He walked into the common room with her, dressed in a linen shirt and khaki trousers. She found him so handsome, it hurt.
After looking at all the equipment and their placement, he whistled. “The room has been transformed.” One of the nuns had set up a mobile bulletin board on wheels with a lot of pictures the children had run off on the printers. They’d signed their names. Fausta watched him study each one.
“Ehi! Here’s a robot designed by my namesake.”
Fausta smiled. “Nicolo is a cute little seven-year-old redhead who is crazy about everything related to the computer and doesn’t want to do anything else. Maybe he’ll be a big tech genius one day.”
Nico raised his eyes to her, enveloping her with heat. “You’ll be the reason why. I can’t tell you how impressed I am. You’re a wonder.”
Her pulse raced. “It has been so much fun to teach the children. They’re smart and have learned fast. I should have become an elementary school teacher.”
He moved toward her. “Why didn’t you?”
“That’s not the kind of thing one of my father’s daughters is allowed to do.”
A frown marred his striking features. “How much longer are you planning to stay here?”
“Today’s my last day.”
“The place will fall apart without you.”
She chuckled. “Oh, no. The nuns have been learning too, and they help the children.”
“It won’t be the same.”
“You’re right. I’ll miss them terribly, but not for long.”
“What do you mean?”
“As soon as I get back to Domodossola, I’m going to make visits to the various orphanages. I have no idea how many exist. When I’ve done my homework, I’m going to set up new fund-raisers and use the proceeds to buy more computers and printers. It’s going to be my project from here on out. All children are hungry to learn.”
Suddenly a whole group of children came running in the room and hurried to the computers.
“Children? Before you get started, I’d like you to meet Dr. Barsotti. He used to live here at the orphanage too.”
“For how long?” asked Teresa.
“Ten years,” Nico answered.
“Did you get adopted?”
The unexpected question touched her to the core. She could only imagine how Nico felt at this point.
“No. Still, I had several good friends who watched out for me. But we never had computers or a teacher like Signorina Rossiano.”
“She’s not a nun,” Sergio blurted.
Nico grinned. “Is that good or bad?”
“Good. She’s fun!”
“You’re right.” Nico’s eyes wandered over her. “Your teacher is not only fun, she has the sweetest nature of anyone I’ve ever known.”
Heat swept into her cheeks. “Children? Dr. Barsotti is a good friend,” Fausta interjected. “We’re here to help you learn how to cut and paste.” She darted him an impish glance. “Shall we get started?”
He got right into it with her and was too wonderful. After two hours had passed, she made the announcement to this first group that today would be her last day with them. “But I’ll be back to check on you in another month.”
She hadn’t forgotten what Nico had told her about orphan institutions where the staff had large turnovers. She was already starting to feel a bond with these children. Fausta would love to adopt all of them.