Delilah's Diary #2: La Vita Sexy by Jasinda Wilder Read Free Book Online

usually result in things being said that someone doesn't want aired.
    "Well, there is not much to tell," Lucia said. "He was so young when they married, only twenty-two, I think. She was older than he, by a matter of some five years. She was very sweet, very kind, or so it seemed. Everyone liked her, except me. I was not so sure why not, but something about her made me...not so trusting."
    I choked on my grappa. "They were married?" I tried not sound as peeved as  I was.
    "Oh, yes, for a few years, too. Happy, they seemed. Then, she left. No reason given to him, no letter or note or a phone call or nothing. Only an empty apartment." Lucia watched her brother, the memory of his pain and her love for him communicated in the glint of her eyes. "He was broken in his heart. He loved her very much, you see, and when Lia left, of course she took Luisa with her."
    A stone of dread hit my stomach. "Luisa?"
    "Such a delightful child, Luisa was. Hair like the wings of ravens, and so very bright."
    "There—there was a...a child?" I could barely whisper.
    Lucia look at me with concern. " Merda . He has not told you this, has he?" She put a hand on my arm; I jerked it away and stumbled along the wall toward the door leading to the street. "Delilah, wait, you do not understand. It is not like you think."
    I wasn't listening. I set my glass of grappa on the arm of a chair and made my way to the door.
    Had a child? And he hadn't told me? He had been married? God, I was an idiot.
    "Delilah, wait, please," Luca was behind me, catching at my sleeve. "Lucia was mistaken to tell you what she did. You don't understand."
    I shook my head and pushed the gate open. I was nearly flattened by a woman on a Vespa darting past me, and then a truck full of produce and fruit. I couldn't hear, couldn't see, only thought of getting away.
    I heard Luca behind me, calling me. Eventually his voice fell away, but I felt his presence behind me. I didn’t heed where I was going. Night had fallen by now, the city bathed in shadows and an orange glow from street lights and cafe noise. I came to a bridge, stopped, leaned over to watch the water flow beneath me. Luca stopped beside me, silent, waiting.
    When I didn't speak, he moved closer to me. "Delilah, please listen. Yes, I was married. She left me, one year ago today, as a matter of fact. But I do not have a child. I promise you this."
    I looked at him for the first time since leaving the house. "But Lucia said—"
    "My sister means well, but she is sometimes rash with the things she says. Luisa was Lia's daughter, not mine. I—I cared for her, very much, but she was not my child. I thought...I thought she was, considered her to be, but when Lia left me, I realized she was not my daughter, and never would be again." He picked with a fingernail at the mortar between the stones of the ancient bridge. "I am sorry I did not tell you sooner, but truly, I did not think you would appreciate being burdened with my past dramas, when you have your own which you are seeking to heal from."
    I felt the stone lift from my chest. "So you don't have a kid out there somewhere?"
    "No!" Luca spoke vehemently. "If I had a child, I would be there, every day, every moment. I would not let the child be taken away from me. I would stop at nothing to be the father for that child. But Luisa, she was not mine. I had no rights to her, and if Lia did not want me, did not want our family any longer, I could not fight it. In truth, for all that it seemed to everyone we were so in love, so perfect together, it was not so. In private, Lia was a different person."
    Luca seemed lost in his story now, and I didn't interrupt.
    "She was so polite and friendly with my family, so seeming to be a model person, model member of this family." Luca shook his head, eyes downcast and glittering with old hurt. "In our home together, it was a much altered Lia I lived with. Unkind. Given to hard words, sharp words. Insults. Nothing I do could be enough to make