“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.
“That thing where you have a meeting and you can see people on the other side of the world on a monitor in the room?” She asked vaguely and he grinned slightly.
“Yes… I often speak to my family in Italy by those means,” he revealed.
“Okay,” she nodded slowly. “So when do you want to do it?”
“I was thinking about tonight?” He half-asked and her stomach did a slow, nervous roll before she nodded again.
“Okay,” she said again, actually physically incapable of saying much else.
“They’re going to love you,” he reassured, squeezing her hand reassuringly.
“They?” She asked queasily, suddenly filled with doubts. “I thought it would be only your father.”
“My mother and grandmother will probably be there… maybe a couple of my sisters. With my father so sick, they’re probably all there.”
“Your father’s at home?” He nodded, his eyes darkening again.
“He refuses to be hospitalized, he says that if he’s going to die, he wants to do it at home… he has the best medical care and facilities money has to offer to him at home.”
“That’s understandable,” she nodded sympathetically. “He’s waited so long to go back home.” There was a moment’s awkward silence.
“I’m really glad you could get it back for him, Sandro,” she blurted impulsively. “Even if it cost you more than it should have.” Again the silence, before he nodded tautly, his grim face looking hewn from rock.
“Uhm… when do you want to do it?” She broke the uncomfortable silence a few moments later and he cleared his throat. “Do they know I’ll be… are they expecting to meet me?”
“I’ve been making noises about wanting them to meet you for a while now,” he informed. “So they won’t be too surprised by it.”
“Always thinking ahead aren’t you?” She asked caustically.
“If you mean that I’d anticipated having to introduce you to my dying father by these less than ideal means, then no, I wasn’t really preparing for this eventuality!” He snapped irritably.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she whispered defensively.
“Of course you didn’t,” he agreed sarcastically and stung, she managed to lever her bulky form up from the sofa, ignoring him when he jumped up lithely to offer assistance.
“I’m tired, I think I’ll take a nap before dinner,” she said wearily. “I’ll see you later…” She left him behind without a single backward look, just plain sick and tired of the constant tension that they both had to live with.
“Are you ready?” He asked her quietly a few hours later. They were both in his huge study where he had set up the computer and camera for the video conference. No simple webcam and computer screen for Sandro, he had proper video camera with a large screen television screen set up. He explained that it would enable to allow his family to see both of them at the same time, further explaining that his parents had a similar setup at their home.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose,” she nodded nervously and he led her to a large, comfortable sofa that was facing the camera. He made sure she was sitting comfortably before kneeling in front of her unexpectedly.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” he said softly, his dark eyes piercing as they stared intently into hers. “Being around you is a curiously humbling experience… I do not believe I have ever apologized this much to one person in my entire life before. I always seem to be getting it wrong with you. ”