4. Lani

4

Lani

L ani chose the morning that Tenn was off buying produce for his restaurant for her next meeting with Lorenzo. She wanted to tell Tenn, and she would… she just hadn't yet. She couldn't seem to find the words.

Olivia had spent the night with her grandparents (an invitation that Rory had never been included in, despite Tenn's gentle suggestions that she would like to have her friend along) and Tenn had left before dawn, so there was no one there when they left the house and drove the short distance to the playground in Pualena where she had agreed to meet Lorenzo.

She hadn't breathed a word of this to anyone, not even Rory.

Maybe she was still hoping that he would just disappear into thin air, much in the same way he had dropped out of the clear blue sky, and she would be able to go back to her life.

But there he was when she pulled into the parking lot, sitting on the park bench. His knee bounced nervously, and he held a bouquet of flowers in one hand.

Why did he have to be so sweet ?

"I have a surprise for you," Lani said as she parked the car. Her voice came out flat, but Rory perked up at the word ‘surprise'.

"What is it?"

Lani chewed her tongue, second guessing herself. Maybe she should have just let Rory out to play? But what if he came right up to her with a bunch of flowers? How would she explain that?

She wanted to be the one to tell her, and she didn't know what to expect from Lorenzo.

"What's the surprise?" Rory demanded.

Lani turned in her seat to look at her. "Remember how I met your father a long time ago, but then I couldn't find him again?"

She stilled, and her eyes went wide. "You mean my real dad?"

"Right, your biological father."

"Not the one who shot Daddy?"

Lani winced. "Right. Not Zeke."

They had done their best to keep the source of his injury secret from the girls, but the incident had been big news in their small town. The girls had heard it from other kids on the playground, but they had taken it in stride. After all, he was fine.

You could never predict how kids would react to potentially life-shattering news.

And then there was the fact that Rory had just started to call Tenn ‘Daddy'. That was the same day that Olivia asked Lani if she could call her ‘Mom', though she was more shy about it.

How would Lorenzo react when he found out that Rory had another father figure in her life so soon after Lani's divorce?

He seemed nice enough now, but she had seen how drastically men could change. She had lived through the nightmare of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for years with her ex, and she wasn't prepared to go down that road again.

But what choice did she have?

"Mama?" Rory prompted. Lani refocused on her daughter.

"His name is Lorenzo. I only met him one time, but he's your biological father. I never knew his last name, or where he lived, so I couldn't find him again when I realized that I was going to have a baby. So he never knew about you. But he does now, and he wants to meet you."

Her luminous brown eyes went even wider. "Is he here ?"

"Yes." She glanced back out the front windshield and saw the man in question staring at her, frozen. He had spotted them.

"Where?" Rory dove between the seats and popped up again in the passenger seat, pressing her nose to the glass. "Is he the one with the flowers?!"

It was early still, and he was the only man nearby. There was only one other man in the entire park, a grandfather pushing a baby over at the swings.

"That's him," Lani admitted.

Before she could stop her, Rory was out of the car and sprinting towards Lorenzo. Lani jumped out and ran after her, practically tripping over her own feet in her rush to follow.

When Rory reached the bench, a sudden shyness seized her. She took one look at Lorenzo, then turned and hid her face in Lani's skirt.

"Hi," she tried, but the word was lost to her awkwardness and dread. She cleared her throat and said, "Good morning."

" Buongiorno ," he murmured, still looking at Rory.

"Rory?" she prompted. "Can you say hello?"

"Hello!" She peeked at him, giggled, and hid her face again.

"Hello," he echoed. "Do you know who I am?"

She let Lani's skirt fall away from her face and said, "You're my bio– my biodogical… my real dad."

"Yes." His smile was dazzling as he went down on one knee and presented Rory with the flowers. "And I am very, very glad to meet you."

She snatched up the flowers with a grin and held them to her nose.

"What do you say?" Lani prompted.

