A Billionaire for Christmas (18 page)

“I love you.” He reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes. “I love all of you, every part. I love when we were kids, I love when we were teenagers, I love when we were…” His eyes flicked away. “When you were in college, and I was in grad school.” He sighed. “I love the woman you are now. I love how you fought your way back from a situation I can’t even imagine…don’t want to imagine. All of it, our past, your past, it’s made you who you are today, and I love you. I love you no matter what.”

Shelly stood there, not knowing what to say or how to say it.

“When I think of the rest of my life,” Anthony said, taking her hand in his, “I can’t stand the idea of you not being in it.” His voice cracked on the words. He looked at her and his eyes held hers. A heat, a sadness, a pain, a knowing flowed from him to her. “Forgive me. Forgive me for being a short-sighted ass ruled by jealousy, because, Shelly—”

“I’m not the right girl for you anymore,” she blurted.

His features fell. Here he was, handing her his heart, and she was saying no to the man she wanted more than anything. But she was doing it for his sake.

“I’ve got a past now, and you have this future. This Travati future that includes fancy parties, and charities, and important people.” She dropped her gaze to the floor. “How long before all those people know about me and my past?” She raised her eyes to Anthony’s. “How long before they’re saying things, and writing things, and my past is in your face every damn day?” She pulled her hand from his, raking her nails down her arm nervously. “And how long before you hate me because of it?”

His hand, his fingers, settled on her cheek. She pressed her face against his touch. His touch completed her. Made her feel safe and well loved.

“No,” Anthony said. “I won’t let anyone else decide whether we should be together, because we should. You know it, I know it, and Vinnie knew it—”

“That was before,” Shelly said. She pulled back, turned away from Anthony, from the love in his eyes.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” He reached out and turned her around to face him again. “What Vinnie knew was for always. He knew that we’d find a way to our forever no matter what. He knew he couldn’t fight it, so he stopped. His blessing wasn’t because he liked us being together, it was because we loved each other so much.”

“Tony, I do love you, but—”

“Then that’s all we need. I promise you, Shelly, this love we have for each other, it means more than we’ll ever know.”

She wanted to say yes. Every fiber of her being longed to step forward into his arms, but she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. Tony loved her, he did, but one day he’d remember all the things she’d done and he’d think about all he was and he wouldn’t want her anymore. That would be the end of her recovery. No, she might love Tony, but she could never again let herself feel this kind of deep need for love again. She looked into his eyes, warm and waiting, filled with love for her and the promise of a future together.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.” Were the only words that Shelly could say.

San Francisco didn’t feel like home. She lifted her apron over her head and tossed it in the laundry bag at the back of the coffee shop. This was her first shift back and the store was still decorated for Christmas. A couple people sat at tables with their laptops open but the store was pretty empty. Her feet were killing her and she was hungry. Time to go home. She pulled her purse up over her shoulder and waved good-bye to Dan, who was taking over for the evening shift.

She walked the four blocks to her place. Aunt Patty had been right about finding a place close to her job. Made life easier and with all the emotion still running through her veins after her trip back east, Shelly needed easy. Her building was a walk up with three floors and of course she was up top, it was smallest and cheapest, but she liked the place. She was slowly adding furniture to her apartment. She had a bed, a chest of drawers, a kitchen table and a couch and a TV. The idea of decorating made her happy. She hadn’t put anything up for Christmas this year because she knew she was going home, but now that she was back she wished she had a tree and maybe some blinking lights. The place looked drab after being at Nonna’s for Christmas.

Plus her heart felt broken.

She pressed her key into her apartment door lock and turned. She closed her eyes, deep breaths. She’d felt every emotion you could imagine in the last three days. First Christmas Eve when her heart crushed to smithereens. Tony offering her his heart and she’d said no. He’d stayed for presents but left soon after. Everyone in the entire family had known something had gone down between them but thankfully nobody asked, not even Nonna.

