“DEARLY BELOVED, Nico and Fausta. Marriage is the most important of all earthly relationships. It should be entered into reverently, thoughtfully and with full understanding of its sacred nature. Your marriage must stand by the strength of your love and the power of faith in each other and in God.”
Fausta believed that to the core of her soul.
“Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud. Love is never haughty, rude or selfish.”
Except that she’d been selfish, but never again.
“Love does not demand its own way. Love is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever truth wins out.”
Truth had finally won out and Nico now had full knowledge of his parentage. Fausta knew the news he’d waited for a lifetime had released him and had made him free.
“If you love someone,” the priest spoke on, “you will be loyal to them no matter the cost. You will always believe in them, always expect the best in them and will always stand your ground in defending them.”
Those were vows she would defend with her life.
The priest eyed Nico. “Knowing what is expected, do you, Nico, take Fausta to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
Nico answered in his deep voice, “I do.”
At that point the priest looked at Fausta. “Knowing what is expected, do you, Fausta, take Nico to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do with all my heart,” she avowed.
A small smile broke out on the priest’s face. “You will now exchange rings.”
Fausta met Nico’s glance before they reached in their pockets. He put the diamond ring back on her finger and squeezed her hand. She followed by placing Enzo’s ring on Nico’s finger with trembling hands. He had to have been surprised but didn’t let it show.
“In as much as you have given each other these tokens of abiding love in the sight of witnesses, then by the power invested in me by the Church, I pronounce you man and wife. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
He blessed them. “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. You may kiss your bride.”
The short, almost surreal yet perfect ceremony had come to an end.
She was so insanely happy she raised her head to Nico, whose eyes burned with desire for her. He pulled her closer and gave her a husband’s possessive kiss, thrilling her in every part of her being. Fausta clung to his hard, fit body, giving him everything she possessed to show him what he meant to her.
“Every dream of mine has come true,” he whispered before drowning her in passion that filled her with indescribable rapture. “We have two hours before we have to drive home. Come with me.”
Blind with love, she went where he took her. They left the chapel and ascended the staircase to an apartment on the second floor. After picking her up in his arms, he carried her through to the bedroom and followed her down on the bed.
“Mia moglie—” Nico cried against her mouth.
She really was his wife now! They couldn’t get close enough fast enough. No kiss lasted long enough.
“It should be a sin how beautiful you are. Love me, Fausta.”
“That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I first laid eyes on you, amore mio. Don’t ever stop loving me.”
“As if I could.”
The divine sensation of lying in his arms for the next two hours and knowing his possession sent her into ecstasy. Fausta had been able to only imagine what it would be like to know her husband’s possession. But her imagination hadn’t given her a clue of what really went on with this incredible man, who made her feel loved and immortal.
They groaned in breathless protest when the house phone rang. Nico didn’t pick up. They both knew it was Enzo reminding them they needed to leave for Domodossola if Nico wanted to keep his afternoon appointments at the hospital.
“We need to get up,” she whispered against his lips, but she couldn’t bear to move out of his arms.
“Not yet, squisita.” His mouth kissed every feature of her face as a prelude to making love all over again. But when the phone rang a second time, they both knew what it meant.
Fausta slid out of bed, provoking another groan from him, and hurried to the bathroom to shower and dress. Nico followed suit before engulfing her in one long kiss in the doorway before they left the bedroom. “This will have to last until tonight.”
Together they flew down the staircase to the salon where their two favorite people were seated. While Nico removed the ring and handed it back to Enzo, Fausta put the diamond ring back in her pocket. They all hugged.
“You’ll never know what you’ve done for us. This is the happiest day of our lives,” Fausta told them.
Pippa beamed. “To see you two this deliriously in love is pure joy for us. I have a gift for you. Open it when you get home.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
“When you open it, you won’t feel that way.”
Fausta kissed her again and put the small sealed sack in her purse. “I’m embarrassed we didn’t get to say goodbye to Father Pietro. Please tell him how much we appreciated his doing the service for us. We’ll send him a note and be in touch with you soon.”
After signing all the marriage documents, they rushed out to the car. Enzo brought Nico the doctor bag and saw them off, smiling at both of them. “You lucky people. I envy you. Let the adventure begin.”
After starting the car and driving out of the courtyard, Nico reached for her hand. “We’re on an adventure all right,” he declared. “I’ll never forget this day or the fact that Enzo let you put his wedding ring on my finger.”
“He loves you like a son.”
She heard him suck in his breath. “He and Pippa made it possible for us to become man and wife today. Are you happy, Signora Barsotti?”
