like them.”
“After Mr. Dane called me, I wanted to give you a variety.”
He leaned a hip on the edge of his desk. “If there’s something you like in more than one picture, we can try to combine styles or colors. Whatever you like, I’ll try to make it happen.”
After several minutes of looking in silence, Mia choked up as she studied the perfectly round crib with a little pink canopy over the top. Easily she could see her baby snuggled in a deep slumber beneath the silky canopy.
As she looked through more pictures, Bronson remained standing, not saying a word. Did he want to distance himself from this? Was he just letting her choose because he still had doubts about whether this baby was his?
No. If he didn’t believe he was the father, he wouldn’t have done this for her and their baby. She had no doubt he was still frightened that something would happen to the child, but still, she wished he’d say something. Take some part in this decision.
Mia went back to the first picture that had captured her attention. The soft colors and delicate woodwork were appropriate for either gender.
“I want this one.”
Fabrizio nodded with a smile. “Any changes you’d like made?” he asked.
“None. But I don’t know if I’m having a boy or girl, so I’m unsure of the bedding.”
“You can call me and let me know, or we can choose a unisex color for the bedding. There are so many nice materials for a universal crib.”
Mia’s mind worked overtime, thinking of the layout of her cottage, the way the windows let the morning sun in and how that would affect the color scheme.
“Could I see the materials and pick one for a boy and one for a girl and let you know?”
The man smiled. “Of course. It will take a few weeks for me to complete this design. But I’ll try to have it ready in two weeks because you are a special client.”
“We have an appointment in two weeks to learn the sex of the baby,” Bronson told the man. “I’ll give you a call.”
“Fine.” Fabrizio motioned for them to follow him out of the office and onto the showroom floor. “Now let’s look at fabrics.”
After choosing all the necessary materials and designs for either sex of the baby, Mia couldn’t help but impose on Fabrizio another few moments to question him about her parents. This was the closest connection she’d had to them, other than the locket around her neck, and she wanted to hold tight to that thread of similarity.
Bronson stepped outside the office, giving them privacy, and Mia delighted in hearing childhood stories about her father, then about how he and her mother were so excited to be having a baby.
Mia choked up a few times, but Fabrizio was a gentleman and offered her a tissue as he continued reminiscing.
Before long, an hour had passed. Mia apologized and promised to keep in touch and send baby pictures once her little one was born.
Now more than ever Mia knew Bronson loved her. He’d purposely found this man who knew her father. He’d set up this meeting, this day, all so she could have that glimpse into her past as it collided with her future.
So many emotions whirled around inside her, and she just didn’t know how to react. One thing was certain, though, she needed Bronson to still feel he could trust her once they returned home and he discovered the truth she’d been hiding from him. She hadn’t come this far to lose him now.
After lunch at a small bistro and some more shopping in the cute little specialty stores, Mia was thankful to be back at the castle and put her feet up.
“I had no idea a baby could zap so much energy from your body,” she said, sinking into the leather sofa in the main living room. “This is all starting to seem so real. The baby, I mean.”
Bronson laughed, settling in beside her. “You mean the morning sickness wasn’t a sign of it being real?”
She shuddered at the thought. “Oh, yeah. That was real enough, but this trip, being here with you, feeling the baby move, picking out furniture. Everything just seems so … right.”
As Bronson wrapped an arm around her, Mia settled in closer to his side. They only had one more day here, and Mia had so much she wanted to tell him. So much she needed him to see about her life so he would understand her actions when he discovered the truth.
She rubbed the scar on her hand, as if to draw courage from the fateful night that had changed her life, molding her into the person she was today.
“You know I’m not lying about this baby.” Silence answered her, sending a stabbing pain through her chest. “I need to know you believe me, Bron.”
“I do.” His voice, thick with emotion, enveloped her. “I’ve been afraid to admit it for fear of losing another baby I loved, but I know.”
Months’ worth of worry, of fear, evaporated at his heartfelt declaration. He loved this child.
“I know this is probably hard for you, but I promise nothing is going to happen to this baby.” Mia rested her hand on Bronson’s denim-clad thigh. “I don’t know how to thank you for all you’ve done for me. Introducing me to Fabrizio … I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
“You don’t have to thank me.” He toyed with the ends of her hair. “I care about you and this baby. I wanted you to get a glimpse of your past. I have my family, and I’m glad I got to show you a side of yours.”
Mia glanced up at him. “You’ll be a wonderful father. You have such a loving family, and you’re all so close. This baby won’t want for anything.”
“My father passed away when I was ten,” he told her. “The media actually handled it better than my mother thought they would by letting us have our privacy. I always wanted to be like him. He was the man of the house, and it didn’t bother him at all that my mother was a Hollywood icon. Some husbands would’ve been jealous, but he was so proud of her.”
Mia watched a play of emotions cross Bronson’s face. “I knew my career in the film industry would come before anything, but once I had my footing, I wanted a wife, a mother for my children, and I wanted to be my dad. Devoted, loyal, loving.”
Why couldn’t he see he was all those things and more?
“I met Jennifer on a movie set and thought I’d found the one,” he went on, staring into the fireplace as if watching the movie unfold before him. “Then she lost the baby. We argued about everything. Looking back I know we weren’t compatible, but lust screws up the senses. She knew about my feelings toward Anthony—hell, everyone in the industry knows we don’t get along on set. She’d worked on a film with him in the past and told me he was the father of the child.”
Mia’s heart ached for him and for Anthony. This entire fiasco between these two was, she feared, going to get a whole lot worse before it got better.
“You know she was lying, right?” Mia asked. “I mean about Anthony. I can’t say if she had an affair or not with someone else, but I know Anthony and I know how much he loves his wife. I’ve seen firsthand how hard he fights for their marriage.”
Bronson snapped his gaze down to hers. “I never thought of her lying about the father, but when she threw that in my face—true or not—it shattered what little relationship we had left.”
“I’m not her, Bronson.” Mia lifted her hand, cupped his cheek and eased her body around just a bit more to face him. “I’m not lying to you. I assure you, Anthony and I are, and always have been, just friends. That’s why I stopped working for him—because I saw the struggle he was going through with Charlotte, and I knew he loved her or he would’ve just walked away at the first sign of scandal.”
Bronson’s blue eyes, which never failed to impress her, studied