“Don’t look, Essence,” I tell her gruffly. I’m drenched in sweat from the heat of the fire, and my heart is racing in my chest.
It calms when I hear the faint sound of sirens.
“Thank God,” Essence breathes from behind me.
Tugging the knife from Ronnie’s stomach, I shove him back until he falls to the floor in a bloody heap. Essence jumps up from the floor and wraps her arms around me.
“I thought you left,” she whispered, gripping me tightly.
“I would never leave you.” I pull away from her just enough to look into her eyes. Tears stream down her cheeks, and she has the most beautiful, hopeful smile on her face. I don’t have the heart to tell her that the firefighters might not make it to us in time.
She looks towards the door where the smoke continues to flow in underneath. Something outside the door crashes, presumably a wall or the ceiling, and her face drops.
“We’re going to die in here, aren’t we?” she asks sadly.
“Look at me.” When she does, I cup her face gently and press a soft kiss to her lips. “Nothing can keep me from you, Essence. Not even death. And if tonight is our last, I’ll walk through the fires of Hell to get back to you.”
Her bottom lip trembles as she’s hit by a fresh wave of tears. She lays her head on my chest, wraps her arms around my waist, and whispers, “I love you, Dante.”
I rest my cheek on top of her head and close my eyes. “I love you.Ti amo per sempre, fiore.”
PART III
FROM THE ASHES
EPILOGUE
ESSENCE
SIX MONTHS LATER
The cemetery is completely silent.
It’s almost as if Mother Nature knows the significance of today, and she’s also mourning. The sky is dark gray, it’s still cold outside even though it’s the middle of April, and the weeping angels in the row next to us add a tinge of sorrow to the already sad occasion.
With one hand, I hold onto Lunchbox’s leash; he walks beside me quietly. With the other, I grip the stuffed firefighter Dalmatian that I won for Matthew last year at the carnival tightly against my chest. When I told him today is Leo’s birthday, he wanted me to give it to him.
“So he can have a friend in Heaven,” he’d said.
I still get teary-eyed when I think about that conversation.
Lunchbox, who is normally so full of energy, is just as sullen as I am. I know dogs have good memories, but since he was so young when Leo died, I’m not even sure he remembers him. Regardless, he’s so attuned to what’s going on around him that even he’s downtrodden as we walk through the empty cemetery.
When we reach Leo’s grave, I let go of Lunchbox’s leash and take a deep breath. This is my first time coming here since he died, and I didn’t think it would be this hard. He’s been gone for so long, but I just couldn’t bring myself to come for the longest time. Now that I’m here, I want to run away.
But I can’t. I have to be here for Leo and Dante.
Speaking of the latter, he comes to stand behind me and places a hand on my shoulder. I look up at him and smile sadly.
“Are you okay?” I ask him quietly.
His eyes are trained on Leo’s headstone, but he nods. “Yeah, baby. I’m okay.”
My own eyes water while looking at the stone. A heart-shaped picture of the little boy smiling while holding Lunchbox adds brightness to this dark day. Lunchbox walks over to the picture and licks it before laying down on the grave. I take a step forward and set the Dalmatian toy underneath the picture and touch Leo’s face.
“Matthew wanted you to have this,” I whisper, voice thick with tears. “He misses you. We all miss you so much.”
I put my face in my hands and release the tears I’ve been holding back all morning. Dante wraps his arms around me and pulls me close, resting his cheek on my head. His own body shakes with tears, and the two of us stand there holding each other and crying.
