'For a person who's speechless, Ava,' Byron said drily, 'you've been saying one heck of a lot.'
He suspected she might not be so chatty if she'd heard the whole unvarnished truth. But he and Celeste had decided that nothing would be gained by revealing the brutal treatment Celeste had suffered at the hands of that madman. It was to be thanked that he hadn't mistreated Gemma over the years. Clearly, he had loved the girl. But who wouldn't? It was impossible not to love such a loving creature. Not a word of criticism had she uttered against him and his treatment of her mother. He'd been accepted as unconditionally as Celeste had been.
'Very funny, Byron,' Ava retorted archly. 'You know what I mean. By the way, have you told Jade?' Everyone at the table stopped eating, their mouths dropping open.
'She has just acquired a sister, hasn't she?'
'My God, so she has!' Byron said in a stunned voice.
Gemma's stomach had flipped over. A sister! She'd always wanted a sister. Not only that, Jade was expecting a baby, which meant she was going to become an aunt soon as well.
'I'll go and call her straight away,' Byron said, scraping his chair back and standing up.
'Maybe she and Kyle would like to drive over later and we can break open a bottle of champagne or two.'
'What a good idea,' Celeste said, then added mischievously, 'I wouldn't mind seeing that gorgeous hunk of a husband of hers at close range again.'
Byron glared down at her. 'I can see I'll be purchasing that CB before long,' he muttered darkly.
'CB?' Ava looked puzzled. 'What's a CB?'
'I have no idea,' Celeste said with mock bewilderment. 'What's a CB, Byron?'
Byron made an exasperated sound and strode from the room.
Ava shook her head after him. 'You have my admiration, Celeste, for having anything at all to do with that man! There are times when I'd like nothing better than to give him a swift kick up the backside.'
'I'll keep that in mind, Ava. So tell me all about that gorgeous hunk you seem to have snaffled for yourself. Have you met him, Gemma?'
Gemma, who'd been wondering how Jade would take the news, snapped back to the present. 'What was that?'
'Have you met Ava's fiance?'
'No, I haven't yet. But he's dropping by later, isn't he, Ava?'
'Yes, I see him just about every night.'
Celeste noted the tinge of pink that immediately came to Ava's cheeks and she only just stopped her eyebrows from lifting. Apparently, therefore, it would be wise not to barge into Ava's room during any of this Vince's nightly visits.
'And when are you getting married?' Celeste asked.
'We've put the arrangements in Vince's mother's ha nds, and she's having a field-day. At the moment, we've made a tentative date for February next year. It seems it takes a while to organize an Italian wedding.'
'I can imagine.'
Byron strode back into the dining-room, a broad smile on his face. 'Jade's over the moon, Gemma. Frankly, I'm surprised I'm not deaf, she carried on so much. But I let her scream and cry and do all the things Jade likes doing. Anyway, she said she'd be over straight away.'
'Not alone, I hope,' Celeste quipped.
When Byron's blue eyes narrowed, she laughed, and leant over to kiss him on the cheek.
'You can't expect me to give up teasing you altogether, can you? You do jealousy better than any man I know.'
'Would you believe Vince gets jealous of me?' Ava said, sounding almost surprised. 'I think jealousy must be an infallible symptom of a man's love. If he doesn't get jealous at all then he probably doesn't care.'
'In that case, I must care for Celeste one hell of a lot,' Byron drawled. 'When another man even looks her way, I want to punch his lights out.'
'Must be the beast in you, darling,' Celeste murmured, and looked adoringly at him.
'Any man worth his salt has a bit of beast in him,' Byron returned. 'What woman wants a wimp, especially these days? He has to stand up and be counted, I say.'
'Hear, hear!' Celeste clapped.
'Vince can be a beast when necessary, can't he, Byron?' Ava said smilingly.
He gave his sister a rueful look and rubbed his jaw. 'He's certainly not a man to be toyed with.'
'Unless Ava's doing the toying,' Celeste murmured, bringing a startled look from Byron and a coy half smile from Ava.
Gemma listened to this exchange, her thoughts whirling as the conversation reconfirmed what, in her heart, she already knew. Nathan did love her. Madly. Obsessively. He'd been thrown by her inexplicably leaving him, then distraught when he thought she'd run to Damian.