Hidden Heart (12 page)

She searched his face for
any emotions, but saw nothing. He wore a dark grey suit, white
shirt and a blue tie. His hair looked damp probably from the shower
that morning and his face freshly shaved. He exuded confidence and
sex appeal, something Tessa couldn’t get used to in the work
environment.

“
May I come in?” The door
to Alessandro’s office stood wide open and Tessa knocked twice
before entering.

“
Sure, but I don’t have
much time.” He printed several pages, then took them out of the
office to Victor’s assistant and asked for multiple copies. He
returned shortly and continued typing fast on his
laptop.

“
I need to talk to you,
about last night.” She played with one of her fingernails, just to
keep her hands busy. “I am embarrassed you had to witness such a
stupid thing, but I had no idea he would be there. Thanks for
helping me out.”

“
Don’t mention it. Sorry, I
need to focus on preparing for this meeting. You ready for
it?”

“
What meeting?”

“
The one with the group we
chose to work on the French deal.”

“
We
?”

“
Yes, I talked with Victor
yesterday and he recommended people from various departments.
Here’s the list,” he handed her a piece of paper. Her name was
written on top of it, then five other of her co-workers and at the
end, Alessandro’s.

The group met shortly after
Tessa left Alessandro’s office. Each received an agenda along with
instructions and a meeting plan. They had a break at ten o’clock;
thirty minutes later the meeting resumed. They discussed
managerial, legal and logistics problems. Each one of them had more
experience in one area than the other.

Just before six o’clock,
Alessandro asked if they would prefer to have dinner delivered,
since the discussion continued and breaking the meeting would most
likely be a bad idea. Victor’s assistant placed the order and
within twenty-five minutes, food was served. They kept working
until after eight o’clock.

Tessa walked toward the
parking lot, when Alessandro approached her.

“
I’ll take you
home.”

“
And why is
that?”

“
Because someone might want
to talk to you again.” He took the car keys from her hand, opened
the door and helped her in. Then he got into the driver’s side,
adjusted his seat so he could fit in, adjusted the mirrors and
drove away.

She could get used to him
driving her home each night. Now that she had time to think, there
was a chance that Daniel would be waiting for her.

“
How come you know where to
drive? You cannot know your way around in just a couple of days…”
Tessa wondered.

“
Who said I’ve been here
only a couple of days?”

“
You’ve been here
longer?”

“
Si
.”

She waited for him to carry
on, but when he didn’t, she said, “Hello? Anybody in there? I asked
a question.”

“
Well, let’s just say I
have been in town for a while now; I learned a couple of places,
restaurants. Toured the museums and even cooked myself dinner the
other night after buying all groceries at the store. I rented a car
and drove around. The GPS is one heck of a tool, you
know?”

“
I’m impressed,” Tessa said
and meant it.

Alessandro had been in town
longer, had learned his way around, and all of that so close to her
without her having any idea of his presence. She had to give him
few directions to her neighborhood and when they arrived, he asked
where to park but didn’t get out right away.

“
I meant to ask you about
the investigation, but we’ve been so busy and we’re never
alone…where do I stand?”

Alessandro drummed his
fingers on the steering wheel.

“
I’m afraid I can’t tell
you much. We are out of the office and I have a rule about never
discussing business during personal time.”

“
Do I need to ask for an
audience?”

“
You can ask for a meeting.
Have Mara take a look at my calendar.”

“
Alessandro, please. My job
is at stake and you can’t just say something?”

He sighed and pushed a hand
through his hair. How she’d love to do that for him. She crossed
her hands for fear she might act on impulse and start playing with
his hair.

“
I’ll make an exception. We
are on hold with the investigation, now that Victor is unavailable.
Not a word more.”

She stepped out, “Thank you
so very much… I can walk alone from here.”

“
I’ll take you to the
door.”

“
Do you want me to get you
a cab?” she asked.

“
No, I’ll be fine. I’ll
walk, I am sure I can get a cab; there are so many around
here.”

They walked side by side to
the building’s door; no Daniel to disturb the night. Alessandro
waited for her to open the door and once he saw her safely inside
he said, “
Buona notte
” then turned around and left without another word or glance
at her.

Chapter 6

“
Watch
out, he is grumpy!” Dina met her in front of Victor’s room.
“He hates being bedridden, no cigars and no coffee. Hell on
earth!”

Tessa took her friend’s
hand, shrugged and said, “Tell me something I don’t know already.”
She opened the door and entered, but when she came around the
corner and saw Alessandro standing, she stopped so brusquely that
Dina almost bumped into her, coming up fast behind.

“
Oh, you have visitors,
sorry I can come later.”

Dina pushed her
forward.

“
Speaking of the devil, hey
trouble-maker, did you sneak in some coffee?” Victor’s eyes lit
with anticipation.

Tessa came to Victor’s bed,
looked at him innocently and pulled out of her bag a few things and
spread them on his bed.

“
I’ve heard you’ve traded
doughnuts for yogurt, steak for bananas and coffee for orange
juice.” She lifted her shoulders slightly, inclined her head to the
right and fluttered her eyelashes.

Dina muffled a chuckle;
Alessandro pretended to cough.

“
You see what I have to put
up with every single damn day? No wonder I have a weak heart when I
have to handle this, this, this disrespectful behavior from my
employees.” Victor raised his palms in the air, and then dropped
them on the bed.

Such a comedian!

