Come Away With Me (The Andrades) (27 page)

My name.

“We are all our parents in one way or another, Gio. The best and the worst of them. Find the good in your father, Gio, and forgive him for what he’s not here to explain to you. And don’t judge your mother too harshly. We don’t know what closed her heart.”

Gio was coming to the uncomfortable realization that after ten years of fearing that he would end up like his father—he’d become something worse.

He was as bitter and closed off as his mother.

And it had cost him just as it ha
d cost her.

It may very well have
robbed him of the only woman he could imagine spending the rest of his life with.
Julia.

He looked Leora in the eye and asked, “Would you mind if I contact Gigi?”

“I would love that.”

Gio walked around the room again, studying the photos of his family and hers. “My brothers don’t know about you. I thought it was better for them if they didn’t. I was wrong. I’ll tell them about you now. About both of you.”

“You are always welcome here, Gio. Your brothers, too.”

Hitting
an overload of emotions, Gio made his excuses and left—promising to return. He walked back to the bridge where Julia had left him and stood there for a long time, replaying the day in his head.

An hour later, Gio stepped out of a hired car onto a private airfield. The pilot met him and asked where he wanted to go, but Gio didn’t answer.

“Wherever Julia went,” didn’t feel like a sane answer. Was she still in Italy, or on her way back to New York?

A limo pulled up beside
them and all four of the doors opened simultaneously.

“Looks like we got here just in time,” Luke said.

Gio shook his head in surprise. “What are all of you doing here?”

A tall blond man stepped out of the car and said, “We came to find you.”

Gio’s eyebrows rose at the sight of the would-be groom. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

Stephan smiled sadly. “We postponed the wedding until tomorrow. Nicole understands why we had to.”

Gio looked from cousin to brothers and back. “I don’t.”

Stephan took an envelope out of his pocket and bounced it in his hand as if he were weighing it
before offering it. “I found myself in a tricky spot this past summer. A close brush with my own mortality changed the way I look at many things.”

Gio took the envelope. He opened it and read the contents. His name was clearly printed on the top of the deed for Isola Santos.

“I can’t take this,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.

“I don’t want it. It should have gone to you. Just be careful, Gio. I spent years chasing it. I thought it was important. It’s just a rock in the ocean. It doesn’t matter. Nicole is what’s important to me now. And my family.”

A rush of emotion filled Gio. Stephan wasn’t pretending to care about him.

He did.

There was so much he wanted to say to him. So much he needed to tell his brothers. He didn’t know where to start. “Perhaps we could be the first generation to share the island. You can have Dominic’s side.”

Stephan choked on a laugh. “That’s cruel.”

In a more serious tone, Gio said, “I was wrong to leave your wedding. Wrong about more than I can even begin to explain now.”

Stephan put a hand on Gio’s shoulder and said, “You are not the first Andrade to make a mistake
, and you won’t be the last.”

“Speaking of mistakes
. . .” Max looked around and asked, “Did you lose Julia?”

Gio shrugged one shoulder unhappily. “She went back to New York.”

Luke shook his head. “That’s a shame.”

An uncharacteristically sympathetic Nick said, “We liked her.”

“She said I wasn’t ready.”

“And what did you say when she said that?” Nick asked.

Gio shrugged again. “What could I say?”

Nick turned to his cousin. “We can’t lose Julia. I actually like Gio when he’s around her.”

Luke broke the silence that followed his brother’s declaration by asking, “How far could she have gotten?”

Max looked at Gio. “Is she on a commercial flight?”

“Just call her. Maybe she’s not on the plane yet,” Max suggested.

“I broke her phone. And even if she had it, her number is in mine
, which is on the bottom of the ocean,” Gio said in frustration.

Luke looked at his oldest brother with a funny expression on his face. “I’m ready to diagnose you, Gio.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You have a severe case of
, ‘In love with no fucking idea of what to do about it.’ ” He shook his head sadly. “It’s the worst I’ve seen.”

“She wanted to leave,” Gio defended himself
, even as he kicked himself for letting her leave. “What was I supposed to do? Kidnap her?”

Stephan shrugged. “I’ve seen it work.”

Max said, “And Gio thinks I hang out with a questionable crowd?”

Stephan asked, “Do you love her?”

There were many things that Gio was no longer certain about, but he knew the answer to that question. “Yes, I do.”

“Then go get her. Tell her you love her. Everything else will work out.”

A ray of hope lit and grew within Gio. Could it be that easy? Could he choose love? “You’re right. I have to tell her how I feel. I’m going back to New York. I wish I knew what flight she was on.” He looked at his cousin in apology. “It’ll mean I’ll miss your wedding, but I have to find her.”

Stephan groaned. “I know someone who can find out anything. He could probably tell us if she’s
en route or at the airport. He can access almost any database.”

“You mean a hacker?”

“He doesn’t like that term, but yes.” Stephan made a brief phone call, then said, “She has a two-hour layover in Rome.”

Determination filled Gio. “I still have time.”

“Just make sure you’re back for the ceremony tomorrow,” Stephan said in resignation. “Or Nicole will kill me.”

Gio hesitated before he left. He looked at his three smiling brothers and said, “I know I haven’t always been that easy to get along with, but when I get back we need to talk. I need to make some things right.”

Nick made a face at Luke. “Why does love make you sound so much like you’re dying?”

