment?’ Skye rushed out, hoping the evasive tactic might raise a decent sense of discretion. She put her hand pointedly on Matt’s shoulder as they paused by the gate, waiting for an answer.

The intense dark eyes, so very like Luc’s, flashed a rueful understanding. ‘If I may come inside?’ she replied with cool dignity, giving way to Skye’s silent demand while exerting her own pressure for a private meeting.

‘Of course,’ Skye muttered, opening the gate and handing Matt the door-keys. ‘Go ahead and change into play clothes while I see to business.’

Accustomed as he was to her dealing with clients, Matt didn’t question the situation, and Skye breathed a sigh of relief when he obeyed without giving in to the temptation to question the lady about the extraordinary size of her car, either.

Skye watched him go inside before turning back to Luc’s mother whose gaze was still trained on the opened front door which Matt had left ajar for them to follow. Inviting the enemy inside was certainly not to Skye’s liking. She quickly asked, ‘Why have you come here, Mrs Peretti?’

‘I wanted to see my grandchild,’ came the flat answer.

‘You’ve seen him.’

‘He’s like Luciano.’ The words were wistful, with an undercurrent of yearning.

‘And me,’ Skye stated fiercely, demanding her parenthood be recognised.

Luc’s mother heaved a weary sigh as she returned her gaze to Skye. ‘I knew nothing of how you and the child were dealt with until my husband informed me of it last Easter.’

‘You didn’t want me for Luc any more than your husband did,’ Skye threw at her, certain it was true.

Flavia Peretti nodded. ‘But Luciano will marry you nonetheless,’ she said resignedly. ‘He will not change his mind. For him it is a point of honour.’

‘He loves me. And Matt,’ Skye stated fiercely, resenting the implication that it was only honour driving Luc’s desire to marry her. She did not believe it. Would not believe it.

‘Do you love him?’

‘Yes, I do. He’s the only man I’ve ever loved. Ever will love. And I will not let you talk me out of marrying him, no matter what arguments you use, no matter what you might offer me, so your visit is a waste of your time and mine, Mrs Peretti.’

Skye’s outburst seemed to make no impression on her. She bypassed it all, simply asking, ‘When is the wedding date?’

‘Soon.’ Caution screamed not to name the day.

‘Before Christmas?’

‘It’s none of your business, Mrs Peretti.’

‘My son is getting married and it’s none of my business?’ It was a raw cry, scraped from a deep bank of emotion.

‘You didn’t care about what he wanted. You only care about what you want,’ Skye retorted, fighting the possessiveness that had led to all her grief.

‘I am Luciano’s mother. As the mother of a son yourself… the only one I have left…’

Unbelievably, the haughty arrogance crumbled, tears welling into her eyes. And Skye couldn’t help feeling sorry for her: this proud woman, weeping on a public street, this sad woman who had lost one son and was on the verge of losing the only one she had left. Regardless of the hurt she’d given in the past, she was Luc’s mother, and Skye imagined her watching lovingly over Luc as a little boy, just as she did Matt.

It was impossible to leave her standing here like this. ‘Come inside, Mrs Peretti,’ Skye gently urged, taking her arm to steer her up the path and into the house.

Letting in the enemy.

Except it no longer felt like that.

Until she told Luc what had happened.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

LUC’S call came through at seven o’clock that night, right on Matt’s bedtime. Knowing this, he asked to speak to Matt first so he could say goodnight to him, and since Matt was jumping up and down in his eagerness to speak to his father, Skye passed the telephone receiver to him.

‘Guess what, Daddy?’ he cried excitedly. ‘I met your Mummy today. She’s my grandmother and she said to call her Nonna.’

He went on to describe the big black car this amazing new person in his life had come in, while Skye worried over how Luc was reacting to the news. She had strongly felt it would be wrong to gag Matt on the subject of his grandmother. It would have raised too many questions and none of the answers were appropriate for a little boy’s understanding. Better to let him be happy about the relationship since there seemed to be a possibility that it could turn out good for him.

