CEO's Marriage Miracle

‘Exactly.’ So much for all those promises to involve her in his world—the business as well as the personal. Apparently it all fell by the wayside the moment some more interesting ‘work stuff’ appeared.

All of it, including their son.

Frankie sat on the stairs in the hallway, holding his toy fox close to his chest and looking more forlorn than Maria thought she’d ever seen a toddler look. He’d been so excited about today—about seeing Santa, of course, but Maria knew the real appeal had been taking his papà to see Santa.

And stupid Papà was in stupid Geneva.

‘He said he flew...’ Noemi’s face was strangely pale, and it took Maria a moment or two to connect the dots and figure out why.

‘He’ll have taken a helicopter,’ she said faintly. Of course he would have. It was the obvious and fastest mode of transport from Mont Coeur to Geneva, and one he’d taken numerous times before when he’d been setting up the Swiss office.

But that had been before. Before Salvo and Nicole had died flying in one in New York, where they were supposed to be meeting Leo. Maria’s heart pounded against her ribs at the thought of Seb so desperate to get back to work that he’d willingly climb into one again and fly away from them all the day before Christmas Eve. How could he?

‘Have you called him?’ Noemi asked. Maria could tell what her friend was really asking. Do you think he’s okay?

‘Not yet.’ How could she? He’d made his choices very clear once again. Work before family, business before his wife. Just like always.

The worst part was that she’d honestly believed he’d changed. She’d thought that he’d finally seen the value of their marriage, the importance of their son. She’d thought they had a future.

Apparently Seb had simply wanted to get her into bed again, and now that mission was accomplished and he felt secure that she’d be moving home, he could get back to what he actually cared about most in the world. Work.

Well, at least she knew the truth now rather than later. If this had happened after their agreed trial period, once she’d already moved back in with him, had told Frankie they were staying with Papà for good...that would have been much worse. Small mercies and silver linings, she supposed. Her heart might be breaking again, but at least it was something that she found out now—before she got Frankie’s hopes up. Or hers.

Seb might never have learned that lesson about counting chickens before they were hatched, but that was working to her advantage right now. And he never had been a patient man. She shouldn’t really be surprised.

Unbidden, memories of their last fight, the night before she’d left, just over a year before, came back to haunt her...

‘Where were you?’ she’d yelled, the moment he’d breezed through the door. ‘You promised you’d be here.’

‘I got caught up at work.’

Seb had looked surprised she’d even noticed.

‘There was a problem with one of the new campaigns, took for ever to straighten out. Does it matter?’

‘Yes, it matters!’

How could she ever make him understand? she’d thought.

‘You haven’t even seen your son in three days. That matters, Seb.’

‘Look, work’s been crazy. Trust me, I’d rather have been here. I’m exhausted. I’ll make it up to Frankie at the weekend,’ he’d promised.

And she had even believed that he’d meant it.

Except he’d promised the same thing every weekend for a month.

And then she’d known. It would never happen.

She’d shaken her head. ‘I don’t believe you.’

With a groan, Seb had dropped his briefcase to the floor. ‘Come on, Maria. You knew what you were signing up for. You married me to save your family business—just like I married you to get the merger between our companies. And now you’re complaining that I’m spending too much time working at that same business?’

She’d stumbled back a few steps. She’d dared to hope that their marriage was something more, and in just a few words he’d proved that it was even less than she’d thought.

She was nothing to him.

And he was everything to her.

‘You don’t even see me!’ she’d yelled. ‘Sometimes I’m not sure you’d even notice if I left.’

‘You’re making this into something this isn’t, Maria...’

But she hadn’t been. For the first time she’d seen their marriage clearly.

Suddenly calm, she had forced herself to stand up straight, to look him in the eye and accept the truth.

‘This isn’t enough for me, Seb. And I realise now that you can’t give me what I need. You’re not capable of it.’

She’d known it then. And now it was happening all over again.

Time to face the truth.

‘I need to pack,’ Maria said, and Frankie suddenly looked up at her, his eyes wide. Maria tried to look calm and happy for his sake—she could never tell how much he understood in his little two-year-old mind. Some days the very concept of time and place seemed beyond him. Others...he seemed to understand the world around them better than she did.

‘You’re leaving?’ Noemi asked, and Maria gave a helpless shrug.

‘How can I stay?’ She’d asked for what she needed to be happy. A family. A commitment from him to be a real part of that family.

And he’d flown off to Geneva instead of taking Frankie to meet Santa.

That was her answer, right there.

And she’d set terms, damn it. They had a contract. How could she hold her head up high again if she let him break it now? He’d know that he could break it again and again in the future with no repercussions.

That was no way to do business. And she was a businesswoman now.

‘I want to see Santa,’ Frankie said suddenly, standing up on the bottom step. ‘I want to see Santa now.’

Maria was about to give her usual lecture about asking politely, even though she didn’t really have the energy, but Noemi got there first.

‘Of course we’ll go and see Santa, my cherub!’ She wrapped her arms around Frankie’s thin shoulders and held him and his fox close. ‘We’ll go and see him together right now. Frankie and Mamma and Aunt Noemi.’

‘No!’ Frankie wriggled free. ‘I want to go with Papà!’

Maria sighed. Of course he did. That was what he’d been promised. And while he might forget how to brush his teeth or to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, Frankie never forgot a promise. Something Seb would know if he’d been paying proper attention.

‘Papà’s not here, piccolo,’ she said, as gently as she could.

Not gently enough, apparently.

Frankie flew into a frenzy of sobbing, throwing himself face down on the stairs and burying his face in his hands. ‘I want Papà! Papà!’ he cried, and Maria’s heart broke a little bit more.

Noemi looked at her with panic in her eyes. ‘What shall I do? How do we fix it?’

Because she didn’t know that only Sebastian could do that—and he didn’t seem to want to.

‘We can’t,’ Maria said. ‘All we can do is ride it out.’

Noemi winced as Frankie gave a particularly ear-splitting wail. ‘How? With earplugs?’

Maria shook her head. ‘You go and get Max, and buy more ice cream. I’ll deal with this. Then when he’s calmer he can have ice cream with you two while I pack. It’ll be a nice last memory before we leave.’

Noemi looked like she wanted to argue, but Maria kept her expression set and, after a second or two, Noemi nodded and headed towards the kitchen.

And Maria sank down onto the stairs, drew her son into her arms and pretended she wasn’t crying as she whispered reassurances in his ear.

* * *

It was dark by the time the helicopter blades whirred to a stop on the Mont Coeur he

lipad. With a weary sigh, Seb gathered his belongings, thanked the pilot and headed back to the chalet in search of a stiff drink—and his wife.

He smiled to himself at the realisation. However awful today had been—and it had been pretty bloody terrible—he was still excited to go home and talk to Maria about it. She’d understand about how terrified he’d been of the helicopter ride. And she’d sympathise with the ridiculous contract screw-up that had dragged him out there to renegotiate at the eleventh hour with their new partners, just to ensure the family business didn’t lose millions further down the line—even if she did tell him that she’d told him so.