“When you told me disaster was coming. I didn’t entirely believe you, but what is that expression? Better safe than sorry? I had workmen clear out the caves and brought in supplies. Why not? More useful than wine.”
Hector rushed in to hug his uncle, and Giovanni did his best to wrap one arm and hold him tight. Tears rolling down his cheeks. Jess didn’t think she had any crying left in her, but more spilled out.
Only then did she notice Roger, propped up on his right arm in a cot on the opposite wall. He stared at her. His left shoulder was a mass of bloody bandages from where she shot him with the arrow. He said nothing, but his eyes said it all.
How could someone be jealous at a time like this? “Roger, my God, I didn’t see you there. I’m sorry, I didn’t know—”
“I’m glad you’re safe.” Roger grunted, swung his feet off the cot and got up. “I’m going to help Lucca and Raffa.”
Jess sat back on her haunches. “Roger, wait.” She held up one hand. “Why did you come here, what happened?”
Roger balanced himself as another tremor jolted the ground. “I came for you, Jess.” He glanced at Giovanni, back at Jess, then turned and stalked away.
40
CHIANTI, ITALY
BEN LEANED DOWN to pick up the edge of a fallen crate. He strained to lift it back into place. Celeste jammed her body beside his. Together, they pushed the crate back against the rock wall.
They slumped into each other and sat against it.
“See, we can do anything together,” Ben laughed, putting his arm around his wife.
He’d been a fool, pushing her away, hiding his own pain. His own guilt.
“Well, we made Jess, didn’t we?” Celeste laughed and kissed her husband.
The ceiling rumbled, detonations spraying them in a mist of falling pebbles and dust.
“I’m so happy.” Ben kissed Celeste back. A happiness he hadn’t felt in years. Here, at the end of times, buried alive, his love burned bright.
Jess came around the corner from the other room. The cavern walls shook.
“Come sit with us.” Celeste held one hand out to her daughter.
Standing and stopping for a moment to admire her parents sitting together, Jess took her mother’s offered hand and squeezed in between them.
Ben kissed his daughter’s head. “I thought I’d never see you again. My God, you’re crazy, you know that? You should have just left me.”
“I couldn’t do that.” Jess craned her head sideway and kissed her father’s cheek. “Neither could Giovanni.” She felt her mother putting both of her arms around her, squeezing her tight.
Closing his eyes, Ben shook his head. “He’s a good man, Giovanni.” He put his hand on Jess’s chin and pulled her face to look him in the eye. “He’s a good man. We’re lucky to have him.” He chewed his lip. “And Leone, Lucca, Raffael…these are good people.” He looked away, his voice trailing off.
“I can believe it took this to get us together.” Ben’s face creased up, his eyebrows high. “How on Earth did you convince Celeste to come to Italy?”
Jess hadn’t ever mentioned it to him. “It was a Facebook message sent to Mom, from a someone who said they were family and wanted to meet us.”
“And did you talk to them?”
Jess shook her head. “No, they never responded after we got here. It must have been Nico, trying to drag us into the middle of this insane blood feud.”
“How did he…” Ben didn’t finish his sentence, but looked at the ceiling. “But thank God.”
“Nico denied it,” Jess said. “Even when it made no difference, he still denied he sent any messages. He said it was God.”
“The man was deluded,” Celeste said.
Jess took a deep breath. “Yeah, I guess so.” But she understood Nico. His wife and daughter—he had something precious beyond comprehension stolen from him. In the final moment, she understood. She forgave him. But why would he lie about sending the Facebook message? At the end, she saw rage and pain in his eyes, but no deception.
Ben took off his eyeglasses and wiped his face with one hand. “Speaking of Nico, he’s really gone?” He put his glasses back on and looked Jess in the eye. “Did you kill him?”
“I didn’t kill him,” Jess said, her voice quiet and flat. “I almost did, but I let him go. He tried to escape on a cable car that connects to the other hilltop. He fell into the valley. Into the…” She wasn’t even sure how to describe what was out there.
“Good,” Ben whispered. “Good.” He looked at his hands and clasped them together.
Jess wasn’t sure if he meant that Nico was dead, or that she wasn’t the one that killed him.
“What’s happening, the world will be changed forever,” Ben said after a pause. “I need you to promise me something.” He looked at Jess again.
“What?” Jess took his hands in hers. “Anything. What do you need?”