The Sicilian's Bought Cinderella

Argh! She was thinking about him again.

Think only of the future. That was what she told herself constantly.

She kicked her boots off and forced a smile. ‘Fancy a cup of tea?’

No matter how dreadful she felt inside, she would never let Orla know. Her sister felt bad enough about how Aislin had got the money for them without having to know the details of what had gone on between her and Dante.

It had broken her heart to tell her Dante didn’t want to meet her or Finn. Orla had put a brave face on it but she’d been pretty cut up about his decision.

Tonight, however, Orla looked happier than Aislin had seen her in a long time.

‘Has something happened?’ Aislin asked as she walked into the poky kitchen.

‘I would have told you earlier, but I wasn’t sure how you’d react, and I didn’t want to cause a distraction when you had such a long drive.’

She lifted the kettle. ‘Tell me what?’

‘We’ve had a visitor.’

She put the kettle under the tap. ‘Oh?’

‘Dante.’

The kettle slipped from her fingers and landed with a clang in the sink.

She composed herself quickly. ‘Sorry. Butter fingers. He came?’ She put it back under the tap and kept a tight grip on it.

‘He did!’ Orla’s voice was full of joy.

Aislin busied herself with making the tea, letting her sister tell her all the details without interruption.

‘He apologised for not wanting to see us. He needed time to process it, which is understandable. I mean, I’ve known about him for years, but my existence came as a bolt from the blue for him. He stayed for ages. Hours! I know you think he’s a selfish cad, and that we should be grateful he doesn’t want anything to do with us, but he’s apologised for all that. I liked him very much.’

She pulled the mugs off the mug tree. Luckily Orla was so full of Dante’s visit that she didn’t notice the rattle Aislin made, bashing them together with her shaking hands.

‘I’m glad he’s shown a different side of himself to you,’ she managed to say through a throat that felt as if a boulder had lodged in it. ‘What did Finn think of him?’

‘Finn adored him! He’s promised him a new wheelchair for his birthday. I told him I was already planning one for the move but he insisted. He’s coming to Finn’s party.’

‘Great.’

‘He asked after you. Oh, I forgot to say, Dante’s going to rent a house for us in Dublin until we can move into ours. He’s going to arrange everything. We should be gone from here by the end of the week.’

‘That soon?’

‘Amazing, isn’t it?’

She opened the fridge door and removed the milk. ‘He’s a quick mover.’

So quick he’d made her go from hating him to loving him in the space of a week...

The milk fell from her frozen fingers to the floor, the plastic bottle splitting on impact.

This time she was unable to compose herself.

She stared with horror at the milk spilling all over the floor and then looked into Orla’s suddenly scared eyes. Eyes that were the image of Dante’s.

‘Ash?’