Page 39 of Unveiled As The Italian's Bride
He was swept inside in a tide of warmth and welcome, swept into a house that was smaller than his bedroom, in which a tiny entrance hall gave way to a small sitting room on the right. Beyond that, he guessed, was a couple of bedrooms and a kitchen.
From behind the vibrant, youthful woman with the smiling face shuffled an equally smiling middle-aged guy with a greying ponytail. Then more hugs, embraces and questions came at them from every angle.
‘Amanda and George... Come in! So cold outside... So, so pleased to meet you... The minute Katie said she was bringing someone to meet us, we knew...’
Her father had lost a leg but was speedy with a crutch. Dante wondered when that had happened. Neither could get enough of their beloved daughter. Honestly, he had never experienced anything like this in his life before; he had never felt such effusive love and affection, in which he was unquestioningly and generously included.
This was family life at its very best, he realised with a sense of wonder and a wrenching feeling of loss.
It was everything he had never had.
It was as well that he had been instructed to leave the talking to Kate, because for once he found that he was lost for appropriate words.
He gleaned some things in passing. He watched the interaction between parents and daughter with intense, brooding interest, and responded with charm to the questions asked, while wondering what spin Kate would put on this manufactured relationship.
And a conscience that had not bothered him at all before kicked into gear and gathered pace, even as the evening drew to a close after a magnificent meal and Prosecco to celebrate the news they had clearly been expecting.
‘So, we have a little surprise of our own for you two love birds!’ Amanda carolled, bringing them into a warm huddle while George watched from the sidelines with a broad grin.
Tuned in to every nuance of the woman by his side, his wife-to-be, Dante could sense her apprehension and he shifted closer to her and swung his arm over her shoulders, instinctively protective.
‘A surprise?’ Kate ventured fearfully and her mother burst out laughing.
‘Couldn’t talk the woman out of it!’ Her father growled. ‘But it made sense.’
‘What? What made sense?’
Dante’s arm around her was reassuring. The evening had been as she had expected. Her parents had correctly second-guessed the surprise she’d had in store for them when she’d told them she was bringing a guy for them to meet, and that they might need to sit down for the news. She’d never brought any guy back for them to meet, so joining the dots hadn’t been too difficult.
The only surprise was the lack of judgement. They must have guessed how rich Dante was. That mega-expensive vase had said it all, not to mention the designer stuff unceremoniously dumped on the coat hooks by the front door as soon as they’d blown in from the snow outside. Yet neither of her parents had said anything remotely snide or derogatory about‘people who have more money than sense’.
Kate wondered uneasily whether they were keener than she’d expected at her bringing some guy home. She was still young, but had she missed little signs that they were anxious about the effect of their peripatetic lifestyle on her? Were they just so relieved that she was‘doing what girls her age should be doing’ that they were happy to overlook Dante’s exclusive background?
And, wow, had Dante played the part! Not that he had had to do much at all—just be there, so damned solid, oozing sincerity and charming the socks off both of them.
That he was rich was something they must have gleaned but she doubted either of them had any idea just how rich. Their darling daughter had fallen in love with a guy they liked, and with that all other concerns had been dusted off and stored for some later date.
‘You’ll find out soon enough.’ Her dad winked and she quailed.
‘We might not have much, Katie, darling,’ her mother said, watery-eyed. ‘But the minute you told us that you were bringing a chap home for us to meet, we knew it was the real deal, and your surprise... Well, grab your bags, kids, and head out to the cabbage patch! But you’d better run. This snow’s getting heavier by the moment!’
‘I’m sorry.’
Kate was appalled. Not ashamed, but appalled, becausenowwhat happened next? And what on earth had possessed her parents to present them withthis?
Of course, she knew. They had presented her with her own private space—at great cost, because they just couldn’t afford to rent one of these things.
Kate looked around at just the sort of thing she remembered from her childhood—a tight space with a fold-down double bed, a little kitchenette, a compact bathroom and somewhere to sit and relax, a pair of grey sofas that faced one another. In actual fact, it was huge compared to some she could remember.
‘Why?’
‘I wasn’t expecting this.’ Her eyes welled up at her parents’ kindness allied to the nightmare of trying to work out how the sleeping arrangements would work. The howling blizzard was almost strong enough to buffet the caravan.
‘You were nervous.’ Dante looked around him, spied the fridge and opened it to find it fully stocked. ‘I could sense it.’
‘Can you blame me?’
‘No. Let me pour you a glass of wine.’
