Miracle for the Girl Next Door Read online

  She’d lived with him long enough to know he was capable of doing anything to make life more enjoyable for her. Knowing her days were numbered, would he go that far? To add to her torment, Silvio’s silent questions kept flashing through her mind.

  Is he in love with you, Clara? Did he say those words to you? Because if he didn’t…

  They landed without incident in the middle of another country road. The van was waiting there to take them back to their car. She shook the men’s hands. “Grazie, signori. It was stupendo.”

  On the return trip to the villa Valentino said, “While you pack, I’ll go by the restaurant and talk to Papa and Isabella so they know our plans.”

  Clara nodded. “Would you like me to put some things in a suitcase for you?”

  He kissed the end of her nose. “I’d like that very much. So far there’s nothing about our marriage that doesn’t make me happy. I can’t think why I waited so long. Do you have any complaints?”

  “Except for the fact that you fish for compliments when you don’t need to, you know I don’t. Thank you for another wonderful experience I’ll never forget.” On that note she leaned over to peck his jaw, then got out of the car and hurried inside the villa to get ready for their trip.

  Unless something unforeseen happened, she wasn’t going to die today, tomorrow, or even next week. That meant she should make the most of living on the borrowed time dialysis was granting her.

  When they reached Monaco, she would forget her illness and love Valentino in all the ways he would allow her. If they both used protection, there would be no worry about her getting pregnant.

  Clara had loved him her whole life, but today she realized she was a woman in love. She couldn’t go back to their platonic relationship. Not now. It wasn’t possible.

  On the way to the restaurant Valentino’s thoughts were on Clara and the way she’d clung to him during their balloon ride. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. For purely selfish reasons this countdown needed to come to an end.

  He reached for his phone to let his sister know he was coming, but realized he’d left it on the dresser back at the villa. It didn’t matter. When he parked out back and joined Isabella upstairs, he found her still in the apartment making breakfast for their father. The timing was perfect. Valentino could eat with him while she went to market.

  As he entered the kitchen it struck him how warm and colorful she’d made the apartment. The place looked lived in and comfortable, the antithesis of his villa in Monaco as well as the one he was living in now. He discovered he couldn’t wait to move into his own farmhouse with Clara.

  On top of the upright piano in the corner his sister had put photographs of their mother and the family. He wandered over to it and studied the likeness of her he remembered best. Because of a certain conversation with Clara, his stomach didn’t clench as it usually did. His wife had changed him so much already, he didn’t know himself.

  “Izzy?” He headed into the dining room where she’d set the table. “I’m taking Clara to Monaco with me for a couple of days. I have to meet with my sponsor. He knows I’ve quit racing, but I’d like to tell him in person.”

  “Is she well enough to travel?”

  “The nightly dialysis has made a new woman of her.”

  Her eyes watered. “I’m so glad, but waiting for a kidney must be so hard on both of you.”

  “We’ve been doing our best not to think about it.” Valentino didn’t tell her that he was waiting for a phone call from Dr. Arno with the results of his own tests.

  “Trust me to bring it up.”

  He gave her a hug. “Thank you for caring so much. I didn’t want to leave town without telling you and let you think I was deserting you again.”

  She shook her head. “I wouldn’t think that, but I’m glad you’re here. Papa’s been asking about you. I’ll get him.”

  “Let me do it,” he interjected. “You go. I’ll take care of him until you get back.”

  “Thanks. I realize you’re anxious to get going so I won’t be more than a half-hour.”

  “Perfect.”

  Once she was out the door, he walked down the hall and knocked on his father’s bedroom door. “Papa?”

  “Is that you, Valentino?”

  He always said that, even though he knew who it was on the other side. “Who else? I came to eat breakfast with you.”

  “Ah—I’m coming.”

  “Don’t forget your cane.”

  “No one will let me forget it!” he grumbled as he emerged in his tan trousers and matching sport shirt. His eyes stared at Valentino. “How is your Clara?”

  “Good, all things considered.”

  His father’s progress was slow. They finally reached the dining room and sat down at the table where Isabella had left warm rolls, fruit and cappuccino. Valentino helped adjust the chair for him and rested his cane against the table leg.

  “She’s a brave woman. Noble, too.”

  “That’s an interesting choice of words, Papa.” Valentino had thought the same thing about her, but didn’t expect to hear his father express it.

  “Well, isn’t she? The way she carries on with that sunny disposition makes me ashamed of the way I’ve been complaining.” He cleared his throat. “While we’re alone, I want to tell you how proud I am of you for taking such good care of her.”

  Valentino sensed his father’s sincerity. Another surprise. “Aunt Lisa asked me if I had lost my mind.”

  “When did she dare talk to you?”

  “She phoned me the other night while I was giving Clara a treatment.”

  His father munched on his roll for a minute. “My sister is a born troublemaker. I happen to know you had a special feeling for the Rossetti girl from the time your poor mamma died. Listen to me, my son, because you are my son, even if you aren’t my blood.”

  Valentino lifted his head to stare at this man he thought he knew.

