Epilogue
Two years later
‘brACE YOURSELF, here comes chaos,’ Dario murmured in Tali’s ear, his arm tightening around her shoulders as she waved enthusiastically while they watched Sante and Mia’s large black SUV drive into the palazzo’s forecourt—three hours late.
She laughed, delighted by his stern expression and the heat in his eyes. ‘Oh, shut up, and stop pretending you don’t enjoy the chaos when they’re here,’ she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
‘And yet, I am also equally delighted when they are gone again!’ he said, but she could hear the amusement in his voice.
Mia popped out of the passenger seat, followed by two dogs who bounded up to them in a melee of delighted yips and barks and wagging tales. Mia’s round belly made the fierce hugs she gave them both—amid a tumble of profuse apologies for the delay—almost as chaotic as the dogs’ excited welcome.
Sante meanwhile jumped out from the driver’s side, to lift his baby daughter, Ariana, out of her car seat in the back and carry her over to join the welcoming party—the baby apparently totally unflustered by all the noise and activity.
‘Oh wow, she’s grown so much!’ Tali remarked, reaching out to take the blinking toddler into her arms. ‘How old is she now?’ she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
Sante’s chest puffed up with pride as he stroked his daughter’s fluffball of hair. ‘Thirteen months and finally sleeping through the night!’ he said with mock exasperation. ‘Mostly.’
‘Just in time for this one to arrive in two months’ time and keep us up all night instead,’ announced Mia as she stroked her stomach.
‘And whose fault is that?’ demanded Dario, going into big-brother mode. ‘What were you two thinking getting pregnant again so soon after Ariana was born?’
Mia sent him a cheeky grin. ‘It wasn’t exactly planned, Dario,’ she said, at the same time as her husband murmured, ‘It is certainly not my fault your sister is irresistible, Dario.’
‘Dio, Sante!’ Dario said, covering his ears, while the dogs continued to prance around them and Ariana started to cry. ‘Do not talk to me about my sister like that…’
‘Hey, you’re the one that started it,’ Sante replied, the smile on his face one that made Tali smile, too.
She jostled Ariana on her hip until the baby stopped crying, while the staff arrived to transport the insane amount of luggage from the car to the apartment Tali and Dario had had decorated over a year ago, so Mia and her family could visit the palazzo whenever they wished.
The two men continued to talk on the patio, while she and Mia headed into the house.
It was so good to hear them joking with each other.
After a shaky start, Dario and Sante had become good friends again.
Buddies even. And she loved to see it. For Dario most of all…
After having no one close in his life, he now had three people—four if you counted the niece she knew he adored—who would always be there for him.
‘Here, let me take her, she’s tired, I should put her down for a nap,’ Mia suggested, because Ariana was still niggling.
‘It’s okay, I’ve got her,’ Tali said, loving the warm weight of the little girl in her arms, and the smell of baby shampoo that clung to her. The pang of longing in her chest was hard to deny. ‘Let’s take her to her room,’ she said.
It didn’t take the two of them long to get Ariana ready for her nap. Tali changed her and gave her a bottle while her mother directed the staff where to put all the luggage.
After burping her, Tali placed her into the crib and watched with tears stinging her eyes as the baby rolled over and dropped into sleep almost instantly.
‘She’s so gorgeous,’ she murmured, the wave of raw emotion making her lungs hurt.
She blinked furiously, to stop the ridiculous tears from falling. She thought she’d got away with it, but as soon as they had tiptoed out of the room and Mia had closed the door softly, her sister-in-law’s eyes narrowed.
‘Okay, spill it, what’s going on? You look exhausted, Tali. And as adorable as I find my daughter, she doesn’t usually make people look as if they’re about to burst into tears.’
Tali choked out a laugh. She couldn’t help it, even as she felt the twinge of panic.
She should have spoken to Dario about this a week ago.
She’d bought the pregnancy test five days ago now, and hadn’t had the guts to use it, convinced her period was bound to happen any moment.
