MICA WAS SPEECHLESS as Grace rose from her chair, clearly bent on escorting him from her apartment. He couldn’t possibly have heard her right. She was turning him down? Was she out of her mind? What kind of game was she playing?
He bolted to his feet and grabbed her arm. “Wait a minute.”
“No, you wait a minute. I came to Indian Lake to get your help with our son. Granted, I didn’t go about any of this the right way. I should have told you about him when I discovered I was pregnant. I didn’t want to burden you because you were going through all kinds of—of...personal things. I thought I was sparing you from more trauma. I screwed up. I made a mistake. I see that now. But I’m not going to marry you. I only need your help for a while.”
“No way, Grace. He’s my son. Period. I won’t walk away from him the way you walked away from me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You left here last October and I haven’t heard from you since. You’ll be here a week and then take off again. For some vague amount of time. And then when your work settles down, or you change your mind about leaving Jules with me—I’m guessing you’ll want him back. Then you’ll leave me a third time, and who knows if I’ll ever hear from you again. No way. He’s mine. Ours. Forever. That’s what I believe in. Forever.”
“This is ridiculous. You don’t love me, Mica.”
His words caught in his throat. He’d been ready for another argument. He hadn’t figured on introspection. “What? Who said anything about love?”
“I did.”
“Why?” He stepped closer to her, feeling a magnetic force drawing him in. When he was near Grace, he felt bewitched. But love? He’d never been in love. Though her rejection last year had hurt him deeply, and he wanted to hold her now and kiss away her concerns, he didn’t believe he loved her. If they loved each other, none of this would be happening, would it? Loving someone meant trusting them, and he wasn’t sure he could trust her after she’d kept Jules a secret for so long.
“Mica, when I marry a man—if I ever do—it will be because I love him and he loves me in return. I won’t settle for less.”
Her eyes blazed righteousness and resolution. Mica thought of simply trying to appease her, for Jules’s sake, but she’d see right through him. He would be honest with her, even if she hadn’t always been with him.
“Then I won’t help you,” he said. “Pack him up and go back to Paris.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“I do,” he replied firmly, wondering if she could sense his anxiety. If she left now, he might never see Jules again. He could fight international courts and spend a fortune he didn’t have to gain custody...and he’d make a lifelong enemy of the woman who’d intrigued him ever since that summer day in the pool. Despite her betrayal, there was good in her. He believed that she’d come to Indian Lake because she wanted to do the right thing—by him and by Jules. Mica hoped she’d make the right decision now.
“Mica, do you have any idea what’s at stake for me right now? This week?”
“I—”
“You can’t because you still don’t understand the world I live in. Fashion Week starts in mid-January. Two of my designs were on the runway in October and they sold. My name is just a whisper right now, but with my fall designs, the big houses are looking at me. I didn’t want to put it off any longer, but this trip is horrible timing. My team is going nuts even though I’m trying to stay in touch as much as possible. I need to work all day and night until the show. I’m taking a stab at some ready-to-wear designs as well. They don’t show until February, but they’re just as important. Jules deserves my full attention and I can’t give it to him. I want him to know you. I want you to know him and love him as well. I know it may not look that way to you, but I want the best for our son. I need help, Mica, not ultimatums.”
Well, didn’t he feel like a heel. And envious. Grace was driven by passion for her work. He could only imagine the stimulation and excitement that would create. She had what he wanted desperately for himself. He’d been wrong to think she was self-centered. He was the selfish one. At the same time, it was deeply important to him that Jules know all that it meant to be a Barzonni. Perhaps it was pride, but it was more than that. Mica revered his father for all he had sacrificed for his family. He was only beginning to understand what his mother had forfeited when she chose to keep her promise to Angelo and marry him.
