Page 97 of Winter
He considered the smiled. “Yes, actually. More than okay. I said everything I had ever wanted to him. I doubt we’ll see him again. It’s no loss. I’m so sorry for what he did to you; I knew he was vicious, I never realized he would go that far.”
“It’s okay.”
“He was going to kill you, Inca; it’snotokay.” He closed his eyes briefly, as if imagining it, and shivered. Inca nudged him.
“Hey … I’m here. I’m okay. At this point, I’m probably immortal.”
Tommaso chuckled and kissed her forehead. “It wouldn’t surprise me.” He sighed. “I hope I turn out to be a better human being than my father.”
Pain passed across his face and she touched his arm. “Tommaso, you are already a million, trillion times the man he could ever be. You are not your father.” Her voice hardened at the mention of Edgar Winter.
He studied her. “Thank you. And you,” he hesitated. “You are not your mother. You will never be your mother.”
“Thank you, Tommaso.” She pressed her lips to his and he returned the kiss but then pulled away, his eyes serious.
“Inca, Raffaelo told me what happened between you and him—that he asked you to marry him.”
Inca flushed and started to stand, but he made her sit. “Inca, I know exactly what you’re thinking. I know you. I can tell you feel guilty, but let me ask you this. Did it feel right? Be honest.”
She chewed her lip. “I don’t know.” She sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Yes. I suppose so.”
He leaned in, a small smile on his lips. “I’m happy for you, Inca, for you and Raffaelo. Both you and I know … you are meant for each other. I have been selfish, not wanting to give you up, indulging my … fantasies. But you and Raff … it is a love for the ages. We all know that. I have to let you go, Inca, and you have to do the same for me.”
Inca smiled gratefully at him. “I wish I knew myself as well as you seem to know me.”
He shrugged. “You do. You just won’t let yourself believe it.”
Inca leaned her forehead against his, knowing that this was goodbye—at least as far as their love affair went. “I do love you, Tommaso; don’t ever think I don’t.”
“I know,bella,and I will always love you. Just … in the right way now. As my sister. My very best friend.”
She couldn’t help the tears that dropped down her cheek then. “Tommaso …”
He wrapped his arms around her. “Ssh, it’s okay,Principessa. It’s okay. I promise—we will all be happy.”
They flew backto Washington a week later. On the plane, they discussed how to explain the fact that the ring on Inca’s left hand wasn’t from the Winter twin people expected. Inca studied it as Raffaelo—her fiancé, she thought, laughing to herself—and Tommaso talked about what they had planned for the Winter mansion.
After she and Tommaso had talked, a few nights later, Raffaelo had taken her out to dinner and proposed again. Tears of happiness flowed from both of them as Inca had said yes, and he’d swept her up into his arms and kissed her, clearly over the moon.
“I’m going to marry Raffaelo Winter,” she kept repeating to herself. She hadn’t wanted a big gaudy ring; instead, she and Raffaelo went to choose one. He rolled his eyes when she picked the cheapest one in the store, but she genuinely loved the simple design, the single diamond.
Tommaso had congratulated them both, and Inca could see no sadness in his eyes when he hugged her.
Itwasstrange to think she would never kiss him or make love with him again. He’d rented an apartment in the city and moved there to give them privacy.
Now, she smiled at her family—theywereher family—as they enjoyed the luxury of the Winters’ private jet. “Tyler said he’d be with us by the weekend. I can’t wait to see him.”
She’d already told Tyler about her and Raffaelo’s engagement and, after he’d asked her if she had chosen the one she really wanted, if she was sure, then he had congratulated her warmly. “As long as you are happy, Bubba.”
Now they were on their way to Washington and Inca felt optimistic about the future in a way she hadn’t for a long time. The Winter twins had legally separated their lives and businesses from their father, and they hadn’t heard from him since that terrible day.
There are monsters everywhere,Inca thought to herself now,but also angels.These two men with her now … they had changed her life completely.
Washington was freezingcold and snowing. Tommaso grumbled—to Raffaelo’s and Inca’s amusement. “Does it ever get warm in this godforsaken place?”
They went straight to the mansion, which seemed like a place from another time for all of them. Inca was smiling until she saw the bloodstains on the stone steps … Luna’s blood. Someone had obviously tried to clean it, but when it had frozen, the blood had leached into the porous stone and stained it.
Raffaelo put his arm around her. “We won’t have to see it much longer.”
