Simone (The Ciprianos of Kellington Book 2) (9 page)

Chapter Ten

Every time she felt her
body relax for a moment to sleep, suddenly Delia found herself tossing and
turning in bed. As her head hit the pillow for what felt like the fifth time,
the reason why she couldn’t get to sleep like she wanted dawned on her. She
still was a bit unnerved by what her brother had told her. When she was finally
able to rest her mind and body, her thoughts went back to that dance at the
Cipriano home. She remembered the look he’d given her when she introduced
Rodger to him. Why hadn’t she picked up on that stare he gave them? It was as
if someone had punched him dead in the stomach.

Why couldn’t he have
just come right out and told her how he felt?

“Now I can’t get to
sleep, dammit!” she shouted while flipping back her comforter to get out of
bed. Grabbing the phone, she dialed Simone’s number and waited for him to
answer. There was no way in hell she would be able to get any type of rest
until she heard it from him directly and not just something relayed by her
brother.

“Hello?”

“Question, is it true?”

“What? Is what true?
Delia, is this you?”

“Andrew told me the
whole story, Simone; about you being in love with me after all these years. I
had to hear it from you and not from Andrew. So, is it true or not?”

It was so quiet on his
end, she thought, but then he uttered a word that made Delia’s heart stop
beating. “Yes.”

“Lord have mercy, why
in the hell didn’t you tell me, Simone? We’ve known each other too damn long to
keep secrets from one another.”

“I know, Delia, but
this one I’ve kept for fifteen years now. Do you remember that night when I
took you to the movies and afterwards we came back to your house to eat? I
remember the look in your eyes when you told me that you loved me but you
didn’t think I loved you the same way. Those moments when we were together
Delia, those were probably the happiest I had ever been. Like I told Andrew, I
didn’t want to jeopardize my friendship with him because of us dating. I care
about both of you very much. There were times when I would sit back in my
office and remember those days when we were together, going out to the movies,
having the carhop bring us burgers and onion rings to the car. I’ve been on
many dates over the years, been with many women as well. But the times I spent
with you were probably the best I had ever had in my entire life. I think the
reason why I never decided to settle down with any of them was because they
never were like you.”

“What do you mean they
were never like me?”

“I kept comparing most
of the women who came into my life to you and honestly, none of them could hold
a candle to you, they weren’t you. That’s when I knew right then and there,
that I wanted to be with you, to show you that I’ve always loved you from the
very first time I kissed you in my mom’s garden on our first date. I was stupid
to put friendship over true love and I should have just gone with my heart.”

Delia honestly couldn’t
believe all that she was hearing. “Why didn’t you just tell me, Simone?
Something could have happened between us even before I had gotten with Rodger
or anyone else for that matter. Hell, if you had just confessed your feelings
for me when we were young, there is no telling what we could have been doing
right about now. We could have gotten together and been together right now,
could have gotten married and had kids.”

She remembered when she
was young and she would often imagine how it would be to marry Simone. Her
wedding day would have been a beautiful one, something along the beach.
Everything would be white and lavender and everybody would have to wear white
cool clothing since it would be during the summer. They would honeymoon in
Italy, where his family lived in Sicily. Over the years she would have his
children…at least about three or four. She’d always wanted a big family and
would imagine how beautiful the little girls would be and how handsome the
little boys they would make together would look.

“You thought about us
having children together?”

Suddenly a tear
trickled down along her cheek and then another. “I used to think about how
wonderful it would be to have your kids when I was young. Hell, you saw my
diary that night.”

“I never read your
diary that night, only Andrew did. We only got to certain parts but never to
anything about us having children together.”

“Well there was plenty
in there about all my feelings for you. God, I wish you just would have said
something to me, Simone.”

“I am telling you now
that I love you Delia, I always have loved you but I was an idiot to keep my
feelings to myself. Thinking that maybe it would be for the best. I want us to
be together Delia, and now we have the opportunity to do just that, it’s a sign
from God letting us know that we were meant to be together. I’m not going to
screw this up again for us, Delia; I only want to be with you now and forever.”

