My Italian Doctor

Chapter Twenty One

The next two days passed without a word from him, and I didn't even attempt to contact him. Firstly, it was too painful and secondly, I was filled with guilt over getting him involved in all the mess. Aurora had noticed the difference in me and had quizzed me thoroughly. I had tried not to tell her because I knew how angry she would be about it all. In the end, I caved and told her everything and, as predicted, she was furious.

She was never a fan of Amelia and she was just as sick of her as the rest of us were. I dreaded to think what she would do to her if she ever had to deal with her again. Luca and Aurora didn't get on well, as such. They were alright on a daily basis, but there was so much tension between them caused by the vineyard. Regardless, Aurora was so protective of her older brother. She only wanted happiness for him and certainly wouldn't tolerate anyone hurting him, especially to the extent that Amelia had done.

It didn't help that she had always had a bad feeling about Amelia, and I knew she blamed herself for not digging deeper into her instincts. As soon as she had found out the truth about the reasons for the wedding, she blamed herself for not asking Luca more questions about why he was rushing into a marriage with such a woman. She had also confessed to me that she had always thought he and Rylie would get together. Their connection had been strong enough to be seen even from a completely different country.

I just hoped that Luca would come through for me. That he would find a way to stop Amelia's c*****e once and for all. Each hour of the days, I waited for a phone call from him, letting me know that he had managed to find a way. I had been so distracted that I had managed to knock over a crate full of wine bottles and smashed the lot. Aurora had put it down to stress over George and dismissed it as not being a problem.

I had felt instantly awful for not telling her about how Luca was involved and why I was really on edge. I knew she wouldn't be happy with me for putting him in the middle of it all and adding even more stress to him.

It was strange, the idea of not being able to see George anymore had brought out a desperation within me. As much as I cared about Luca and what he was going through, it wasn't enough to stop me from doing whatever I had to do to enable me to see George. I needed to see if there was something between us that was worth giving up every other element of my life.

I had come to realise that when I told him I loved him, it wasn't something that just came out in the moment. It was the truth. I was falling in love with him. The way he intrigued me, the way he had two completely different sides to him, and the way he treated me. He was such a good man. I struggled to imagine anyone who could be better and more moral than George. I had always thought Luca was the perfect gentleman, but George put him to shame.

There was so much of George I had yet to discover, and I didn't know if I could walk away from that. I had an actual need deep inside of me to know him more fully. Not just to know him, but to unleash him, too. The amount of shame that had been drilled into him made me sick, and I relished the idea of taking it away from him.

When I finally saw Luca's name pop up on my phone, the relief and nerves within me were in equal measure.

Luca: It's done. I'll be back at the vineyard soon, just need to tie up some loose ends first. Just don't tell Rylie anything. I want her to hear it from me. It's the least she deserves after everything. I need to make things right. I need to explain myself.

Emily: I promise. I won't even tell her I've spoken to you.

I didn't even really know what he meant by it being done, but I trusted him to have fixed it. I couldn't wait any longer. I had to see George, and I knew exactly where to find him. I grabbed the keys to Aurora's car and didn't even bother to ask her. She was planning on being tucked away in the office all day, anyway.

I drove way too fast into Verona, taking the corners of the narrow road much faster than I would have usually dared. When a car came towards me, I forced my way through instead of waiting patiently like I usually would have. I didn't have the time for manners. I knew there wasn't really any rush to speak to George, but for me, every minute extra before I spoke to him felt like he was moving further and further away from me.

He had already decided that we had to part ways and I understood. His job had to come first before something that wasn't even an actual thing. We were barely even a match lighting a firework. It could be amazing. It could be the most beautiful thing in the world. It could also fizzle out in the cold and never take flight.

I knew how he felt and I knew he would be distancing himself from even the idea of me and with each second that passed, he would be further away from me. I needed him to know that he didn't need to extinguish that match any longer and that I had fixed the problem with our fuse.

The lights from the hospital seemed to be blinding me as I drove up towards it. The hospital was huge, much bigger than anything I was used to from back home. It was split into multiple buildings and I had no idea which one was home to him and his department. I decided to go with my gut and parked the car near the building we had visited when Rylie was rushed in.

It was for maternity and post-natal patients as far as I remembered, but I took a punt that where there were babies there might also be children's doctors. The doors opened in front of me and forced me to face a busy and chaotic waiting room. I surveyed the room and noticed several crying children dotted around and knew I had been right to follow my instincts.

I looked up and spotted the sign for the paediatrics ward and started heading towards it. I hadn't gotten far before a busy body Italian woman from reception stopped me. She was obviously trying to quiz me in Italian.

"Chi sei qui per vedere?"

"I'm sorry, I don't speak Italian. I'm visiting my little brother." I should really have said son given my age, but somehow inventing a child of my own seemed completely wrong.

"Chi sei qui per vedere?"

"I don't speak Italian." She threw her hands up in the air but moved aside and let me pass. I knew she was too exasperated for me to be her problem any longer. I just hoped I didn't run into any staff who spoke English. It would be much harder to get past them. I pulled open one of the double doors and slipped through before the receptionist could change her mind or find someone to translate for her.

I could tell from the types of rooms and corridors that surrounded me that I was already on the ward. When I spotted another reception desk, I made a beeline for it. The nurse behind it was busy going over some notes and I stood patiently and waited for her to finish, despite me wanting to scream and shout for attention.

"Ciao."

"Ciao, I am looking for Doctor George Rossi."

"Sì, dottor Rossi. Siediti, per favore." Other than that she said yes, I had no idea what the rest meant, but given that she pointed to a chair, I assumed she wanted me to sit. I sat there for ten minutes twiddling my thumbs, quite literally because of how nervous I was. I almost expected open hostility from him, at least to start with. Hoping that once I spoke to him, the anger would dissipate.

When he finally walked through a different set of double doors to the ones I had used, it was like God had walked into the room. I wasn't even overselling it. Every single set of eyes in the vicinity turned towards him as if they were all alert to his presence. No doubt it helped that they were all women. I imagined a couple were mothers, but the majority were nurses who must have worked with him every day. I felt my temper rising and felt the need to stake my claim for them all to see, but I resisted.

"Emily, what on earth are you doing here? Are you trying to make everything even worse?"