“That’s good,” Severino said briskly.
Velia scowled at her brother, but he didn’t pay any attention.
“I suppose you have to wait a decent amount of time between children. How long is the recommended period?”
Velia heaved a sigh. “You don’t have to answer that, Stefano. Severino has no delicacy when it comes to actual relationships. If he ever meets the right woman, she’ll run screaming for the hills when he opens his mouth.”
Severino glared at her. “Why do you always say that? Having children is a real concern, Velia. There are too few.”
“Perhaps that’s so, Sev, but Francesca is more than a broodmare to Stefano. She’s his wife. He actually loves her, in case that hadn’t occurred to you. She’s gone through a difficult time, as has he. Losing babies isn’t easy.”
Severino instantly turned to his cousin. “I’m sorry, Stefano. I didn’t think before I spoke. Naturally you wouldn’t want Francesca to get pregnant too fast. I really don’t know how long one waits between children.”
“I don’t think there is a set length of time,” Stefano said, taking pity on his cousin.
Taviano knew Stefano could and probably did relate to Severino. They both thought a great deal alike. And both had put the shadow rider program first for many years. It was only after Stefano had found Francesca that he had begun to think differently.
“You are going to have another child.” Severino made it a statement, proving that he was exactly like Stefano in that he could so easily read others.
Stefano sighed. “It isn’t always so easy or as black and white as we think it is, Sev. The thought of losing another child, or watching Francesca suffer, isn’t something I want to go through. Nor am I prepared to lose my wife in exchange for another child. I’m not having children for the sole purpose of producing them as riders. I am their father, and that means something. I didn’t know what that was until I saw Crispino born and then I held him in my arms. It changes something in you.”
Severino glanced at Velia and then across the room, where Tore had disappeared into the corner so silently. “There’s a small part of me that understands. I had to take over when my parents died. I knew I wanted the others to be safe. We were spread out in age, and several of them were quite a bit younger. Velia was just an infant. Tore, a toddler. I made it my business to make certain they were safe. I’m certain you remember. You went with me. You, Geno and me.”
Velia leaned forward and peeked around Marzio to look at her oldest brother. “What does that mean? I’ve heard vague references to something of that nature before. Keeping all of us safe, but no one talks about it. What does that mean, Sev?”
“It’s of no consequence, bella,” Severino said. “It’s in the past and it can stay there.”
“But no one ever says how Mom and Dad died,” she pointed out. “Am I the only one who doesn’t know? That’s not right. Do you know, Taviano?”
He didn’t. He only knew that Severino had come in the dead of night asking that Stefano come with him immediately. Vittorio had told Taviano later than none of them had ever seen Severino upset that way. He was always cool, calm, a boy, a teen and later a man who refused to be shaken by anything. Stefano had heard him out and then was gone. He hadn’t consulted Eloisa or Phillip, but by then, as a boy in his teens, he didn’t anymore. He simply left, and his parents never knew that he was gone or that he returned hours later. Taviano had been told by his brothers that there had been blood in the shower and sink, but they hadn’t seen any signs of damage to Stefano.
“Leave it,” Severino said softly, but his voice was a whip.
Taviano realized they all had history. He wasn’t the only one. He brought Nicoletta’s fingertips to his mouth and bit down gently to distract her from the byplay. They all deserved to have their own privacy if they wished it. He didn’t want his siblings to know his story, and Nicoletta didn’t want the cousins to know every detail of her story. The cousins had the right to their privacy.
“I would like a daughter,” Stefano ventured.
Taviano knew he was deliberately changing the subject to distract Velia.
“Although I’m not certain I want Francesca to know that. A little girl who looks just like her. Unfortunately for me, if that happened, there would be two females in my house ruling me instead of one.”
Nicoletta laughed. “Francesca would say you rule her. She says you’re very bossy.”
“I have to be. She sits on all those committees and visits every single household in our territory, just to make certain everyone is fine. Half the time the bodyguards can’t keep up with her. She wanted to work two days after she had the baby. It was crazy. I had to put my foot down. Thank God for Mariko and Emmanuelle. They helped me sit on her for a few weeks after Crispino was born so she could heal. And you, Nicoletta, helping with the baby so we could keep her resting the way the doctors ordered.”