Delia was at a loss for
words, wiping her tears away. She honestly couldn’t have been happier than she
was to hear these words from him. Even though it might have taken him years to
acknowledge his true feelings for her, Delia was just happy to finally hear him
open up about them. “So we are still on for Saturday, then?”

“You know we are and
we’ll have dinner afterwards too.”

“Good, talk with you
tomorrow, then. I’m going back to bed.”

“Sweet dreams, Deedlebug.”

Delia smiled, “Goodbye,
Simple Simon.” Hanging up the phone, she felt like a fifteen-year weight had
been lifted off her chest.

Maybe this was a sign
from God, she thought.

* * * *

Jaslyn had told her she
didn’t have to come into work the following day, that basically she had the
rest of the week off, but Delia needed to be doing something and she needed to
keep her mind busy as well.

“So, he told you he
loved you?” Jaslyn said, while they were both polishing the furniture. Delia
had been all smiles for most of the day and Jaslyn couldn’t help but pick on
her because of that.

“And you knew it all
along, didn’t you?” Delia told her as Jaslyn smiled bigger than a Cheshire cat.

“Well, Renzo had told
me about it. He told me not to say a word until either Andrew or Simone told
you. I swear I was itching to let you know but you never told me how deep you
both were. Renzo said that Simone had made the biggest mistake of his life when
he gave you up. Hell, he said that even Gianni and Federico thought you two
would have made a great couple.”

“We would have, if
Simone had been more open but maybe now we have a chance. I don’t know why I
said maybe, I know we do have a chance to be together now.” Delia told her,
still smiling while they continued to polish the furniture.

They walked over to
Filomena’s down the street for lunch. Renzo greeted the both of them with a hug
but of course a kiss for Jaslyn. “So, what brings two of the loveliest ladies
in town to my restaurant today?”

Delia shook her head
and smiled while Jaslyn told him, “Easy, tiger, we are only here for lunch.”

Grabbing their arms, he
showed them to a booth in the corner of the restaurant. “Here you go, my love,”
he seated Jaslyn and then he smiled at Delia, which only made her wonder what
he was smiling so much about. “And for my sister-in-law, here we go.”

“Oh my God, you can’t
be serious, Ren, sister-in-law?”

“You might as well
accept it for you were family from the beginning and you’ll make a wonderful
addition to our immediate family, once Simone decides to propose to you, that
is.” Giving her a kiss on the forehead she heard him chuckle a bit while she
sat down as well.

“Hey there, now, stop
kissing on my girl over there.” said a voice from the other booth. Delia peered
over the other side, only to feel something smack her square in her forehead.
She heard a few people say ‘oooh’ and ‘damn’ real loud as she rubbed her
forehead. Then she looked over and heard Renzo asking, “Are you all right?” But
she could hear that he was trying not to laugh through the smile on his face.

Wincing a bit, she
tried not to laugh herself. “Yeah, but what the hell did I just hit?” Hearing a
moan from the other side, Delia looked over, seeing Simone leaning up against
the cushion of his booth, rubbing his forehead as well. “Oh my God, Simone,
what are you doing?”

“I was going to say the
same thing to you, geez.” She sat watching while he rubbed his forehead,
squinting just a bit before she saw those beautiful brown eyes of his staring
back at her. Eyes she remembered making her melt whenever they would look down
at her, eyes that she had always wanted to look at her the way they were at
that moment….with love. “I hope I don’t leave a bruise on your forehead, let me
see.” He reached over and gently touched her forehead while moving some of her
hair. Lightly his lips rested right where they had bumped into each other.
Delia closed her eyes and it felt like the kiss just ran through her body. It
was that same feeling that she thought had long gone out between them. But it
was still there the moment he placed those lips of his on her skin. “Now how’s
that?”

She didn’t open her
eyes for the longest time. She felt that if she did, the whole moment, much
less the feeling would just go away. But soft whispers against her ear told
her, “Open up those eyes of yours, Deedlebug.” When she did open them, she saw
him smiling down at her and it made her smile just as much. “That feels much
better, thanks.”

They both sat up and
Delia looked at Renzo who had the biggest smile on his face. She knew that he
was enjoying the moment between them too much. “Can you get me some aspirin,
Rin
Tin
Tin
?”

