Passionately Ever After Read online

“Steven is a good man, pequeña, and he loves you.”

  “I know.” And she loved him. Which made the situation all the more painful. But that didn’t mean that the two of them should be together—not when so many of the people they loved stood to be hurt by their relationship.

  “Then why not give him a chance?”

  “You know why,” Maria told her, not wanting to rehash her reasons for refusing Steven’s proposal. Half-heartedly she iced another row of cookies and hoped Magdalene would just let the subject drop.

  “You are referring to this feud between your families.”

  Maria nodded. “What chance would we have when our being together would tear our families apart?” And she and Steven would probably end up hating each other. She didn’t think she could bear having Steven grow to hate her and blame her for the loss of his family. What kind of life would that be for them? For their baby?

  “I think you underestimate yourself and Steven, Maria. You are a strong and brave young woman, and from what I have learned of Steven, he is equal to the task. Why not at least try?”

  “Because I’m afraid,” Maria admitted. She looked up from the countertop filled with cookies and met Magdalene’s eyes. “I’m afraid of what might happen to my baby.”

  Magdalene looked at her closely for a moment and then her eyes widened with understanding. “The Conti curse,” she whispered.

  “Yes,” Maria said and felt the prickle of tears behind her eyelids. “I know it sounds foolish and I don’t expect you to understand, but I just can’t risk it.”

  “Ah, mi pobre pequeña.” Magdalene put down the dish of sprinkles, took the bowl of icing from Maria, set it aside and opened her arms. She hugged Maria close and stroked her hair as though she were a child.

  Suddenly it all seemed too much and Maria began to sob.

  “There, there,” Magdalene comforted, patting her back. “Go ahead and have yourself a good cry. You’ll feel better.”

  After a few moments, Maria regained control of herself. She stepped back and swiped her eyes and damp cheeks with the hem of her apron. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m being such a ninny,” Maria told her.

  “No need to be sorry. And you are no ninny,” Magdalene assured her. “I told you, you are a very brave young woman.”

  “Who cries for no good reason.”

  “You have many reasons to cry,” Magdalene said seriously. “But you have more reasons to smile—that little one you are carrying,” she continued, shifting her gaze to Maria’s belly. “And a man who loves you very much.”

  “I know,” she said, feeling ashamed to have indulged in self-pity even for a moment.

  “Love can be a powerful weapon, Maria. Even more powerful than a curse.”

  The oven buzzer sounded, saving her from having to respond. She seized on the opportunity to change the subject. “Goodness, I must be losing my touch,” she declared as she grabbed the oven mitts and headed for the oven. “I used to be able to ice an entire batch of cookies and have time for a cup of coffee before the next batch was ready. Can you spread out a couple of sheets of wax paper on the other counter?”

  Magdalene gave her a knowing look, but picked up the roll of wax paper and measured out several sheets to cover the countertops. “The red icing for these?” she asked.

  “Please,” Maria told her as she quickly transferred the hot cookies onto the wax paper and placed the cookie sheet out of harm’s way. “Thanks,” she said and took the bowl of icing from Magdalene.

  “You know Kirsten Van Dych is forever bragging that those fancy chocolate candies she donates for the bazaar are made from authentic Belgian recipes that have been in her family for years,” Magdalene said as she resumed her sprinkling duties. “Just wait until I tell her that these cookies were made from an authentic Italian recipe that is used at Baronessa’s.”

  “Actually this particular recipe has been in the Barone family for more than a century,” Maria informed her. Within minutes, they were once again chatting about the upcoming Christmas Bazaar and life in Silver Valley, abandoning further talk about the Conti curse and Steven.

  “So when do you think you’ll be coming to Boston to visit Karen?” Steven asked the Calderones while seated at the dinner table with them that evening.

  “I’m not sure,” Magdalene responded. “Definitely not until after the New Year. Or perhaps sometime in February. Maybe around the time when your and Maria’s baby is due.”

