‘He looks like my son.’ Marco’s eyes were steel bright as he smiled at her.
She angled her chin to give him a wry look. ‘I suppose if he grows up to look like you, it won’t be too bad.’
They left their son sleeping and went downstairs again.
‘Do you want me to get your gift?’ Marco suggested.
‘I’d like that very much.’
‘I’ll be right back,’ he promised.
He felt as if he’d got wings on his heels as he ran out to the car. He delved onto the back seat, and brought out the gift-wrapped package he’d bought for Cassandra. Coming back into the house, he handed it to her.
She opened it and fell silent.
‘You see, I do understand,’ he said. ‘I’m on the same steep learning curve you are, and I don’t always get it right.’
‘You got it right this time,’ she said, caressing the scarf.
‘Shall I...?’
‘Please,’ she said.
He took the length of soft cashmere from its ivory tissue paper and draped the colourful scarf around her neck.
‘I love it,’ she whispered. ‘Thank you.’
‘Thank you,’ he said, as he dipped his head to brush her lips lightly with his. Cassandra leaned against him, and when he put his arms around her she lifted her face to his.
‘I love you,’ he said.
‘I love you too,’ she said, smiling, ‘but you don’t always make it easy.’
His eyes brightened. ‘And you’re so easy,’ he commented, smiling soft and slow.
‘Will you help me to bathe Luca?’
‘Of course I will.’ Putting his arm around her shoulder, he led her back upstairs.
He only had to take Luca in his arms and lower him into the lukewarm water, keeping him safe in the crook of his arm, to know that without Luca and Cassandra he was nothing—he had nothing. But could he convince this spirited, vexing, complex woman to join him in a life that would be challenging from day one? Every move she made would be scrutinised and picked over, and every day would present them both with a new mountain to climb.
‘You can pass him to me now.’ She was holding out a towel.
He did so with the utmost care, and then he caught Cassandra looking at him with a little smile on her face.
‘Do I look as soppy as you?’ she asked him.
‘I don’t think you could ever look like me,’ he reassured her, as she wrapped their infant son in a soft white towel.
‘How do I look?’ she asked.
‘Fishing for compliments?’
She smiled. ‘Why not?’
‘You look like a woman in love.’
‘How odd.’ She pretended surprise. ‘I can’t imagine why that would be.’
Leaning against the door, he stopped her leaving the room, and bringing both Cassandra and Luca into his arms he murmured, ‘If your imagination won’t stretch that far, what hope is there for me?’
‘None,’ she agreed.
‘Stay with me, Cass. My life doesn’t mean anything without you. I want all three of us to live together, wherever you want to live. It doesn’t have to be Rome... Tuscany,’ he murmured. ‘The countryside is so much better for a child to grow up in.’
‘Tuscany,’ she echoed softly, her face lighting up.
‘I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before,’ he admitted.
‘You had other things on your mind?’ she suggested.
‘Maybe...’ His eyes warmed as he smiled down at her.
‘Do you think there will be more children?’ she asked him thoughtfully.
‘Why not? You’re good at growing things, aren’t you?’
She grinned. ‘You’re not so bad yourself.’
He was distracted for a moment as he pictured kicking a football about with his son in the beautiful gardens that Cassandra would design and care for on the country estate he’d always loved better than anywhere else on earth.
‘Marco?’
‘Marry me, Cassandra.’
‘Marry you?’ she exclaimed with surprise.
‘Why not? No one else will do.’
‘No one else would put up with you, don’t you mean?’ she suggested.
He curved a smile back at her and then turned serious. ‘I don’t want anyone else. I only care about you, and what you want, what you think...’
‘What I want?’ Cass said softly. ‘I want what I’ve always wanted. You. I love you Marco. I’ve loved you since we first rolled a rug together.’