He rolled his eyes,
looking around to see if anybody heard her say that, “Don’t call me that,
Delia, you know I hate it when you call me that god-awful nickname.” He walked
away and this time Delia was the one who was smiling as she looked over to see
Simone sitting back down in his booth as she went and sat with him.

“When did you get in?”

“I came in last night.
I decided to surprise you.”

“Well, you sure do know
how to surprise someone with a bop on the forehead.”

“I told you I was
sorry.”

Giving him a playful
wink, Delia smiled. Renzo came over with a glass of water and aspirin.
“Thanks.” Taking it quickly with the water, she closed her eyes for a moment
hoping that it would help but of course she felt fingers along her own. Opening
her eyes she saw Simone’s fingers capturing hers for a moment, intertwining
together as a whole. “So…where do we go from here?”

 
He brought her hand up to his lips and softly
kissed her fingers ever so lightly. “I think I have an idea but we will go out
on that date for Saturday, for sure.” His smile was brilliant and beautiful,
eyes dancing and sparkling as well. She watched him come from his side of the
booth and sit down next to her as he leaned over to quickly kiss her lips. God,
those lips of his, she swore she had completely forgotten how they felt after
all this time. In between the kisses, soft moans escaped from her mouth. Never
had she felt this way when Rodger used to kiss her but of course this was
totally different.

She was getting a kiss
from her first love…
again
!

Chapter Eleven

When he gave her that
kiss, it awakened a part of Simone that he’d long felt was dormant. When their
lips touched it was something that he had been dreaming about feeling again.

“Look at you two all
hugged up and kissing like you are.” Jaslyn smiled while he heard Delia
giggling.

“Well, it’s been a long
time coming, you know.” Simone sighed deeply, his hand still holding onto hers.

“All I know is that I
am happy that you both have come back together. I honestly never knew that you
two were as close as you were. I mean she told me that Andrew and you were good
friends along with the rest. But she never told me about you two.”

“And why didn’t you
tell her about us?” Simone questioned.

“It was just something
that I didn’t think to mention, plus those moments we had been together were
mine to keep.” Her head rested against his shoulder which was also a welcome
comfort to him.

Renzo came back to the
table, a smile across his face when he saw them sitting together like they
were. Simone couldn’t help but smile because he knew what his brother had been
thinking at that moment. “So, what can I get you all today?”

“How about a bottle of
your best red wine, bro, and of course get whatever the ladies want,” Simone
told him.

“You didn’t tell him
what you wanted for lunch.” Jaslyn reminded him.

“Oh, I already know
what he wants to eat.” Renzo left the three of them once more.

“So, I will pick you up
on Saturday, what time does the movie start? Do you know?”

“I think I said at
seven, but I can check when I get home. So what else do you have planned for
me?”

Simone had to laugh a
bit while Jaslyn looked on. “What makes you think that I am going to tell you
what I have planned for you, Deedlebug? You’re just going to have to wait until
it happens.” Kissing her forehead, he saw his brother come over with a bottle
of wine and four glasses in one of his hands. Getting up, he helped his brother
with the glasses while he opened the bottle of wine. Filling the glasses
half-way, Simone handed each woman a glass as he and his brother took the last
two.

“A toast,” Renzo said,
looking toward him. “Here’s to new beginnings and a love that was thought
long-lost but never really was. I wish all the best in the world for you two
because you honestly deserve each other.” Raising their glasses they all
toasted together before taking a sip.

Sitting back next to
her, Simone continued talking about their plans for Saturday. The entire time
they sat there, he held her hand in his. “You know, when you called asking me
about whether or not I still cared about you, I have to say I was scared to
even tell you,” Simone admitted, seeing the shock come over her face.

“Well, how do you feel
now that you’ve told me?”

He kissed her soundly
on the lips which made her smile. “Does that answer your question?”

“Ummm, I don’t think
so, maybe if you could persuade me a little bit more,” she told him playfully.

Moving toward the side
of her face, he nuzzled against her to whisper in her ear, “Maybe I’ll show you
that later on, baby.” He elicited a high-pitched giggle from her, only adding
to the fun for him. The sound of her laughter like that was something he had
often dreamed of hearing.