  “I…Maria and I,” Steven amended, “We would love to have you there for the baby’s birth. Wouldn’t we, Maria?” he asked, doing his best to draw her into the conversation.

  “It would mean a great deal to me if you could be with me when the baby’s born,” Maria said, directing her remarks to the Calderones. “But I’ve been thinking about having the baby here in Silver Valley. I realize it’s an imposition and—”

  “Nonsense,” Magdalene said. “You are welcome to stay here as long as you like. And Louis and I would love for your and Steven’s little one to be born here.”

  “Magdalene is right,” Louis added, his voice deep and the hint of his Spanish heritage marking his speech. “You are welcome to stay with us as long as you like. But the arrival of a baby is a time for family. Are you sure you do not wish to be closer to your own family for such an important event?”

  Steven shot Louis a silent look of thanks. “Louis is right. Once we tell our families about the baby, they’ll all be pretty anxious for the arrival. It would probably be easier for everyone to be there if the baby’s born in Boston.”

  Maria replied in a flat voice, “That’s assuming my family’s still speaking to me when I tell them the news.”

  “When we tell them,” Steven corrected.

  When Maria fell silent once again, Steven did his best to rein in his frustration. He’d never been long on patience, a fact that Ethan Mallory had pointed out to him in a less than polite manner when Steven had called the P.I. that morning demanding that the FBI bring in more help to locate his sister. Despite what his former brother-in-law believed, he had exercised an enormous amount of patience since his arrival in Silver Valley—ever since he’d realized how stressed out Maria was. But after five days of hanging out at the Calderones and trying to get Maria to relax around him so that he could ease her into the idea of marrying him, he felt no closer to his goal now than he’d been when he had arrived. How in the devil was he supposed to convince her to marry him when she barely said ten words to him and avoided him at every chance? And what was he going to do if she dug in her heels and insisted on remaining in Montana to have the baby?

  Refusing to accept that as a possibility, he tried again. “Then it’s settled,” he told the Calderones. “Maria and I will expect you both in Boston for Valentine’s Day to celebrate the baby’s birth with us.”

  “You have a date,” Magdalene replied.

  “Good. And I want you to stay long enough so that I have a chance to repay your hospitality. While I can’t promise a meal as sumptuous as this one, I know my way around the kitchen.”

  “Oh, but that is not necessary, Steven. You and Maria will be so busy with your little one,” Magdalene pointed out.

  “Maria’s the one with the tough job. Besides dinner shouldn’t be too difficult. I think I can still remember how to whip up some pasta. But if necessary, I can always order takeout from my folks’ restaurant. Conti’s serves the best Italian food in Boston.”

  At the mention of his family’s place, Maria visibly stiffened. Quickly she averted her gaze and began staring at the food on her plate—but not before he’d seen the troubled look in her eyes. Steven immediately wanted to kick himself for the slip of tongue.

  “Louis and I will look forward to it, then,” Magdalene said, breaking the silence and some of the tension. “But for now, why don’t I get you some more of that roast?”

  Steven could have kissed the other woman for the diversion. Holding up his hands, he smiled and said, “As much as I’d like to,
I think I’d better pass. If I eat any more, I won’t be able to move. But thank you anyway. The roast was absolutely delicious.”

  “I told you my Magdalene is a wonderful cook,” Louis claimed proudly, a wide smile creasing his weathered face. “It is one of the reasons I married her.”

  “Really? I do not seem to recall any mention of my cooking skills when you asked me to marry you, Louis Calderone.”

  The other man’s grin faded. Alarm clouded his dark eyes. “I said it was one of the reasons I married you, mi amor,” Louis replied, looking like a man who’d just found himself in the middle of a minefield. “But it was you, your beauty and your sweetness that I fell in love with.”

  Steven bit back a grin at the other man’s snappy recovery and noted Magdalene’s silent arch of her brow. Watching the pair, he couldn’t help envy the Calderones the closeness that came from years spent as husband and wife. It made him realize just how badly he wanted that same kind of closeness for himself and Maria.

  But how was he ever going to realize that dream when he could barely get Maria to look at him?

