“I see. Thank you.”
Nico left the hospital, glad he had to wait only until tomorrow when he checked on another patient. Hopefully he’d find her here.
* * *
During the drive back to the palace in the limo, Fausta relived those moments in Tommaso’s hospital room when Dr. Barsotti had come in. Over the past two months she’d seen him several times from a distance when he’d come in to the hospital cafeteria. But they hadn’t actually spoken to each other until now.
Fausta hadn’t thought it possible to be attracted to another man after her heart had been broken four years ago. Dego Spinella had been her childhood sweetheart.
Dego’s father, Tano, had been the personal chauffeur for her father over the years. He, along with his wife and two children, lived in a house on the estate. Their son Dego was Fausta’s age. Along with her sisters, they’d all played outside together over the years. As they grew older, the friendship between Fausta and Dego grew into love.
They’d planned to go to the University of Domodossola together and then get married. But her dream was shattered when one day just before college started, her father told her that Dego was leaving for Rome, Italy, to attend college there. The king had made plans to pay for his lodging and tuition as his way of thanking Tano and their family for all their years of service.
In panic, Fausta had phoned Dego. “Why didn’t you refuse my father so we could be together?” she cried in despair. “That’s all you had to do!”
“How could I turn down his kindness, Fausta? As Papa said, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. Our family doesn’t have that kind of money. But you and I will phone and send letters. After graduation we’ll be together again and make plans for our future.”
What future? You’ve stabbed my heart, Dego.
Fausta’s father hadn’t forced him to go. It had all been up to Dego, but he hadn’t fought for their love.
“Cara?” he’d prodded when she hadn’t answered. “Tell me you understand. Of course I love you and am going to miss you, but he’s been so good to our family and he is the king.”
That’s right, and she’d been born the daughter of a king instead of a commoner like she’d wanted to be. “I understand more than you think.”
Fausta had never liked being royal and her parents knew it, but the years growing up around Dego had been idyllic. He wasn’t royal and they got along so perfectly, she knew a marriage between them would end in a lasting love match. Her plans for them to get a little home in the city where they could raise a family and live a normal life with children had been her dream.
But his willingness to leave her without begging her to go to Rome with him was worse than a betrayal. She’d thought their love had meant everything to him, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Fausta had been living in a fantasy world with no substance. Many times they’d come close to making love but had decided to wait until they were engaged.
His sudden departure had left her feeling heartbroken and betrayed. Her father had known she was in love with Dego and she knew he didn’t like it. But he wouldn’t have stood in the way of her marrying if Dego had loved her enough.
The fact that Dego had left for Rome without agonizing over them being torn apart said it all. The phone calls and letters from him came less and less, killing her feelings. In time she learned he’d married an Italian girl. Dego had been subtly bribed, and more than ever she hated that she’d been born a royal.
In the last four years there’d been no other man. She knew her parents were hoping she’d end up marrying one of the princes on their short list. But that would never happen! One day she’d find herself a commoner who couldn’t be bought for any reason!
Her thoughts flashed back to Dr. Barsotti.
The second she’d laid eyes on the family practice doctor with his dark fringed midnight blue eyes and black-brown hair, his image had filled her thoughts. At six foot three with a rock-solid physique and potently male, no other man could come close to him.
Just hearing about his virtues from her best friend, Mia, revealed qualities beyond his looks. Besides being twenty-eight and single, he wasn’t a baron, a count, a duke or a prince. Pure and simple, he was a nonroyal doctor, already a revered professional who she doubted could be intimidated, manipulated or bought at any price.
Once in her apartment at the palace, she phoned Mia because she’d promised.
“Fausta? I’ve been waiting to hear from you.”
“I just barely got home from the hospital after my first shift on the pediatric ward. It was so much fun.”
“I know how much you love kids.”
“I do.” Fausta adored children and looked forward to the day when she had a family of her own and an attentive husband who had no other duties than to come home at the end of the day and be with them.
“Any sightings of Dr. Barsotti?”
She gripped her cell phone tighter. “He came in to check on one of his patients while I was reading to Tommaso.”
“How did that go? I guess the doctor went into shock to see Princess Fausta Rossiano working there.”
Fausta’s breath caught. “I hope it was a good one.”