Rebecca Winters - New Arrivals - His Expectant Mistress - Accidentally Pregnant! / One-Night Pregnancy / One Tiny Miracle...

He led her through the vestibule and down the aisle to the front where they sat on a pew. Soon a man and a woman entered from a side door. They nodded to Vincenzo before taking their places on either side of the aisle. In another minute Father Rinaldo appeared.

When he walked over, the three of them stood up. “You’re late.”

In a spate of Italian words Dino explained their delay.

The priest winked at him and patted him on the head. “Accidents will happen. I understand.” He glanced at Vincenzo. “We’ll do the paperwork after the ceremony.”

“Grazie.”

“Dino? Stand by your papa. Signorina Spiros will stand at his other side. Vincenzo? If you’ll take Irena’s hand, we’ll begin.”

She felt it curl around hers in a familiar hold that warmed her heart. The priest performed the ceremony in English. It was probably the shortest church service ever given. No doubt Vincenzo had everything to do with the choice of language and the length.

They both made their responses at the appropriate time and he eventually said, “I now pronounce you, Vincenzo, and you, Irena, husband and wife. Amen.”

He smiled at Dino and said something in Italian. Irena saw her new stepson grin before he answered, “Sì,” in a spirited voice.

Vincenzo turned to her. “Father Rinaldo just asked Dino if he thought I should kiss my bride now.” On that note he lowered his mouth to hers in a kiss sweeter than anything she’d ever known. Touched beyond words, she scarcely heard the priest say something else to Dino in Italian.

“Papa—” He tugged on his father’s sleeve.

When she looked, he’d handed Vincenzo a gold ring. He turned back to her. “This was my mother’s. She told me to keep it for the woman I would marry.” So saying, he slid it on Irina’s ring finger.

He really couldn’t have loved Mila or he would have given it to her and it would have remained in her possession, but the whole circumstance of his first marriage was still a mystery to her. Vincenzo was his own man. She couldn’t understand him marrying Mila because of pressure.

“Irena?” Her head jerked up. “Father Rinaldo has asked us to follow him to the vestibule so we can sign the marriage certificate.”

“Of course.”

Dino hurried ahead of them. The witnesses signed first, then it was Irena’s turn. She had to fill in Liapis after Spiros.

Vincenzo came last. She waited while he attached his signature. It took so long, she looked down at the paper. Her eyes widened in surprise because his name went on and on with a flourish.

Guilio Fortunato Coletti Vincenzo Antonello Gaspare Valsecchi.

After he’d signed it, the female witness gave Irena a slight curtsey. “Congratulazioni, duchessa,” she muttered.

Irena couldn’t have heard the other woman right, but when she looked around to talk to her, she and the other man had slipped away.

“Vincenzo?” She caught at his arm. He lifted his dark head.

“ Sì, Signora Valsecchi? I don’t know about you, but I like the sound of it. Very much in fact.” The smoldering look he gave her melted her bones.

“That woman just called me Duchess. ”

He had to sign another form. “Pay no attention,” he muttered. “It’s a defunct title now and has been for years, but some will still insist on using it to feel important.”

She refused to be put off. “You’re a duke?”

“It’s meaningless, tesora. ”

Irena turned to Dino. “Do you know who your father is?”

“ Sì. He is Papa!”

“No—I mean—Oh—” she moaned in frustration. Vincenzo’s low chuckle only added to it.

He finally stood up and handed the papers to Dino. “Will you run these inside to Father Rinaldo? We’ll wait for you.”

Dino nodded and dashed off. After he’d disappeared, Vincenzo pulled her into his arms. “All right. I’ll tell you this once, and then we don’t ever have to discuss it again. My father is the most recent Duke of La Spezia.”

She blinked. “So the Valsecchis were once an important family.”

“Once!” he emphasized. “At the time of my marriage to Mila, Papa was going through a cancer scare and had the title transferred to me. I couldn’t have cared less about it. Unfortunately, the news made the papers. But then he recovered. After I divorced Mila he disowned me and the title was rescinded. That’s all there is.”

Irena shook her head. “That couldn’t be all. Who was your mother?”

He studied her for a moment. “The Antonellos were a former royal family from the Ligurian region.”

“And Mila?”

“Her family came from Florence and were of lesser importance. It means absolutely nothing, Irena.”

“Except that in divorcing her, you were royally ostracized.”

He gave an elegant shrug of his shoulders. “That’s one way of putting it I suppose, but it’s history now.”

“Except that I’m a nobody.”

“That’s the beauty of it.” His eyes blazed hotter. “I’ve finally gotten my heart’s desire.”

Before she could ask him what he meant by that comment, Dino came running back. Vincenzo picked him up and gave him a hug. The two of them had a major conversation in Italian. Whatever his father told him, Dino ended up shouting for joy.

As they went out the doors of the church, Vincenzo translated for her. “I asked him if he was ready to go on our honeymoon. He said yes and wanted to know if it was a long, long way. I told him we needed to fly to get there.”

“Has he been on a plane before?”

“No. When I told him we’d be taking the Valsecchi company jet in order to reach Disneyland, you heard his answer.” “Irena? Are you sad we have to go home today?” Dino looked so cute in his Indiana Jones hat. Vincenzo had gone down to the desk to take care of the bill, leaving the two of them alone for a minute.

“ Sì, but I know your mama can’t wait to see you. She’ll love the presents you bought her.”

Throughout their trip they’d made arrangements for him to call Mila every late afternoon when she’d be up and available. Their conversations weren’t long, but hearing his mother’s voice every day probably cut down on any homesickness he might be feeling.

Irena couldn’t believe that in the last two weeks she could actually understand some of his Italian and say a few phrases back, with lots of mistakes and plenty of laughs, of course. Still, they’d made a pact to speak it as much as possible and it was working. Vincenzo had told her she would learn Italian faster around his son than anyone else. It was true.

“Look!” she said to him. “We’ve had to buy two suitcases to hold all your new clothes and souvenirs!”

Her comment made him giggle as he ran around in his Indiana Jones costume. They’d bought him Indiana Jones LEGO to take home and build. Adventureland had been the biggest hit for him and they had gone there eight times, but he still couldn’t find the courage to go on the jungle cruise.

Irena let him know she was nervous on boats, too, but would go on it if he would. She thought she was making progress when he got as far as the entrance to it, but then he had backed away.

Vincenzo kissed the side of her neck. “Thanks for trying to help him.”

“Maybe I need to start with something simpler, like helping him get in a swimming pool. What if I took lessons with him? Do you think that would work?”

“Possibly. You have a special way about you.”

“It’s because I love him.”

“He can feel it. That’s why you almost talked him into it.” Almost being the operative word. In the short time they’d been together, she felt like the three of them had become a little family. “Did I tell you you’re going to be the most perfect mother? That little life inside you doesn’t know how lucky he or she is.”