“I think you know the answer to that. Do you have any idea how much I love the sound of my new name?” she cried emotionally. “I wish—”
“I know,” he broke in. “The last thing I wanted to do was leave the castello. We need weeks and weeks to be alone together. I’m in more agony now than ever before and would never suggest putting a two hour time limit on the wedding night.”
“No.” She squeezed his hand hard.
His car ate up the miles as they sped back to Domodossola. He darted her a glance. “We need all night tonight. After work I’ll come straight to the apartment.”
“You’ll probably be late seeing patients. I’ll need a key so I can bring some of my things over early and have dinner waiting.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be able to eat. One sight of you and everything else will go out of my head except to take you in my arms.”
“I don’t honestly know how I’m going to wait long enough for you to come home.”
“Tell me about it.”
As he drove over the speed limit, she looked at her watch. They were nearing the city. “If you’re supposed to be at the hospital at one, then don’t drive me to the palace. That’ll take too much time. I’ll go inside with you and call for the limo. It’ll look more natural since I’ve often gone there to meet with Mia.”
“Are you going to tell her about us?”
“I won’t say anything to anyone until you and I feel it’s right.”
“Your parents must be told first.”
“Agreed. We’ll talk about it tonight.”
Before long he pulled into the physicians’ parking lot and parked in his spot. Fausta got out on her own and walked inside the hospital behind him. Once inside the doors, he pulled a key off his key chain and handed it to her.
Their gazes fused with longing. “Until tonight, tesora.”
While he walked away, she put the key in her purse and pulled out her cell phone. In a few minutes the limo pulled up to the entrance. The driver opened the rear door for her.
Fausta climbed in, secretly overjoyed that she was now Dr. Barsotti’s wife. Was she ever! Visions of what had happened a couple of hours ago when he’d taken her to another realm of existence robbed her of breath. If the bodyguards following them knew about the marriage already, it didn’t matter.
She put her head back and closed her eyes, dreaming of the night to come. If Nico’s mother had been this in love with his father, Fausta couldn’t imagine the pain they would have gone through to say goodbye.
Thank heaven Fausta didn’t have to face a permanent separation from Nico. They were husband and wife forever. As the priest had said, “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
* * *
Nico was just leaving his office at 7:30 p.m. after a packed schedule when Felipe showed up at the door. The two men gave each other a hug.
“I’m glad to see you back, amico. Let’s get together. Want to go out for a beer right now? I want to tell you about my wedding plans.”
Stifling a moan, Nico said, “There’s nothing I’d like more, but I have to go out on an emergency house call. Can we do it tomorrow night? Five thirtyish? I won’t let anything get in the way.” He hated lying to his buddy, but he had no choice.
“Sure. You have a sick patient?”
“Very sick.” I’m the patient and need to get back to Fausta or I’m not going to make it.
“Then I won’t keep you. Until tomorrow night!”
Nico patted his friend’s arm and dashed for the stairs. A whole evening and night to make love to his wife. Was there ever a more beautiful woman alive, inside and out, or one more loving?
He drove to his apartment and parked the car, eager to get her to himself. She’d left the door unlocked. Something smelled delicious. After hurrying inside, he found her in the kitchen by the stove wearing a white lace negligee that caused him to gasp.
“What took you so long?” She flashed him a seductive smile that melted his insides. “Our dinner is ready to be eaten. Why don’t you freshen up and then join me at the table for our first meal together as a wedded couple.” She’d set it with glasses of red wine and a vase of white roses.
He could hardly think, let alone make a sound. Finally, he managed, “I’ll be right back.” A quick trip to the bedroom to change into his robe and wash his hands, he returned to the kitchen.
“Sit down, amato, and open your gift first.”
In a daze, he unwrapped the tiny box by his glass and pulled out a man’s gold band. “We’ll get it inscribed later. Try it on and see if it fits.”
His heart thudded. “I need your help.”
“No, you don’t, or this roast pig from Prospero’s will go to waste.”
Fausta...
“I guess we can’t have that.” He put it on.
“You’re mine now and I’ll adore you forever.”
Forever.
She put their dinner plates full of food on the table and sat down. While he was trying to take in her beauty and all that she’d created here, she lifted her wineglass. The blue diamond ring was back on her finger. “To the husband who has made me thankful I was born.” There were tears in her voice.
Nico lifted his glass. “To the wife who made an orphan feel like a king and has literally transformed my life.”
He clinked her glass and they drank the liquid, which glistened on her lips, reminding him of the first time at the cantina. He would have sold his soul to kiss her that night. Tonight he intended to kiss the two of them into oblivion.
Her eyes feasted on him as they ate. “Roast pig has become my favorite meal. Every step of your life has enamored me. I guess you saw Pippa give me a gift before we left the castello. They were little photographs of you taken from the time you were twelve. I studied them for hours.”
