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“You love her.”
Marco felt sick.
“You’re in love with her. That’s why you’re feeling like this. It’s why you’re making yourself physically stay away from her. I was wrong about you. And she was right.” Dante shook his head in frustration, his tone apologetic. “She said I didn’t know you. I didn’t know what you were like together. I shouldn’t have interfered.”
Marco brushed that aside. “You were looking out for Portia. I will never judge anyone for doing that.”
Dante’s eyes widened. It was the perfect response to show how much Marco did in fact love Portia. “Listen, Marco. I’ve been in love. And I lost her. I lost the most wonderful, perfect woman in the world, the mother of my child. My child—,” his voice cracked and Marco put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. Even now, it hadn’t gotten easier for Dante to speak about them. Marco wished there was something he could say, but his head was spinning.
“I would give everything I have for one more day with them.” Dante held up his single finger. “One day. You have the chance to be with Portia for a lifetime.” Dante paused, pulling himself together with a visible effort. “You have to go to her.”
The world stopped spinning. Marco stared at his older brother with a mix of feelings. Love, sympathy, pity, irritation, because if Dante hadn’t gone and brought himself into the middle of this, Marco would probably still be enjoying Portia, and eventually, he would have realized he loved her, wouldn’t he? Maybe not. Maybe it had taken losing her to shake him into comprehension.
“What about Jack?”
Dante pulled a face. “All the more reason to go to her.”
“If she’s decided she wants him—,”
“She doesn’t know she can have you,” Dante pointed out. “She doesn’t know you love her back.”
And that was a reality Marco simply couldn’t live with. No matter what happened, he needed her to know that she’d been right. What they’d shared was special. The most special thing Marco had ever felt in his life, and he never wanted it to end.
* * *
He’d contemplated just turningup on her doorstep, but he didn’t want to blindside her again.
More importantly, he admitted to himself, he didn’t want to run the risk of finding Jack there.
So he sent her a text.
Do you have ten minutes?
He hadn’t even realized,until returning to London, that it was almost Christmas, and memories of the afternoon and evening they’d spent putting up her tree hit him in the solar plexus.
What for?
She wasright to be hesitant.
I’ll explainwhen I see you. There’s a wine bar near your office. Can we meet after work?
Three little dotsappeared to indicate that she was typing but it took an excruciatingly long time for a message to come through. Marco held his breath the entire time, until stars formed in his eyes.
Ten minutes,that’s all.
It was something.Something more than he’d expected, and now, he just had to hope against hope…his nerves were a mess, and he knew he was about to have the most important conversation of his life. God help him, nothing mattered more than this.
* * *
Her stomach was filledwith butterflies, no matter how hard she tried to contain the jitters.
It had been way too long, and she still wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t prepared. She felt a thousand and one things and wished, in a way, she’d been strong enough to refuse to see him.
But this was Marco.
She’d loved him, hard, and saying no to him was never going to be easy.
Besides, the part of her that wanted to see him, no matter what, was dominant, and so she’d listened to it.
