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CHAPTER 23
Their corner of the quiet, exclusive restaurant was peaceful and empty. It was as if an exclusion zone had been set around their table. There didn't seem to be any other diners.
Phoebe lifted her glass of wine. Lorenzo looked at her like she was about to bomb something. Then he reached across the table and literally snatched the glass right out of her hand.
“You can't have that!”
She gazed back at him in total bewilderment.
“The master spoke again… And why not?”
“Because you're pregnant. It's safest to stay off alcohol. Don't you know that?” Lorenzo demanded.
“Was it something I supposed to know?”
“You're a woman…”
“So?”
“Well… you're supposed to know about this sort of stuff,&rdqu
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Two months later, Phoebe walked into her local catholic church, to become Lorenzo's wife. She wore an elegant, fitted, off-the-shoulder dress in palest cream, the superb fabric exquisitely beaded and embroidered. It was her dream dress. In one move, she emptied her bank account of all her savings since she started working. Lorenzo insisted over and over again that she need to use one of the credit cards he had given her to buy everything, but all she used was to buy the matching shoes and all the other accessories. There was no one to walk her down the aisle, so she walked alone, and quite unconcerned.'Someone has to give you away,' Lorenzo had told her on the phone from Zurich, where he had been attending an important business meeting. 'I’m used to do things on my own. I’ve been doing i
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“What is this ‘someone like me’ stuff? What are you trying to say?” Lorenzo asked. “It means that I’m no high-society material. I’ve always been picked upon for being an illegitimate child. It was something everybody knew about me and it made my life a living hell until I grew enough to defend myself. But just so you’d know, I didn’t accept to be your wife for your money or for being saved, Lorenzo. Please believe that,” Phoebe replied putting her hand on his.“No damn wonder you find it so hard to lean on me.”“Lorenzo, most people I've tried to lean on in life fell over like pieces of a domino. The next second they chose to leave me behind or forget about me,” Phoebe said with a bitter laugh, wishing she hadn't mentioned her childhood.‘But I won't fell down or leave you alone,” Lorenzo intoned very seriously. “You have to learn to trust me,
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She was so appalled by that confession she sank on the side of the bed before her legs gave out beneath her. If he needed a shoulder, why did it have to be hers? Then Phoebe understood. He wanted to make a complete confession. Nothing less would satisfy his over-active conscience. So, he was about to drag out personal admissions that would very probably rip her heart out and depress her for the next thirty years. Lorenzo regarded her warily and very slowly set down the case. He cleared his throat.“I…”“Will you keep it short?” Phoebe begged without pride. Lorenzo got even tenser. He looked so absolutely miserable her heart went out to him. She had to face it now. He had really loved Mia. He might now be disgusted, but he had loved her.“My father first told me that Mia
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