BE CAREFUL and establish your rights from the start, because Gabriel Brabanti is a shark, and given half a chance, heâll eat you alive. Thereâs no middle ground with him, ever. Itâs his way, or the highwayâand I chose the highway!
Her cousinâs warning ringing ominously through her mind, Eve took a firmer grip on the infant seat holding her niece, and paused in the entrance to the Gerolama Cassar Executive Arrival Lounge at Luqa, Maltaâs International Airport.
One among the select group waiting to welcome passengers flying in from Amsterdam was the man himself, Marciaâs ex-husband and the father of sweet Nicola Jane, whose birth hadnât ranked high enough on his list of priorities for him to attend it in person. Instead, almost four months after the fact, heâd summoned mother and child to visit him, half a world away from Manhattan.
But had Marcia cooperated? Heavens, no! Marcia only ever did what she wanted, and she wanted easy, convenient, glamorous. And the rest, the untidy stuff? She palmed that off on to someone else, a fact Eve was so well aware of that she had only herself to blame if she didnât like her present difficult situation.
It had begun innocently enoughâand wasnât that typical!âwith a call from Marcia one evening, when the air-conditioning in Eveâs Chicago apartment had failed yet again, her clothes were sticking to her like wet tissue paper, and her resilience sat at an all-time low.
âHow are you, Evie?â Marcia had cooed effusively. âI miss you! Itâs been too long since we spoke!â
But the preliminaries had soon given way to the real reason for her call. Gabriel Brabanti was flexing his paternal muscles and demanding visitation rights.
âAnd thereâs no way Iâm putting in a command appearance just because His Highness ordered it,â Marcia had spat, her tone changing from sweet to steely, and echoing indignantly over the speakerphone she insisted on using so that Jason, her new husband, could be part of the conversation. âAs far as Iâm concerned, I never received his letter.â
âI donât see how youâre going to pull that off,â Eve had pointed out. âYou just finished saying he had it delivered by courier to the agency, which means you had to sign for it.â
âI donât care! The almighty Signor Brabanti can go to hell! He might be a rich Italian living in Malta and wielding a lot of clout there, but heâs a nobody in New York.â
Eve heard the rustle of paper, then Jason spoke. âMight be best to cater to him, buttercup. From the tone of this letter, he means business. Either you go to him, which gives you the choice of making the visit short and sweet, or he comes here and hangs around as long as he pleasesâand we donât want that, now do we?â
âIf you think my showing up with Nicola will put an end to his demands,â sheâd replied, âyouâre dreaming, honey. Theyâre just the beginning, mark my words.â
A pause, then Jasonâs voice again. âWhatâs your take on all this, Eve?â
Wishing sheâd let her answering service pick up a message, because becoming embroiled in the permanent crisis which best defined Marciaâs life inevitably wound up costing her more than she could afford, Eve said, âFrom what youâve told me, I have to agree with Jason, Marcia. Either you make the trip to Malta, or Gabriel will come to you. Itâs your call. Either way, heâs obviously determined to see his baby and frankly, he has every right to do so.â
She hadnât needed to be there in person to know that Marciaâs mouth had taken on the mulish pout sheâd perfected before she turned four. It had announced itself in her petulant reply. âThen you can be the one to take her to him, because I wonât have him hanging around here, and I absolutely will not go back to Malta. And before you turn me down, Eve, let me remind you who came to Chicago to look after your smelly old cat and water your plants, the last time you spent a month lolling around on the Mexican Riviera.â
âFor heavenâs sake, that was five years ago and Fidelioâs been dead nearly twoâand he didnât smell, at least no more than you would if you were almost a hundred and forty years old in human years! As for the plants, you managed to kill off every one!â