Romantic Acquisition Page 0,52
pulling her to her feet and dragging her away from the chaotic scene. The rest of the family watched for a few moments but as soon as the two of them were almost out of the room, the laughter erupted. Kate’s face flamed into color and Carlo stopped, turned back to face his family and just shook his head.
“Don’t listen to any of them Kate. They’re all just a bunch of misfits.”
With that, he led her out to the maze and guided her away from his family where they couldn’t do anymore harm.
While they were gone, Gus and his wife Alana arrived with their new son, Damon who was only three months old and fast asleep after being fed.
Lunch was wonderful and Kate enjoyed watching Carlo laugh and play with his nieces and nephews. He even sat down with the smallest baby, Damon, who was curiously looking at faces or any colored toy put in his limited line of sight while his mother, Carlo’s sister in law, Alana, ate her lunch. Kate thought it was very considerate to let a new mother have a few minutes of free time.
It gave her hope that perhaps Carlo wasn’t like most of the men she knew who cringed at the idea of children ruining their perfect, yuppy existence. Could he possibly want children? Did he have father instincts just like women had mothering instincts?
On the way home that afternoon, Kate brought up the subject. “You really seem to like those kids.”
“They’re great kids. My brothers and sister do a great job with all of them.”
“They love you as their uncle.”
“Hey, it’s easy to be an uncle. I can come over, spoil them and leave when the diapers get dirty,” he joked.
Kate was crushed. His comment seemed to indicate that he didn’t want the grimy side of parenthood. “I guess it’s the best of both worlds,” she said sadly.
“Exactly. I baby-sit when I can but doing that full time, I can’t even imagine it.”
Kate stared out of the car. Her hopes dashed but she had no one to blame but herself. So he didn’t want to have his own kids. Who could blame him? It was a tough job. Raising kids took time, money and freedom. She didn’t think he’d even notice the loss of money since he had so much, but he probably would mind the loss of freedom and time. The man was used to traveling around the world at a moment’s whim. He could come and go as he pleased.
Kate remembered her mother crying at night when she’d thought Kate was asleep. Kate would crawl into bed with her mother, soothing her and they’d fall asleep together. Kate didn’t want to be that scared. She didn’t want to raise a child on her own. No matter how much money a person had, raising a child with only one parent was difficult. Kate didn’t think she had the guts to do it.
“Kate, what’s wrong?” he asked a few minutes later.
“Nothing,” she said and tried to smile.
“Something’s wrong. You got quiet all of a sudden. Why won’t you tell me about it?” They were already pulling into her driveway.
“I guess I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep well last night.”
“Do you have the time to come with me for a detour?” he asked.
Kate looked at him but his face didn’t give anything away. “Sure. What did you have in mind?”
“You’ll see,” he said and picked up his phone. “Do you have time to show it one last time?” he asked after dialing a phone number. “Great. I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes,” he said and hung up the cell phone. He quickly turned his car around.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You’ll see,” he said.
No matter how many questions she asked, he wouldn’t divulge their new destination. After a few minutes, he turned down a wooded street. They only went about two miles before he turned onto a driveway.
Kate gasped when the trees opened up to a beautiful, Georgian house with dozens of windows and wonderfully landscaped yard. The front steps led up to a carved, wooden door with stain glass windows at the top. As soon as they stepped onto the top step, the front door opened and a man was standing there, smiling. “Come on in, take your time,” he said.
“Kate,” Carlo said, turning to the stranger, “this is Mark Godwin. He’s my real estate agent.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Kate said.
“Likewise,” Mark said and shook Kate’s hand. “Go ahead and show her