A Promise of Forever (34 page)

“I’m going to take this tea to my room, if you need me for anything just call.
I’m a little tired,” she said, forcing herself to walk in the direction of the bedroom.
She drank her tea stretching out on the chase lounge that overlooked the Manhattan skyline.
Her emotions began to get the better of her.
It was enough that he infringed on her thoughts when they were together but now he tormented her during her quiet moments.
She wanted this marriage to work, she really did.

Gianfranco stepped into their room and watched stealthily as his wife wept into a tissue.
He couldn’t help rid her of the pain she was going through; if he did, it would mean the end of his salvation.
Maggie told him that she’d had a visitor this afternoon and seemed emotionally distraught when her company left.
He didn’t ask who her company was but he could guess by her reaction.
He went to the bar and poured himself a drink.
She heard him as he moved around the room, their eyes met.
He could see she was drowning with feelings of regret written in her eyes.

“I understand you had a visitor today?” he asked as he handed her his handkerchief.
“Maggie didn’t get to tell me who it was but, judging from your behavior at the moment I don’t think I want to know.”

There was only bitterness in his tone and Katelyn wasn’t up to fighting with him.
She was exhausted from sparring with him and told him the truth.
“I’m not sure what you mean?” she asked.

He let his eyes drift to her face and then said coolly, “You mean, you don’t want to tell me who was responsible for your tears,” he asked touching her cheek with his thumb.

“I don’t see why you should concern yourself with my feelings.
You never have before,” she added, knowing her words would sting.
This became a game between them and she was fast becoming emotionally unable to play.

“Was it Taylor?
Did you have him in our home?” he asked in defeat.
Remaining silent, he took it as an admission of guilt. He understood her tears for her ex.
She followed him into his study and watched as he smashed a glass on his bar.
He replaced it with another, filling it with any liquor that was available to numb his pain.

Katelyn watched as he gulped down another sip and left the study abruptly.
If nothing else, she knew he was jealous, thinking there was another man in her life.
She didn’t see him again until much later that night and when he joined her in bed reeking of alcohol.
She hated knowing that he had to drink himself into a stupor in order to share the same bed with her.

During the night, his arms had somehow found her as she lay spooned with him.
He was naked and fully aroused but he didn’t seem to move.
He was lying still and judging from his breathing, she knew he was awake.
Did he want her to make the first move?
He had no idea how painful this was for her to be so close and not make love to him.
No matter how painful it was, she couldn’t stand to lose that closeness she felt while in his arms.

He couldn’t let go of her; it felt too good to hold her.
He felt her tears as they dropped on his arm and that was what kept him from touching her any further.
Her tears were for another man and even if it killed him, he owed her this comfort at least.
She’d married him and given up her lover; somehow he would make it up to her.

Gianfranco had Dana make sure that their passports were all in order.
Katelyn made arrangements to have Jenny escorted to the airport in Montana by Mary Alice. It was decided that Gianfranco would meet her at the airport and bring her to the penthouse to meet Maggie.

During those whirlwind two days, they barely conversed while waiting for Jenny to arrive and for Jake to take over the day-to-day operation of the magazine.
She spent a lot of her time alone and Gianfranco took any opportunity he could to go to the office.
But as soon as Jenny arrived, everything changed.
She brought smiles to both their faces and life to a home where it had been lacking.
Gianfranco loved having Jenny near him. Maggie was quite taken, seeing a miniature version of Gianfranco.
She couldn’t imagine what had kept them apart all these years.
In Gianfranco’s defense, he never let anyone blame his wife.
He took full responsibility for not being in his daughter’s life from the beginning.

Gianfranco spent all his free time with Jenny and after tucking her in at night, he’d go and hide in his study with a bottle that was fast becoming his friend.
Each night, Katelyn grew increasingly worried about him.
She decided that she would talk to him before he took his first drink tomorrow.
She would do whatever he asked of her in order to make him stop because neither of them derived any pleasure from the hell they were creating.

Katelyn never had the chance to talk to Gianfranco because he came to her instead that evening.
He had gone to his study as usual but apparently he had nothing left to drink.
She could see that he had thought long and hard about his visit, whatever the reason.
Nervously, she sat up in bed and never looked away from his eyes.
“I want to talk to you about our future.
I think we need to discuss what each of us expects to get out of this marriage,” he added as he stepped closer to the bed.
His eyes were dark and unquestionably uneasy.

