“No one has ever asked,” he replied.
“You and your brothers have similar features, honey. That’s not a worry,” Beth added.
Emma wasn’t so sure. “Then your disdain for me being in the office is straight-up corporate misogyny. Not a woman’s place.”
Her father didn’t deny her conclusion. “I have always taken care of you, young lady,” Robert fired at her. “Stop being ungrateful.”
“Ungrateful? Am I supposed to show gratitude for being born?”
“We wanted all of you,” Beth cried.
Emma shook her head. “Dad wanted one. One to prove he was a man. I can see that so clearly now.”
“I just gave you a home and this is how you talk to me?” Robert squared his body to hers, and Gio jumped up and in between them in a heartbeat.
Gio fisted his hand. “Don’t give me a reason.”
Emma’s blood was pumping so hard she thought steam was boiling from her ears. “I’ll start packing tomorrow. I don’t want your damn charity.”
Robert lifted his chin.
Beth pushed in between all of them, squared up to Robert. “Have you lost your mind? If our daughter moves out of that house, I will move out of yours. Our divorce will rip your reputation in half, and everyone will know why it’s happening.”
“Beth—”
“I’m serious, Robert. You are way out of line here.”
Gio put an arm around Emma, looked her in the eye. “Let’s go, amore.”
Ryan grabbed his jacket off the back of a chair. “I’m out.” He walked to Beth and kissed her cheek. “I have a couch.” He turned to their father. “Fuck you.”
Richard stood. “You’re wrong on this one, Dad.”
Emma, Gio, Richard, and Ryan all walked out of the house together.
They stood at the bottom of the steps, staring out over the property.
“Holy shit.” Ryan said what they were all thinking.
“I didn’t see that coming,” Richard added.
Somehow, Emma wasn’t surprised. The disconnection from her father had been there for years. At least now she understood why.
Gio kissed the side of her head. “I thought my family was loud.”
She laughed.
Richard offered a half-ass grin. “God, it sucks to be the chosen one right now.”
Ryan patted his brother on the back. “You can always jump ship.”
“All I know is wine.”
“If Mom divorces him, she’ll need help running half of Dad’s business,” Emma said.
“You think she will?” Richard asked.
“I don’t think she’s been happy for years. And after tonight, I wouldn’t be shocked.”
They all stood in silence as that thought sunk in.
“When is your test on Monday?” Ryan asked her.
She told him.
“Will you know right away?”
“My doctor said by the afternoon.”
Ryan rocked back on his heels, looked at Gio. “I’m a phone call away.”
Gio nodded.
Richard opened his arms and Emma slid in. “I love you, sis. I’m sorry this is happening.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Thank you. I’ll email you both everything I know about it and give you my doctor’s number to schedule the blood tests. Although now you only have half a chance of having this condition.”
Richard pulled away and kept shaking his head. “I can’t believe he’s not our biological dad. This is crazy.”
“I’d be celebrating right now if it wasn’t for what you’re going through,” Ryan told her.
Emma smiled.
Ryan hugged her next. “Don’t keep anything a secret. The minute you know there’s a problem, you or Gio need to call me.”
Emma nodded against his shoulder. “I love you.”
He kissed her cheek. “I love you, too.”
Richard sighed. “I need to get drunk.”
Ryan patted him on a back. “I have alcohol and a couch.”
Richard looked behind them toward the house. “Good thing, because I sure as hell am not going back in there.”
The men shook hands, both her brothers thanked Gio for being there.
In the silence of the car, Emma felt her body melt into the seat.
“How are you doing over there?” Gio asked.
“You know . . . I’m strangely relieved.”
They paused, lost in their own thoughts.
“Are we packing when we get home?” he asked.
“Would it bother you if I said yes?”
Gio was quick to shake his head. “You tossed out that possibility faster than I could form the words. Whatever you want, my love.”
“Let’s see where the fallout settles. We can ‘then what’ after Monday’s tests.”
“Let’s go home.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Gio and Emma had a lazy morning after sleeping in.
Emma took the bombshell that was dropped the previous evening like a champ.
The light of the new day gave them both some clarity on her family situation. While Emma had yet to suggest they start looking for a new home, he could tell by the way she walked around and looked at Casa de Emma that she was picturing herself without it.
“None of it matters without your health,” Gio told her.
“Boy, have I learned that lesson.”
He came up behind, wrapped his arms around her as she stared out a side window at the vineyards. “Home is where the people you love are.”
She leaned her head back and sighed. “Maybe that’s why I like it here so much.”
Gio’s heart warmed. “Are you telling me you love me, amore?”
Emma twisted in his arms, placed hers around his waist. “Love is scary.”
“Not when two people love with the same amount of their hearts.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Don’t cry.”
“I love you even if it is scary.”
Gio grasped both sides of her face and lowered his lips to hers, he poured his soul into their kiss. When he drew away, his lips moved to her ear. “I love you, Emma. You never have to be frightened with me.”
They held each other tight.
“I don’t want you to leave. The thought of you not being close by actually hurts.”
“Shhh, I’m not going anywhere.”
“I want you to move in with me,” Emma told him, her cheek resting on his chest.
“Haven’t I already done that?” He laughed.
“I guess you have. What am I saying? I might be homeless in a few days.”
Gio pulled back, kissed her again. “We’ll figure it out.”
The bell to the gate at the front of the property rang and they both looked at the intercom. “Your family is early.”
Gio let her go and answered the gate. “Hello?”
“It’s Beth, Giovanni.”
“Come in.” He pressed the button for the gate to open.
Gio held back when Emma opened the door for her mother.
Beth’s eyes were visibly red and swollen. She attempted to hide the stress with makeup, but it didn’t work.
Beth hugged Emma in the doorway and smoothed her hair. “Oh, baby. I’m so sorry.”