The Cattaneos' Christmas Miracles

CHAPTER TWO

MARIA KNEW SEBASTIAN probably better than anyone in the world, even—or perhaps especially—his sister. And she was almost certain that slipping back neatly into his life, into his bed, was exactly what Sebastian had expected. That she’d give up her little rebellion now she’d remembered what she’d walked away from. Or that she’d have forgotten the arguments, and the loneliness, that had made her leave in the first place.

Well. The bedroom situation was only the first of many disappointments he was likely to experience during her visit, then.

‘Are you okay?’ Noemi whispered in her ear, quietly enough that Frankie—who was playing a peek-a-boo game with his new uncle Max—wouldn’t hear.

Maria nodded, not trusting herself to tell the lie aloud.

Of course she wasn’t okay. She’d never be okay as long as she was here.

How could everything have changed so much? A new brother in Leo—and soon a sister-in-law, too, given how he was looking at Anissa—Noemi becoming a princess and mother to twins... And yet in some ways nothing had changed at all.

Not when it came to Seb, or their marriage, anyway.

Noemi sighed. ‘My brother is such an idiot.’

Maria didn’t argue with that.

The main staircase in the chalet wound up to the second floor, all warmth and wood and local charm. ‘Chalet’ was a ridiculous word for the Cattaneos’ home in the Alps, in Maria’s opinion. A chalet sounded like a small cosy wooden cabin or a rustic lodge you stopped in just long enough to grab a hot chocolate before heading home to a real house.

The Cattaneos’ chalet was neither small, cosy nor rustic. It was huge, spanning four floors with sprawling bedrooms with balconies, large, welcoming living spaces, a well-appointed kitchen and huge dining room for entertaining. Not to mention the heated indoor Olympic-sized swimming pool in the outbuilding.

Maria’s parents had always been wealthy enough—their own business portfolio had seen to that—but next to the Cattaneos they were paupers. And when their own business had gone through a difficult time—to the point of possible bankruptcy—well, it was no wonder her father had been so keen to marry his only daughter off to the Cattaneos’ only son and heir, in a merger that could not only save them but strengthen both their companies.

In her father’s mind, Maria had been nothing more than a means to an end, she realised now. While she’d been away, studying business, discovering a flair and aptitude for it that had surprised even her, he’d been making other plans for her future. His only child, his heiress—but only if there was a business left to inherit.

Except, while she was still an only child, Sebastian was anything but. Even if she discounted Noemi—who not only had no interest in the family business, according to Sebastian, but was now apparently running off to be a princess in Ostania, wherever that was—there was Leo to take into account, too.

It had taken a lot of questions to get the full story of Leo’s existence from Noemi. Maria’s father had returned from Salvo’s and Nicole’s funerals with news of a rumour—another Cattaneo child—and had demanded that Maria stop sulking and call her husband to find out the truth of it. She hadn’t, of course. She’d called Noemi instead.

It seemed that Salvo and Nicole had conceived a son together, out of wedlock, when they had been only teenagers. Their families had been scandalised and, never imagining that the couple would actually stay together, had demanded that the baby be given up for adoption.

But once they had been free of their parents’ oppression, married to each other and still madly in love, Salvo and Nicole had searched for their lost son. Even after they’d had Sebastian and Noemi, for more than thirty years they’d searched. And finally they’d found him—only for them to be killed in a helicopter crash on their way to see him.

It was tragic. Heartbreaking, even.

But the only thing Maria’s father had taken away from the story was that there was another Cattaneo heir now. One who, if reports were correct, had been left a controlling share in the hugely successful jewellery business.

‘Maybe you were right to leave him after all,’ Maria’s father had said, when he’d heard the story just a few weeks ago. ‘The divorce settlement should be good, and you’re still young enough to marry again. We’ll choose better next time.’

Maria hadn’t spoken to him since.

‘Here we are!’ Noemi’s bright and cheerful tone caught Maria by surprise, and she almost slipped on the final step leading up to the top floor.

Sebastian’s floor. The one they had shared ever since their marriage. Salvo and Nicole had taken one of the smaller suites on a lower floor, smiling knowingly as they’d declared that Seb and Maria might ‘need the extra room’ up there sooner or later. Preferably sooner.

This particular reason probably wasn’t what they’d had in mind.

She bit her lip. How could she move back in here, even into a separate bed, and pretend that things were different? That she didn’t still love her husband—and he wasn’t still so indifferent to her?

But Frankie was excited to see his room and, one small hand in his aunt Noemi’s, he’d barrelled on through to find out where he would be sleeping, Uncle Max chuckling as he followed behind.