  “I can see what a terrible mistake I made by not adopting you years ago, but I was afraid.”

  “Of what?” Valentino whispered in shock. He couldn’t believe they were having this conversation.

  To his surprise, Luca’s eyes watered. “I was such a failure as a father to my first two sons, I didn’t feel I had the right to claim you for my own. Violetta didn’t dare talk to me about it. With hindsight I can see she felt so guilty for the affair, she was afraid to ask me. But I was to blame for much of the trouble during that period. Earning a living was always a struggle. It caused difficulties in both my marriages.”

  In the silence that followed, his father wept quietly. “I didn’t feel worthy of the honor to be your father officially.”

  Valentino lowered his head, unable to talk. Emotion had closed up his throat.

  “I don’t expect you to understand how it was for me as a young man. I fell for the twins’ mother, but she wasn’t happy here in Italy. She was an exciting, glamorous American woman who had a high-powered and glamorous job to match. But she didn’t feel accepted here and when our twins were born, her partying had to come to an end.

  “I was struggling to keep my roadside stall running. Things just didn’t work out. When the children turned two, she left them with me and went back to Boston where she divorced me.”

  “What?” Valentino was incredulous. “From the way Aunt Lisa made it sound, you abandoned them.”

  “That didn’t come until later.” Sorrow twisted his features. “My business didn’t make any money. By the time the children turned three, I was in desperate financial trouble and asked Lisa for a loan just to buy the boys some food until the situation improved. Sorella was doing well and I promised I would pay her back with interest if she would just help me out for a while.”

  Valentino could already see the writing on the wall. “She didn’t lend you any money, did she?”

  “No. Not that she had to, but I had no one else to turn to. She told me I ought to send the boys to their mother in Boston since she had a lot more money and
could take care of them properly.”

  It was always the money with Valentino’s aunt, yet she’d never told anyone she’d turned down his father’s request for a loan.

  His father took a shuddering breath. “I was in dire straits, Valentino. I loved my boys more than you can imagine, but I was unable to provide for them at the time. In the end I had no choice but to send them to their mother. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, especially when I never knew my own father.”

  The similarity of Luca’s and Valentino’s beginnings wasn’t wasted on him.

  “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not making excuses. I’m only trying to give you an explanation for the reason I never told you children about the twins. I was too ashamed over my inability to provide for them. It took me years to start earning enough money to be a family man.”

  More tears trickled down. “I don’t expect forgiveness from anyone. I called the boys on their eighteenth birthdays. They didn’t want anything to do with me. Who could blame them?” He put up his hand. “But before you leave here today, I want you to know something.

  “When you were born, I named you Valentino in honor of my father, William Valentine. Besides my love, it was the most precious thing I could give you. Your mamma wanted that name for you, too.”

  The revelations just kept coming.

  “How she loved her Tino. The diabetes she suffered from was a terrible disease. With every blackout I feared it was the end and you children would lose your mother.”

  Valentino’s breath caught. “Every blackout? You mean it happened more than once?”

  “Yes, but we didn’t tell you so you wouldn’t get alarmed. The doctor said she was dead before she fell down the stairs. Cristiano was just old enough to feel guilty that he hadn’t gotten home sooner that day.”

  “I felt guilty, too, and thought I was to blame because I couldn’t revive her.”

  A heavy sigh escaped. “How sad that both my sons took on that extra burden when you were already suffering.”

  Clara had been right.

  While his mind grappled with information that cleared up the distorted picture he’d carried around for years, they heard Isabella enter the apartment. “I’m back, in case anyone wants to know!”

  “Come and join us!” their father called out.

  “In a moment.”

  Valentino eyed him through new eyes. “Papa?”

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t want you to worry about finances anymore. If you don’t like my ideas for increasing the business, I’d like to make you a loan to help pay off any debts you have owing because I know you’ll pay it back when you can.”

  His father resisted.

  “Let me do this for you. If you hadn’t given me a good life, I wouldn’t be in the position I am now. Think about it and we’ll talk again after Clara and I get back from Monaco in a couple of days.”

  He patted his arm. “I’m overwhelmed, but you need to keep it for your family now.”

  “There’s enough to do both.” Valentino got to his feet, eager to get back to his wife. He had so much to tell her, it would take the whole drive to Monaco. Only a few more days! Surely Dr. Arno would call any day with the results of Valentino’s tests and Clara’s transplant could go ahead. Then their lives would truly begin…

  Clara had just hung up from talking to her mother to tell her their plans when she heard Valentino’s cell phone ring. He’d obviously gone off without it. She lifted it from the dresser to glance at the caller ID, assuming it was someone from his company.

  To her surprise it was coming from the Immaculata Teaching Hospital in Rome. Her body shook in reaction. She wondered what it could mean. Dr. Arno’s office was there.

  She clicked on. “Pronto?”

  “Signor Casali, per favore.”

  “He’s not here, but this is his wife Signora Casali. May I take a message for him?”

  No sooner had she said it than her husband walked in their bedroom, his dark eyes searching out her gaze.

