Page 65 of Bound by Their Christmas Baby

She sobbed and shut her eyes, his interrogation, his understanding, all too much to co

pe with.

‘He was wrong not to see your true value. But I was more so. You gave me everything—you made me feel alive and real for the first time in years. You gave me your beautiful, kind heart and I shouted at you. I practically threatened to take your son from you.’ The words were loaded with anger, all directed at himself. ‘Believe me, if I could take that day back, I would. With all that I am, I wish I hadn’t said those things to you. I wish I hadn’t given you any reason to feel pain.’

‘This is about Raf,’ she whispered. ‘It has to be.’ For she couldn’t make sense of what was happening. All her dreams were coming true before her and she wasn’t sure they were strong enough to hold her weight. ‘You miss him.’

‘Sì. I do miss Raf, but I’m as prepared now as I was a week ago to leave him with you, if that’s what you want,’ he insisted gently. ‘This, right now, is about you. It’s about the woman I fell in love with last Christmas, and somehow found my way to again. It’s about the woman who gave me her innocence, who’d been waiting for me all her life, just as I had been waiting for her. It’s about the woman who took a broken, angry man and made him smile once more. It’s about the woman who has come to mean everything to me, who I do not wish to live without.’ He ran his thumb over her lower lip and she juddered, her breath escaping her slowly, brushing over his inner wrist.

‘I’ve trained myself not to want love. It’s never been offered to me anyway.’ He dropped his head so that their foreheads were touching and Abby breathed in deeply, letting his proximity chase the grief from her veins.

‘I offered you love,’ she whispered. ‘I loved you every day we were in Italy. Even when I was so mad I could burst, I loved you… I wanted our marriage to be a real one,’ she said. ‘I felt so close to having everything I’d ever dreamed of. It was so magical—such a magical Christmas—with the snow, and the tree, and you and then the wedding dress…’

‘From the moment we met, you have been all I’ve wanted. I’ve been stupid enough to run from that, but now I’m running right towards you. I want you, all of you, and if there were no Raf I would still be here, begging you, as a man who loves a woman more than any ever has, to marry me. To spend the rest of your life with me, letting me love you…’

Abby sobbed, a sound of pure, exquisite joy.

‘You’re going to marry me,’ he said into her mouth and she nodded, laughing, before kissing him again.

‘Can we go home now?’

He pulled away so he could study her face, see the earnestness there. ‘Home? Where is our home to be?’

‘The castle, obviously.’

His smile was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. ‘Ah. And so it is, mi amore.’

EPILOGUE

‘RAF!’ A LITTLE girl’s voice squealed with delight and when Abby turned around she saw Ivy, Noah’s adopted daughter, giggling in response to Raf’s attempts to grab her hair. As a two-year-old, he was charming and spirited. Abby was grateful they’d retained Monique to help chase after him!

Abby walked towards the pair of children and crouched down, lifting a manicured nail to her son’s nose. ‘Stop that, Rafael.’ She suppressed a smile when his chubby face turned towards her. ‘Ivy’s mommy has spent far too long braiding her hair to have it undone by the likes of you. Now, where’s your bouquet, Ivy?’

‘I’ve got it!’ Holly called from the doorway, carrying three bunches of flowers and wearing a broad smile on her beautiful face. She was glowing, but Abby had known Holly almost a year and knew it had little to do with her pregnancy. Holly was one of those women who always glowed. She was warm and kind and, from the moment they’d met—the Christmas after they’d become engaged—Abby had known they would be friends.

It had proved to be so, and the proximity of Italy and England had meant that both families met quite often.

Families.

Abby turned to her reflection in the mirror, studying the bridal gown. It was the same one Gabe had chosen and given her two years earlier, a Christmas morning that was snowy and magical, just like this one. Except not like this one because she’d been so insecure then, so uncertain of her future and what her marriage would look like. Now, every day was a gift, boxed in so much security and love that she felt as though she were floating through life.

Families.

She’d been alone for so long and now she had Raf and Gabe, and Noah, Holly and Ivy, and Holly’s big, chaotic extended family too.

‘Your father’s outside,’ Holly said softly, handing a small box to Abby. ‘And the groom asked me to give you this.’

Abby took the box and opened it, her fingers shaking a little at the mention of her father.

It was a big step for him to have come to Italy—and that was all down to Gabe’s persistence. It was the reason they’d waited two years to marry. He’d understood, without needing to be told, how much it would mean to Abby to have her father walk her down the aisle at her wedding.

Irrespective of Lionel Howard’s sins, he was the only family from her old life that she had left and she wasn’t ready to shut the door on that completely. So Gabe had made it his mission to smooth the fractures of their relationship. It had been disastrous at first, but Gabe was not a man to take no for an answer, and by the following Christmas a fragile truce had been formed.

Now, a year later, it was still fragile, still young, but Abby was glad that there was the prospect of a future that included her father. If he chose not to make the most of it, then she’d accept that. She’d let him go, knowing that what she and Gabe had was special, that he could be a part of it if he wanted, but that you couldn’t force love. You couldn’t force someone to want you.

‘What’s in the box, Abby?’ Ivy asked, coming to stand beside her.

‘Let’s find out, shall we?’ She unwrapped it and lifted the lid, tears moistening her eyes when she saw the decoration inside.

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