It hit Mica that his parents had entered into a marriage that was less than romantic and idyllic for the sake of the life they intended to build in America. His father had escaped poverty in the streets of Sicily and his mother had chosen to devote her life to her sons and the farm. Family and all its heraldry, lineage and expectations rattled through Mica’s bones like anchor chains. He could no more allow Grace to raise their child alone than fly to the moon. He was Jules’s father. He would do all he could for his boy for the rest of his life. Jules was a Barzonni and that meant a lot of things to Mica.
Like his parents, Mica believed in family and that a family should stay together at all costs. Though their life together might have been less than ideal, Angelo and Gina gave everything so that their sons would inherit the farm, and know what it was to earn the pride in the land they tilled and sowed. Mica wanted to give Jules the best he could and that meant he needed to marry Grace.
It was his honor and his duty to his son.
All he had to do was convince Grace that marriage was the right thing to do.
“Grace, you’re right. I don’t know much of anything about your career, but I’m willing to learn. What I’m trying to say is that I should be a part of your life. Jules’s life. We should share in everything.”
She stared at him like he’d lost his mind. She blinked. “Really?”
“How can we possibly be the best parents for our son if we aren’t involved in each other’s lives?”
“You’re right, of course,” she said tentatively.
“Not only do I need to learn how to take care of Jules, but I also need—I mean, want—to know about you. Your work. Who are these people you work with? And what is Fashion Week and why is it more important than any other week?”
“Oh, Mica.” She laughed. “It’s not a week, but a showcase. Every fashion critic from every magazine around the world will be there for one purpose. To judge my work.”
His mouth rounded. “Oh. That’s...that’s—holy cow. Big.”
“Very big,” she said.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was doing it again. Giving him that open, caring gaze that went straight to a place deep inside him.
“Now you,” she said spearing another piece of chicken. “Tell me about your work.”
“What work? I haven’t...”
“Don’t give me that, Mica. I know you. That head of yours is full of all kinds of ideas. I can hear them whirring in there,” she teased.
He shook his head. For the past year, nearly every idea he’d had had turned to dust before he could translate it to his computer.
“It’s been a struggle, but I have been working on voice-activated farm machinery. I want to create a system that can be activated even from a cell phone.”
“Like an app?”
“Similar.” Mica was uncomfortable talking about his failures when Grace was clearly on the cusp of success. Listening to Grace opened his eyes. He hadn’t worked the long hours that Grace did. He’d puttered at his designs and hadn’t attacked his work head-on. He could do better. Much better.
Grace had always seemed to instinctively know what he needed. Like she had last October. Despite all she had going on in her career, being pulled in several directions at once, when she looked at him, she made him feel like the only person in her universe.
His head told him to be wary. She was the woman who’d deceived him. But Mica’s heart told him otherwise.
It was enough that his anger was deflating. He’d take that.
Grace didn’t know it, but she was changing his world with or without Jules.
Jules had been toying with a snow pea, not quite sure if it should go in his mouth or be sent flying across the room. He chose the latter.
Then he rubbed his eyes. Frowned. Rubbed his ears and started fussing. The fidgeting and scowling turned into sobs, which escalated into high-pitched cries.
Mica glanced from Jules to Grace. “Is he okay?”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Grace said, rising from her chair. She went to Jules, unhooked the belt on the carrier chair and lifted him out. She put him over her shoulder but Jules just screamed louder.
Mica rose. “Here, let me try.”
“You sure?” she asked.
He shrugged and took Jules in his strong arm. Jules let out a bellow. Mica looked pleadingly at Grace, who held both arms out. “Looks like I’ve lost my touch.”
“I’ll get his bottle ready. That always settles him down.”
“Yeah. He’s probably hungry, huh? Is it just green food he doesn’t like?”
Grace went to the fridge, took out a prepared bottle and put it in the microwave. “He likes green beans and peas. I thought he’d like the snow pea. Apparently not. The chicken was too spicy for him.”
“I should’ve thought of that,” Mica replied, noticing that Jules’s cries were getting louder as he tried to wiggle out of Grace’s arms.
