“We haven’t patched things up,” he informed her. “I went to the appointment and left after I found out the sex and that the baby was healthy. I promised Mia I would be there for the baby.”
Olivia moved her book to the coffee table and swung her legs down. “Just the baby? Mia doesn’t warrant the same devotion?”
Bronson shrugged. “I’m not quite ready to take Mia at face value, considering the circumstances.”
“Oh, son. You know in your heart she was in a rough position. Why torture yourself and Mia? She’s just as torn up about this as you are. I guarantee she battled with herself over whether to tell you because I can assure you, that woman loves you with every ounce of her being.”
Bronson raked a hand through his hair. He didn’t want to hear about Mia’s loyalty or love for him when she also had loyalties to Anthony. Besides, love was based on trust. Plain and simple. And he’d finally begun to trust her before this latest life-altering blow.
“I’m here to talk about you,” he told her. “Mia can take care of herself.”
Olivia’s eyes closed. “If you truly think that, then you don’t know the girl at all.”
He couldn’t get into this. He was still trying to come to grips with everything and sort through his feelings. Couldn’t people understand that he couldn’t take another betrayal?
“When I saw the baby on the screen today, I thought of you.” Bronson pushed off the bar and moved across the wide room to sit in a wing-back chair across from his mother. “How you must’ve felt to give up a child, how selfless the act was.”
“The act was utterly selfish, Bronson. I gave Anthony up because I was starting a promising career and was rising fast in the movie industry. I knew I wanted a career first and a family later, and I wasn’t even in love. I had a fling—plain and simple. I was a selfish woman.”
“That’s not selfish, Mom, that’s love.”
Olivia batted a hand in the air. “Maybe so, but I knew giving him to a family who wanted a child would be best. Soon after, Anthony’s parents discovered they were going to have a baby of their own. Giving him up was the hardest decision of my life, and I questioned myself every day, but I know, looking back, I did what was right.”
Bronson leaned forward on his knees. “Tell me the truth. Did you not tell me and Victoria because you thought we’d be disappointed or because Anthony and I are rivals and you were afraid of the outcome?”
With misty eyes, Olivia smiled. “Both. I was afraid if you found out Anthony was your half brother, you’d hate him more. But mostly I feared you and your sister would look at me with disappointment in your eyes. I worried what you’d think of me.”
Bronson’s heart melted. “I think you’re human. Do I like that you kept this from us? No. Do I like that Anthony is a blood relation? Hell, no. But I love you, Mom. Unconditionally and forever.”
A cry escaped Olivia as she closed her eyes against the tears. “You don’t know how much I wanted you to feel that way, to understand my actions and not hate me.”
Bronson moved to sit next to his mother. Wrapping an arm around her, he pulled her to his side. “When I saw that baby today I realized that I would do anything to ensure a good, stable life for her. That’s when I realized you had to have battled this guilt for years. All you wanted was to give Anthony a good life with a loving family.”
Except for when his father died of a sudden heart attack, Bronson had never seen his mother this vulnerable, this emotional.
“Please, Bronson,” his mother sniffed. “Please don’t throw away what you have with Mia. Try to make this work. She loves you and she loves this baby.”
“How can I be sure she won’t deceive me?”
Olivia sat up, looked him in the eye. “If she were out to deceive you or she had something going on with Anthony, don’t you think she would’ve gone to the tabloids the second she uncovered the truth?”
Bronson swallowed. “I suppose. I just can’t live with another broken heart.”
“Who says you have to?” Olivia patted her damp cheeks. “I can almost guarantee that if you go to Mia, she’ll not only welcome you with open arms, she’ll forgive you for doubting her. That’s how true love works. It’s forgiving. You’ve forgiven me, haven’t you?”
Bronson smiled. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
“And that’s how Mia will feel. Don’t shut her out when you need each other most. Believe me—love only comes once. Don’t waste time arguing over my past sins.”
Pulling his mother into another hug, Bronson kissed her cheek. “Quit blaming yourself for this. All your children turned out fine. We all love you and we’re going to be okay. Somehow, this will all work out.”
“What do we tell the media?” Olivia asked, fear lacing her voice.
“Nothing.” He pulled back. “We wait until we are comfortable talking about this, until we all can stand before a camera as a united front.”
Her eyes bore into his. “Can you do that? Can you bury your hatred for Anthony?”
Bronson swallowed. “I’m beginning to realize he’s not the man I thought he was. True, we clash on film sets, but as for the private life he’s led, it’s not nearly as wild and deceitful as I’d thought.”
“So you’ll make this work?”
The hope in Olivia’s eyes, in her voice had Bronson nodding. “But first I have to get my own life straightened out.”
He kissed his mother one last time on the cheek. He might have a great deal of groveling in his immediate future, but the end result with Mia and his baby in his life was all that mattered at this point.
Nearly six months along in the pregnancy and Mia had never felt better. Other than her disappearing waist, she had no complaints. But every time she felt a kick or a swift movement from her baby girl, the waistline was all but forgotten and joy filled her.
The baby name book wasn’t giving her any suggestions she thought she—or the baby—could live with for the rest of her life. She’d been through the thing at least five times and nothing resonated with her.
Of course, her heart hadn’t really been in the search because this was not something she wanted to decide on her own. She wanted Bronson at her side, giving suggestions, laughing when she chose silly name combinations.
But since she’d seen him in the doctor’s office yesterday, he’d only called to double-check on her next exam appointment. Other than that, he’d said nothing on a more personal level.
And there was only so long she would wait before she marched to his mansion and made him see what he was throwing away because of pride and fear. She’d tossed down the proverbial gauntlet, so why hadn’t he picked it up?
Why did men let such negative emotions rule their love lives? And speaking of negative emotions, Mia was still reeling from Anthony’s phone call earlier when he’d told her that he and Charlotte had separated. But she couldn’t dwell on that now.
Mia glanced at the boxes sitting in the room she’d had painted a very pale pink. The furniture had arrived yesterday, and she’d instructed the deliveryman to put everything in here. The bedding would arrive shortly if Bronson called Fabrizio to tell him the baby’s gender.
When she and Bronson had ordered the crib and bedding, she certainly hadn’t expected to be the only one putting it all together. She’d envisioned them working as a team, taking an occasional break to feel the baby moving within her belly, sharing a smile of recognition that they