Bound By His Vow: His Final Bargain / The Rings That Bind / Marriage Made of Secrets. Майя Блейк
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took one of Alessandra’s hands in hers. ‘We’d better get you inside, out of this hot sun. I don’t want you to get sunburnt.’
Leo moved forward to scoop his daughter up to carry her back to the villa but she seemed content to walk, albeit gingerly, by Eliza’s side. He watched as she toddled alongside Eliza, her little hand entwined with hers, her footsteps awkward and cautious, but, with Eliza’s gentle encouragement, she gradually gained a little more confidence.
‘Four steps, Alessandra,’ Eliza said as they got to the flagstone steps leading to the back entrance of the villa. ‘Do you want to count them as we go?’
‘One…two…three…four!’
Eliza ruffled her hair with an affectionate hand. ‘What did I tell you? You’re an absolute star. You’ll soon be racing about the place without any help at all.’
Marella appeared from the kitchen as they came in. ‘I’ve been baking your favourite cookies, Alessandra. Why don’t we let Papà and Eliza have a moment while we have a snack?’
‘Grazie, Marella,’ Leo said. ‘There are a few things I’d like to talk to Eliza about. Give us ten minutes.’
‘Sì, signor.’
Leo met Eliza’s gaze once the housekeeper had left with his daughter. ‘It seems I was right in selecting you as a suitable stand-in for Kathleen. You’ve achieved much more in a day with Alessandra than she has in months.’
‘I’m sure Kathleen is totally competent as a nanny.’
‘That is true, but you seem to have a natural affinity with Alessandra.’
‘She’s a lovely child.’
‘Most of the people who deal with her find her difficult.’
‘She has a disability,’ she said. ‘It’s easy to focus on what she can’t do, but in my experience in teaching difficult children it is wiser to focus on what they can do. She can do a lot more than you probably realise.’
A frown pulled at his brow. ‘Are you saying I’m holding her back in some way?’
‘No, of course not,’ she said. ‘You’re doing all the right things. It’s just that it’s sometimes hard to see what she needs from a parent’s perspective. You want to protect her but in protecting her you may end up limiting her. She has to experience life. She has to experience the dangers and the disappointments; otherwise she will always live in a protective bubble that has no relation to the real world. She needs to live in the real world. She’s blind but that doesn’t mean she can’t live a fulfilled and satisfying life.’
He moved to the other side of the room, his hand going to his neck, where a golf ball of tension was gnawing at him. ‘What do you suggest I do that I’m not already doing?’
‘You could spend more time with her, one on one. She needs quality time with you but also quantity time.’
Guilt prodded at him. He knew he wasn’t as hands on as he could be. No one had played with him as a child. His mother had been too busy pursuing her own interests while his father had worked long hours to try and keep his company from going under. Leo wanted to be a better parent than his had been, but Alessandra’s blindness made him feel so wretchedly inadequate. It had paralysed him as a parent. What if he did or said the wrong thing? What if he upset her or made her feel guilty for having special needs? Giulia, in her distress, had said unforgivable things in the hearing of Alessandra. He had tried to make up for it, but there were times when he wondered if it was already too late.
‘I’ll try to free up some time,’ he said. ‘It’s hard when I’m trying to juggle a global business. I can’t always be here. I have to rely on others to take care of her.’
‘You could take her with you occasionally,’ she said. ‘It would be good for her.’
‘What would be the point?’ He threw her a frustrated glance. ‘She can’t see anything.’
‘No, but she can feel, and she would be with you more than she is now. You are all she has now. The bond she has with you is what will build her confidence and sustain her through life. Stop feeling guilty. It’s not your fault she’s blind. It wasn’t Giulia’s fault. It’s just what happened. Those were the cards you were dealt. You have to accept that.’
‘You’re not a parent. You know nothing of the guilt a parent feels.’
Her eyes flinched as if he had struck her. ‘I know much more about guilt than you realise. I live with it every day. I agonise over it. But does it change anything? No. That’s life. You have to find a way to deal with it.’ Her gaze fell away from his as she pushed back a strand of her hair off her face.
Leo frowned as he narrowed his gaze to her left hand. ‘Where’s your ring?’
She glanced down at her hand and her face blanched. ‘I don’t know…’ She looked up at him in panic, her eyes wide with alarm. ‘It was there earlier. I have to find it. It’s not mine.’
‘What do you mean, it’s not yours?’
She shifted her gaze again, her demeanour agitated. ‘It’s my fiancé’s mother’s. It’s a family heirloom. I have to find it. It must have slipped off somewhere. It’s a bit loose. I should’ve had it adjusted, but I—’
‘It’s probably in the garden where you were playing with Alessandra,’ he said. ‘I’ll go and have a look.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ she said, almost pushing him out of the way in her haste to get out of the door. ‘I have to find it.’
‘One of the gardeners will pick it up if it’s out there,’ Leo said. ‘Stop panicking. It didn’t look all that valuable.’
She met his gaze with her distressed one. ‘It’s not about the monetary value. Why does everything have to be about money to you? It’s got enormous sentimental value. I can’t lose it. I just can’t. I have to find it.’
‘I trust my staff to hand it in if they find it. You don’t have to worry. No one is going to rush it off to the nearest pawn shop.’
Her brow was a fine map of worried lines. ‘You don’t understand. I have to find it. I don’t feel right without it on my finger.’
He grasped her flailing hand and held it firm. ‘Why? Because you need it there as a reminder, don’t you? Your fiancé is thousands of miles away but without that ring there to prod your conscience you could so easily forget all about him, couldn’t you?’
She pulled out of his hold and dashed out of the room. Leo heard the slapping of her flat shoes along the marbled floor.
He followed at a much slower pace.
He would be perfectly happy if the blasted ring was never found.
Eliza looked everywhere but there was no sign of her ring. She went over every patch of the lawn. She went over the rose beds and the pathways but there was no trace of it anywhere. Her rising panic beat a sickening tattoo in her chest. How would she explain it to Samantha? It was so careless of her to have neglected to get it tightened. How would she ever make it up to her? It wasn’t just any old ring. It was a symbol of Samantha’s lifelong love for her husband Geoff and now she had lost it.
Leo had come out and spoken to the gardener before he joined her. ‘Any sign?’
Eliza shook her head, her stomach still churning in anguish. ‘Samantha will be devastated.’
‘Samantha?’
‘My fiancé’s mother.’ She wrung her hands, her eyes scanning the lawn in the vain hope that the sunlight would pick up the glitter of the ring. ‘I don’t know how I’ll ever tell her. I have to find it. I have to.’
‘The gardener will keep on looking. You should come