"Mahalo!" Rory shouted. "That's thank you in Hawai'i."

"In Italy we say grazie ," he told her.

" Grazie ," she repeated.

"Yes! Like that."

Rory wrung her hands together, nervous. Then she gathered her courage and asked, "What do I call you?"

Lorenzo smiled and said, "I call my father Babbo ."

She giggled. "That's silly!"

"Is it silly?" he asked, still grinning. "It is what he called his father, and his father, all the way back for many, many years."

"So I should call you Babbo?"

"If you like."

She shifted her weight from foot to foot and glanced at the grandfather who stood on the other side of the playground. Then she looked back at Lorenzo and asked, "Will you push me on the swing?"

"I would love to push you on the swing." He spoke carefully, eager to be understood even with a strong accent, and Lani's heart softened a little more. Even so, it was agony to watch Rory run off with him. She stood holding Rory's flowers, trying to give them some space but unwilling to take her eyes off her daughter.

Lorenzo pushed her on the swings for a solid ten minutes, and then he climbed all over the play structure with her like a kid. When playschool friends showed up and Rory's attention went to them, he wandered back to Lani.

" Lei è meravigliosa ," he said quietly. "She is… everything."

Lani blinked back a prickle of tears, overwhelmed by the emotions rushing through her.

Fear and guilt were slowly giving way to a genuine happiness for her daughter, that she wouldn't have to live the rest of her life with this piece missing. She would know who her father was, would even have the chance to know her extended family… but they were so far away, and that possibility kicked Lani right back to fear.

They settled back onto the bench, leaving room between them for Rory. But Rory was busy playing tag, and Lani set the flowers down in her place.

"You are not married?" he asked suddenly.

She startled and turned to look at him. "No."

He nodded thoughtfully. "You will marry me. We can be a family for our daughter."

"You're not serious."

Lorenzo frowned, looking puzzled. "I am very serious. I want to provide for my daughter, and for the mother of my daughter. That is what a man does."

"You don't even know me."

"I know you enough." His smile was crooked and charming, and in a heartbeat she was transported back to the night they met.

It was like a fairy tale, she marveled. Prince Charming finds his wife and child and vows to make up for the years that they've lost. They ride off into the sunset… or in this case, board a plane to Tuscany. Other women must dream of proposals like this.

But it wasn't her dream.

She had already found her happily ever after. And she wouldn't let Lorenzo ruin it.

"There is something here," he continued, "between us. You are very beautiful. And I love Rory already. I love you ."

Her heart lurched – not with love, but with panic. "Don't say that."

"How could I not love the mother of my daughter?" he pressed.

"I love someone else."

He slumped, disappointed, and looked out across the grass at Rory.

She waved to them from the top of the slide, and they waved back.

After a long silence, he asked, "He is good to you? This someone else?"

"Yes," she said immediately. "Better than I deserve."

"Ah, bella ." His dark eyes were sad. "I think this is not possible."

"What do you mean?"

"You deserve the best." He was silent for another moment, and then he asked, "He has not married you, this good man?"

"He wants to." Her voice came out quiet, subdued.

"You do not want to?" There was a spark of hope in his voice.

"I do," she said quickly. Guilt tore out the pit of her stomach and her shoulders hunched forward, her body curling around the pain. "Just… not yet. I just got divorced."

"So you are not certain," he pressed.

"I'm sure about him . I just don't want to get married yet. To anyone."

"Think about it," he pressed as Rory came running back across the grass.

"I don't need to."

"But we could give her a family."

Lani shook her head, but a splinter of doubt pierced her certainty as Rory ran into her father's arms.

"Babbo! You're still here!"

Rory laughed as he pulled her into a hug, lifting her feet off the ground for just a moment before releasing her. She pulled his hand, and they ran back to the swings.

As Lani watched them, her doubt burrowed deeper.

She knew what she wanted.

But what about what was best for her daughter?