“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he mu

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he murmured, bending down to drop a quick kiss onto the soft, exposed skin where her shoulder and neck met. “I called your name at least twice but you were totally wrapped up in your own little world.”“I was just thinking…” she shrugged, her voice trailing off.“About?”“Everything… nothing,” another listless shrug.“How are you feeling?” He asked, coming down on his haunches in front of her.“I’m fine. A little tired…” He lifted a hand and gently traced one of her delicate cheekbones with his thumb before nimbly jumping to his feet and sitting down on the sofa next to her. Neither of them said anything for a while, they just listened to the rain and watched it cascading down the window like a waterfall.“I want you to meet my father,” he suddenly announced unexpectedly and she froze before turning her head slowly to meet his brooding gaze.“What?”“My father…” he repeated and she bit her lip before clearing her throat uncertainly.“I don’t know if that’s…” she began but he interrupted her before she could finish.“His condition is deteriorating very quickly,” he said abruptly, his voice broke slightly as he said the words and his jaw clenched.“Oh Sandro, I’m so sorry…” she whispered, her eyes going liquid with sympathy for him. “When’s your flight?”“I’m not leaving,” he told her grimly and her eyes shadowed in confusion, before flaring as she realized why he refused to go and be with his father."Sandro," suaranya begitu rendah hampir dibawa ke orang yang duduk di inci dari padanya. "Anda tidak bisa tinggal karena saya. Anda harus pergi dan keluarga Anda. Tempat Anda adalah dengan mereka sekarang.""Kau keluarga saya juga, Theresa," Dia tiba-tiba membentak, pusaran frustrasi dan rasa sakit yang menggenang di matanya. "Dan aku menolak untuk meninggalkan Anda di sini sendirian.""Hampir tidak sendirian, Sandro..." dia diberhentikan airily. " Staf, Lisa dan Rick dan bahkan ayah saya di sini bagi saya. Pulang ke rumah untuk keluarga Anda...""Ini adalah dimana saya harus, ini adalah tempat saya tinggal. Berhenti berdebat dengan saya demi Tuhan!"Dia berkata sambil menggeram."Anda tidak akan menyalahkan saya untuk ini juga, Sandro..." dia kesal impotently, mengenali kemiringan keras kepala rahang beliau dan resolusi steely di matanya dan mengetahui bahwa pikirannya terdiri dan ia tidak akan bergerak pada masalah kecuali sesuatu yang drastis terjadi untuk mengubah pikirannya. " Satu-satunya alasan Anda di sini sekarang adalah karena ayah saya dan nya korup skema sedikit blackmailing! Ayah saya dan saya telah mengacaukan hidup Anda dan keluarga Anda cukup; Jangan membuatnya lebih buruk dengan tinggal di sini dengan saya semua orang, ketika keluarga Anda mengorbankan kebebasan Anda untuk kebutuhan Anda yang paling.""Jangan Anda sebelumnya," Dia tiba-tiba kambing yang dimasak, meraih dan menggenggam tangannya begitu erat ia memotong sirkulasi. "Benjolan diri Anda ke dalam kategori yang sama sebagai ayahmu lagi, Theresa, Semua ini adalah kesalahan Anda dan sekarang Anda perlu saya juga.""Aku tidak perlu Anda," dia tercantum jelas. "Saya menolak untuk membiarkan Anda martir diri seperti ini. Tugas di atas segalanya... adalah bahwa hal itu? Penderitaan panjang Sandro, selalu melakukan hal yang benar, selalu menempatkan kebutuhan orang lain sebelum dirinya sendiri. Selalu mengorbankan kebahagiaan nya sendiri di altar keluarga kewajiban. Aku tidak akan menjadi kewajiban Anda, Sandro. Aku menolak... pergi dengan keluarga Anda! ""Anda adalah keluarga saya, sialan! Anda, Anda, Anda!" Dia tiba-tiba berteriak frustrasi dan dia melompat dalam ketakutan, rahang nya akan kendur ketika ia melompat dari sofa untuk alat tenun atas dia marah. Sangat jarang Sandro kehilangan dingin seperti ini yang Theresa hanya menatap sampai ke wajahnya frustrasi, celaka dalam keheningan terkejut. Semua udara tiba-tiba tampaknya meninggalkan layar nya dan bahunya terkulai seperti dia jatuh berlutut di depannya, membawa matanya ke tingkat yang sama sebagai miliknya. "Saya ingin berada di sini dengan Anda... Mengapa begitu sulit bagi Anda untuk memahami?" Suaranya telah menjatuhkan turun ke bisikan. Matanya tiba-tiba, mengejutkan, penuh dengan kelembaban yang dibuatnya tidak ada usaha untuk menyembunyikan dari dia dan ia bergumam sesuatu di Italia, suaranya tebal dengan emosi. Dia sedikit bibir dan menggelengkan kepalanya."Aku tidak mengerti..." dia berbisik menyesal dan ia mengulurkan tangan besar untuk Piala pipiku nya.“My father is dying, cara,” he repeated in English, his voice absolutely wracked with emotion. “Please… I need you to just not fight with me right now.” She nodded and reached out with both hands to stroke his hair back from his broad, proud forehead. The gesture seemed to undo him and his face crumpled before he wrapped his strong arms around her thickened waist and buried his face in the mound of her stomach and Theresa curled her upper body protectively over his head as she whispered soothing little snippets of nothing into his hair.“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to make this more difficult; I just thought that you were staying out of some misguided sense of honour and obligation. I would hate that, Sandro. I would hate for you to stay and then if the… the worst happened… you would blame me because you couldn’t be there at his side.”“I know,” he murmured, finally lifting his head to look up at her, his face grim and carefully neutral, despite the roiling emotion she could see in his eyes. “And I can see why you would think that… I have blamed you for way too much in the past and treated you terribly but you have to believe me when I tell you that the last thing in the world I want to do anymore, is hurt you, Theresa.” She said nothing… knowing that even though it would not be intentional, he would still hurt her when he eventually left, when they divorced, when he married Francesca. All of those things were as inevitable as the sunset, they would happen and they would devastate her.“So what did you want to ask me?” She finally asked, without acknowledging his fervent words. The omission did not go unnoticed and Sandro flinched slightly before taking a deep breath and levering himself up off his knees to sit down on the sofa beside her, angling his body so that he could face her.“I want you to meet my father,” he repeated and her eyes showed her confusion.“I’m not sure I understand… you know that doctor Shelbourne has prohibited any flying during my third trimester,” he smiled slightly before shaking his head.“Theresa, cara, you really need to catch up to the twenty-first century,” he teased half-heartedly, it had become a standing joke between him and Rick, of all people, that Theresa was so technologically-backward. She could barely operate her mobile phone, so e-mailing, instant messaging and every other form of electronic –inging, left her completely baffled. She had wiped out the hard drives on three laptops in as many years and now kept her records strictly on paper in a filing cabinet in her office.“So then, what do you have in mind?” She asked curiously.“Certainly nothing that involves either you or my father flying anywhere… have you never heard of video-conferencing?” He asked, brushing back a strand of hair that had slipped from its anchor behind her ear, to swing into her face. He always did little things like that lately, he was always touching her, petting her and after her initial discomfort with all the contact, Theresa now barely even noticed it, simply enjoying the pampering.