She’d had her coil removed, a month ago, and the doctor had mentioned they should wait seven days or use other forms of contraceptive after she’d starting using a contraceptive patch, just to be on the safe side.
But they hadn’t…quite…and now she was more than a week late.
And she still didn’t know how to bring up the conversation.
They’d talked about having children—of course they had. But only in a vague, we’re-both-on-board-with-the-concept-eventually kind of way. While she knew Dario had been joking with Mia and Sante when they arrived, she also knew he was a man who liked to plan things out. So did she, really.
But they’d been so busy over the last few days, finishing up their work commitments to make time for this two-week visit…
And this morning, when she’d planned to tell him she was a bit late, and probably should take a test, before she could mention it, he’d started kissing her and well… they’d got sidetracked, completely.
Seriously, who am I kidding?
The truth was she was a total coward. She didn’t want to tell Dario, in case he wasn’t as overjoyed about the prospect of a pregnancy as she was.
‘I think I might be pregnant…’ she blurted, as the words she should have said to Dario first popped out without warning.
Mia’s eyebrows shot up her forehead, but then a smile beamed across her face. ‘Oh. My. God. This is wonderful. Why didn’t you two tell us when…’
‘Because Dario doesn’t know, yet,’ Tali interrupted Mia’s excited response.
‘And neither do I, really,’ she added, the guilt starting to cripple her now.
‘I haven’t taken the test yet. It’s still in my bedside drawer.
In fact, I haven’t even got up the guts to tell him I’m a week late. I feel like such a…’
‘Whoa, whoa, whoa…’ Mia grasped her hands, then slung an arm around her shoulders to pull her into a tight hug. ‘Breathe, Tali. It’s okay.’
She drew in a careful breath and let Mia hold her, the hug comforting, and somehow reassuring.
‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m probably not even pregnant,’ she started to babble. ‘It’s just…as soon as I realised I might be pregnant, I wanted to be, so much. But what if Dario doesn’t feel the same way? What if he’s not ready yet…’
‘Shush, it’s okay…’ Mia placed warm palms on Tali’s cheeks and smiled at her, managing to calm her rampaging heartbeat, at least a little. ‘Really, Tali, the only way to find that out is to ask him.’
‘I know it’s silly, but…’
‘And honestly, I think he’ll be overjoyed at the prospect.’
‘You do?’ Tali said, still unsure, still not wanting to hope too much.
The last two years had been like a dream—a dream she never wanted to wake up from.
Of course, they’d had their disagreements.
Dario was bossy and demanding, and he liked to have things all his own way.
So, she’d had to discover her kickass side, and fast—particularly when he’d suggested she give up her job and move full-time to Italy.
It hadn’t always been easy to make their marriage work, but after some heated arguments, and lots of debate—and no small amount of make-up sex—they’d found a compromise.
They divided their time now between Wiltshire and Milan and Capri, both of them working remotely when required.
And she loved their life. She wasn’t sure how a baby was going to fit into that, if there was one.
The only thing she was absolutely sure of was that her mum would be overjoyed to be a granny.
But she wanted to face the challenge of starting a family with Dario.
She knew he would be a wonderful dad—just watching him with Ariana had proved that. But what if he wasn’t as sure?
He’d let his guard down with her. And she knew he trusted her.
But she also knew he still found it hard sometimes to be open about his feelings, to share and discuss—after a lifetime of being scared to show a weakness.
And she was even more scared that if he didn’t want this ‘possible’ baby, he wouldn’t want to tell her how he really felt, for fear of losing her.
Even though she’d told him so many times that would never happen.
‘Yes, I do,’ Mia said, with a confidence Tali wanted to feel, too.
‘He adores you, Tali. And he’d make a great dad…
Probably way too overprotective of course, but I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with that.
Then again, I’ve managed to stop Sante from freaking out over every minor hiccup, usually on very little sleep, so I’m sure you can do the same for my big brother. ’
Tali laughed, the first genuine laugh she’d managed in over a week.
