Page 6 of Hello Goodbye Amore

“Was that a bad man?” Ricky asked, looking around as though he were going to pop up again any second. His arms were tight around Chase’s neck.

“Yes, he was. But he’s gone now, and you’re safe.

” He rocked Ricky back and forth as much for his own comfort as his son’s.

Chase knew he needed to remain calm or Ricky would become more agitated, and the last thing Chase wanted was for him to be afraid in a city that was to be their home for the next five months. “What do you want to eat?”

“Not sketti,” Ricky told him, resting his head on Chase’s shoulder.

“Pizza?” Chase asked.

Ricky shrugged and went quiet like he was either thinking or had to poop.

Sometimes it was hard to tell. “Chicken and french fries,” he said.

Ricky’s comfort food of choice. Chase wasn’t sure where to find an American-style place nearby, but he checked his phone and headed one street over.

Sure enough, he found a snack bar that had an approximation of what Ricky wanted.

At least it was close enough that Ricky ate it, with Chase having a few bites himself.

“Is that bad man out there?” Ricky asked seriously as he offered a french fry to Chase. They weren’t bad, and he ate the offered goodie.

“He’s gone, and the police are after him, so he isn’t going to be around anymore.” He forced a smile, even though the incident had set him on edge. They were safe, and nothing had been taken.

Ricky looked up from his food. “What if he tried to steal me?” The fear in Ricky’s eyes was real, and all Chase wanted to do was soothe it away.

“Then I’d chase him down all the way back home if I had to until I got you back.

” He held Ricky’s gaze. “I would never, ever let anyone take you away from me. You’re my boy, and I will fight anyone who tries to take you away.

” He smiled as best he could to try to make Ricky feel better, even though a jolt of fear ran through him.

After all, Ricky was all he had left of his twin.

“You promise?” Ricky asked, and Chase nodded very seriously.

“I promise, forever and always.” And he always kept his word, no matter what, though sometimes promises got hard to keep, especially when there was a secret at the heart of them that could blow his entire world sky-high.

Chase turned away and glanced upward, thinking of Elaine and the promises he had made to her in the hospital when Ricky was born.

That wasn’t the last time she had extracted promises from him.

The first was easy: that if anything ever happened to her, he would raise Ricky as his own son.

He’d done that and had adopted him four years ago.

Heck, Ricky had called him Daddy or Guncle Daddy practically since he learned to talk.

The second promise didn’t seem that big then, but lately it was becoming more problematic.

Nevertheless, he intended to honor it because it was to his twin and dearest friend, and he’d lost a bit of his spirit when she’d died.

“Really?” Ricky asked, and Chase tickled him lightly to peals of laughter that had other patrons turning to smile.

“Yes, really. I will always be there for you, and no one is ever going to take you away.” Chase would move heaven and earth before he’d let anyone take his child.

Which only made Chase more determined to keep Elaine’s secret, no matter what.

He squeezed Ricky’s shoulders in a gentle hug.

“Now, please eat your lunch so we can go see the bridge with the shops on it.” And maybe he’d find something interesting that he could send back to his mother.

Her birthday was coming up in a few weeks.

“Okay, Daddy,” Ricky agreed with a smile. “How many more bites?”

Chase sighed. “Five more of the chicken,” he answered. Ricky could eat all the fries he wanted as long as he ate some more protein.

“Then can we go see the bridge?” Ricky asked, eating quickly.

“Yes. But you have to hold my hand the entire time. There will be a lot of people there, and I don’t want you to get lost.” Just that idea made his heart quicken in fear.

“I will.” Ricky took his additional bites and then declared that he was done.

Chase ate what was left of the fries and made sure Ricky’s hands and face were clean, and then they headed out, walking back through the center of town toward the Arno River, following the flow of people as they made their way to the main shopping district.

The crowd got thicker as they approached the Ponte Vecchio, both sides of the street lined with businesses hoping to tempt tourists with their wares.

“Look at the pretty pictures.” Ricky pointed at the mosaic images made of pieces of stone.

He pulled Chase over to look for a few seconds before something else caught his attention.

Chase lifted Ricky into his arms so he could see better and to prevent him from running off.

“There’s so much.” He paused and pointed once more. “What’s that?”

“Jewelry, lots of it. There have been stores like that on the bridge for a very long time. Do you want to try to find something for Grandma?” Chase asked as they paused to look into one of the shop windows.

Ricky gasped and pointed to a gold necklace decorated with incredibly detailed enameled flowers. “Do you like that one?”

Ricky nodded and smiled. “It’s pretty for Grandma.

Can we get it?” He practically bounced with excitement.

Chase hated to tell him no, but he was sure the piece was a lot more than he could afford.

“Pleeeaaaase,” he asked in the same way he had asked Santa for a pony at Christmas, complete with innocent eyes and that lower lip thrust forward.

“We can look at it and ask how much it is,” Chase said gently.

He turned to enter the small shop as Antonello stepped out from behind the counter, where he had been speaking with the salesman.

Chase took a step back, hoping he could get out of there before Antonello saw them.

His heart raced, and he felt sweat beading around the back of his neck and on his forehead as his gaze shifted from Ricky to Antonello and then back to Ricky, a realization hitting him in the chest like a fist. Chase could barely breathe as his gaze went between the two of them like he was watching a goddamned tennis match. Holy shit on a shingle.

“Chase,” Antonello said, and Chase felt him coming up behind. He didn’t have to see him; he just knew he was there. He hadn’t noticed the name on the sign, but he must have stepped into the Glorioso family store. He should have been paying closer attention.

“Hello, Antonello,” he said as levelly as he could with his heart pounding in his ears. Everything went into slow motion as Chase saw the moment Antonello registered that he was holding Ricky.

“Who is this?” Antonello asked. Chase expected the same recognition that had just pummeled the breath out of him to dawn on Antonello at any second.

“You didn’t tell me you had a son.” Antonello simply smiled, and Chase blinked, trying to find his voice, willing his shock to the background so he could function.

“Ricky,” he managed to croak out before clearing his throat. “Say hello,” he prompted gently, setting his son down.

“Ciao, bella,” Ricky said rather enthusiastically with a wide “look how smart I am” grin, while Chase could barely breathe from the knot of fear growing in his throat.

At any second he expected realization to dawn and his life to come crashing down around him with no way to stop any of it.

Granted, he didn’t know for a medical certainty that Ricky was Antonello’s son, but seeing the two of them together, the resemblance was impossible to deny.

“Actually, since I’m a man, it would be ciao, bello ,” he said, speaking to Ricky, his eyes shining with amusement before shifting his gaze to Chase. “He’s adorable. Are you teaching him Italian?”

“We want that one for Grammy,” Ricky announced, bounding to the window display to point at the necklace in question. “Unless it’s too ’spensive.” He practically vibrated with energy.

Slowly Chase’s shock abated as it dawned on him that what he feared most wasn’t going to happen, and he managed to force his lungs to work and his head to stop spinning.

He exhaled slowly, his heart rate gradually returning to normal as he watched Antonello and the son he didn’t know he had speak together for the first time.

Chase had promised Elaine many times that he would never see Antonello again.

He’d thought it was because of the mess they’d had to deal with to unravel their business plans, but now he knew why.

Ricky was Chase’s son now, and had been officially since the adoption.

He loved him as his own and considered him the child of his heart.

But Chase wondered how Antonello could look into the face of a younger version of himself, right down to the dark eyes, jet-black hair that curled wherever it wanted to go, and a smile that could charm the birds out of the trees, and not see it.

Chase sure did. Maybe it was true that people only saw what they were looking for.