The Vine (35 page)

For nearly an hour, I talk and Stefano listens. I see sadness in his face at times, and I hope it’s because of my story and not because I’m hurting him. I tell him everything, as he deserves the whole truth. I talk about Katy, my mum and dad, meeting Luke, his accident and the fact he nearly died. I explain how I thought he had passed away, about my escape to Italy, Luca kissing me at lunch and me telling him it would never be. I even see Katy raise her eyebrows at that part. Lastly, I tell him about Katy finding me, my reunion last night with Luke and of course, the proposal.

Stefano looks totally shell-shocked when I have finished, and I am frightened I have lost him. “Why didn’t you tell me, Ella—I mean, Lizzy? You could have confided in me, you know,” Stefano says, sounding hurt.

“I wanted to, Stef, so many times, but the fact is, I wanted to start a new life. And in order for me to survive it, I couldn’t talk about all the people I loved and missed so badly. But if it’s any consolation, meeting you made my life bearable again.” Stefano just looks at me sadly. “I don’t want to lose you, Stef; you mean a lot to me,” I say, trying to repair any damage I might have caused. I see him stand, so I stand too, thinking he’s going to walk out and away from me and I’ll at least have to try to stop him, but instead, he surprises me and pulls me into one of his infamous bear hugs.

“So when am I going to meet this Luke guy and give you my approval?” Stefano asks smiling.

“Well, I’m meeting him for lunch; you’re more than welcome to join us,” I say.

“I can’t do lunch; I’ve been out most of the morning, so I need to get back to the salon. But I can meet up tonight, eh?” he asks eagerly.

“Okay, we’re staying at The Vine Palazzo. Do you want to meet us there for dinner at about eight? The restaurant is meant to be amazing,” I suggest.

“Very plush. Yes, I’d love to. Will I have the pleasure of dining with you too, Katy?” Stefano asks.

Katy, who has managed to stay quiet through our whole conversation, looks to me and I nod. “Yeah, I guess you do, you lucky thing,” she says cheekily. “And Stefano, when you meet Lucas tonight—if you want to get off on the right foot with him—for your sake, don’t call him Luke. Only Lizzy gets that pleasure, I’m afraid.”

Stefano raises his eyebrows at me. “Sounds like an interesting character.”

“Oh, he is,” I gush, “and you’ll love him as much as I do.”

He smiles cheekily, and I know his mind’s in the gutter somewhere so I warn him off. “Well, maybe not as much as I do, and certainly not how I do,” I joke. Stefano throws his head back laughing and hugs me, and then he turns to Katy and embraces her before he heads back to his salon. When he’s gone, I sigh a breath of relief as I look at Katy and she looks at me.

“Wow, that was intense,” she says before she cracks up laughing.

Our next stop is Isabella, so we head over to see her. I tell her everything, just as I told Stefano, but leaving out all the bits about Luca. Being related, I don’t think it’s fair to betray him and hurt her. I know he will be totally distraught at his own behaviour, even if he’s a little pissed at Luke.

Isabella, although shocked, is totally accepting of everything, just as I knew she would be. But she’s absolutely devastated when I tell her I’ll probably be moving back to London, so I will no longer be able to work with her. I leave the café promising I’ll be back soon to visit. I want us to go and see Luca, but we need to meet Luke for lunch.

After a lovely lunch with my fiancé and my best friend, Katy and I head off in search of Luca. Luke thinks we’re off to a spa, which is true after our Luca stop, but I just didn’t think it was a good idea to tell him where I was going until after the event. When I saw him at lunch, he had been extremely happy because
he had already sourced me a mobile phone, so he can contact me whenever he needs, and I promised him I will answer any text or call from him no matter where I am.

I think it will be better to go to the hotel and pack a few of my things up, and maybe I might see Luca while I’m there. Katy and I are chatting as we enter the boutique hotel; I rummage around in my bag for my room key as we wait for the lift. I don’t even like being here anymore; it just reminds me of seeing those awful pictures and how they made me feel. I’d been to rock bottom, and I really didn’t want to go back there again, and that’s how seeing those pictures made me feel.

I hear someone call my name—well, they call Ella—and the hairs on the back of neck stand up as I know the voice. I turn slowly to face a gorgeous, although slightly battered Luca.

I hear Katy whisper, “Oh, my God…or should I say
what a god
,” before falling silent. I try not to smirk at her comment as I say “Luca” in greeting to him.