  “It is true, Magdalene,” Louis told his wife. “Your being such a wonderful cook was only an added bonus.”

  “Actually Louis was telling me just this morning how the two of you met,” Steven began. “He said he was passing through Silver Valley during a festival when he saw you. And just like that,” he said with a snap of his fingers, “he fell like a ton of bricks and has been here ever since.”

  “It was the weekend of the Big Sky Summer Festival,” Magdalene explained, her expression softening with her voice. “I had just graduated from high school and was working at Miss Ellie’s Diner for the summer when Louis came.”

  “I was on my way to Butte and stopped for a bite to eat. I pulled up a chair at the diner and was studying the menu when I heard the voice of an angel ask me if I wanted to hear the day’s specials. I looked up and there she was. The most beautiful creature I had ever set my eyes on.”

  “You ordered the special—beef steak and mashed potatoes,” Magdalene reminded her husband.

  “You could have told me the special was sawdust and I would have ordered it. It was as though I had been struck by a lightning bolt. All I could see was you.”

  “He hung around for nearly three hours drinking black coffee and eating three different desserts until I got off work,” Magdalene explained.

  “I asked if I could walk you home, but you said you were meeting a girlfriend at the festival,” Louis added.

  “My friend Linda Garcia…Linda Ramos now,” Magdalene said. “Louis claimed he was in town for the festival and asked if we would mind if he tagged along with us. But it was a fib. He’d never planned to go to the festival at all.”

  “It was only a small fib,” he countered, never taking his eyes from his wife as the two of them retold the tale of their first meeting. “And it got you to spend the evening with me.”

  “Poor Linda, you pushed her off on that obnoxious Buck Martin,” Magdalene accused.

  “I had to do something,” Louis offered in defense. “Linda’s mouth—it was never still. And she has this whiny voice that hurts a body’s ears, like fingernails scratching on a chalkboard.”

  “She has a perfectly lovely voice,” Magdalene defended.

  “Yes. If you like the sound of a cat wailing.”

  “Louis! What a thing to say!”

  “It is true,” Louis insisted.

  “Well, maybe her voice is a little high-pitched. But she was only trying to be friendly.”

  “She was not the one I wanted to be friendly with. You were. I knew the moment I set my eyes on you that you were the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.” He leaned over and kissed his wife lightly on the lips.

  As the pair exchanged loving looks, Steven slanted a glance over to Maria. Except for the remark about possibly remaining in Silver Valley, she had said very little all through dinner. Since he’d mentioned his family, she’d said nothing. He willed her to look at him now, to share his amusement at the other couple’s love story. Finally, as though she had sensed his wishes, she lifted her gaze. Humor glinted in her brown eyes. Steven smiled and was rewarded by the tug of a grin on her lips.

  Magdalene tapped her husband on his hand. “Really, Louis. We have guests. I am sure Maria and Steven are quite bored with the tale of our romance.”

  “Not at all,” Steven assured Magdalene. “It reminds me of how I felt the first time I saw Maria.”

  “Steven, I doubt that Magdalene and Louis are interested in hearing how we met,” Maria informed him.

  “Oh, but we are. Please, tell us,” Magdalene encouraged him.

  Maria sat back in her chair, crossed her arms. But when no further objections were forthcoming, Steven continued, “I met Maria at the wedding of my college roommate’s sister Gail.”

  “The groom was a Barone,” Maria pointed out.

  “Maria’s right. Her brother Nicholas was the groom, but I didn’t allow the fact that he was a Barone to stop me from attending.”

  “That’s because you were interested in Gail’s friend,” Maria accused.

  Encouraged by the flash of heat in her voice, Steven explained, “I’ll admit the notion of becoming better acquainted with one of Gail’s bridesmaids was one of the reasons I went to the wedding. But then I looked across the room and saw this gorgeous brunette with the most incredible brown eyes.”

  “Maria,” Magdalene said.

  “Yes. The minute I saw her, I forgot all about the other woman. All I could think of was that I had to meet her.”