Then she and Nonna had stayed in for Christmas Day. Just the two of them. Aubrey had said she understood, but Shelly still felt bad for not going to her and Justin’s place. Then she’d come home the very next day and now she was here, in San Francisco, with her new job, her new apartment, and her new life, the one she was building away from the heartache and the pain. The only problem was, much like when she’d run to Texas and her heartache and pain had followed her, the same had happened in San Francisco.

The pain was inside her heart. How would she ever feel happy again? She’d left the man she loved not once, but twice. The first time she’d done it to try and escape the memories of her brother and this time she’d done it to keep the memories of her past from haunting Tony. One had been selfish and one had been selfless and they both hurt just as bad. Wait...was that Bing Crosby? She didn’t have any Bing Crosby records? White Christmas was coming from her apartment? She pushed open the door and stopped.

Red and green lights were strung from her ceiling and blinked their holiday joy. A poinsettia sat on either side of the front door and also another one was in the center of her tiny kitchen table. A decorated Christmas tree was in the center of her living room. She’d be scared that someone had been in her place if they hadn’t done such an amazing job decorating for Christmas. Cinnamon? She smelled cinnamon and chocolate and was that...tea cake?

“Shelly?”

Her belly trembled with his voice. No...no...he couldn’t be here. Why was he here. She turned into the kitchen and Anthony stood beside the stove.

“You....” She looked from him to the chicken piccata.

“You said you liked my chicken piccata.”

“I said...” She shook her head. Was she awake? Had she fallen? Was this... “Is this really happening. You’re here? In San Francisco, in my place?” She spun and took in the decorations that also adorned her tiny kitchen. “Like a maniacal elf?”

“I don’t know if maniacal is the correct adjective, but I can accept elf.”

“Why are you here?”

Anthony’s smile softened and he stepped toward her, “Because I can’t live without you.”

“We went through this. I can’t, you can’t, it won’t—”

“Yes, we can,” Anthony said. “And we absolutely have to. I made a promise to Vinnie—”

“That wasn’t a promise that you’d throw away your life,” Shelly said her voice growing loud.

“No, it was a promise that I’d make certain that you were loved.”

Her vision blurred. Heat built in her eyes.

“And you are. You are loved. No one is ever going to love you as much or better than me. I know that now. You’ve got to know it too.”

She did, she absolutely did. “Love isn’t always enough, can’t fix every mistake, and heal ever wound. Anthony, I know you love me and I love you but the past, that past—”

“Is going to remain right where it belongs.” He stepped forward and carefully placed his hands on her waist. “Please, Shelly, angel, you’ve got to believe me, I meant what I said, this, us, together, there isn’t anything we can’t get through.”

“I love you,” she whispered but shook her head. This was too much to believe, too much to wish for, too much to ask, there was no way that she and Tony would find their happily ever after was there? All the angels in heaven couldn’t make this dream come true for her.

But one angel most certainly could.

“It’s Vinnie,” she whispered with a crooked smile on her lips. Not to Anthony, not even to herself, but to him. He’d made certain that his baby sister got her forever love. She looked into Anthony’s eyes. Yes, absolutely yes, she would believe in this, the two of them together and their future for forever.

Her lips were on his. She didn’t need any more words. All she needed, all he needed, all they needed, for the rest of their lives, was each other.

*

The next morning bright sunlight beamed into the windows of Shelly’s tiny apartment. A cloudless morning, crystal-clear and sharp. Shelly sat cross-legged in front of her very own Christmas tree that Tony had decorated for her. He’d surprised her with more than coffee in bed this morning. They’d made love, made love with a forever quality, as though they both knew, finally, that their life would soon be bound together. Shared from now on.

“Did you check your stocking yet?” Anthony asked. He poured more coffee for himself in the kitchen.

“Stocking?” She twisted and looked up at the stocking hanging beside the tree and beneath a window since her apartment didn’t have a fireplace. She hadn’t even noticed the red and green stocking with her name stitched across the top hanging there.

“Go on, what’s in there?” Justin asked, a mischievous look on his face.

Shelly pulled a box wrapped in gold foil with a white ribbon from the stocking. “I thought you being here was my present.” She shook the box, a smile growing as she listened. “What is it?”