Imagining their future probably—his and Noemi’s. Noemi’s baby bump was still relatively small, but it was there—as obvious as her excitement at starting a family with the man she loved.

And she did love Max, Maria could tell. And he loved Noemi—that was clear in every look, every smile he gave her. They would live happily ever after, just like Maria had once imagined she and Sebastian would.

How foolish she had been. Foolish, young and naive.

She knew better now, at least.

Sucking in a deep breath, Maria trailed after the others through the large open living space to the second bedroom—pointedly ignoring the archway that led to the main bedroom and the king-sized bed she remembered so well. The one where Frankie had actually been conceived, now she thought about it...

Except she wasn’t—thinking about it, that was. That way madness lay.

‘Well, what do you think, Frankie?’ Maria asked, forcing a smile for the sake of her son. ‘Will the chalet be a fun place to spend Christmas?’

Frankie, already bouncing on one of the twin beds, nodded excitedly. ‘And with Papà and Auntie Noemi and Uncle Max?’

‘Of course!’ Maria took his hands in hers to try to calm the bouncing. ‘And with Uncle Leo and Aunt Anissa, I suppose, too?’

Noemi nodded. ‘We hope so, anyway. It was Mamma and Papà’s last wish—to have all their children around the table for Christmas.’ Her permanent smile turned a little sad. ‘I just wish they were here to see it.’

Max wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close against his side, and despite her best efforts Maria felt a pang of jealousy run through her. When had Sebastian ever instinctively comforted her like that?

Never. Because that would involve understanding what she was feeling. And Seb had never drawn his attention away from the family business long enough to even try to do that.

She looked away, but apparently not fast enough. Noemi, obviously having caught her expression, stepped out of the circle of Max’s arms, looking concerned.

Max looked between them. ‘Frankie, how about you and I go downstairs and explore the kitchen? I think I saw some delicious-looking Christmas cookies in there earlier.’

Frankie’s eyes widened at the mention of sugary treats.

‘If that’s okay with your mamma,’ Max added, too late for her to possibly say no.

Maria felt a tightening around her heart, and it had nothing to do with Frankie eating too much sugar before bedtime. It had been just the two of them for so long now that the idea of being separated—even just by a few floors—felt strange.

‘We’re all family here,’ Noemi murmured, taking Maria’s hand and squeezing it. Her sister-in-law always had been too good at reading her. ‘And Max needs the practice anyway.’

Maria gave a stiff nod, placed a kiss on Frankie’s cheek, and watched as Max swept the toddler up into his arms, already talking about chocolate chips and candies baked into cookies.

‘He’ll be fine.’ Noemi squeezed her hand one more time before dropping it.

Maria sighed. ‘I know.’

‘The more important question is, will you?’ Noemi asked.

Sinking down onto the bed, Maria covered her face with her hands. Would she? Would she be okay, spending Christmas with the husband—and family—she’d left behind?

‘I have no idea,’ she admitted.

* * *

Alone.

Seb watched Maria and Frankie walk away, and felt the terrible word echoing around his mind. Through his heart.

Frankie hadn’t even known him when he’d answered the door, had shied away from him when he’d tried to hold him. He’d wanted to video call more often, but it was always so hard to find a time during his son’s waking hours. Maria didn’t even bother answering if Frankie was already asleep, usually sending a text later to explain.

But, looking at his son now, Seb wondered how he could ever have imagined that ten minutes of video once every week or so could ever be enough. The baby he’d held in his arms last Christmas had gone for ever. When Maria had left, Frankie had only just begun to crawl—now he seemed to run everywhere on sturdy legs that were nothing like the podgy, squidgy baby ones he remembered. Even in the four months since he’d last visited, Frankie had grown so much. His eyes were the same bright hazel as in the photo on his desk, but they no longer gazed trustingly up at him. Instead, they were puzzled, even wary.

As if he didn’t know Sebastian, his own papà, at all.

Seb clutched at the back of the nearest chair to steady himself. How had this happened? How could he have missed so much? And how could he ever get that time back?

You can’t.

The voice in his head sounded like Maria’s, like the day she’d left.

‘You can’t understand,’ she’d said that day. ‘You’re not capable of it. I see that now.’

Capable of what? he’d wanted to ask. But she had already gone, leaving him behind to deal with the business, and his family, and everything else that fell on his shoulders.

But none of it, he realised suddenly, mattered as much as the year he had lost. A whole year of his son’s life that he could never get back. Never experience as a father should.

