I’m just about to get up and go check on Aria when I hear a door slam. My heart races because I know it could only be one person.
“Mom, Dad!” I close my eyes when I hear her musical voice. “Did you know there’s a little girl in the living room watching TV?”
My back is facing the doorway, but I know she’s now in the room. I open my eyes and they meet Luca’s. He knows how much I’ve missed my sister.
I take a deep breath, and with my heart in my throat, I get up and turn around.
She’s absolutely beautiful and looks just like me when I was her age. The last time I saw her she was seven years old, just over Aria’s age. She’s fourteen now, almost a grown woman.
Her eyes meet mine and confusion pulls down her brows. It doesn’t take her long to recognize me.
“Jules?” she whispers. “Is that really you?”
I nod, because that’s all I can do. My mouth is too dry and my throat too tight to formulate any words.
One second, she’s feet from me, and the next, she’s throwing herself in my arms. We both crumple to the floor. Her body shakes in my arms as she presses her face against my chest. Her hands clutch the back of my shirt, like she’s afraid I’m going to pull away. She shouldn’t be. I’m going nowhere. There’s nothing that could pry me away from my baby sister.
“You disappeared!” she wails. “You were there then you weren’t! Why didn’t you ever come back?”
“Shh…,” I coo, smoothing my hand up and down her back. Her grief is tearing me apart. I’m her big sister, she looked up to me, and I wasn’t there for her. “I couldn’t. Something happened to keep me away, but I’m back now, and I swear I’m never leaving you again.”
She pushes herself away from me and looks up. “What happened?”
I brush away her tears, ignoring my own. “I’ll explain later.”
She sniffs and wipes her nose with the back of her hand. “You promise you won’t disappear again?”
“I promise,” I say with force.
“I missed you so much, Jules.”
My stomach pinches. “I’ve missed you too.”
She bites her lip, looking up at mom and dad, then to Luca. “Who’s that?”
I get us both to our feet and grab her hand. “This is Luca, my husband. Luca, I’d like you to meet my little sister, Teresa.”
Her brows jump, and her mouth drops open as she looks at him. He’s got to be at least a foot and a half taller than her.
“It’s very nice to finally meet you, Teresa,” Luca says, holding out his hand. “Jules has told me a lot about you.”
“She has?”
Luca smiles. “Yes.”
Teresa turns back to me and lowers her voice. “He’s cute.”
He hears her and chuckles. Dad grunts, and Mom and I giggle.
“I know.”
She frowns again, her eyes flickering back to Luca before looking back at me.
“The little girl…. She’s your daughter, isn’t she?”
“She is,” I confirm.
“Wow,” she breathes. “That makes me an aunt.”
I put my arm around her shoulders. “It does. Would you like to meet her?”
“Yes,” comes her immediate answer.
I pull her into my arms one more time, needing to feel her there to know that this is real. My eyes meet Luca’s again, and they shine with love as he watches me with a soft expression.
As I lead my sister to the living room to meet Aria, my parents and Luca following behind us, I think about how lucky I am.
Over seven years ago, I was fortunate enough to find the one man I was meant to be with for the rest of my life. I knew it the instant I met him. We only had weeks before our happiness was ripped away. The years I was in my coma I was lost, just floating in space, neither here nor there. The first person I saw after I came out of my coma was again the man of my dreams, the other half of my soul, but I was still lost. Even before I regained my memory, my soul recognized Luca for who he was, and I slowly started feeling whole again, like I belonged and was exactly where I was supposed to be.
With Luca and our daughter.
Now I have my sister and my parents back, and I know that no matter what happens, no matter what troubles life throws at us, it’ll never shatter the complete feeling I carry in my heart.
I introduce my sister to Aria, and she takes to her like a flower to the sun. We stay for dinner and Teresa tells me everything I’ve missed over the last seven years. I soak up every word, glorying in hearing her voice again and seeing the excitement in her eyes.
It’s dark by the time we leave. We all exchange numbers, and I promise Teresa and my parents that I’ll be back in a couple of days to visit again.
As Luca navigates the streets of the north side of town back to the south side, my hand in his on his thigh, I can’t help the smile that stays plastered on my face. I look over at him when I feel his eyes on me.
“I love you,” he says quietly, then brings the back of my hand to his lips.
“I love you, too.”
He looks back at the road, but I see the smile curving his lips. I look to the back seat of the truck and find Aria sleeping peacefully.
A single thought comes to mind and my grin widens.
My life couldn’t get any more perfect than it is right in this moment.
EPILOGUE
Luca
MY BOOTS THUMP heavily against the hard linoleum floors as I follow the guard to a room filled with small dividers. Each divider has a pane of bulletproof glass and a telephone on both sides. I take the seat the guard indicates and wait. Sweat beads on my forehead. Not because I’m nervous. It’s from the ferocious anger coursing through me. It’s been a year since Theo was sentenced to life in prison for all the crimes he committed. At the fifty-year mark, he’ll be up for parole, but by then, he’ll just be a frail old man.
Sexual assault, sexual battery, rape, domestic violence, and two counts for attempted murder. Those were only the worst charges he was convicted of. There were several more. The jury was only out for ten minutes when they came back with their decision.
I’m reclined back in my seat, my ankle over my knee, when I see a guard leading Theo toward me. My jaw tightens at my first glance at him since the day he was sentenced to life in prison. The anger I felt toward him is still just as strong as it was the day I found him hovering over Jules, getting ready to rape her for the second time.
He glares daggers at me when he takes his seat and yanks down the phone receiver then brings it to his ear. I don’t grab mine right away, opting to just stare at him. I hate that we look identical.
Dropping my boot to the floor, I pick up the phone.
Theo’s voice sounds small when he growls, “What do you want?”
“Answers,” I grunt heatedly.
He barks out a laugh and it grates on my nerves. Originally, I wasn’t going to wait this long to pay him a visit, but I knew I needed to have a level head when I came, and it’s taken me this long to accomplish that.
“Why would I tell you anything?” he asks.
“Because you’ve got nothing to lose, and because you fucking owe Jules and me.”
He scratches the scruff on his face and doesn’t say anything for several minutes. Finally, he nods, and I get right to the point. I want this over and done with as soon as possible.
“Why?”
“Because I wanted her,” he answers simply, like it’s perfectly normal for someone to do the shit he did.
Theo’s lawyer tried to play the insane card, but the prosecuting attorney knocked that shit out of the water real fucking quick. My brother isn’t crazy, he’s just really smart and determined.
I move on to my next question. “Why did you take Jules to the hospital after you attacked her?” And why not blame me and have me arrested when I woke up with no memory? They saw the damage done to her. Someone had to be blamed for it.
He shrugs. “I freaked out when the bitch hit her head and wouldn’t wake up. I took her to the hospital and told them someone broke into her house.”
My jaw tightens, but I hold back my snarl as he continues.