Matt prattled on, obviously prompted by questions Luc was putting to him about the meeting. His voice remained happy, signalling that Luc was carefully playing to their son’s innocence. Skye hoped she had done the right thing with Flavia Peretti, but the difficult hump of past history was still playing on her mind. It was a relief when Matt finally said goodnight to his father and passed the receiver to her.

‘Go on to bed now, Matt,’ she instructed. ‘You can read until I come in to say goodnight. Okay?’

‘Okay, Mummy.’ He shot her a proud grin. ‘Nonna was surprised at how well I can read, wasn’t she?’

Skye smiled back at him. ‘Yes, she was. Off you go, Matt.’

She watched him skip out of the kitchen while she took a deep breath to ease her inner tension before speaking to Luc.

‘Skye?’ Urgency in his voice.

‘Yes. I was just waiting for Matt to be out of earshot.’

‘Tell me what happened.’

Skye recounted everything as best she could; the presence of the black limousine in their street for the past three afternoons, his mother’s emergence from it today, the meeting on the sidewalk, her own stand about trying to keep the confrontation away from Matt, what was said and the reaction to it.

‘My mother has a long habit of using tears to break down opposition and get her own way,’ Luc commented tersely. ‘She succeeded in getting you to let her meet Matt.’

Had it been deliberate manipulation? Skye hadn’t thought so at the time. Surely it had been genuine distress. Besides, hadn’t Luc himself said it would be her one and only grandchild who would bring his mother around?

‘I thought you wanted her to, Luc.’

‘Not like this, behind my back,’ came the savage retort, making Skye cringe at having made a wrong judgement. Had she let in the enemy? Was this the thin edge of a wedge designed to drive her and Luc apart?

‘I’m sorry. I…’

‘No, I’m sorry,’ he quickly cut in, tempering his tone. ‘It’s not your fault. I should have been expecting this, should have warned you.’

‘Warned me of what?’ Alarm tingled through every nerve in her body.

There was a long expulsion of breath at his end. ‘Did my mother ask you to postpone our wedding?’

Giving his father time…to do what? How could anything be worse than what had been done to them six years ago? They were strong together now. Surely they could weather any attempt at interference.

‘I didn’t give her a date, Luc, but she did plead for us to wait until after Christmas. I said I’d have to discuss it with you.’

‘Right! Why did she pinpoint Christmas?’

‘She’s offering Christmas Day as a day of reconciliation. For family mending.’

‘Did you believe she meant it?’

Skye hesitated, but she had truly felt Flavia Peretti had spoken sincerely. ‘Is there any reason why I shouldn’t?’ she asked warily. ‘I thought you’d want this, Luc.’

‘It depends on what it costs. What was her attitude towards you, Skye?’

‘Stiff at first, but she wasn’t…well, looking down her nose at me. It was more a kind of awkward acceptance. Her focus was more on Matt than on me, Luc. I think she truly wants Matt in her life and will do all she can to…to smooth things over.’

‘There was nothing…offensive?’

‘Not really. I don’t expect a sudden flow of benevolence towards me from your mother. I never was what she wanted for you and I haven’t miraculously changed into the perfect Italian bride. But I honestly felt she was making an effort today not to be disapproving of anything.’

‘There’s nothing to disapprove of,’ he said fiercely, giving Skye the warm reassurance that he truly believed it and would fight to the death anyone who suggested otherwise.

It helped her relax, made her feel safe again. Luc was not being critical of her actions. He was being protective of her, angry that he had not been at her side to handle whatever was coming at her from his family.

‘I don’t like this…my mother visiting you behind my back,’ he went on. ‘Most probably behind my father’s back, too. As if we haven’t had enough deception messing us around!’

And they’d certainly both suffered from it. But giving suffering back did not right the wrong. Skye took a deep breath and tentatively suggested, ‘She might have come as a go-between peace-maker.’

A harsh laugh. ‘God knows! But I’ll sure as hell find out before this goes any further. I’ve booked a four o’clock flight for tomorrow afternoon. Should be with you and Matt in time for dinner.’