He took a quick breath. “Trust Pippa.”
“You have no idea how precious they are to me, but she knew what they would mean to me. What a darling boy you were! No wonder you captured their hearts. I’m going to have each one framed.” She stared into his eyes. “Tonight, I’m putting in an order for a baby who looks just like you.”
“I already put in one earlier today, for an enchanting princess with hair of gold and jewel blue eyes, but I’m more than eager to accommodate you this very minute.” He got up from the table and pulled her after him.
Nico could see she’d already inhabited his bedroom. Her feminine items draped around had turned his apartment into a love nest. Giorgio had come out of the closet and sat on the chair. Overcome with emotion, he crushed her to him. He’d never imagined happiness like this was possible.
“I need you, squisita—I want to love you and never let you go.” In the next breath they lay down together. Throughout the hours of the night they gave in to the passion consuming them. His ardent lover thrilled him.
Enzo had called her adorable. Fausta was that, and so many other things—he was blown away by her womanly magic. He would never be able to get enough of her. Toward morning they both fell asleep with their legs entangled, her face burrowed against his shoulder.
When he heard a phone ring, he knew he couldn’t ignore it. A patient might be calling who needed him. But Fausta was one step ahead of him.
“It’s my phone, Nico. I’ll get it. You sleep.” She reached for it on the bedside table, but by now he was awake. For someone to call her at five thirty in the morning concerned him.
She sat up to talk. All he heard her say was “Lanza.” After a minute, she thanked her and hung up.
“What’s going on, Fausta?”
“I think you can guess.” She put the phone on the table and returned to his arms.
“So, our secret is out.”
“Yes. My bodyguards saw us go in with your doctor’s bag. Then they saw the priest leave the castello and knew something was wrong. They caught up to the priest and said they were on the king’s business. He told them he’d performed a marriage service for you and me. That’s all they needed to hear.
“Lanza wanted to give us a heads-up that the parents are now in the know. They wanted to find out what she knew. I’m glad she couldn’t tell them anything.”
“So am I, Fausta, but we need to talk to them before I have to leave for the office. My first appointment is at nine. Let’s get dressed right now and drive to the palace. What we need to tell them has to be said face-to-face. They deserve to know everything. I want them to know how much I love you.”
She threw her arms around his neck. “It’s going to be all right, Nico. I promise.”
“I’m not worried about me, tesoro. It’s you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I have you.”
Her faith in him was humbling. He recalled a certain conversation with Felipe.
I’m thankful I’m not in your shoes. When the time comes, I don’t envy you. But for what it’s worth, I defy the king to find a better man for his daughter than you.
* * *
“Mamma? Papa? I’d like to introduce you to my husband, Dr. Nico Barsotti, who is a family practice physician at the Hospital of the Three Crosses.”
Fausta’s parents had been waiting for them in the salon following her phone call to them.
Nico bowed with infinite composure. “Your Majesties. It’s a great honor to meet you at last.” With his tall, rock-solid build and dark hair, he looked fabulous in his tan suit and tie. She loved him so terribly, her heart hurt.
“How do you do, Dr. Barsotti.” Her patrician father and mother made imposing figures, but she could always count on them to be kind. They’d faced difficult situations with her sisters’ marriages. “Why don’t you and Fausta be seated.”
“Thank you.”
She reached for Nico’s hand and they sat on the love seat opposite her parents.
“Lanza phoned us at Nico’s apartment earlier this morning. We imagined the news would leak out but hoped to have a chance to tell you before you heard it from anyone else. Since it’s too late for that, we want you to know why we didn’t come to you before now. Nico has an amazing story to tell. I’m going to let him explain.”
Fausta’s beloved husband sat forward and began his incredible tale, starting with life at the orphanage. As the revelations continued to unfold, she watched her parents’ somber expressions change to ones of disbelief and eventual awe.
Her father was the first to shake his head. “You’re the son of King Carlo and definitely look like him. How amazing, and how sad that you didn’t get to meet him.”
“As Signor Bruno explained, he didn’t dare bring me out of hiding until he felt there was no threat.”
“Your father was a remarkable king who had to rule under the very difficult circumstances of war. I would have attended his funeral if I’d been physically able.”
Her mother had put a hand over her heart. “You never got to meet your mother either. I’m so sorry.”
“So am I. Where the queen is concerned, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Fausta and I wanted to be married before I have to make a decision, but we just don’t know what that decision will be until she reaches out to me.”
Fausta felt her father’s eyes on her. They were smiling. “You always knew your own mind. Are you still angry with me that I sent Dego and his sister to school in Italy years ago?”
“Funny you would ask me that, Papa. Last night as I was getting our dinner ready at the apartment, I found myself thanking you for preserving me for Nico. He’s my life.” Her voice shook.