Mia was right. Of course she was. She was working herself into a tizzy for no reason.
‘Listen,’ Mia murmured, rubbing Tali’s arms. ‘Why don’t I go downstairs and send him up so you can take that test together?
Sante and I have to get unpacked anyway, and settle Romulus and Remus, before Dario has them both evicted,’ she added, rolling her eyes comically because they could still hear the dogs barking intermittently downstairs.
‘Okay,’ Tali managed, but she could still feel her stomach going into free fall as Mia headed off with an encouraging smile on her face.
‘Mia said you needed to talk to me in private.’ Dario walked into the bedroom suite, his stomach flipping over and his heart hammering his chest wall.
Something was wrong. He’d known it for days. And when Mia had arrived on the terrazzo and told him—with no small amount of drama—his wife needed to speak to him, it had started to scare him.
Why the hell hadn’t he said something sooner?
Discovered what the problem was? He’d noticed her silences, those far-off looks, the strange expression he had been unable to decipher because he hadn’t seen it before.
Not exactly panic, but not the sweet, uncomplicated happiness he was used to seeing.
And she’d been so tired in the past few days.
Most mornings she rose before he did—but not in the past week.
And while he’d enjoyed the extra time to snuggle with her, now he was questioning that, too.
He had no idea what this something was. But when she turned towards him, her hands clasped so tightly the knuckles had whitened, it didn’t just scare him anymore—it terrified him.
He crossed the room in a few strides, gripped her hands until they stopped shaking, then laid his palm on her cheek.
‘What is it, Tallulah? Whatever it is, we can fix it,’ he said, the panic starting to consume him, because he could see the sheen of tears in her eyes now, too.
He watched her throat contract as she swallowed, bracing for the worst, when she whispered, ‘I need to take a pregnancy test.’
He stilled—the sudden rush of joy so strong, it was almost impossible to contain.
He had wanted to speak of babies for months now.
Especially when she had had the coil removed.
The suggestion that she not get the contraceptive patch had been on the tip of his tongue.
He wanted to see her round with his child, to see her become a mother, to see her blossom and shine, to see her nurture his baby at her breast. God, he wanted all of it.
He’d even been jealous of Sante, for having a beautiful daughter and another baby on the way…
But he knew his wife loved her job—in fact, they’d had more than a few arguments about her keeping the position at Westwick in the early days of their real marriage. Once he’d realised how important it was to her, though, he knew he couldn’t pressure her into starting a family too soon.
So, he forced his features to remain impassive now. It was harder than he thought, even though he had had a lifetime of practice at keeping his emotions on lockdown, until he had met Tallulah.
‘Okay?’ he said. ‘Do you want me to get Angelo to acquire one from la farmacia?’
‘I already have one, I’ve had it for a week. Because I’m a week late.’
He nodded, not sure what that meant. But then she blinked, and a tear rolled down her cheek—which felt like a knife to his gut.
‘You are not happy to have my baby?’ he asked, his usually fluent English deserting him.
She shook her head. But then a watery smile spread across her lips. ‘You—you’re not unhappy at the prospect of us having an unplanned pregnancy?’
He placed his hand on her flat stomach. ‘Dio, no,’ he said, the joy rushing through him as the smile in her eyes made the tears sparkle and glow. ‘There’s nothing I want more in this world than to see you have my child.’
She laughed, the sound echoing joyously in his heart, as she threw herself into his arms and he caught her. Then she whispered against his neck. ‘Ditto.’
Ten minutes later, when the extra line appeared on the test stick, he swung her around, then kissed her senseless.
It was a long while later before they managed to make it downstairs to tell Mia and Sante the good news—and ring Tallulah’s mother in Wiltshire.
Dario was so overjoyed at the prospect of becoming a father, he didn’t even mind that Sante spent the rest of the evening mocking him for failing to properly plan his own family.
‘Sometimes, brother, planning is overrated,’ Dario declared, slapping his old friend on the shoulder. ‘And now, I can’t wait for the chaos to begin!’