Miracle for the Girl Next Door by Rebecca Winters Page B

turned to face the gray-haired priest who’d grown much more frail over the last decade. “Not tonight, Father. Otherwise you would never get to bed,” he teased. Their easy relationship stretched back to Valentino’s childhood.
    Father Orsini chuckled. The years hadn’t deprived him of a sense of humor, for which Valentino was thankful. “It’s good to see you.”
    “Then you’ll understand how pleased I was when Father Bruno told me Monta Correnti’s most legendary figure was outside waiting for me.”
    “Let’s not play games, Father. A legendary figure should at least connote someone worthy.” He shifted his weight. “Forgive me for calling on you so late, but this couldn’t wait.”
    “Evidently not. Let me put it another way. What’s troubling Luca Casali’s most famous son?”
    “Famous for what?” Valentino muttered in self-abnegation. “Certainly nothing that matters.” When the priest blinked in astonishment, Valentino added, “Did Luca or my mother ever take the opportunity to tell you I’m not his birth son?”
    “ What is this ?” Father Orsini cried out aghast.
    “I don’t blame you for being bewildered. Forget I asked.”
    “My son—”
    “It’s all right, Father. If you did know, you couldn’t reveal it anyway. He and Mamma told me the truth years ago. It was a good idea at the time considering I don’t look or behave anything like Isabella or Cristiano.”
    “Do your siblings know?”
    “You mean that my infamous qualities can be laid at my biological father’s feet?” he mocked. “Yes, but that’s not why I’m here. What I’m hoping is that you’ll be able to help me over another matter. It’s of life and death importance.”
    The priest cleared his throat. “If I can, but that places a great burden on me.”
    Valentino squinted at him. “I knew you’d say that, but I have nowhere else to turn.” He stared at the priest. “What do you know about Clara Rossetti?”
    In the quiet that followed, a sadness entered Father Orsini’seyes and he pursed his lips, giving Valentino the answer. Fresh pain arced through him as surely as if he’d crashed on the track and the paramedics couldn’t separate his body from the wreckage.
    The compassionate priest put a hand on Valentino’s shoulder. “She doesn’t want to die and is fighting this with everything she has in her.”
    Valentino’s body trembled. “I know. I’ve been with her every day since I came home. She’s so courageous, I’m in awe of her.”
    “You two were very close growing up.”
    A sob got trapped in his throat. “Very. I don’t want her to die, Father.”
    “Of course you don’t. After being away such a long time, this news must have come as a great shock.”
    Shock hardly covered it. Shame for his narcissistic lifestyle had seeped into his soul. Up to now Valentino had lived only for his own pleasures. He’d avoided marriage and children in order to pursue new adventures without suffering any more guilt than he already dragged around.
    In the process he’d pretty well abandoned his family, not to mention Clara. Valentino wasn’t only selfish, he was a coward unwilling to face certain unpalatable truths. After his aunt Lisa had leaked the latest family secret, his first instinct had been to run away and stay in denial. That had been his pattern over the years.
    That was the mortifying part. After spending time with him during their growing-up years, Clara had become so well acquainted with his self-focused obsessions, she’d written him off when he’d left in his late teens. And why not?
    What had he ever done for her?
    His hands curled into fists.
    Nothing! Not a damn thing!
    It strained his credulity that she’d given him the time of day since he’d been back. While he’d been off in his superficialworld, angry at life while he tried to break barriers and set new bars, she had been battling for her life!
    Somewhere in his psyche Valentino had known there’d be a price to pay for