“I swear
,
you two are just adorable.” Jaslyn looked at them, still
smiling. She probably was right about how they were acting but Simone really
didn’t care. For the first time in his life, he was genuinely happy and
fulfilled. He had the love of his life by his side and he knew that things
would only get better between them now. Just as long as they had each other,
then things would go their way.

“You know, you should
call your mom and let her know.” Jaslyn suggested and he watched Delia go into
her purse and pull out her phone.

“Oh no, if we tell Mom
about us, we have to do it face-to-face, you know.” Delia nodded in agreement.
Soon, Renzo and a waitress came with their food and the couples began to eat
lunch. Later on, they talked about letting Filomena know about Simone and Delia
being together.

“Oh, she’s going to
have a fit, you know that, right? I mean, she knows that you both were made for
each other, anyway. I can just see her now, all crying and spouting out Italian
and hugging you both.” Renzo ate some of his pasta and chuckled a bit.

“You want to do it
later on today?” Delia asked.

“Sure, I can meet you
after work. I’ll stay around here and help you out Renzo, if that’s all right?”

“You know it’s all
right, bro.”

“Or, you can come and
help us out, we need some of the furniture dusted as well as some pieces moved.
We can always use you with us, Simone.” Jaslyn mentioned.

Delia added, “Yeah, you
can come and help us out and then we can go together to your mom’s afterwards.”

“That sounds great,
I’ll just stay with the ladies today, bro, and help them out.” Simone smiled
while continuing to eat his food.

When Simone and the
girls made it back to the shop, he was immediately put to work by them. Never
in his life had he dusted, much less polished, so much furniture. One piece of
furniture, a beautiful mahogany armoire, had so much dust on it that he
literally found himself sneezing uncontrollably. “Are you all right?” shouted
Delia from the front.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just
got caught in a dust storm back here.” He coughed, waving some of the dust
around him which only made things even worse. It started to get into his throat
and made him want to retch because it was tickling the back of his throat now.
Trying his best to keep his composure, he found it to be no use so he made his
way toward what he thought was a door that would lead outside but when he tried
to open the door, it wouldn’t open.

“Simone?” shouted Delia
from behind him as she came down between the furniture. As she walked toward
him, she motioned for him to walk with her toward another door, which led them
to the bathroom. Grabbing a washcloth from the towel rack, she immediately wet
it and wiped off his face. The coolness seemed to calm down his coughing as she
wiped down his face and along the back of his neck. “Dust bunnies got to you,
huh?”

He snickered a bit but
nodded when she smiled as she continued looking over his face. God, she was
beautiful, he thought, even though she looked so concerned about his well-being
at that moment. He didn’t realize just how much he had been coughing it up back
there. “Maybe you need to wear a mask, I know there are some pieces back here
that we haven’t dusted in a while, so of course, there is plenty of dust.”

“Yeah, I think that
just might work in my favor, don’t you agree?” Simone replied.

Nodding, he watched her
go to a cabinet to grab a face mask. Immediately he put it on and asked, “How
do I look?”

He noticed her trying
not to giggle but she finally said to him, “I’m sorry, but you look funny as
hell with that thing on.” She immediately started to laugh as she pushed him toward
the mirror. He started laughing himself from behind the mask. “Paging Dr.
Cipriano, paging Dr. Cipriano, you are wanted in surgery!”

“Oh Lord, ha
ha
ha
!”

He rolled his eyes but
looked back at her, still smiling and laughing it up at his expense because he
had lost the ‘dust bunny war’. “Keep it up, young lady and I’ll come and
operate on you.” He began tickling her, which only caused her to squeal and
laugh against him while he held her. Eventually he stopped while she slowly
calmed her laughter but he couldn’t help but smile behind his mask, for this
woman he had always loved was now his once more. Pulling up his mask Simone
kissed those smiling lips of hers, nipping them a bit as she softly moaned. He
held her around her waist, and her arms immediately wrapped around his neck
which made him hold her even more intimately. His roaming hands traveled along
the curves of her body, curves that he had constantly dreamed of touching,
which was now reality. She felt so soft and warm he thought, especially when he
caressed her breast, which caused her to catch her breath. He noticed her
looking up at him, resting her head against his chest as his hand gently
continued holding her breast.

