“Did you k-kill them too?”
“Almost,” he said. “When I told them to stop dragging me through the mud, Abe almost had a heart attack.”
“Abe shot-t you.”
“Twice,” he said. “I’m not a stupid man, Rosalia. I’ve lived that life my entire life. It runs through my blood. If Abe had gone for a head shot, I wouldn’t be standing here. But we all take chances. Some just riskier than others.”
Angelia was almost uncontrollable in my arms, but I wasn’t ready to let her go yet. Maybe I was still in shock. Maybe this all seemed like a dream, and I didn’t want to wake up to the cruel joke my mind was playing on me. Then it dawned on me.
“You were wearing a v-vest.”
He nodded. “Abe took a chance. If I was prepared, fine. If I wasn’t, it was on me. He shouldn’t have doubted me. I could never rest easy knowing you were alone in this world. I take care of you.” He took a deep breath. “I exhausted every last option making sure the three of us would be on this plane.”
“You could have TOLD me!” I shouted, and something felt like it tore in my soul.
Angelia stopped squirming, looked up at me, and starting crying.
I didn’t pull away when Niello took her out of my arms. Not a second too soon, because I fell to the floor, sobbing into my hands.
His strong arms wrapped around me, but I fought him. I fought him so hard that he had to pin me down.
It took a second for me to be able to see clearly, for the wild anger to release the control it had over my mind, and when it did, I saw my daughter sitting on the seat, her lip trembling. Bambina sat next to her. It seemed like she was the only thing keeping Angelia from crying.
“Niello.” My voice cracked on his name.
He said nothing, but his eyes were intense on mine.
“Niello,” I said again, and this time when the tears came, instead of fighting him, my entire body went slack.
He felt it.
He lifted me up, keeping me so close to him that I couldn’t breathe. “Mi dispiace,” he said in my ear. “Mi dispiace, my Rosalia.”
“Niello.” I cried even harder, holding on to him like he would leave me again. I lost myself to the scent of him, to the feel of his flesh, his bone against mine. “Ti amo.”
He took my face in his hand and forced me to look at him. “Tell me you forgive me.”
“I do,” I said, relief washing through me. The only thing comparable to it was the relief I felt when all my memories were given back to me, and I learned that I had a husband and a daughter. A life worth living and dying for. “Just.” I took a deep breath and sighed it out. “Never do that to me again. OrIwill kill you.”
He grinned at me. “You have my word.”
Our eyes held, and then, feeling eyes on us, we both turned at the same time.
Angelia gave us a wary look, one that was the spitting image of her father’s, while Bambina sat next to her, watching with her head cocked to the side.
“This is really our life, Niello,” I said, a smile stretching my face so wide that it hurt, even though tears kept slipping down my cheeks.
He scooped up Angelia, and Bambina jumped in my lap. The four of us stayed on the floor of the plane, close together, high above the world, flying through clouds so thick that I could’ve sworn this was heaven.
Not a sign of smoke and ashes to be found anywhere.
This was heaven.Ours.
“It is,” he said, breathing in Angelia’s hair, smiling at me. “It’s time to live it.”
Epilogue
Rosalia
