Chapter 6

Timothy Giannatto Timothy watched the young mother-to-be with curiosity. She walked beside him, slowly, murmuring so softly that he could not understand what she was saying, at first, he thought she was talking to him, then he realized that young Melody was talking to herself. He was used to the frivolous women of movies and television, the ones who preferred to dress up than being comfortable, or the ones who preferred to keep up an appearance than live happily. He had a feeling Melody didn’t care at all how much money he had in his pocket.

“Have you cleared up your issues?” he didn’t know why she caught his attention. She was a fairly plain and simple girl. Petite size, big gray eyes, intelligent gaze, and Jet-Black hair that reached her waist.

There were thousands of women like Melody from the coffee shop, but none, for some reason he couldn’t figure out, had ever captivated him as much.

“Who?” she asked, as she entered the clinic.

“You and your inner self. You seemed to be having a very heated and interesting discussion.”

“Don’t make fun of my little Italian.”

“You called me little Italian?” he couldn’t believe the coolness with which that woman expressed herself. He had a feeling that, if he spent a day alone with her, locked in a house, he was likely to end up gagging her.

“Would you rather Italianate? It’s really all the same to me. You think you’re funny and smart, you’re going to tell me you’ve never seen someone talking to themselves?”

“I’m not saying I haven’t seen anyone; I’m saying it’s crazy.”

She glared at him and grumbled something about poking his eyes out.

The woman had a wild spirit, and he should applaud her for that. But instead, he preferred to keep attacking her. That was more fun for him.

“I’d even go so far as to say it’s a basic principle for taking someone to the psychiatric ward,” he commented as if referring to the weather. “Good morning,” he approached the hospital reception desk and smiled at the receptionist.

“Good morning. How can I help you?” Timothy watched as the woman looked him up and down, he must have been quite a sight, soaked in coffee all over his shirt, quite different from how he normally looked, all neat and tidy.

“The young lady is pregnant, and we need to see Dr. Troy to confirm that everything is okay.” The woman looked at the computer for a moment and responded by informing him that the doctor was seeing another patient.

“It doesn’t matter. Just get me checked out in the ER I got it,” Melody placed a hand on his arm and Timothy froze for a moment as he felt a rush of electricity go through his entire chest.

“No,” he said after a few seconds. “Let Dr. Troy know that Timothy Giannato is here and that he expects to see him right away.”

“Sir...”

“No. Call him and tell him to come in,” he interrupted the russet-haired, brown-eyed woman who was watching him somewhere between shocked and uncomfortable.

He was one of the main shareholders of the maternity ward. His family had donated millions over the years so that no woman would have to go through any kind of need when it came time to have her child. He took his role as an important man, as his cousin Hamlet used to call him, quite seriously.

“I don’t want to cause you any trouble,” he heard Melody speak to him. She looked at the receptionist and him one at a time. She was uncomfortable too. It all showed on her face, in the way she wrung her hands and how she looked with her eyebrows crossed at the woman behind the counter.

“You don’t bother. I told you I was going to help you and I will. I brought you here, it’s only fair that you be seen by the person I trust, and I know will tell us if all is well with your son.”

“You don’t have to stay.”

“I’m not leaving no matter what you say, and I don’t care what you say,” he flatly refused to leave her alone. He could feel her so helpless and inexperienced; it gave him indigestion just thinking about leaving her alone in a place full of doctors.

It was stupid and he knew it. There was going to be no place better cared for and protected than a medical center, much more so if it was one that was being supported by the Giannato.

“Sir,” the receptionist called out to him, “Dr. Troy is on his way. You can wait for him in his office if you like. Do you know where it is?”

“Thank you. I think we can get there on our own,” he had been to Troy’s office countless times. Not because he was pregnant, but because the two of them had practically grown up together and as adults they hung out quite a bit. Every chance his friend’s emergency would allow.

Just then the cell phone rang, and he had to excuse himself for a moment with to take the call privately.

“Yes?” he said as he hit accept.

“Love,” said the voice he immediately recognized as Gia’s.

“I told you to stop calling me.”

“And I told you I don’t give up easy honey,” she purred. At another time in his life, in another hugely different time, that tone might have made him hard up to his toes, but after seeing her be able to deny it, the only thing it caused him was disgust. “I think it’s about time you come back.”

“I’m not going back.”

“You’ve punished me enough. Don’t you miss me?” she sounded almost sad. But he no longer believed her at all. His days of being an idiot and trusting were over.

“It’s not punishment. It’s called ending a relationship. Didn’t the guy you were going to cheat on me with teach you that? Ask him to see, I’m sure he knows more than I do.”

“Don’t be like that my darling. That was nonsense. A little slip of the tongue. We women have needs too Tim.”

“I went away for a few days!” he growled.

“I didn’t think you’d be here so soon.” The cynicism with which she expressed herself was going to make Timothy’s anger vein burst, the one that throbbed and crescendo when he got really angry.

“Oh, sorry I’m early!” he shouted and slammed the call.

He entered the building again to accompany Melody with the checkup, it was the best thing he had to distract him. It had been a while, weeks since he had done anything but drink in the evenings, attend his daily duties at the family offices and kill himself at the gym, doing hours and hours of weights.

