Scarlet Wilson – Cinderella's New York Christmas (страница 2)
HE SHOULD NEVER have opened that letter.
His insides curled uncomfortably as he took the final few steps up to the veranda around the luxury chalet. Even though it was the beginning of November it seemed the Mont Coeur ski resort in Switzerland had moved into full Christmas mode. Maybe it was the cold weather and snow that made the whole population think it was normal to have Christmas trees up at the beginning of November. But as his car had woven its way through the resort it had seemed that every business and shop in Mont Coeur was fully on board for the festive season.
Everywhere he looked there were garlands, twinkling lights and piped music.
On any other day he’d think the whole place was picture perfect—like a scene on one of those Christmas cards. But today wasn’t like any other day.
His parents’ luxury chalet seemed to be a leader in the festive decorations. Through the glass-panelled doors he could see the Christmas tree decorated in reds and gold as a focal point in the spacious living area; boughs of holly had been wound around the banisters and across the mantelpiece, where a fire was roaring beneath. And above him, against night sky, gold twinkling fairy lights adorned the outside of the chalet. The quintessential idyllic Christmas scene.
This should be different. This should be so different.
He should be coming here today to meet the parents who had given him up for adoption thirty-eight years ago. He should be coming here to learn more about the people who’d said they’d thought about him every day since. Instead, he was here at the insistence of a family lawyer he didn’t know and a sister, Noemi, whom he’d never met, for the reading of his parents’ will.
The warmth and the family feel of the chalet felt totally alien to him. He’d never experienced this lifestyle. He’d never experienced the true joy of a happy, family Christmas. And he couldn’t shake the guilty feeling that if he hadn’t been found, hadn’t answered their letter, then his parents would never have died in a helicopter crash on their way to meet him.
Now he was here at their request for the will reading—and to meet his two siblings.
Everything about this felt awkward and wrong.
His stomach churned again as he knocked on the glass door. Maybe no one was home? Maybe his siblings had changed their minds? It would be so much easier to turn on his heel, go back and find the alternative luxury chalet his PA had booked for him.
There was a flicker behind the glass. A woman rushed towards him. She was tall and slim with a short brown angled bob. Behind her, walking much more warily, was a tall, muscular man. Even from here Leo could see the creases along his brow.
The woman flung the door open. ‘Leo?’
Her brown eyes were hopeful. He could see her hands twitching at her sides. She was barely able to contain herself.
‘Yes,’ he replied hoarsely. It was all it took.
She let out a squeal and flung her arms around his neck. ‘Oh, Leo, I’m so glad to finally meet you.’
He stood frozen to the spot, not sure of whether he should lift his arms to hug this woman back. After what seemed like the longest time she finally pulled back, wiping a tear from her eye. ‘I’m Noemi. You know that, don’t you?’ She wiped away another tear and gestured to the man behind her. ‘And this is Sebastian, your brother.’
It had to be the most awkward meeting in history. Animosity was rolling off Sebastian in waves. He didn’t even step forward, just gave the barest nod of his head.
Leo steadied himself for a second. This was his brother and sister. When he’d been growing up he’d always wished he was part of a large family. He would have loved to have had a brother and sister. But his adoptive parents had already decided one child was too much. He was never quite sure why they’d adopted him as they’d shown so little interest in him.
All he wanted to do right now was turn and walk out the door. It made him feel pathetic. He was a businessman, a CEO. He spent his life in difficult business dealings. This should be nothing to him. But everything about this was unravelling a whole pile of emotions that he’d never acknowledged.
It was obvious that everyone in Mont Coeur was rich, even by his standards, his brother and sister included. Maybe they were worried he was here for money? Money that he didn’t need or want.
Noemi grabbed his hand. ‘Come in, Leo, come in. I want to hear all about you. I want to know how you are.’ She bit her bottom lip as a few more tears escaped. Was his sister always this tearful? He wasn’t big on emotion at the best of times and he was already feeling the overload.
Her hands were warm against his chilly skin and she pulled him inside. She drew him straight into the heart of the house, between the Christmas tree and the fireplace. ‘Give me your jacket,’ she said enthusiastically, tugging his dark wool coat from his shoulders.
Sebastian had barely moved. The muscles around the bottom of his neck were tense. He glanced at Leo as he shrugged his way out of his coat. His words were stiff. ‘My wife, Maria, and son, Frankie, hoped to be here but...’ his voice tailed as if he were trying to decide what to say ‘...they’ve been unavoidably delayed.’
Something in his gut told Leo that Sebastian hadn’t been exactly truthful when he’d spoken. He looked like a coil about to burst from into a spring. Either his wife and son didn’t want to meet the ‘new’ brother, or Sebastian was hiding something else completely. Leo had done enough business dealings to know when someone was being economical with the truth.
Noemi patted the sofa next to her. ‘Please, sit. Giovanni will be here soon, but I want a chance to chat first.’
Giovanni. The family lawyer who’d persuaded him to attend the reading of the will. Giovanni, who right now he wanted to email and tell him that he’d changed his mind.
He sat down on the sofa and was almost swallowed up by it. Leo wanted to laugh out loud, because that’s how he was feeling in general about the visit here.
His eyes caught sight of family pictures on the wall. There was a whole array, obviously taken over years, starting with a young smiling couple with a baby and toddler, going up to four adults all standing with their arms around each other. Love was plainly visible in every picture.
Something gripped in his chest. The family that he should have had. The family he should have been part of.
It was like a million little caterpillars creeping up his spine. He actually thought he might be sick.
He wanted to go over and grab the photos, hold them up to his nose and study his parents. He wanted to see the last thirty-eight years. What they’d been like, how they’d grown, how they’d aged. All things he’d been cheated out of.
He pushed himself up from the impossible sofa. ‘This was a mistake...’
‘What? No.’ Noemi looked instantly stricken.
Something twisted in his chest. He really couldn’t handle this. He wasn’t equipped to deal with this. He’d spent a lifetime devoid of any love. Forming relationships wasn’t his forte. The last woman he’d dated had described him as ‘cold’ and ‘hard’—two things he couldn’t really deny.
Getting that initial letter from his parents had been like a bolt out of the blue. It had taken him two weeks to reply. When he had, he’d been hit by the overload that was his mother, who’d emailed every day, making plans to visit.
Getting the call from Noemi—the sister he’d never met—to tell him that their parents had been killed in a helicopter crash while on their way to visit him in New York had almost taken the air from his lungs.
He
He’d wanted to see them. Curiosity had made him fly to Switzerland to stand in the same room as his brother and sister and talk to them in the flesh. But now he’d done it.
He had to get out of here. He had to get some air.
A hand came down firmly on his arm. ‘Don’t go.’
Sebastian. His brother.
He could see Sebastian was struggling with this too. ‘Not yet.’ It was almost like he couldn’t quite get the words out.
Sebastian shook his head. ‘You just got here.’ He wasn’t really meeting Leo’s gaze. ‘Take a breath. Take a moment.’
Leo looked to his left. Noemi’s chin was trembling. He couldn’t watch her cry again.
Leo couldn’t work out if Sebastian was doing this for him or for his sister. Their sister. Noemi was
Brain overload. This wasn’t him. Nothing about this was him. All of his life he’d been cool, calm and collected. Those three words were synonymous with how most of his work colleagues described him.