  “How romantic,” Magdalene said. “What did you do?”

  “I asked her to dance and monopolized her time the rest of the evening. When the reception was over and the band was packing up to leave, I refused to let her out of my arms until she gave me her phone number and a kiss.”

  “Because you didn’t know I was a Barone.”

  “It wouldn’t have mattered if I had known,” Steven informed her. “I told you who your family is didn’t matter to me then. And it doesn’t matter to me now.” Forgetting his audience, he told Maria, “I’m not going to throw away what we have, the future we can have together with our baby, just because of some ridiculous feud and superstitious nonsense.”

  Maria shoved to her feet, tipping over her chair in the process. “I keep telling you it’s not nonsense. And it’s not your decision to make. It’s mine. I’m sorry, Magdalene, Louis, but I…I… Excuse me,” she cried out and then fled the room.

  “Maria, wait!”

  “Let her go,” Magdalene said, putting a hand on his arm when he started to go after her.

  “But she’s upset.”

  “Yes. And if you go after her now and try to convince her you’re right, it will only upset her more. Try to be patient.”

  “I have been patient and it isn’t working.” Steven sank back down in his seat. He shoved a hand through his hair, then let out an exasperated breath.

  “But it is working. Why do you think she was so upset?”

  “Huh?”

  Magdalene laughed and reached out and patted his hand. “I saw Maria’s face when you spoke of this other woman. She was jealous.”

  “She has no reason to be jealous. I haven’t looked at another woman since I met her. She’s the one I love. She’s the woman I want to marry.”

  “And she feels the same way. But she’s scared. She fears losing her family and she also fears for her baby’s safety.”

  “Because of that damn curse,” Steven spit out. Frustration gnawed at him, making him feel raw inside.

  “Try to be a little more patient.”

  “I’m not sure I can. I’m running out of time, Magdalene. I spoke to the detective handling my sister’s kidnapping today. Things are at a standstill and the longer she’s missing, the worse the chances are that we’ll get her back unharmed.” Deciding he needed to be honest, he said, “I need to get back to Boston, but I don’t want to
leave here without Maria.”

  “Maybe you won’t have to,” Magdalene told him, a satisfied gleam coming into her eyes. “I have an idea—one that could help speed things up.”

  Five

  Magdalene had been right. The long soak in the tub had helped her to relax, Maria thought as she exited the bathroom adjoining her bedroom. So had the Calderones’ gracious acceptance of her apology for the emotional and hasty retreat she’d made from the dining room earlier that evening. Despite Magdalene’s assurance that the incident was of no consequence and that they understood the pressure she was under, Maria couldn’t help but be appalled by her actions.

  She was the manager of a successful business. She’d dealt with hundreds of disasters since taking the helm of Baronessa Gelateria. And she’d done so calmly. Her own family swore she was not only the image of her late grandmother Angelica, but that she possessed the same cool head and decisiveness as the Baronessa’s founder.

  So where was that cool-headed, decisive woman now? And when had she become such an emotional wreck?

  Since she’d fallen in love with Steven, the voice inside her head whispered. Maria sighed. Although he’d been gone when she’d returned downstairs and she’d been spared facing him again tonight, she was going to have to face him. She was also going to have to face their situation because of the baby. And she was going to have to do it soon.

  Smoothing a hand over her protruding stomach, Maria sighed. If only she knew what to do. If only she could figure out some way for her and the baby to be with Steven without ripping their families apart. But try as she might, she didn’t see any way for that to be possible. Tears pricked her eyes at the admission. Sucking in her breath, she blinked them back, refusing to give in to those feelings of despair again.

  What she needed was a good night’s sleep, Maria decided. Maybe in the morning she would feel better and could make the right decision for everyone concerned. After shedding her robe, she tossed it across the foot of the bed and made her way around to the side. She climbed into bed, turned out the lamp and snuggled under the covers. Closing her eyes, she tried to sleep. But for the next twenty minutes, she tossed and turned as images of Steven and her family filled her head.