Julia used some of her time in the airport to check her phone messages via a public phone
—an expensive necessity. She needed to reconnect with her life.
Now.
Her father had called twice. He said there was nothing important but asked that she call when she had time.

She had a couple of messages from friends back in Rhode Island who were wondering how New York was treating her. Only her closes
t friends were going to hear the real story, and even then she wasn’t sure she’d be able to talk about any of the past week for a long time.

What are the five stages of realizing you just did something too stupid to tell your friends?

Denial: It was not a bad idea to run away to a foreign country with a man I barely know.

Anger: Until he turned out to be a complete jackass who didn’t fall in love instantly the way everyone does in books.

Bargaining: I’ll never do anything like this again if I can just fall out of love with him as fast as I fell in love.

Depression: I can’t believe I did this. I told myself not to. I knew it would end badly, but that didn’t stop me, did it? Instead of doing something important—like saving my family’s company
—I go off and get my heart broken by someone who told me he wasn’t looking for anything serious.

But do I listen?

No, I see only what I want to see.

Acceptance? Not likely to happen for a while.

Julia hit the button for the final message. She’d half hoped it would be from Gio, but it was a woman whose voice she didn’t recognize. “Hello, my name is Lisa. I’m Mrs. Rockport’s personal assistant. I’m calling on her behalf to invite you to her house next week. She’s received so many compliments on your necklace that she’d like to commission it in gold and diamonds as well as look at your other designs.”

Julia played the message a second time
, and then a third.

I did it.

I found my buyer.

She called her father to tell him. He was happy, but not surprised. He said he always knew she would sell them. She promised to start sending him money as soon as it came in and, just as she knew he would, her father told her it wasn’t necessary.

“Dad, I’ll be able to come back now. I can help you figure out the books and work everything out with the bank.”

“You don’t have to, Julia. I accepted a buyout offer.”

“Oh, Dad. No.”

“It’s okay, Julia. It’s what I wanted. I was hanging on to my factory because I didn’t want to let my employees go. But the new owner says he’ll keep everyone on. I have some money in the bank now and more time to be
with your mother. This was for the best.”

The news was bittersweet to Julia. “I’ll come see you next weekend, Dad.”

“We’ll be here, honey.”

Julia hung up the phone and fought back
the wave of sadness that filled her. She couldn’t imagine her family without their furniture store.

It also meant there was no longer any reason for her to be in New York. She could create Mrs. Rockport’s orders anywhere. She could return to her apartment in the city, but she wouldn’t be happy there. Not without Gio.

Her flight number was called and Julia walked to her gate. The attendant looked at her ticket, then let her through. Although Julia was lost in thought, she stopped midway down the enclosed ramp and noted that no one was behind her. She hadn’t seen anyone in line in front of her either.

Maybe I’m early?

No, they said it was time to board.

The stewardess at the plane ushered her forward, which put her somewhat at ease. Julia stopped again before the plane door and looked over her shoulder again.

Did I actually think he would come after me?

I’m hopeless.

With that, Julia stepped through the door of the plane. It was empty. She looked around and gasped. Every seat in first class was overflowing with pink roses. She walked down the aisle. Every seat in the next section was also covered with pink roses. She stood in the middle of the plane and started to cry.

“When I pictured this moment, I didn’t imagine you crying,” Gio said from behind her.

Julia spun. She wanted to run and throw herself in his arms, but she was afraid. Afraid to have her heart broken for a second time that day.

He walked to her and held out a hand, but she stood frozen in place. He let his hand drop to his side and said, “I’ve been an ass.”

Julia nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

“I’m not good
at talking about how I feel.”

Still Julia silently watched and waited.

“I thought I was happy before I met you, Julia. But I wasn’t. I was comfortable with being miserable. That’s not the same thing. I didn’t want to change. I didn’t think I could.” He stepped closer to her and took one of her hands in his. “You told me that I wouldn’t let you in, and you were right. I had gotten used to closing myself off. I forgot how to let anyone in.”

Julia gave his hand a supportive squeeze and held his eyes.

“I didn’t find all the answers I was looking for in Venice, Julia, but I learned something about myself.”

“You did?” Fresh tears poured down Julia’s cheeks.

“Yes. I don’t want to repeat the mistakes my parents made. I don’t want to spend my life hiding what I feel.”

Julia laid a hand on Gio’s cheek and smiled up at him through her tears. “And how is that?”

“I love you, Julia. I can’t promise that life with me with be easy, or that you won’t need to walk me through some of this, but I can promise you that no one will ever love you more than I do.” He kissed her with all the love he’d been holding back, and the last of Julia’s fears fell away.

When their kiss broke off, she said, “I love you, too, Gio.”

“I should have told you what happened on the island. I was angry and I’m used to burying those feelings.”

“What happened?”

He hugged her to him, tucked her beneath his chin, and said, “Alessandro told me that my mother had returned the deed for the island to him. She’d told him we didn’t want the island. All this time I hated him for thinking I wasn’t one of them enough to give it to me, when it was my mother who didn’t want me to have it.”

Julia hugged him tightly. “Why would she do that?”

Gio shook his head sadly. “I don’t know. She never liked my father’s family. That’s actually putting it mildly. She couldn’t tolerate being around them at all. Apparently her hatred of them took priority over the feelings of her sons.”