A Promise of Forever (28 page)

She couldn’t believe all the planning that had gone on without her.
It wasn’t as if she slept for a week.
It was 9:30 for goodness sake.
Jenny suddenly burst into the kitchen dragging along a bucket filled with fresh cut flowers from Sylvia’s greenhouse.
“Momma!” she screamed jubilantly.
“Did you hear?
We’re getting married today.
Daddy took me out this morning and got me a new dress and shoes.
He said we’re going to honeymoon in his country.
Is that right, Daddy?”

Gianfranco picked his child up into his arms and dared Katelyn to oppose him.
She couldn’t believe her eyes; he had won their child over in a matter of days.
It was clear to her that Jenny adored him.
“Honey, I was about to tell your Mom about our plans when you came in.
Why don’t you go and see if Mrs. Footy needs any help packing up your things?”
Jenny was too excited to put up a fight.
Before she walked away, she ran to both her parents and kissed them then skipped down the hall.

“I see you’ve already won her over.
What is this about our going to Italy? How did you arrange all this?
I mean the marriage license, our passports? ” she asked as she saw him reach into his pocket and withdraw a long velvet black box.
He opened it and handed it to her.
“This is for giving me such a beautiful child.
I thought, since it was our wedding day, that you would wear it for me?”

She stared down at the box and couldn’t believe her eyes.
It was exquisite.
The necklace was a beautiful platinum chain with a starfish dangling from it.
She wondered if he knew how significant the starfish was to her.
She could tell when she looked up at him that he did.
“I thought that if Jenny believed in wishes then so could I,” he added.

Jenny must have told him what her grandfather had always told her.
Wish on a starfish and you might find that wish coming true, providing of course that you let the starfish go first.
With tears in her eyes, she accepted the necklace and she cried even more as he placed it around her neck.
He fastened the clasp and whispered softly in her ear.
“We can give life to this starfish by letting go of the past.”
He turned her to face him and was mesmerized by the necklace and how it looked on her neck.
“It comes alive around your neck just as I hoped it would.”

He held her in his arms and licked away the salty tears that fell from her emerald eyes…and then he kissed her.
When his lips made contact with her mouth, he let his tongue explore and taste, ever so slightly, before gaining entry and deepening the kiss.
“Gianfranco, please don’t pretend that you have feelings for me.
I want to be everything you want me to be for you but I can’t handle the lies.”

He couldn’t understand her.
Why did she always have to make problems for them?
“If you’re going to have another one of your tantrums and think that I’ll change my mind, forget it.
Nothing short of a nuclear war will stop this marriage from taking place today.
Jake is flying in this afternoon to be here for us.
I have to fly to New York tomorrow with him to wrap up the deal with
Glitz
but shortly thereafter the three of us will be on our way to Italy,” he stated, waiting for a nod of understanding.

She glanced over at the flowers Jenny had left behind in the bucket and picked one up to smell it.
She was still reeling from the shock of getting married today.
She bit her bottom lip nervously as she placed the flower back in the bucket.
It was obvious that he had taken care of everything and she just had to ride the wave with him.
“What about my job?
How can you afford to go away yourself so soon after the takeover?”

Gianfranco leaned against the kitchen countertop and, in a monotone voice said, “You’re fired!
Does that answer your question?
You’ll be my wife in a couple of hours; there’s no need for you to work.
You can spend all your time taking care of Jenny.
As for the magazine, I appreciate your concern but as you know Jake ran
Intrigue
for some time.
He worked for me then and he’s agreed to do the same favor once again until we get
Glitz
up to the same standards.”

Katelyn was speechless.
What they said about Gianfranco was true, though she didn’t believe it until this very moment.
He could move mountains in the middle of the night if he needed to and no one would be the wiser.
He was a big bruit and, as far as she was concerned, she was not going to make this any easier for him.
She was sick and tired of his highhandedness.
It was time someone taught him a lesson and, if she had to be that person, then she would.

“I’ve worked all of my adult life, how can I stop now?” she asked.

There she goes again
.
She would fight him every step of the way; it was in her nature to disobey him regardless of whether she agreed with him or not.
Katelyn would always take the opposite side of the issue in spite of herself.
He stood erect as he warned her again that this conversation was moot.
He watched her closely with amusement as she ranted on and on.
“It’s very simple, Katelyn, you just will.
I can afford any lifestyle I choose to live and I choose the one where you raise our children yourself.
You will have my help, of course.”

“Why are we going to Italy?” she asked.

“I’ve decided I didn’t want to watch as men keep popping in and out of your life.
I want this marriage on solid ground.
I know that you don’t have feelings for Taylor, I also know that the idiot reporter from last night meant nothing to you either.
But Brody is another story all together.
I admit knowing he’s reconciled with his wife makes it easier for me to deal with the situation but I want to wipe him permanently from your heart.
When I’m convinced that I’ve done that, we’ll come back, not one minute before.”

