Charlotte

I nearly spit out the tea I was drinking as I heard the words come out of Luca's mouth. Wife? Was he absolutely insane? This was his idea of taking it slow? We'd only been back together a matter of hours and he just told his mother I was his wife.

"Your wife?" She asked, clearly as caught off guard as I was.

Luca glanced back at me, pleading with me to play along. I was fuming, and had a half a mind to blow the top right off of his little lie, but I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. He'd better have a good explanation for this. 

By some stroke of luck, Layla hadn't heard his admission and was distracted by something she was looking at on his phone. 

"Yes." Luca insisted. "Charlotte is my wife. She's been away for a while, but she's back now. We wanted to keep Layla out of the spotlight for as long as we could. I'm sorry we didn't tell you and you had to find out this way, but it was better if no one knew. Safer for them. You know how crazy things were after Antonio was arrested and I didn't want to risk anything happening to Char or Layla." He walked toward me, snaking his arm around my shoulders and I stiffened as his words sunk in.

I was stunned into silence. "Isn't that right, baby?" Luca said hopefully, giving my shoulders a tight squeeze an coaxing me to play along. 

"Mhm." I agreed reluctantly, almost nervous to open my mouth and blow the whole plan. I wasn't sure what exactly he was trying to accomplish here, but clearly, he had a reason for his little lie.

His mother stared back at us in silence, confusion painted all over her face. "I just am... I'm sorry, I don't know what to say."

"We didn't mean to upset you. I've wanted Luca to tell you for a long time now, but he insisted it was safer this way." I offered, getting a small jab in at Luca. If he was making me play along with this little scheme, he was definitely going to take some heat.

"Oh, I'm not upset, dear. I'm just... in shock. I have a granddaughter. And a daughter-in-law." She let out a sharp laugh and walked toward us. She wrapped her arms around me, giving me an awkward hug. "I'd like to hear more about this, but I think I need to lie down for a while and process it. It's been a long day of traveling" "

"Of course, mom. Let me help you with your bag." Luca rushed to her aid, leading her up the stairs and to a guest room.

Layla and I were left in the livingroom as I tried to process what just happened. Did Luca honestly tell his mother I was his wife? And did I really play along with it? The entire thing was absurd. Why not just tell her the truth?

Layla chattered nonstop about her afternoon at the mall, but I couldn't seem to focus on anything. A few minutes later, when Luca reappeared at the door, all my rage surfaced.

"Layla, can you give daddy and I few minutes to talk and go up to your room?" I said sharply. Luca looked guilty, making his way over toward us.

Layla threw her head back dramatically. "I don't want to!" She whined, on the verge of a meltdown.

"Now, Layla." I said, more sternly this time.

Layla hesitated, sticking her bottom lip out and looked toward Luca for a show of support. Thankfully, he backed me up.

"Listen to your mom, baby. Maybe in a little while we can put on a Christmas movie."

Layla finally conceded and stomped out of the room. Luca and I were alone, and I wasn't even sure where to begin.

"Do you want to explain to me why you just told your mother we were married?" I crossed my arms over my chest, narrowing my eyes at him, the anger bubbling inside of me again. He'd bent over backwards to convince me we could take this slow, and then he'd just completely obliterated it.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do. The last thing I expected to come home to was the two of you having tea in the living room. Why didn't you tell me she was here?" 

"So it's my fault now?" I arched an eyebrow at him. This explanation wasn't going well. 

He held his hands up, knowing he messed up. "No, it's not. It's completely my fault. I panicked. I haven't seen my mother in four years. She's a staunch Catholic, Charlotte. She would die of shame if I told her that I had a child out of wedlock."

I threw my hands up in the air. "Well, that's what happened Luca!" As if he needed reminding. "Why didn't you just tell her Layla was mine, and we were dating?"

"Because she looks just like me, Charlotte. My mother would have figured it out, eventually. And besides, I want my mother to know Layla as mine. She's her only grandchild, and my mom may not have much longer to live." Luca defended, reaching for my hand and clutching it in his.

"Now you're playing the guilt card on me?" It worked. I was softening a bit at the love he had for his mother. It was adorable, and a part of Luca I rarely got to see. Suddenly, it was like he was a little boy, just trying to make her proud and despite my resistance, it was melting my anger away. 

"No, no. Not at all. I know I screwed up. I shouldn't have said that, but I didn't know what else to do. She blindsided me."

"Yeah, me too." I let out a sharp laugh. "So much for taking things slow. A marriage wasn't exactly what I had in mind, Luca."

"Look, this in't that big a deal, okay?" He put his hand to my cheek, brushing his thumb across my jawline. "We can just continue on exactly as we are--dating. But she'll just think we're married. It changes nothing and we can still take this as slowly as you want. Marriage is just a label, anyway."

"What are you going to say when she asks for wedding pictures?" I questioned, exposing the holes in his insane plane.

"Easy. We don't have any. We got married in a private ceremony and we were the only ones there."

I let out a heavy breath. "And our wedding rings?"

"Actually..." Luca pulled out a small black velvet box from his pocket.

"You really have lost your mind." I said, staring at the box like it was going to explode at any second.

"Relax. Just hear me out, okay?" He opened the box and a beautiful sapphire and diamond ring stared back at me.

"Luca..." My chest tightened as it dawned on me that he really wanted to get married. I was nowhere near ready for that kind of commitment with him. Not until I was sure Layla, and I were safe here. That he was serious about changing and putting in the effort to make us work. I was hopeful, but I wasn't ready to commit to a lifetime with him just yet. 

"This was supposed to be a Christmas present, but it will work." He said, slipping in gingerly on my finger.

"You bought me an engagement ring for Christmas?"

"No. I bought you a ring of Layla's birthstone." He smiled. "But it could pass as an engagement ring. If you agree to this, that is."

"I have a choice?" I asked, studying the sparkler on my finger.

"Of course." He sighed. "If you really want to, we can go upstairs and explain all of this to my mother. I just hate disappointing her, but I realize what a bad position this puts you in."

I sighed heavily. He was right. It was an awful position to be in and I was worried it would mess things up with Luca and me before we even had a chance to start over. Pretending to be married was a dangerous idea, but truthfully, he was in this situation because of me and I owed it to him to try to fix it.

"Just to be clear, the only reason I'm agreeing to this is because I think it's hilarious that you're supposed to be a big, bad mafia Don and you're terrified of your mother." I smirked. "And if we go through with this, I get free rein for whatever kind of Christmas celebration I want to throw. Not a single complaint from you."

"You got it." He grinned.

"And we're still taking this Slow. I don't want to mess up the progress we've made by rushing into something that we're not ready for. I guess we can look at it as a trial run."

"Absolutely. Slow and steady." He planted a gentle kiss on my lips. "Thank you, Charlotte. I know its stupid but it will mean a lot to her."

Now we just had to figure out what we were going to tell our friends... and my mother.