He gently brushed his knuckles against her lily white skin.
Never before had a woman compelled him like she did.
It was as if he were under a witch’s spell that couldn’t be broken.
His eyes burned with desire and love for her.
He wanted so badly to absorb that need from her that she so easily took from him.
Then, as if nothing could stop him, he kissed her.
It was a simple gentle kiss and then, uncontrollably, it became demanding and hungry as always.

“I want to stay with you tonight.
I don’t mean to sleep with you.
I need to make love to you, Katelyn.
Don’t turn me away,” his voice begged as he gently joined her on the bed.

“Do you think it’s wise with Jenny here?” she asked.
She didn’t want Jenny to be hurt if and when her father moved on to another lover.

“Jenny is our daughter; she knows that married people sleep together.
Damn it Katelyn, I’m not going to discuss my sex life with a seven-year-old.
Did you think that after we were married, I’d settle for the life you’ve given me so far?
I’m sorry to disappoint you again but, no matter how you feel about me, I intend to make love to my wife,” he said angrily, before lifting her into his arms.

He took her that night.
At first Katelyn tried to fool herself into thinking that it wasn’t what she wanted, but they both knew better.
His touch was all that was needed to awaken the desire stirring beneath.
She cried out his name over and over again until their need for each other was sated once again.
These days they fell asleep exhausted and in each other’s arms.

Katelyn stretched out in their bed as the sun began to rise and reached for her husband who was nowhere to be found.
She heard nothing from the shower.
The clothes that were haphazardly tossed on the floor the night before were gone.
The only sign of life she could hear were voices in the distance.
She could hear her daughter, every once in awhile, talking excitedly about her trip to Italy.

The knock on the door was brief and soft at first and she almost ignored it.
After very little deliberation, whoever it was decided against leaving and opened the door.
“We need to talk,” he commanded softly.

Katelyn watched as he entered the room and joined her.
She wrapped the satin sheet nervously around her naked body and waited for him to offer his regrets for the night before, citing an inability to control himself or the fact that he might’ve had too much alcohol.
But truthfully, she knew that he didn’t love her.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he started, as expected, with regret.
“I didn’t want what happened last night to happen, not the way it did.
I’ve been giving this a lot of thought and, after last night, I think I might have a solution to our problem.
It may not be what we both want but for now it will have to do.
I’ve arranged for the room off the master suite at the villa to be refurbished by the time we arrive.
My staff is under the impression that Jenny sometimes gets frightened of the dark and she would feel closer to us if, when she was frightened, she slept there.
But in actuality, it will be where I will sleep,” he added, feeling somewhat dismayed.

Katelyn could only stare out at the sky behind him.
Nothing hurt her more than his words as they sunk in.
“Are you saying that you regret what happened last night?” she asked with a flicker of hope that he would answer differently.

If he told her that he hadn’t regretted a minute of what transpired between them, she would think him a liar and if he told her he regretted everything, he’d be lying too.
Does he actually think that separate beds will placate the fire that burns between us?

“I can’t say that I regret anything.
I’m glad for the chances we have.
We need to make this work for our daughter and any other child I may have helped to create in my selfishness.”
His actions were forcing her to take heed to what he was saying.

Katelyn ran her hand over her abdomen for a second and realized that he had to be right.
Neither of them bothered with birth control and she hadn’t thought about her period or how late it was.
“The car will be downstairs to take us to the airport in about three hours.
All the arrangements are made and I think, for Jenny’s sake, we should stick to the plan.
If I could make things easier for you, I would,” he said before apologizing again.
He wanted to touch her and take away the pain he persistently caused her but he couldn’t because he knew consoling her would only lead to heartache.

“I’ve got to go to the office for about an hour.
I promised Jenny I’d take her, if that’s all right with you?”
He tried to look at things from her point of view and from where he sat she must consider him a monster.
Last night he’d played upon her weaknesses to get her into bed and it might not be rape but it was definitely manipulation on his part.

“I promise I’ll take care of her.
She is curious to see my office,” he said, beaming with pride.

“I wouldn’t stop you from taking her.
You didn’t have to ask permission; she’s your daughter too,” she bit back.
She’d also had enough of the combative words to each other.
They had to reach a truce of some kind and soon.

He stood, studying her behavior, for a moment.
If nothing else, Katelyn always kept him guessing.
He had no idea, from one minute to the next, what to expect from her.
He knew there was definitely something going on in that pretty head of hers but he didn’t have the time or the stamina to find out what it was.
Jenny came full of life into the room and informed her mother that she wanted to go with her father to his office.