“This hospital is practically owned by Mr. Giannato’s family, they donate a lot of money every year for the maintenance of the entire center,” commented the woman who was in her late forties, with a brown bow tie and droopy eyes adorned with thick horn-rimmed glasses. “What do I say a lot of money! I’d say a lot, millions I’m talking about girl, did you really not know who you were with?” the woman asked Melody.

She shook her shoulders and her head at the same time. Timothy told himself he shouldn’t have to listen this, it wasn’t in his nature to stop in hallways and listen to what others thought of him, but he was eager to see what the girl had to say about him. He was sure she had seen him; he and his family were one of the most affluent Italian families living in the United States, consequently, they were photographed by the television media several times a week. From cocktail parties and gatherings, to auctions and charity events. One small difference between his parents and him is that he usually went hand in hand with Gia to many events in the last year.

“I’ve never seen him before in my entire life, didn’t you see the stain on his shirt? That was me and me alone. Do you think I’d be the token acquaintance in his life? As clumsy and dumb as I am? That gentleman doesn’t rub shoulders with people like me.”

“You’re so cute my girl,” the woman seemed to see herself as needing to lift Melody’s spirits, Timothy thought. But he didn’t think she needed it. The girl was beautiful, in a peculiar way, though she was quite attractive to him.

“I’m not a beauty,” she tugged a little at the blouse she was wearing, and he found it most childish and tender.

He shook his head dumbfounded at the effect this girl had on him. It was freshness in his world of coldness.

“Sorry to interrupt you,” he approached them. Both women were speechless when they saw him approaching and he almost burst out laughing when he saw the guilty look on both of their faces.

“What?” he played innocent.

“Nothing,” Melody hastened to say. “Shall we get going now? I promised Doyle I’d be right back to help him.”

“You shouldn’t kill yourself that much,” he blurted out without thinking and scolded himself for such a statement. He was not a man to meddle where his presence and comments were not required. Melody seemed to be handling her life and work quite well.

“I don’t kill myself. It’s a job. If I don’t work, I don’t generate money, if I don’t generate money I don’t eat, and if I don’t eat...”

“I know, you die,” he completed, raising his eyes to the sky.

That girl was a real handful.

“Exactly,” she affirmed with a smartass face. “I die. You know who else dies if I die?”

“It won’t be me. I’ll tell you that,” he scoffed.

“No. Not you. You don’t have the heart to die for anyone.”

Timothy stopped and watched her as she crossed her arms over her chest. She was judging him?

Without knowing him? That girl didn’t know anything about him.

“I’m sorry.”

“You seem to apologize more than you eat,” he told her feeling his momentary anger melt away just by looking at her regretfully.

“Don’t tell me I don’t eat.”

“I didn’t say that. Are you going to find something wrong with everything I tell you?”

“That’s what you meant. You don’t know what it’s like to be pregnant. You have no idea.”

“Of course, I don’t!” confirmed he amused by such a strange thought, “if I did know it’s because I’d be a woman. I must admit I’d be a rather pretty and elegant woman.”

“You think that about yourself?” she opened her huge gray eyes and burst out laughing. “Wow you have high self-esteem.”

“You don’t think I’m attractive? Ouch. You’re mean,” he told her walking back.

He found it easy to talk to this explosive and spontaneous woman. Much simpler than with many others who had approached him over the years looking for an easy prey, someone to act as a bank or ATM.

His father had told him since he was young: “there are people who are only interested in you because of your financial status, but those are not worth it, the people who are worth having by your side are those who, without knowing you, give you help if you need it, or give you a smile without expecting a benefit in return.”

Like Melody.

The answer came to him quite easily. Certainly, that small and thin girl was like that.

“So, what then?” he asked her as they reached the door of his friend’s office. “Do you think I’m attractive? Do you think you’d have an affair with me?” Timothy didn’t understand what his desire to know Melody’s answer was all about, he didn’t understand why he was pulling that string so much, since the girl really wasn’t from his social circle, and at the end of his check-up he would be out of her life and possibly never see her again.

But, still, his ego, or his heart, wanted to know what she thought of him.

“Do you really want to know what I think of you?”

“Is it going to hurt?” he looked up at her face, Melody slowly looked him up and down, her eyes narrowed and biting her lips as she looked at him.

Nothing had ever been as beautiful and addictive to him as that gesture in his entire life.

She was different.

But he couldn’t trust anyone again. To give himself away was to give the opportunity for someone to hurt him again.

“I have no problem telling you how I feel about you,” she agreed, “I just hope after this you’ll stop the game and let me in to find out if everything is okay with my son so I can get back to the coffee shop.”

“Okay. Spill it,” he encouraged her.

“You’re attractive.”

“Just that? How about my beautiful green eyes? How about my lips sculpted by the gods?”

“I think you’ve read too many romance novels,” she told him, laughing again.

Timothy liked the sound of her laughter, uninhibited, sincere, not caring what the world around her thought.

“I am a good catch.”

“God forgive him for his modesty!” she raised her arms to heaven as if crying out to the father above.

“You are ridiculous.”

“You are an arrogant one,” she countered him, “now open the door and let me out of this already.”

And so, he did.

But he knew he wasn’t going to be able to get away from her that fast.