“Guess you’ll need to open it to find out.”

She ripped open the paper. She’d never been one to carefully insert her thumbnail under a seam of the wrapping and slide it along to slice the tape. What was the point? She stripped the paper off the rectangular cardboard box, then opened it and pulled out a miniature Statue of Liberty.

“I wanted to get you something to keep you thinking about New York.”

Shelly smiled. “I love it,” she said. She turned the statue around to admire it.

Clink. Clink.

“Did it break?” Shelly lifted an eyebrow. The clattering noise came from inside the statue, as though a piece had broken off and was stuck in the hollow interior. She flipped it upside down.

“I think there’s something inside.”

Shelly pulled a tiny bit of black rubber off of the bottom of the base. She tilted the statue over her outstretched palm and out came—

“Oh my God.”

Her heart beat against her ribs. Shelly set the statue down slowly, staring into her own palm. Her gaze flew to Anthony. He was on one knee before her. He reached out and took the ring, a princess-cut diamond set in platinum, from her hand.

“Michelle Sophia Bello, I’ve loved you since I was six years old, and I will continue to love you for the rest of my life. You are my future. I want you as my lover, my wife, and the mother of my children.”

His beautiful eyes were filled with warmth, and love, and even passion. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes, oh my God, Anthony, yes!”

He slid the ring on her finger and kissed her through her tears. She looked at the diamond, and in its sparkle, she was certain she saw Vinnie’s smile.

Gwen Fleming hustled up Central Park West toward Tavern On the Green. New York was finally coming to life after a long snowy winter. Birds flitted through trees that had sprouted tiny bright green leaves. She pulled her phone from her purse. Ten minutes, she had ten minutes before she had to meet Aubrey and Shelly at the venue. They thought the location was perfect for a bridal brunch. She agreed. The glass room and even the outdoor seating area, if it was warm enough, would make for a beautiful bridal brunch.

Aubrey was about ready to pop. She was already five days past her due date, and according to her midwife, if she didn’t deliver within the next week they’d most likely have to hospitalize her and induce the baby, no matter what kind of birth Aubrey wanted. Gwen guessed, though, that the littlest Travati wouldn’t be the littlest for long. Anthony and Shelly had made their plans very clear. Family as soon as possible. Both Anthony and Shelly wanted a large brood, and they were absolutely ready to begin. Perhaps they’d already begun. Gwen had noticed Shelly’s coy smile whenever Aubrey spoke about the impending birth.

Anthony and Shelly had insisted on keeping the wedding small. When Aubrey started to expand the guest list, Anthony had very politely, but firmly, turned her down. The couple wanted a small bridal brunch in May with a wedding to follow at Rockwater Farms in the first week of June. The Travatis would fly everyone to Kansas in private jets, everyone being the expanding Travati family and a very few close friends. The guest list entailed about thirty people, plus her. As the event planner, she got to tag along, but really, she and Aubrey and even Shelly were becoming friends.

She thanked God for that. She’d been in New York for years and only now, finally, was this place starting to feel like home. Her event-planning business was taking off, thanks in huge part to Aubrey’s constant referrals and the great press she got by being the Travati family’s go-to event planner. She’d been spending more and more time with the Travatis. Ever since Christmas Eve, when her flight had been cancelled and she couldn’t go home to D.C. until Christmas Day, she’d been included in nearly all their family celebrations.

She didn’t take the invitations for granted. The Travatis were a tight group, and they didn’t often let outsiders into their circle. In all honesty, things were new, and there were no guarantees.

Her phone, still in her hand, rang. She flipped it over and looked at the screen. Her heart thumped in her chest and the bottom dropped out of her stomach. How, after this many years of being an independent woman, did her father have such power over her emotions? She was a business owner, she was successful, so why did her father’s opinion matter? And when would she finally accept the fact that she would never please him? Unless she’d gone to law school, as he wanted, and become a federal prosecutor, just like him, there was no pleasing her father. To him, Gwen’s career as an event planner was as frivolous as eating bonbons and watching reality TV all day.