  “This is the lab calling from Immaculata Hospital in Rome. Your husband asked that he be notified the minute his test results were done. Please tell him they’ve been sent to Dr. Arno’s office.”

  The person on the other end gave out a phone number before the line went dead, but Clara’s mind was reeling.

  She stared at Valentino. “That was the hospital in Rome letting you know Dr. Arno had the results of your tests. They must have you mixed up with me, but before I could question it, they hung up. You’d better call them back.”

  As she handed it to him her cell phone rang. It was still lying on the bed. She reached for it and said hello.

  “Clara?”

  The familiar voice caused her heart to thud. “Hello, Dr. Arno.” Was he calling because the blood Carlo had drawn the other night showed her anemia was worse?

  “It’s good to hear your voice. How are you doing on the nightly dialysis?”

  “Fine. I’ve been feeling better and better,” she said while Valentino stood there watching her in a way that raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

  “That’s wonderful.” After a distinct pause he said, “I have even more wonderful news for you.”

  As she continued to look at Valentino, pure revelation flowed through her. “You mean about my husband volunteering a kidney for me?” A softness had entered his eyes, too piercingly sweet for her to sustain. She turned away from him.

  “Then Valentino told you. We both felt it would be better if the identity of your donor remained a secret until you came into the hospital for the transplant, but as long as you already know…”

  Clara bowed her head, praying for the inspiration to make it through this phone call. “To say I’m in shock would be putting it mildly.” All this time he’d been laying the groundwork… The extent of his self-sacrifice staggered her.

  “The best kind of shock there is. You both need to check in the hospital as soon as you can get here.”

  “You’re talking today?” The rhetorical question came out more for herself than for him.

  “Preferably in the next two hours so the lab can run a few more tests on you. If all looks good, we’ll do the transplant in the morning.”

  By now Valentino had walked around so she was forced to look at him. Clara closed her eyes tightly.

  “I’m afraid we won’t be coming, Dr. Arno.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You see, we’re on our way to Monaco for a few days so Valentino can talk to his sponsor face to face. He’s already turned his home into a hospital and has given up his racing career for me. I won’t allow him to give up one of his kidneys, too.” Scalding tears ran their course down her cheeks. “That’s carrying altruism to an extreme not even God would condone.”

  “Piccola—”

  The endearment scorched her to the depths of her soul. She turned away from him again. “Please don’t give up searching for a viable donor, Dr. Arno. I know I won’t.”

  After hanging up, she walked into the bathroom to wash the moisture from her cheeks. When she came out again, an ashen-faced Valentino was still standing where she’d left him.

  “I’m ready to leave for Monaco whenever you are. Our bags are packed.”

  His features looked chiseled. “We’re driving to Rome.”

  An unnatural calm had come over her. “Father Orsini gave us one charge. To make the other person happy. It would make me very happy to see where you used to live. I’d like to meet your racing buddies. You have no idea how much I’ve looked forward to this trip.”

  He studied her for a long time. “We just got married. I don’t want you to die. My idea of happiness trumps yours.”

  Valentino had a way with words and arguments that had always twisted her emotions until she was defeated, but not this time. “Not if it means your death, and it could… I’m not simply referring to the risk you take for undergoing an operation. There’s the rest of your life to consider. If it were shortened beca
use of this experience, I couldn’t handle that along with everything else on my conscience.”

  “Then let me remind you of something Dr. Arno told me.”

  Clara saw the compassion in his eyes. It was too much. “I don’t want to hear it.”

  She grabbed her purse and phone, then reached for her suitcase and started out of the bedroom. He followed with the bag she’d packed for him.

  “You’ll like it,” he persisted after they’d reached the kitchen. “To quote him, ‘At times like these, I always tell my patients to be thankful to God. In his wisdom, he gave everyone two kidneys, even though he knew we only needed one. That’s so we could give the other one away.’”

  She spun around. “I’m sorry, but that lovely little story doesn’t make me feel better.”

  “It should,” he fired back. “I don’t need both of mine. By this time tomorrow you’ll have a functioning kidney again. In four to five more days we’ll be home from the hospital. With the medication he plans for you to take to minimize your body’s rejection, you’ll be ready to throw yourself into the limoncello business before you know it.”

  She lowered her suitcase to the floor. “The day could come when one of your kidneys won’t work. Then you’ll be thankful you still have the other one.”

  “If that moment should come, then I’ll find me a donor.”

  He always had an answer. “What’s the real reason for all this?” she demanded.

  His eyes glittered. “The real reason? That covers a lot of territory, but I suppose it was something Father Orsini said that played into it.”

  Clara didn’t know if she could tolerate hearing it, but she needed to know the whole truth now. “What was it?”

  “He told me you could use a friend.”

  “I wish he hadn’t said anything.”

  “How could he not? You’re a favorite with everyone.”

  “That’s not true,” she cried softly.

  “It’s pointless to argue the fact. Needless to say his remark shot straight to my gut because I realized you’d always been my one abiding friend, the one person who continually built me up and made me believe in myself without asking anything in return.”