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And it was at that moment he’d realized he was sweating and had picked up his phone blindly, intending to call his pilot and arrange a quick flight to the other side of the world.
But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t abandon his unborn son. Not after what Theo himself had gone through when he was young.
So instead, he’d called his best friend—his only close friend, really, aside from Emmie herself. He knew Nico Ferraro had once gone through something similar himself, marrying the granddaughter of an employee in a shotgun wedding—literally—after she surprised him with a pregnancy, knocking on his door in the middle of the night, right before her enraged grandfather showed up with a shotgun, demanding they marry.
But if Theo had secretly hoped that his friend would suggest, as he himself had before Nico’s wedding, that it wasn’t too late to make a run for it, he’d been disappointed. Instead, Nico had listened, sympathized and then proceeded to tell stories about how glad he was that he’d married Honora, that the marriage had been the making of him, that he couldn’t imagine a life without her or their children.
All very well for him. But from a young age, Theo had seen too much in the world to believe in fairy tales. He’d never believed in any of it—that good always triumphed over evil, that love could last forever, that families could love and protect each other to the end.
The only way to survive in this harsh life was to be strong and alone.
But even knowing this, Theo had found somewhat to his surprise that he couldn’t desert his son. So he’d gone through with the wedding. It had taken all his strength to make his lips speak the words.
Now, as Theo turned to face his wedding guests, he was a married man. And looking at his bride’s big, nervous eyes, he was wondering if he’d just made the biggest mistake of his life.
“We’re so happy for you both.” Nico’s wife, Honora, was beaming at them. “Our two best friends married? It’s a dream come true!”
“I still can’t believe you were the father of Emmie’s baby all along. Even when I told you she was pregnant by some man in Rio,” Nico said, laughing, “you didn’t say a word!”
Emmie blushed. “It just happened. We never intended...”
“Yes, we know how that goes,” Nico said, exchanging a loving, amused glance with his wife, whose cheeks blushed even redder than Emmie’s. Honora turned quickly to her friend.
“Just think, our children will grow up together.” She hugged Emmie carefully, so as not to muss her gown. “Our families can take vacations together. The South of France. Italy. Greece.”
“Except Theo hates Greece,” Nico said, looking at him uncomfortably.
Both women looked at him, startled.
“You do?” Emmie said.
“How could anyone hate Greece?” Honora said.
Theo kept his expression cold. “Actually, I recently bought property on a Greek island.”
Nico, who knew only the tiniest bit of Theo’s history, looked astonished. “You did?”
Seeing all the other guests waiting to congratulate them, Emmie’s family and a few friends from her neighborhood and a whole bunch of his own acquaintances, important society and business people he didn’t actually give a damn about, Theo decided he wanted to finish this wedding as quickly as possible. He grabbed Emmie’s hand. “We should have our dance.”
“Great idea.” Nico immediately took his own wife in his arms. “We must take advantage of being on our own tonight. No babies or grandparents to interrupt us.”
“Is that your new definition of romance?” Honora teased, but her eyes flashed with love.
Emmie seemed less keen to dance with Theo. “Already?” She looked around. “But we haven’t even said hello to all our guests—”
“We can do what we want,” Theo said roughly, by which he meant whathewanted.
And so, to the despair of the wedding planner, Theo started the dancing an hour ahead of schedule, before the cocktails or hors d’oeuvres had been served, before cake, before even the champagne toast.
As he led her onto the impromptu dance floor on the terrace beneath the moonlight, he tried to ignore the erratic pounding of his heart. It was only when the music started and he pulled her into his arms that he could breathe again.
Yes. When he held Emmie in his arms, her body pressing against his own, the roar in his ears receded, the panic disappeared.
She looked up at him, her eyes bright, her mouth curving up. “You really don’t like weddings, do you? Not even your own.”
Especially not my own, he wanted to say, but he didn’t because that might have hurt her feelings.
So he said brusquely, “I got a phone call right before the ceremony. I need to go into the office.”