That realisation hurt a thousand times more than learning that he had an older brother, that his parents had lied to him his whole life by never telling him about it. Hurt a million times more than learning that they’d left Leo the controlling share of the company that should have been his.

Hurt almost as much as hearing Noemi sobbing as she’d told him their parents were dead.

His parents were gone, soon Noemi would be disappearing with Max to wherever on earth his tiny country was, Maria would take Frankie away again, and all Seb would be left with was Leo—the brother he’d only discovered existed a month or so ago. And even he would probably head back to New York, and take the company Seb had given up his whole life for with him.

How had his life unravelled so completely in so little time?

Seb could feel it, spiralling out of his control, spinning his mind in tight circles until his head ached from trying to understand it all. His heart was too heavy in his chest, beating a sluggish, determined rhythm, reminding him that he, at least, still lived—even if his parents didn’t. That he still had a job to do, even if the one he’d expected had been taken away. That he still wanted, and felt, even loved—even if his wife had left him and his son didn’t recognise him.

God, Frankie. Maria.

He needed air. Cold, shocking, numbing air.

Good job he was in Mont Coeur.

Letting go of his support sofa, Seb staggered to the door and flung it open, gulping in the icy breeze as it hit his face. Then he stepped through onto the veranda, and stared out at the darkening mountains.

There was a whole world out there. So why did it feel like his had disappeared for good?

‘Sebastian?’ Leo’s voice came from behind him as he joined him on the veranda. ‘Are you okay? You look... Is it Noemi’s news?’

Seb barked a laugh. Noemi, his baby sister, a princess. A pregnant princess, at that.

At least one of them had gone after the life they’d wanted and had found it.

No, two of them. Leo seemed almost offensively happy with his new girlfriend, Anissa. They’d shared secret smiles and small touches and whispered jokes since they’d arrived, too, just like Noemi and Max. So clearly a pair, a couple—in a way he and Maria never had been. No doubt Max and his sister would be settling into what had once been his master suite in the chalet with babies and joy, taking over his home as easily as Leo had taken over his business.

‘Okay, look, why don’t we sit for a moment?’ Leo’s voice, calm and soothing, made Seb feel instantly guilty for his thoughts. As much as Seb resented being pushed out of the family business, even he had to admit it wasn’t Leo’s fault. He couldn’t blame his brother for the circumstances of his birth, the lies their parents had told, or even the will they had left behind them.

Much as he might wish he could.

Seb was a logical, rational man. He had to be, to be a success in his business. His father had instilled in him from birth the weight of expectation, the obligations Seb had to his family. And Seb had given everything he could to live up to them. He’d worked hard, done everything that had been asked of him.

And still it hadn’t been enough.

Not for his father, not for Maria, not for anybody.

He wasn’t enough.

Leo’s arm over his shoulder was a heavy weight leading him to the wooden bench on the veranda and pressing him down onto it.

Maybe if he’d had a big brother all along, rather than discovering him at the age of thirty-two, things would have been different. But he hadn’t.

‘Do you ever feel like your whole life is unravelling in front of you, and you can’t move fast enough to piece it back together?’ His voice didn’t even sound like his, Seb realised. Too low, too raw. Too desperate.

But Leo just laughed, a darkly amused sound Seb hadn’t heard from him before.

‘What do you think?’ Leo asked. ‘I spent my whole life thinking that no one wanted me, that my own parents had thrown me away, only to discover one day that they’d been searching for me almost my whole life. And then, when I was ready to meet them, they died before I got the chance.’

‘And you got stuck with me and Noemi instead.’ Yeah, that must have been a pretty big let-down.

‘Actually, I kind of think of the two of you as an unexpected bonus. A silver lining maybe,’ Leo said, and Seb looked up, surprised.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, I thought I’d lost any chance of ever having a family. Then I came here and met you two, and then Anissa...and now there’s Max and Maria and Frankie, plus Noemi’s babies. Suddenly I have more family than I know what to do with.’

‘Maria and Frankie aren’t staying.’ Seb’s mood dropped again at the reminder.

‘Ah.’

‘Yeah.’

Leo stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning back against the bench. Almost unconsciously, Sebastian followed suit. Leo’s legs were longer than his, he realised, even though they were more or less the same height. Yeah, being the little brother really was going to take some getting used to.

‘Do you remember what you told me when I called you from New York?’ Leo asked, after a long moment of silence.

Seb tipped his head back and tried to remember. It had only been a handful of weeks ago now, but somehow it felt longer. Like his whole world had shifted again since then, with everyone coming home to Mont Coeur.