Page 132 of The Best of Us

“Um, we, well . . .” I was going to use up every filler word I could until someone, hopefully Constantine, rescued me again with an answer.

“We won’t get married because of that, no.” Constantine shut her down, then noted the disappointed look on our son’s face at the same time I did. “We’d marry for love, not out of obligation,” he explained.

I knew we’d just had a similar conversation in the guest room, confirming our feelings for one another, but still . . . when he said it like that and in front of everyone, I forgot all over again to be frustrated at whatever he was keeping from me.

Angela pointed her dark eyes at her son as if waiting for him to publicly declare his feelings for me. Spell everything out for her in black and white.

I was seconds away from pouring a glass of wine when two men walked into the dining room with Izzy and Hudson behind them.

“You started eating without us?” Enzo asked, appearing mildly offended.

Enzo could be the body double for the actor from the movie365 Days.I recognized him immediately from the photos Angela had shown me while Constantine was with his sister in the office.

“Of course not,” Angela responded while greeting her sons. They did the European kiss thing I’d only ever seen in movies, and she turned away from them as they did the same with their father.

“They don’t know yet, right?” Colin pointed over at his uncles.

“Know what?” Alessandro remarked, lifting a questioning brow when his eyes landed on me. His gaze cut to Colin next, then volleyed between Colin and Constantine as he grumbled something in another language.

Note to self: learn Italian.

Alessandro took a step backward, bumping into Hudson now standing behind him. He was putting it together just as fast as Angela had.

Constantine slowly stood, discarding a deep breath as he did.

I understood why he’d hoped to get through this introduction to his family all at once. It wasn’t easy to tell everyone they’d also missed out on so much of Colin’s life.

“Hi,” I finally spoke up while standing. I hooked my arm with Constantine’s to give him my support. To let him know I had his back the way he had mine. Forever and always. The plea I read in his eyes told me he was hoping I’d take the lead this time, and so I did. “Constantine and I met in Aruba seventeen years ago, and I?—”

“Wait a second,” Alessandro interrupted as Enzo came up alongside him to stare at me, too. “You’re her?Theher from Aruba?” His grayish-colored eyes flew back to Colin to confirm what I was sure he’d already guessed about him. That he was his nephew.

“I am. Yes, this is our son, Colin, and no, he didn’t know about him. I couldn’t track down Constantine after I found out I was pregnant.” I did my best to make this as quick and painless as possible.

“He left you a note,” Alessandro snapped out, his voice low and cutting. “You messed my brother up . . . and now you’re here? I don’t understand.”

His words were sharp and painful, stabbing me in the heart. Before I had a chance to defend myself, Constantine intervened. After his explanation, Alessandro covered his mouth, staring at Colin in disbelief.

Enzo slowly made his way over to Colin. “I’m your uncle Lorenzo, but you can call me Enzo. Uncle E works, too.” He offered his hand, and Colin stood and accepted it, then looked to his other uncle, worried he wouldn’t be getting the same welcome from him.

Alessandro stepped around his brother to confront Colin, then surprised me by pulling him in for a hug. He met Constantine’s eyes over Colin’s shoulder, and I saw the heartbreak he felt on his brother’s behalf.

Constantine lifted his chin, eyes moving to the ceiling, and I tracked the muscles in his jaw and neck as they strained, as he worked to keep it together.

“Why don’t we all sit and eat?” Angela blotted a few tears on her cheeks with her napkin, then gestured for Izzy and Hudson to join us, too.

Alessandro let go of Colin, his eyes glossy with unshed tears. Maybe he was better at displaying his emotions than the growly teddy bear at my right?

“This is just . . .” Alessandro’s voice broke as he went to sit next to his sister.

Constantine waited for me to take my chair, then scooted it closer to the table. He didn’t join us because a call drew his focus. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to take this,” he said over his shoulder as he took off, and Hudson and his brothers wordlessly followed him without a request.

“Everything okay?” Colin glanced at his aunt, then over at me.

Based on the look in Izzy’s eyes, she knew the answer. And she had no desire to be the one to tell us that no, no it wasn’t.

Chapter42

Juliette

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