“
I’m not your employee
here; I’m your friend.” Tessa put away the items she brought, then
came and squeezed his hand. “Hi, Victor, you okay?”

“
Do I look okay to you,
huh? Do I? Get me out of here and then I’ll be okay. These idiots
here have no idea what I need, my wife is on their side and I have
to eat horrible things, and drink water. Can you believe, they made
me drink
water
?”
He wrinkled his nose just to make sure everyone knew his
distaste.

A nurse and a doctor came
for the afternoon rounds and both Alessandro and Tessa left the
room.

“
He is such a character.”
Alessandro leaned against the wall and Tessa followed
suit.

“
Yes, he is. Didn’t know
you make personal visits.”

He looked sideways at her.
His charming smile—the first since she saw him in Romania—took her
breath away.

“
There are many things you
don’t know about me.”

When Dina called them back
in the room, Victor’s mood improved considerably.

“
Did you hear, did you
hear? I’m going home Thursday, we’ll have a get together at our
house on Saturday, right, Dina? And we’ll barbeque and stay up all
night, okay? And kids, we need to talk, serious talk.” He pointed
his finger first at Alessandro then at Tessa.

***

After she left the
hospital, a heavy rain transformed the day into murky gray. Tessa
didn’t have an umbrella.

Alessandro gave her a ride.
He did that every night. They met again at the gym in the morning,
but by now Tessa looked forward to seeing him again rather than
freaking out each time he walked in a room. They spent daily
several hours together, sitting in the same meetings, but they
never spoke about anything other than strictly business related
matters.

Tessa sat comfortably on
her sofa. She hadn’t eaten anything since early that morning and
had lost her appetite, though dinnertime came and went a while ago.
Alone the thought of food made her nauseous. Her stomach bothered
her too much and too often.

She needed someone to talk
to. She grabbed the phone and dialed Chiara’s number.

“
Hi, Chiara.”

“
Hi, sis, how are
you?”

“
I’m good. Hey, I have a
quick question for you; I’m having this horrible heartburn and my
stomach bothers me a lot lately. Can you recommend
something?”

“
How about going to a
doctor?”

“
I don’t really have time
now. I’m in the middle of these negotiations; I can’t take time
off. Do you ever get heartburn?”

“
Not really…When did it
start?”

“
Well, a week ago, about
the same day I found Daniel cheating. I vomited a few times since
then…”

“
So it could be caused by
stress, right?”

“
Of course, it’s stress
related.”

“
Unless…” Chiara waited a
few seconds, then spoke again. “When did you have your last
period?”

***

Tessa unwrapped the
pregnancy test, read the instructions and followed them exactly.
After the conversation with Chiara, she went to a nonstop nearby
pharmacy. It must be a mistake. She tried to remember when she last
had her period. She never missed it. How could she totally space
her period out for so long? Then again, times had been very
difficult. Work, the fraud accusation, her mama’s death, problems
with Daniel…God, what a nightmare!

While waiting for the
pregnancy test, she ran to her purse and found her little booklet
where she circled her periods for a whole year. She’d miss her
period two weeks ago. Sitting on the tub’s edge she waited for the
little display to show something. At first, a faint line appeared
then a second one. She frantically read the instructions over and
over again.

In total denial, she ran
back to the pharmacy and bought two extra pregnancy kits. And
again, she followed the instructions and again two clear lines
appeared on the display. She looked in disbelief at all three tests
and broke into tears. It couldn’t happen to her, not now, not
today, not tomorrow. And not with Daniel, a man who’d hurt and
disappointed her, a man she’d lost forever. She carried a baby, a
baby she had no clue existed until a couple of minutes ago. A
violent session of vomiting jolted her body, but now she knew; it
had nothing to do with stress, but with the pregnancy.

Worst moment
ever.

***

Saturday afternoon Tessa
drove to Victor’s house for the barbeque. He lived in a small
neighborhood a few kilometers away from Bucharest. The area
developed recently, with multiple houses finished and occupied,
others just under construction. Expected to expand to its full
capacity within the next few years such neighborhoods started a new
trend around the Romanian capital; no more high buildings. Instead,
a need for houses with mostly one or two levels and big
yards.

Tessa really liked the area
and thought one day she’d like to build a house just like Victor’s,
with a huge yard, vegetable garden and lots of plants and
trees.

“
Hi, Dina, thanks for
inviting me over.”

“
Good to see you, Tessa,”
Dina greeted. “Come on in, darling.” She gave her a motherly hug.
Happy to see each other, they spent some time just the two of
them.

“
Come, I wanted to show you
the renovation in the kitchen and guest bathroom. It wasn’t done
right the first time and needed some new valves and electrical
repairs.”

Later, they walked
downstairs out to the backyard; several of Tessa’s colleagues
called her, some raised their beers, some waived. She joined
them.

The smell of blossoming
peach trees filled up the warm afternoon. Several servers tended
two giant grills and the aroma of fresh grilled meat and vegetables
made her mouth salivate instantly.

Elena, Victor’s daughter
and Marcel, her husband entertained Alessandro, but both waived at
Tessa when they saw her. Alessandro inclined his head and lifted
his beer. He wore a plain baby blue polo shirt, dark fit jeans, and
moccasin type shoes. He smiled and clenched his jaw at the same
time. Was he happy to see her or uncomfortable?

“
Hi, kiddo,” Victor gave
her a big bear hug. “You ready to party?” He took her elbow and
approached his daughter.

“
Well, tell her, she needs
to know.”