There was no way he could see into her heart because if he could he would know that Brody wasn’t there.
She had grown tired of his stubborn jealousy and even if it killed her, she would find a way to make him listen to reason.
His jealousy had closed his mind but she knew she had to undo the damage if she hoped to open his heart to her again.
Until now, she hadn’t realized how much her relationship with Brody had come between them, through no fault of Brody’s.
She needed to make it clear to him that Brody was not a threat to their marriage.
If they were ever going to be able to keep their friendship with Brody and Eleanor she had to convince him how she felt about him.

“This isn’t necessary; I don’t have feelings for Brody and I have never had feelings for him,” she stated, knowing he would never believe her.

“I wish I could believe you, Katelyn.
If I hadn’t heard his name pass your lips myself, I might think that there was hope for us but I’m not a fool.
I don’t want his name mentioned in my presence.
It’s unfortunate that he and his wife will be attending the ceremonies this afternoon but I couldn’t very well ask Kevin not to invite them.
I must warn you though,
other than having me right next to you when it happens, I don’t want you within ten feet of him alone,” he added, waiting for another fight he knew would come.

“What will happen if I disobey this order?” she taunted deliberately.
“Will you send me off to another country?
Oh wait, you’re already doing that.
This is ridiculous and you know it,” she said stubbornly.

“I don’t think you want to find out right here what else I might do at the risk of someone walking in but I think you know what I’ll do.
It’s the only way I seem to be able to communicate with you.
I will promise you this… my son will be growing inside you before our trip is over, if he isn’t already.
I want a family with you.”

Voices, from the hall startled her.
She jumped, unknowingly, into the arms of the man she wanted to hate.
Before she could say a word of apology, he covered her mouth with his.
She was sure it was for Kevin’s benefit.
She had heard him coming too.
What other way is there to convince my brother that this marriage is for the best?

“I can’t get over the two of you.
If I had known about Jenny, believe me, I would have pushed for this wedding a long time ago.
Then, maybe I wouldn’t have to walk in on you mauling my sister every other minute,” Kevin teased.
“It’s obvious to me that you two can’t keep your hands off each other.
How I never saw that teakwood ring all these years I’ll never know.
I would have figured it out right away if I had seen it.”

Katelyn blinked, “Are you angry with us?” she asked with concern.

Kevin came over and hugged her tightly.
Nothing would ever come between them and all that they shared.
“I’m not angry, how could I be?
Gianfranco is one of my closest friends.
I couldn’t trust anyone more for you and Jenny.
I know he’ll take care of both of you,” he reiterated before being interrupted from behind.

“I told Kevin that we needed to get married quickly so that you and Jenny can come to Italy with me while I take care of some unfinished business there.
Forgive me, Irish, but I also warned your brother that we could be expecting our second child and I wanted to be there from the beginning, this time.
He agreed with our decision.”
Gianfranco loving placed a hand over Katelyn’s abdomen and said, “This time it’s my son growing in there,” he said loud enough for Kevin to hear.

How, can he pretend and put on such a charade in front of her brother and all the other people they cared about?
He was going to lie and vow to love her forever.
If it weren’t for Jenny, he would never enter into such an arrangement.
His chosen lover, whoever she was, didn’t feel the same for him and he thought that having a family was the next best thing.
It was laughable to say the least.
He was her idea of the perfect husband, sexy, virile, handsome and rich.
He was the perfect mate and he was going to be her husband but would that be enough for her?

It frightened Katelyn, even as he held her in his arms, that perhaps they were making a serious mistake.
It was true that physically they were a match made in heaven but could it sustain a lasting relationship?
Would it be enough to keep their marriage alive, with the odds so against it?

She recalled an article she had read once that said that fifty per cent of marriages these days ended in divorce.
Would she and Gianfranco become one of those statistics?
He must have sensed what she was thinking because he leaned into her and kissed her again.
Somehow he always knew intuitively when she needed reassurance.
It must have been her body language that gave her away and when he saw the look of nausea that was beginning to overcome her, he excused them both and took her to her room to lie down.

“How could you tell Kevin that we’re sleeping together?
I can’t believe you did this to me.”
Katelyn pushed him away and went to window where she stood and looked at nothing in particular, just so she didn’t have to face him.
She was fighting the tears of frustration that were screaming for release.
What did Kevin think after this morning’s announcement and all the truths she had kept from him?
She had never kept Kevin in the dark about any important issues in her life, with the exception of Gianfranco.

Gianfranco’s face darkened, hearing her disappointment.
“I did nothing to you.
The only thing I did was tell Kevin that you could be carrying my child.
Kevin’s knowledge of our baby helps guarantee my position.”
His words lashed out to hurt her and he did a great job of it.
Suddenly she felt cheap and dirty; she had given herself so freely to him.
She swallowed hard as she tried to pull herself together.
Her toughest fight of her life was going to be keeping her sense of self, not being lost in her relationship with him.

“I didn’t tell you about Jenny because you left me,” she said behind trembling lips.

“You hate everything about me and now you want me to believe that you chose not tell me about our child, because I left town.
I’m sorry, Katelyn, but that doesn’t wash with me.
If what you’re saying holds any truth, why not tell me after all these years?
Jenny is seven years old.
Were you ever going to tell me?” he asked.