I am wracking my brains of what to say when Luca—who has just been standing in front of me looking shameful—speaks in that amazing accent of his, taking no notice of the company I’m keeping, and just stares into my eyes. “I’m sorry, Ella. I don’t know what else to say. I’m embarrassed, I’m ashamed and I’m just so sorry. Can you forgive me, please? I know now we will not be anything more than friends and I can accept that. I have to accept that because I want you in my life.”

“Luca, of course I forgive you,” I say as I lightly touch his face, and just as I’m about to give him a small talking-to about his behaviour yesterday, he grabs my hand roughly, bringing it harshly up between our faces and looks at my rock.

“What the hell is that?” All the softness in his tone is now gone.

“Luca, I have forgiven you for your outburst, but I won’t forgive you a second time. So calm down, let go of my hand and we need to go somewhere more private, because now you need to hear my truths, and hopefully you’ll find a way to forgive me too.”

He throws my hand down and we head off to a conference room; thankfully, it’s not the one from my nightmares. Luca opens the door, I walk in and Katy follows, and I flinch as the door slams behind us.
Wow, that Italian temper of his sure flairs up quickly
, I think to myself. Katy pulls up a chair and starts playing with her phone; I figure with Luca acting like she’s not even in the room she thinks she doesn’t need to pay much attention, and it’s not like she doesn’t know my story—she’s heard it enough over the last couple of days.

Luca is just staring at me with his arms folded, so I guess I’ll start. I take a deep breath and begin, “Luca, I am not Ella, or should I say, my
name
is not Ella. I am not Ella Castel; my name is Elizabeth Maynard, but my friends tend to call me Lizzy”.”

Luca looks completely floored by my confession, but composes himself quickly. “Well, well, Elizabeth,” and it is not lost on me he doesn’t class me as a friend anymore, “so you—the girl who made me feel so goddamn awful about lying to you—has now shown her true colours by admitting that, in fact, you have been lying to me all this time. I assume that means you also lied to Stefano and dear, sweet Isabella, who think the absolute world of you.”

“Yes, you’re right, Luca; I have lied, but only to protect myself, so I won’t apologise for that because the alternative doesn’t even bear thinking about. I have spoken to Isabella and Stefano, and they of course were both shocked, but they also understand my reasons I did what I did, and I count myself very lucky they have both graciously forgiven me.” I fume as I continue, “I came here hoping you would do me the same honour, but looking at the way you’re reacting already, shall I stop wasting my breath and assume I’m not forgiven before you even hear my story?” I’m incredibly angry and now he knows it.

“What I would like to know, Elizabeth, is who the hell you’re engaged to, and please don’t tell me it’s that psycho who attacked me yesterday,” Luca spits nastily.

“Luca, do you remember when we met on the aeroplane and you said I was the saddest person you had ever seen, and I told you the reason for my sadness was because a friend of mine passed away?” I see him nod, so I continue, “Well, you just assumed at the time it was a girl, but it wasn’t, Luca. It was him; Lucas Castle is the absolute love of my life, and I thought I had lost him forever and it almost killed me. You of all people saw first-hand how damn miserable and damaged I was, and by becoming Ella, I recovered a part of myself—not completely, but enough to survive. So no, I don’t regret what I did.

“Anyway, by some miracle, Luke survived. He came to Verona to find me, and whether it hurts your feelings or not, the one thing I have been completely honest with you about from the beginning—and maintained throughout our friendship—is nothing would ever happen between us. I will always be your friend, Luca—if you want me to be, that is—but I will always choose him. And yes, I most definitely will marry him, because I have never wanted anything more than that man in my whole entire life.”

I think back to the conversation Luke and I had in the taxi before I say, “I will not feel guilty about wanting to be happy… not anymore. I’ve finally realised that life is too short for all that crap. I deserve a chance at happiness, so excuse me for grabbing it with both hands.” I finish my speech, barely taking a breath, and I must admit I feel great for getting that all off of my chest, because it’s exactly how I feel.

Before I can think anything more, I am spun around into an embrace and an amazing, I-own-you kiss, and I melt. When I pull away, Luke has yet again taken my breath away. I can tell by the way I gasp a bit before I say, “Luke, I’m so glad you are, but why are you here?”

