Tycoon Valentino Grifasi lost his beautiful young wife very early in their marriage leaving him the sole parent of their now adoring little son, Gio. At her funeral years ago, Valentino had sworn to love her forever, and to him that means he will never love another.
Faith Williams a very successful American artist living in Sicily also a part time art teacher in a Sicilian primary school, lost her husband and her unborn child in a car accident several years ago and believed she will never know love or happiness again.
When widowed Faith met and started dating the Sicilian tycoon Valentino, she taught it was a miracle as she had given up on finding love again. However Valentino, or Tino as he was fondly called believed only in a physical relationship devoid of all emotional involvement of his heart as he did not want to break the promise he made to his dead wife, so dating Faith he had set strict limitations on their relationship. For Faith half bread was better than nothing as she had fallen hopelessly in love with Tino. For a while she was content with whatever crumbs he could give her, until a miracle happened and she wanted more. On learning that Faith wanted more out of their relationship, Tino made it clear repeatedly that he will never marry her, not just because of the promise he made to his wife but because she was not Sicilian and therefore unsuitable. Unfortunately for Tino, Faith had been long standing friends with his mother and son long before they started dating, something which came as a shocking discovery for Tino, with hilarious consequences. When his own family started playing match maker, it was Faith who had the courage to dump Tino, in the face of repeated reminder that he will never marry her. Will Tino change his stance once he finds out that she is carrying his child?
How Tino goes about winning back Faith and discovering that he will be a Papa again is beautifully told by Lucy Monroe. I liked this story because it was honest, no high drama and it was essentially between this two people and no third parties to cause friction. What was most striking was that they were always honest to each other about what they were feeling. Granted Tino can be thick around the edges but he sincerely felt that he could not break his promise to his wife, and would only marry a Sicilian woman to give back to his son something of his mothers. When he learnt to make room in his heart for love, he came to a deeper recognition of love and stopped fighting what he felt for Faith, a love that surpassed what he thought he felt in the past. Faith was always understanding , forgiving but very firm with Tino, and would not give up her friendship with his son and mother even after breaking up with him. She never held a grudge as she marvelled in the miracle of life and a second chance at family with her unborn child. A great read, I recommend.