Before leaving with her dad, Jenny asked if she could take one of the pictures of her and her mom to his office.
She wanted her dad to able to look at them whenever he was lonely.
Jenny chose the picture of the two of them at the beach.
They had been searching for a starfish that day but they hadn’t found one.

“Gianfranco, Good Morning.
We weren’t expecting you today.
Jake said he didn’t think you would be stopping by until next month,” Dana said, smiling at the little girl on his arm.
“Is this your daughter?” she asked.

“Yes, this is Jenny,” he said holding her hand with enormous pride.
“Could you take Jenny on a tour of the office while I have a talk with Jake?”
Gianfranco asked as he bent down to speak to Jenny and explain his plans to her.
“Dana is my assistant and she is going to take you around the office and then when you’re finished you can come straight back to my office, okay?” he asked.

He entered Jake’s office and thought to himself,
I should be handling this takeover myself but this trip to Italy is important to this marriage and my marriage has to come first.
I don’t care if I lose every dime I have
I have to make Katelyn mine.

Jake was sitting at his desk with his feet up on the windowsill, his blue tooth in his ear.
He seemed intent on telling whoever he was talking to that if they didn’t do as he asked by three o’clock this afternoon, they’d be looking for another job.

As if he could hear the slightest movement, Jake turned to see what had caused this intrusion.
Gianfranco could never fathom Jake’s keen sharp senses.
Jake could hear or smell anything better than anyone he knew.
Jake could smell you before he saw you and if he knew what cologne or perfume you wore, he knew who was coming.
Perhaps they were gifts left over from his ancestors or his training as a Navy Seal.

“Well, look what the wind blew in.
What are you doing here?
I thought you’d be on your way to paradise by now,” Jake asked, dismissing the person on the other line.

“I’m leaving this afternoon.
I just wanted to stop in and make sure everything was going along as planned.
Have you had any trouble from Taylor or any of the employees who loyal to him?” he asked, knowing full well that Jake could handle whatever trouble came his way.

Jake smiled and then laughed aloud as he sprung to his feet and looked straight into Gianfranco’s eyes.
“Come on my friend, we both know that everything is under control here.
You saw to that before I set one foot in the place.
That’s not why you’re here, so give.
What’s going on?”

“Dana is showing Jenny around.
I brought her here because she wanted to see where her dad works.
She’s an angel, Jake, I don’t think I could stand to lose her now,” he said, with fear in his voice.
He took off his coat and threw it on the chair opposite Jake.
He ran his fingers through his hair as he always did when he was thinking.
“Everything is so complicated.
I’m not sure if what I’m asking of Katelyn is fair.”

“You seem pretty upset; has something happened?” Jake asked bluntly.

“It’s Katelyn, she’s really unhappy.
I don’t know what comes over me when I’m with her but I can’t keep my hands off her.
I’m so in love with her, Jake, that I just want to shake her into loving me back.
I’d be good for them both, I know I would.
All I need is a chance to prove to her that we’d be good together.
But no matter what I do, I always seem to do the wrong thing,” he said pacing back and forth.

Jake acknowledged that he understood what his friend was feeling but he also knew how Katelyn felt.
These two people were family to him and he couldn’t believe they were having such a hard time finding their way back to each other.
Jake wanted to shout out to them and tell them that each loved the other, but if there was one thing he’d learned in his lifetime, it was that fate had its own plan and whatever that was, he could not interfere.

“I think that this trip to Italy will be a good move for you both.
I think all three of you need time together without outside influence.
It’s been years since she actually believed that you would ever come back.
She needs time to come to terms with the idea that the impossible is probable.
Give her time, she’ll come around,” Jake said.

Gianfranco stood near the window and thought about what had taken place last night.
He didn’t dare tell Jake that he practically forced his wife to have sex with him.
Jake would think he’d gone insane but only after he slugged him.
“I’m not sure if I’ve ruined any chance I might have had with her.”

“Don’t be crazy, I’ve seen the way our girl looks at you when she thinks no one is looking.
I would stake my life on it that she loves you.
Maybe she needs to come to terms with it herself.
Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that she had chalked you up to history and a hard lesson learned.
If you had arrived any later than you did, she might have married Taylor and we all know that would have been a disaster,” Jake said, making a face, the thought of that image turning his stomach.