“That’s the way it should be, figlia mia.”
“I truly did want both of you at the ceremony, but the fuss of a royal wedding isn’t for me. I know a worthy cause where we could donate the money.”
Her father nodded. “I’m grateful for Enzo and Pippa.”
“So are we!” she cried. “They were wonderful to help arrange for the priest to marry us.”
Nico nodded. “They’ve been like parents to me. I owe them so much I can never repay them. Perhaps the day will come when you’ll forgive us for getting married in private.”
“That was my fault,” Fausta blurted. “Nico wanted to tell you, but—”
“But you wanted to do it your own way,” her mother said with a smile. “You always did, and now you’ve married the man who has set you on fire. We couldn’t be happier. Welcome to the family, Nico. Whether doctor or king, you’ve made our daughter happier than we’ve ever seen her.”
“I’m the one who’s happy. Fausta is a gift, one I’ll treasure all the days of my life.”
Fausta got to her feet. “I wish we could talk longer, but Nico has to get to the hospital.”
Her parents stood up and walked over to Nico to give him a hug. It thrilled Fausta’s heart to watch the three of them embrace.
“Walk me out,” Nico whispered a minute later against her neck. When they reached the foyer, he gripped her upper arms tightly. “I never met such gracious people in my life.”
“I told you it would be all right.”
“No wonder you’re the way you are. Thank heaven your father got rid of Dego. Thank heaven for Angelo. Thank heaven for Enzo and Pippa. Thank heaven for Lorenzo, who got me a position at the hospital. The day I met you was the beginning of my life, Fausta.”
“And mine. What time can I expect you home?”
“I promised Felipe I’d go out for a beer with him after work. He wants to tell me about their wedding plans. Expect me by seven.”
“After you tell him we’re married, maybe you might make it by eight?” she teased and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I won’t be able to breathe till you get home.”
* * *
Later that evening Felipe came in to Nico’s office at quarter to six. They left in their cars for a favorite pub that served sandwiches and local beer. After ordering from the bar, they found a booth. Sports reviews were on the TV closest to them.
They talked about Felipe’s wedding set for August 5. There would be a rehearsal dinner the night before.
Nico was about to tell Felipe everything when there was a news flash that interrupted the latest scores of soccer matches.
“We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news from the royal palace. In a secret wedding ceremony, twenty-five-year-old Princess Fausta Rossiano, middle daughter of King Victor and Queen Ginata, was recently married to commoner Dr. Nico Barsotti. More details will be forthcoming on the ten o’clock news. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.”
Felipe let out a whoop everyone in the pub could hear. A grin broke out on his face. “You sly fox. I knew something’s been going on. How come I had to hear it on the news?”
Nico lowered his beer glass. “You would have been the first person I told, but Fausta and I still hadn’t talked to her parents and that didn’t happen until this morning at the palace. I’m positive they didn’t release this news to the press, so of course there’s been a leak.” Which meant Basil and Queen Liliane had heard about it too.
“Where did you get married? When?”
In the next little while Nico told him everything. His friend studied him in sheer amazement as his story unfolded.
“Santo cielo! Over the years you’ve been looking for your parents, when all this time you’ve been the son of King Carlo? And now you’re the heir apparent to the throne of La Valazzura? This is the most incredible thing I ever heard.”
Nico nodded. “I’m still trying to deal with it. If I didn’t have Fausta with me...” He finished the rest of his beer. “Nothing’s final. It can’t be until I hear from the queen. My father’s evil cousin, Giuseppe Umberto, wants the throne for himself. A battle is waging for control over there.”
“Would you hate me if I said I hope you stay in Domodossola for the rest of your lives? Mia adores Fausta. It’ll be a loss neither of us will get over.”
Those words warmed Nico. “How could I hate you when you’ve been the closest thing I’ll ever have to a brother?”
“Amen.”
“I love being a doctor, Felipe. I’m not sure I can give it up.” He let out a troubled sigh. “But whatever happens, I promise you we’ll be here for your wedding. It’ll be my privilege to be your best man.”
“Is it all right if I tell Mia?”
“She’s probably heard already.”
“But not your story. I’m sure you want to get back to Fausta. You’re still on your honeymoon. Let’s go.”
After another hug, they parted company at their cars. Nico drove home knowing Fausta was there waiting for him. She was all he could think about as he hurried inside the apartment, breathless to sweep her in his arms.
He thought he’d find her in the bedroom since he’d returned later than he’d meant to. Instead he saw her sitting in the living room still dressed in casual clothes. His normally radiant wife looked worried. She wasn’t alone. Signor Bruno was with her.
La Valazzura’s intelligence agents worked with a speed that didn’t escape Nico.