She knew that he’d lashed out because she’d challenged him. Because he was frightened. She knew it down in her soul. But just because she was right, didn’t mean he would change his mind. Didn’t mean he would decide to change a lifetime of thinking and feeling a certain way. Didn’t mean he even wanted to.
Maybe she was wrong about him loving her—that could be true. He loved Ana, though. She could see that. And she knew, given the chance, that he would be an amazing father. The kind of man who offered support and love to his children.
She’d known it the moment she’d seen him there, singing Ana his lullaby. She knew that had cost him, and that Ana’s needs had transcended his grief. She’d known in that moment that he was a man capable of great love. And that he’d let fear cripple him.
Stupid man. Stupid, fantastic, lovely man.
“Mrs. Romani?”
It took Paige a moment to realize she was being addressed, even though she was in her office. She looked up and saw a young man standing at the door, a newspaper in his hand.
“Yes?”
“I’m supposed to deliver this to you.” He came in and set the paper on her desk.
“Oh…” She looked down at her desk, frowning. “Oh…I…thank you…” She looked up and the man was gone.
She picked up the paper and started to turn each page, looking for…she didn’t know what. Had someone wanted her to see pictures of the wedding? She flipped to the style section, and the headline stopped her cold.
She put her hand over her mouth, a sob climbing her throat. She picked up the paper, gathered it close to her chest, stood and ran out of her office.
* * *
“Explain this,” Paige said, throwing the newspaper onto Dante’s desk, a tear rolling down her cheek. She was shaking. Everywhere.
Dante looked up at her, his eyes haunted, the veil well and truly dropped. There was no armor covering up his emotions, nothing protecting him. He was as bare and vulnerable as she was.
“I told the truth,” he said, his voice rough. “For the first time in so long, I told the truth.”
She read the headline out loud. “Recently Wed Dante Romani Proclaims: I Love My Wife.”
“It’s true,” he said.
Another tear slid down her cheek and she looked down at the paper, reading out loud.
“It was speculated only a few weeks ago, about whether or not Ms. Harper could reform ice-cold Dante Romani, and today he has confirmed that, indeed she has. ‘I love my wife,’ Romani says, ‘and love changes you.’”
She looked back up at him. “This is a fluff piece,” she said, sniffling. “No hard-hitting journalism, just a page of you talking about h-how much you love me, and your parents. And Ana.”
“I admit that maybe doing it in a public forum wasn’t the best thing but…all things considered…”
“Turnabout’s fair play.”
“Yes,” he said. “Yes, it is. But this doesn’t replace what I need to say to you now. I love you.”
Paige’s heart expanded in her chest, more tears falling. “Dante, you’re ruining my makeup.”
“And you completely destroyed the way I saw myself, and life, so I’d say it’s a fair trade.” He stood and walked around his desk, his eyes intent on hers. “You were right, Paige. I lied to myself. Because I was afraid. Of everything. Part of me was locked up tight, and I never intended on letting it out. Not ever. But you’ve shown me, consistently, that the reward for bravery is worth the risk. You’ve been so brave, so much braver than I. You took a risk to protect Ana…You took a risk in confessing your love to me. You put yourself out there time and again and opened yourself up to rejection when you didn’t have to do that. And I was too cowardly to do the same.”
Paige tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. “We’ve had different life experiences, Dante. I can’t even imagine what you went through. What that does to someone.”
“It changes you,” he said, his eyes filled with pain. “There’s no way around that. But what you said…it’s very true. And I can’t let my fear of a man so far in my past be more important than the woman here in my present, and my future. You were right. People do love me, and I have been afraid to accept it. To look for it. To see it. Because I didn’t want pain or grief to touch me ever again. And because of that, I’ve been living a cold life. I thought that by keeping everything well-ordered around me, that by accumulating more things, more success, I would somehow change from who I was into who I needed to be. But none of it mattered. None of it was real. None of it changed me. It just let me hide. From myself. From everyone. Everyone except you. You dragged me into the light. And I’ve learned something, Paige.”