The microwave dinged and she withdrew the bottle, but when she moved it toward Jules’s mouth, he pushed it away and cried louder.
“What’s going on?” Mica asked, concerned.
“I’m guessing he’s teething again.”
Mica snapped his fingers. “I remember Gabe’s baby went through this.” He reached in his back pocket for his iPhone. “I’ll call Gabe.”
“No, that’s okay...” Grace protested, but then Jules let out a bloodcurdling scream. “Actually, I’ll take any advice he can give us.”
Mica nodded as Gabe answered. “Hey, Gabe. We have, er, well...” Mica began. He hadn’t told anyone in the family about Jules yet, though it was his bet that his mother had texted, emailed and smoke-signaled the entire Barzonni tribe. “I need help with Jules.”
“Uh-huh. Jules. The son you forgot to mention to me, Liz, Nate, Maddie, Rafe and Olivia? That Jules?”
“Knock it off. There hasn’t been time.”
“Mom found time.”
“I’m serious, Gabe.”
Jules screamed again.
“Hear that?” Mica asked. “Grace says he’s teething. What did you do when Zeke was teething?”
“Me?” Gabe answered. “Merlot, mostly.”
Mica’s jaw dropped. “For the kid?”
“What? No, for me. We put teething gel on Zeke’s gums.”
“Hold on.” Mica put his hand over the phone. “You got any teething gel?” he asked Grace.
“I don’t believe in it. I read a thing on the internet. It’s not good. I believe in natural, organic—”
Mica nodded. “I get it.” He went back to the call. “Gabe. She doesn’t have any. She wants organic. What can I use instead?”
“Chardonnay’s not bad,” Gabe quipped. “Or whiskey. Just rub a tiny bit on his gums. It won’t hurt him.”
“She hasn’t got any wine. No food here, either. She just flew in yesterday...”
“Say no more. I can be there in twenty minutes. This is an emergency.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Mica hung up.
Grace shifted a sobbing Jules to her left shoulder. “What did he say?”
“He’s coming over. He said wine was okay.”
“Not for my baby!” she squealed. “No alcohol, Mica.”
“Okay. But he’s our baby,” he amended.
“I know.” Grace leaned her cheek against Jules’s head. “Oh, no.”
Mica sensed her alarm. “What is it?”
“I’m not sure.” She pressed the back of her hand to Jules’s forehead. “He feels warm.”
“Really? He was fine a few minutes ago.”
“I have a digital thermometer in his diaper bag.” She nodded toward the quilted bag on the counter. Jules kept screaming.
Mica went to the bag and found the thermometer. He handed it to Grace. She put the thermometer on Jules’s forehead. “It’s ninety-nine six.”
“Is that bad?”
“It’s not too high, but it’s still a fever. And he keeps rubbing his ears.” Her eyes were round with worry. “Do you know a pediatrician we could call?”
He shook his head. “No, and half the offices are closed for the holidays. Aside from the ER, there’s no one...” He held up his palm. “Hold on.”
Mica hit Nate’s number. He waited while it rang.
“Now who are you calling?” Grace asked.
“Nate. He’s a doctor.”
“A cardiac surgeon, Mica. Not a pediatrician.”
Mica shrugged. “He can diagnose, can’t he? You need help. I’m here to get it for you.” He paused as Nate picked up. “Nate! I need a favor. I’m over here at Mrs. Beabots’s upstairs apartment with Grace. And, oh, so Mom told you guys? Fine. So, Jules is sick, we think. He’s got a temperature and he won’t stop screaming. We thought it was teething at first, so I called Gabe. He’s bringing some wine for the baby...No. I mean, to put on his gums.” Grace shot him a look. “Hey! Gabe’s a vintner! I think he just wants to meet Jules, though. Anyway, Jules’s temperature is nearly one hundred, so I don’t think it’s his gums...Oh, great. Thanks, Nate.” He hung up.
Grace stood and started walking the floor with Jules.
