A Proposal to Remember

Ten minutes earlier she’d been totally sure that she could never forgive him. But now nothing seemed clear.

Could she trust a man who hadn’t been entirely honest with her, even if he’d had good reason for the deception?

She walked back to the bedside, trying to hide her feelings, but then she met Abby’s searching gaze and felt her eyes fill.

Abby said something in Italian to the two men and then took Zan’s hand. ‘If you’re going to examine me then I’d rather they went and had a coffee. I don’t need an audience.’

Carlo frowned. ‘I ought to examine you.’

Abby smiled calmly. ‘This is my second baby, Carlo. I need you around for emergencies but so far there isn’t one and Zan and I can manage fine on our own. Take Nico to find some coffee. He’s a nervous wreck.’

Carlo hesitated and then caught his brother’s eye and nodded briefly. ‘All right. We’ll be back in ten minutes.’

They left the room and Abby screwed up her face as another contraction hit her.

‘Oh, help—my first delivery was nothing like this. I’m trying not to be a baby but I’m in agony.’

Zan slid an arm around Abby’s shoulder and helped her with her breathing until the contraction passed.

Abby flopped back against the pillow. ‘OK. We need to talk fast before the next one hits me. What’s going on with you and Carlo?’

Zan flushed. ‘Nothing—we’re just colleagues.’

‘Then why do the pair of you look so miserable? There’s one thing you should know about Italian families,’ Abby said gently, ‘and that’s that they’re very close. Carlo’s been talking to his brother regularly. Nico has known about you from the first. We were all getting excited that Carlo might finally have found someone he could be happy with.’

Zan bit her lip. ‘He told you about me? But he’s known me for less than a week.’

‘And you made a real impact,’ Abby said. ‘I’ve never known him seriously smitten before. So what went wrong?’

Zan bit her lip. ‘He lied to me. He told me nothing about himself and he used a false name.’

Abby sucked in a breath and put a hand on her stomach. ‘Hold that thought—I’ve got another contraction coming.’

Zan took her hand and coached her through it, reminding her how to breathe.

The contraction passed but Abby held onto her hand. ‘He had to use a false name,’ she said, struggling to get her breath back. ‘The press have been hounding him in Italy. After that baby was stillborn he started to receive death threats and there’s been a massive security operation ever since. It’s been awful for him.’

Zan gave a wan smile. ‘I still think he could have trusted me.’

‘Perhaps he could, but if you knew the attention that the Santini family attracts in Italy you’d understand why he didn’t,’ Abby said. ‘It’s pretty hard for them to trust anyone. Carlo really liked the fact that you didn’t know who he was. For once in his life he was able to have a normal relationship with someone.’

‘But it wasn’t normal, was it? I didn’t know who he was.’

Abby looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Tell me what you love about Carlo.’

Zan sat down on the edge of the bed, not even bothering to deny her love. It was obvious. ‘I love his sense of humour. I love the way he’s so relaxed and confident. I love his strength, and I even love the fact that he doesn’t know how to be politically correct about women.’

Abby laughed. ‘All Italian men are like that. Carry on. What else do you love?’

Zan shrugged. ‘I love the fact that he’s such a great doctor and I love the fact that he has such a strong bond with his family.’

Abby nodded with satisfaction. ‘And all those things that you love about him are still there, no matter what his name is. Having a different name doesn’t change the person.’

Which was basically what Carlo had said.

‘It hurts that he didn’t trust me enough to tell me his name,’ Zan muttered, and Abby sighed.

‘That’s true, but he’s trusting you now. You’ve got plenty of information which you could take to the press. ‘They’d probably pay quite