“You didn’t answer your phone like you promised you would, so I came to find you. I won’t lose you again, Lizzy, not for a second,” Luke answers while rubbing my cheek with his thumb.

I lean my face into his hand as I ask, “How much did you hear?”

Luke smiles bashfully at me and says, “Pretty much everything from you asking him if he remembered meeting you on the aeroplane.”

“I love you so much, Luke,” I say with tears in my eyes.

“I love you too, Angel.”

I ignore her, but I can hear Katy making gagging noises from her position at the table.

“Do you need to keep talking to him?” Luke asks rudely, pointing toward Luca with his thumb.

“No, I think we’ve got all what we had to say out in the open, and I’m hoping our friendship will remain because of it,” I reply, looking at Luca for a response while my fiancé rolls his eyes. Luca nods to me, knowing any love battle is lost to him, and now he can hopefully move on and we can be the good friends I’d always hoped we could be.

“Good,” Luke replies, “let’s get out of here, because I have got one hell of a surprise for you, my Angel.”

“A surprise for me?” I squeak excitedly.

Luke slings his arm over my shoulder—which isn’t quite his usual style, but is sexy as hell—and we walk out like two teenagers in love. We head up to my room and when we are inside, he looks at me smiling, saying, “Very cute.”

I smile back at him. “It’s lovely, isn’t it? And it’s been my home for a little while now.”

“Whatever,” Luke says, looking confused. “I wasn’t talking about the room.” He smiles again.

Maybe I should just stop wearing knickers
, I think to myself. They just end up damp, and I keep getting the urge to lose them every time Luke smiles at me. He either doesn’t see the pools of desire in my eyes, or he chooses to ignore them, as he just holds my hands excitedly and asks, “Guess what?”

I push my erotic thoughts to the back of my mind and join in with Luke’s enthusiasm. “What?” I prompt, my eyes widening in excitement for what is coming.

“I know we are going back to London soon—and I hope you won’t be mad at me for this—but I’ve booked a place for our wedding in a month’s time.”

“You have? That’s fantastic!” I enthuse. I am definitely surprised, and in no way mad at him; looking at his excited, handsome face, how could I be? And also, organising a wedding is my idea of a nightmare, so the more people who will arrange it for me, the better. Plus, if I know Luke, no matter how much I say I just want a simple wedding, he’s probably booked the best hotel in London. “Well,” I encourage, “where is it going to be?”

“I’m keeping it simple like you asked, just close friends and family, but I’ve booked the wedding here in Italy. Well, here in Verona, to be precise.” He stops abruptly, awaiting my verdict.

“Oh, my God, Luke, that’s wonderful! I love it here; it’s so beautiful and so romantic.” I look up dreamily.

“Okay, well it bodes well for me you’re into the whole romantic notion of our wedding, because that’s where I am too, but the fact it’s taking place here in Verona is not the best part.” Luke now looks like he’s about to burst. My eyes widen, encouraging him to just spit it out as I don’t think my heart can take any more. “Okay, Okay! We are getting married on…” he hangs this word out, watching me squirm while he takes a good ten seconds to heighten my anticipation before blurting out quickly, “Romeo and Juliet’s balcony.”

I gasp in total shock. “Are you for real, Lucas Joseph Castle? Because you better not play games with me, not about important things like our wedding.”

“Angel, you know me better than that. I looked into it, found out it was totally possible and booked it for September fifth.” I squeal and run into his open arms. “Are you really happy, baby? All I ever want to do in this life is take care of you and please you endlessly.”

“Luke, I am absolutely thrilled and excited to be marrying you, but that venue—wow. It’s just the icing on the cake for me. You’re
never to doubt that you please me; you do daily, on so many levels. In fact,” I say as Luke nibbles my ear, “how about pleasing me again right here and right now?”

Luke pulls me back to look at me, saying, “You’ve got a naughty look in your eye, Angel.” After seeing the wanton look spreading across my face, he smiles his panty-dropping smile, and so I do just that, all thoughts of my spa date forgotten.

Luke and Lizzy walk out of the conference room like two high school kids from an American sit-com, and it makes me smile. I look over to the gorgeous, Italian stud muffin. Yeah, sure, I know his name, but GISM suits him perfectly. He looks at me like he didn’t even realise I was here.
Wow, he really did only have eyes for Lizzy
. Well, she sure put him straight.
That’s my girl; I taught her well, and finally, it’s paying off
, I think to myself, smirking.