“They’re not … directly.But you can still be sorry about them.”Her eyes twinkled with humor.I gripped her at the back of the neck and crushed her mouth to mine.
Breathless, we parted lips a moment later.
“So this is it then?”she asked.
I narrowed my gaze at her, a frisson of unease prickling in my belly.“What is it?”
“The start of our happily ever after?”
My grin hurt my face as I nodded.“Si,bella.If you will have this imperfect, anxious Italian wine snob.I think it is.”
She nodded.“I wouldn’t have you any other way.”
EPILOGUE
Tommaso
6monthslater…
“Hand me the paddle, please,piccola,” I said to Sam as the oven timer beeped.
She handed me the wooden pizza paddle, and I slid it into the oven to pull out our mushroom and spinach pizza.
This was our Sunday tradition now.We made homemade pizza for dinner, with enough leftover for her school lunch on Monday.
I set the pizza on the rack to cool next to the other two, and at the same time, there was an alert on the security system tablet.
“Is she here?”Sam asked, excitement flaring in her green eyes.“Is she here?”She tapped the screen before I could to check the gate camera.“She’s here.It’s her.Oh my god!”Then she was at the front door, sliding into her boots, and with Portia scampering behind her, girl and pig were out the door.
“I take it Flora is here?”Danica asked, emerging from the bedroom with a knowing smile on her face.
I nodded.“Ready to go meet the newest addition to the herd?”
She held out her hand and together—after sliding into our boots—we joined Sam and Portia in the driveway as the pickup truck with the trailer on the back came rumbling through the gate.
The truck stopped just in front of us, and the driver rolled down the window.“Where do you want her?”
“In my arms,” Sam said, giggling.
The driver smirked.“She might be a little big for that, sweetheart.”
Sam made a pretend pout.
“How’s she doing?”Danica asked.
“Been a little restless and agitated.Didn’t like the boat ride over.Mind you, these things don’t really make their way to the ocean.They’re mountaineers.”
“I’ll open the barn, and we can coax her into the vacant stall,” I said.“If you want to back the trailer in.”
“You got it.”
I jogged ahead and opened the big double barn doors so he could reverse the trailer in.
Sam and Danica opened up the freshly cleaned stall, and once the truck parked and shut off, I opened up the trailer.
“She’s magnificent,” Sam whispered behind me as the white and cream alpaca cautiously stepped forward, glancing around.She sniffed the air, then immediately retreated to the back of the trailer, fear in her gentle eyes.
“It’s okay, sweet pea,” Sam said, stepping closer to me.“We’re not going to hurt you.This is your new forever home.And we’re your new forever family.”