“We better get back to
work,” she told him.

“Not just yet, let me
hold you just a little while longer.”

She softly told him,
“You know we have forever to hold each other like this. No need for rushing,
but we do need to go and finish up with work.”

Giving an exasperated
sigh, Simone nodded, pulled his mask back down and went back to dusting
furniture.

* * * *

Delia could hear the
phone ringing as she made her way back toward the front of the store but Jaslyn
got it before she could. “Thanks for calling Timeless Treasures, this is Jaslyn
speaking, how may I help you?” Jaslyn immediately looked Delia’s way with a
concerned look on her face. Delia wondered what was wrong until she saw Jaslyn
mouth the words, “It’s him.”

Her heart sank a bit
when she realized that Jaslyn was saying it was Rodger calling. She kind of
figured he would try something so crazy as to call her. Shaking her head,
Jaslyn went on to tell him, “I’m sorry Rodger, she’s not here right now and if
she was, I don’t think she would want to talk with you in the first place.”
Hanging up the phone, Jaslyn asked her, “Do you believe the nerve of that guy
for him to keep calling up here after all he did to you?”

“People will try to do
anything. Guess he wanted to apologize to me even though I’d never accept it
from him.” Delia declared, rolling her eyes at the idea.

“I wouldn’t even worry
about it because you have an amazing guy back there who cares for you deeply.
Rodger knows he screwed up greatly when he lost you.”

“You’re right, but did
it ever hurt though to know that after all the time we had been together, he
considered that it was nothing more than him sowing his wild oats.” All she
could do was just shake her head because she didn’t want to get herself upset over
all that had happened. But soon a hand came and touched hers, looking over she
saw Jaslyn’s hand on hers, grabbing it softly and assuring her that everything
would be all right. The tears welled up in her eyes but she had to compose
herself for she didn’t want Simone to worry or question what was going on if he
came up their way. “Thanks.” Taking a deep breath, Delia continued with her
paperwork.

The phone kept ringing
as more customers called for items that day, which for Delia was a welcome
sound. More customers meant more items getting out of the shop, more money in
their pockets, too. “You know we are going to have to get another mover,” Delia
told Jaslyn after looking back to see how Simone was doing.

“That I know. I need to
call the paper to see about getting an ad in for a mover. Maybe Renzo knows of
someone who might need a job.”

“Yeah, that could work.
Ask him, and if he doesn’t know of anyone, then we’ll put the ad in.” Delia
suggested to her friend.

“How much more dusting
do I need to do?” Simone voice was muffled from behind the mask.

“Don’t tell me that
you’re done? You’ve got a lot more to do back there.”

“The dust is killing my
sinuses, bad.”

“Why don’t you go on,
Delia? His eyes do look bad and he probably needs some fresh air anyway. This is
good, though, you know?”

“How is this good?”
Delia wondered.

“This way, at least you
know you can’t get him to do any dusting.” Giving them a wink, Delia shook her
head while Simone moaned.

“Come on, you big baby,
let’s head over to your mom’s.”

“I am not a big baby,
Deedlebug,”

“You are too.” Delia
smiled, getting her purse from behind the counter. “Now come on, you big baby,
so I can tell your mom how you acted today while dusting off some furniture.”
She grabbed his hand and the couple headed toward the door and out to their
cars. “I’ll follow you,” Delia told him, getting into her car and starting it
up.

She had to admit that
she was a nervous wreck, even though Delia knew that all they were doing was
telling his mother that they were going to be a couple. Why would she be so
nervous, then? This was a new start for her and Simone, even though it had been
a long time coming. When she got to the light, her cell phone began ringing and
without looking at it, she took it out of her purse to answer it. “Hello?”

“Delia, please don’t
hang up on me, I need to talk with you.” It was Rodger and he sounded desperate
as hell, she thought.

Quickly she clicked the
phone off and threw the phone onto the passenger seat. The phone rang once more
but she didn’t bother to answer it as she continued to follow Simone’s car toward
his mother’s home. By the time they arrived, the phone had rung about three
separate times in a row and when the fourth time came around, she decided to
answer it so at least she could put a stop to his calls. “What do you want
Rodger?”