“Who is this?” Antonello asked. Chase expected the same recognition that had just pummeled the breath out of him to dawn on Antonello at any second. “You didn’t tell me you had a son.” Antonello simply smiled, and Chase blinked, trying to find his voice, willing his shock to the background so he could function.
“Ricky,” he managed to croak out before clearing his throat. “Say hello,” he prompted gently, setting his son down.
“Ciao, bella,” Ricky said rather enthusiastically with a wide “look how smart I am” grin, while Chase could barely breathe from the knot of fear growing in his throat. At any second he expected realization to dawn and his life to come crashing down around him with no way to stop any of it. Granted, he didn’t know for a medical certainty that Ricky was Antonello’s son, but seeing the two of them together, the resemblance was impossible to deny.
“Actually, since I’m a man, it would beciao, bello,” he said, speaking to Ricky, his eyes shining with amusement before shifting his gaze to Chase. “He’s adorable. Are you teaching him Italian?”
“We want that one for Grammy,” Ricky announced, bounding to the window display to point at the necklace in question. “Unless it’s too ’spensive.” He practically vibrated with energy.
Slowly Chase’s shock abated as it dawned on him that what he feared most wasn’t going to happen, and he managed to force his lungs to work and his head to stop spinning. He exhaled slowly, his heart rate gradually returning to normal as he watched Antonello and the son he didn’t know he had speak together for the first time. Chase had promised Elaine many times that he would never see Antonello again. He’d thought it was because of the mess they’d had to deal with to unravel their business plans, but now he knew why. Ricky was Chase’s son now, and had been officially since the adoption. He loved him as his own and considered him the child of his heart. But Chase wondered how Antonello could look into the face of a younger version of himself, right down to the dark eyes, jet-black hair that curled wherever it wanted to go, and a smile that could charm the birds out of the trees, and not see it. Chase sure did.Maybe it was true that people only saw what they were looking for.
Chapter 4
“YOU’RE TRYINGto find something for your nonna? That’s what we call our grandmas in Italy,” Antonello asked Ricky, who nodded seriously. “Nonnas are really important here too, and we always treat them right.” He watched Chase, whose eyes had filled with tension that Antonello wished he could wipe away. Hell, he had wished for years that things could have been different, and he knew that Chase’s reaction was his fault. Antonello realized it was going to take a lot of work to get Chase to trust him on any level, even just professionally.
“Antonello,” Chase said softly, “I know everything in here is a lot more than we have the budget for. Ricky was really excited to see the bridge, and….”
He nodded slowly, holding Chase’s gaze for a second, just to see his reaction. “It never hurts to look.”
“Yeah, Guncle Daddy. We can look, right?”
Antonello stifled a snicker at the name as Ricky again pointed out the piece that had caught his eye. It was gold with hand-enameled purple flowers on flat beads. Antonello lifted the piece out of the window and took it to the counter, where he placed it on one of the black felt pads so Ricky and Chase could see it better. He already knew the price because he knew everything they sold in the store. Most of it came from their own workshops, and the pieces were one of a kind. There was nothing mass-produced in the Glorioso shops.
“Is this the one you wanted?” Antonello asked as Chase lifted Ricky so he could see it better.
“It’s really pretty,” Ricky said before turning to Chase, who flashed his son a smile, one Antonello hadn’t seen in years. “And it’s for Nonna.”
Antonello grinned at the way Ricky incorporated the Italian and how he had Chase wrapped around his little finger. “Don’t worry. If it’s what you really want, I’ll give you the family price.”
In an instant, Antonello was transported back to college and the happiest times of his life. He was far from home, at his college orientation, trying his best to project confidence and hide the fear that he had made the wrong decision and should have gotten his education closer to home. As he’d waited for the day to begin, a pair of twins sat down next to him, speaking so quickly he could barely understand a word they said.
“Are you okay?” Elaine had asked him much more slowly. “You look pale.”
Antonello had swallowed hard. “Just wondering if my English is good enough. Maybe I should have gone to school in Bologna. You speak fast, and I didn’t understand any of it.”
Chase had smiled wide enough to light up his eyes. “Don’t pay attention to us. We’re twins, and sometimes we slip into a sort of communication shorthand.” He pulled out a notebook and set it on the long lecture hall table. “I’m Chase, and this is my sister, Elaine.” He held out his hand. Antonello shook it, and in an instant, he’d felt that first spark of attraction, one he knew he had to deny.
“Don’t worry,” Elaine said with a smile nearly identical to her brother’s. “We’ll watch out for you.” And they had. Within weeks, they became inseparable and as close as, or closer than, family.
“You don’t have to do that,” Chase said, snapping Antonello out of the past.
“Of course I do,” Antonello told him softly. “Freshman biology,” he said, leaning slightly over the counter.
Chase’s expression softened slightly, some of the wariness leaving his eyes until finally Chase smiled at him, a real smile that turned into laughter that carried Antonello right along with it. Damn, that was good to see, and it gave Antonello hope that they could eventually get along and that maybe Chase wouldn’t rip him to pieces if he got the chance.
“What’s so funny?” Ricky asked, looking at both of them like they had lost their minds.
“Nothing,” Chase told him, still chuckling. “Just Mr. Antonello trying to dissect a fish, but he lost the instructions, and in the end he ended up filleting it like he was going to eat it for dinner.”
“Fish are yucky,” Ricky pronounced and turned back to the necklace. “Can we get it for Nonna?” The kid had a one-track mind.
“How about if I put it aside for you until you can make a decision?” Antonello offered and pulled out a felt bag. He slipped the piece inside and added Chase’s name and a hold note before putting it behind the counter. “Okay?”
“Daddy,” Ricky said, that lower lip sticking out.
“I’ll think about it,” Chase said to Ricky before turning to Antonello with his gaze so intent Antonello could feel him searching for Antonello’s motive. But then he held out his hand to Ricky. “Now, we should let Mr. Antonello get back to work. Tell him thank you for helping us.”
Ricky waved with a smile. “Thank you.” They went through the door, and Antonello couldn’t help following them out of the shop, watching as Chase and Ricky continued across the Arno. Once they disappeared from sight, he returned inside.