“Nate’s coming over. Maddie, too.”
“Mica, is your whole family going to be here?”
He snapped his fingers. “Right. I should’ve asked Mom in the first place.” He started to take out his phone.
Grace placed her hand on his. “It’s okay. I think we’ll have enough Barzonnis here to handle the problem. I’m beginning to think he has an ear infection. From the flight. He was good on the plane until we started descending. Then he screamed the entire time. I felt so sorry for the businessman next to me.”
Mica wasn’t used to hearing a baby scream like Jules. The kid clearly had a strong pair of lungs. He’d probably grow up to be an auctioneer.
Ten minutes later, Nate arrived with a canvas tote in hand. Maddie was grinning from ear to ear as she entered the apartment. “Grace! I’m dying to meet Jules!” she said, hugging her. Mica stood in the hallway with Jules in his arm.
Nate peered at the baby. “Wow, he does look like you. Hollers and bellyaches like you, too.”
“Shut up. And thanks for coming.”
There was a second knock on the door. As Grace greeted Gabe, Liz and toddler Zeke, Mica took Jules into the living room and placed him on one of Mrs. Beabots’s Victorian sofas.
Nate took out his stethoscope, listened to the baby’s chest and then used an otoscope to look inside Jules’s ears. He felt his glands and looked inside the baby’s throat.
Gagging on the tongue depressor quieted Jules down. He stared in confusion from Nate to Mica and then to Gabe.
Then he burst into tears again.
“I’m so sorry,” Grace apologized as she picked him up.
“So,” Gabe said, “what is it? Should we put some of this chardonnay on his gums?” Gabe lifted the bottle. “It’s one of our best.”
“Oh, Gabe, quit fooling around,” Liz teased. She turned to Mica. “He brought the wine for you and Grace. We just wanted to meet the baby.”
Mica exhaled. “That’s exactly what I told Grace.”
Nate put away his instruments. “He’s got an ear infection and his throat is inflamed.” He took out his cell phone. “I’ll call the pharmacy and order some antibiotics. Mica, you can drive down and get it. It’s only a couple blocks. Pick up some children’s fever reducer, too. The liquid comes with a dropper and it tastes pretty good.”
“You use it yourself?” Mica joked.
Nate looked at Mica, a slow smile coming to his face. “Good to see your sense of humor has resurfaced, Mica.” He slapped his brother’s shoulder. “Get the meds. Grace, make sure he eats. Some cereal, bread, pasta. Carbs, you know? So he doesn’t get a tummy ache. He should improve by morning. I’ll text Matt Ferguson, a pediatrician friend of mine. I’ll give him the rundown and you can text him or call him over the next few days.”
Maddie hooked her arm through Nate’s. “Speaking of New Year’s, you are coming out to Gina’s party, right?”
“Uh...” Grace looked at Mica.
He swiped his face with his palm. “I forgot about the party.”
“Mica!” Liz and Maddie said simultaneously.
“I’ve had a lot going on.” He turned to Grace. “My mother has a huge New Year’s Eve dinner every year. Crown roast of pork. All the trimmings. Champagne. Then afterward, we go out to the Lodges for dancing and the countdown to midnight. Mom told me to invite you.”
“We’ll all be there, Grace,” Liz said. “Jules should be much better by then. And Gina’s got plenty of baby stuff. Even an extra high chair for Jules so he can sit next to you at the table. Say you’ll come.”
Grace swung her gaze to Mica and pinned him with an emotion that was nearly electric. The faces of his brothers and sisters-in-law swirled around him as if he was the center of a kaleidoscope. His world had been spinning since Grace returned. He’d been numb for months and now he felt everything. The only problem was—he hadn’t had time to sort things out.
Time.
He was already counting down the days that remained until Grace left.
“Do you want me to come, Mica?” she asked hesitantly.
“I do,” he replied, swallowing the lump in his throat. “You’re family now.”
She turned to Maddie and Liz. “I’d be honored.”