His expression is stark with need as he nears the bedside. “Fall in love with you? How could I fall in love with you when I loved you with every breath, every heartbeat, every lash of the fucking whip? When you invaded my dreams, my hallucinations. I can’t stop loving you, bella. I’ve tried. God help me, I’ve tried.”
Tears blur the vision in front of me, the haggard man, the fallen knight. “Gio.”
He clasps my hand between his and rests his forehead on my unharmed shoulder. “I didn’t know how to have you. I didn’t believe I deserved you. So I took you, and you…God, you were shot. Because of me.”
“No one said marriage was easy.”
His laugh is unsteady. “I know I don’t deserve you, but I’ll keep you. If you want to stay, I won’t be able to let you go.”
I close my eyes, knowing that my demons have fought alongside his. We have our own battles, the both of us, but we can fight them together. “The mansion had so many memories. So many monsters. But you vanquished them, one by one. Only you could have turned this place into a home, Giovanni.”
“We can leave here. We can run away together, you and me.”
That was what I’d always wanted. Running away together. It sounds romantic, but the truth is, it’s really just running away. “We’ll stay here,” I say softly. “So you can look for your mother.”
It wouldn’t be easy, dealing with the violence of the life.
Another battle we would fight together.
He kneels beside the bed. “Ti amo, bella. Mi vuoi sposare?”
Tears stream down my face. I don’t know Italian like he did, but I know enough. “We’re already married.”
“Di nuovo,” he says. “Again. For real this time.”
I run my fingers through his hair, a wild mane now. “It was always real.”
He bows his head over my hand, his voice low and fervent. “I know, bella. Always.”
Epilogue
The mirror has blackened at the edges, turned misty in the center. How many brides have looked at themselves in this pane of glass? How many of them lived happily ever after?
My sister sniffles from behind me, her brown eyes glossy with tears. “You’re so beautiful.”
This ceremony is more for her than for me. For all of our family and friends who didn’t get to attend the first one. I don’t have any of the fear, the nerves that I had before.
I give her a soft smile. “If I am, it’s because of you.”
She applied my makeup, somehow making it both subtle and glittering. I don’t know how she does it, but I’m grateful to have her. Now she’s forming a wide braid with loose curls, twining strands of pearls and crystals that remind me of water droplets. Combined with the full skirt of my dress and the antique engagement ring on my finger, I feel more like a princess than ever.
Flowers spill over every pew and surface in the chapel—and also the small dressing room.
A knock on the vestibule door. Maria peeks inside. “Are you ready?”
“Almost,” I tell her, picking up the sweeping bouquet of calla lilies.
“You’d better hurry,” she says, her voice dry. “I think the groom is going to pass out soon.”
That makes me laugh. “Cold feet? We’re already married.”
The past few months have brought us closer than I could have imagined. My recovery at the mansion, the birth of my nephew, Alessandro. We spend every day together, talking and laughing and dreaming. And every night, he explores new ways to make me shiver and moan.
Before I wanted to sculpt the counterpoint to the angel at the Grand, but only now I realize that isn’t the archangel. It’s a phoenix, rising from the ashes. The perfect use for the red alabaster stone.
Maria shakes her head, expression rueful. “I think he’s worried you’ll get cold feet.”
I stare after her as the old wooden door shuts. “Silly man.”
“Smart man,” Honor says. “He knows what you’re worth.”
A small, plaintive cry comes from the corner. “Shhh,” she soothes Alessandro, picking him up from the carrier. “Are you hungry, little one?”
He grasps at the silvery material of her dress, impatient.
“Oh, but they’re ready for you,” she says, biting her lip. “I think he could wait until after.”
“Don’t be silly. No nephew of mine is going hungry.” I fight a smile and lose. “Besides, maybe five minutes will give Giovanni a little scare. It’s nothing he doesn’t deserve.”
Honor laughs. “You really are his perfect match.”
It turns out to be fifteen minutes instead, but I’m not worried. The afternoon is cool, the wind light enough to leave the chapel doors open. Only people who love us are in attendance—Candy and Hannah from the Grand, Amy from school. Giovanni’s cousin Lorenzo returned as well, looking very relieved to have my consent this time. He also couldn’t stop looking at Amy throughout last night’s dinner.
Even Romero attended, having been given the green light to resume normal activity last week. His health has returned to normal, but his spirits remain subdued after Juliette’s arrest. She took the fall for everything, with Javier Markam missing. But we knew the truth about what happened, and Giovanni was looking for him.