“To stop what?” I traced my fingertip over her eyebrows nice and slow. The tension there relaxed a bit, making her seem more vulnerable.
“You…” She released a breath. “I don’t even know what I’m saying, Brando.”
“You do.”
“I do,” she admitted. “Or, the thoughts are clear in my mind, but my mouth refuses to speak the words aloud.”
“Because your heart knows lies from truth,” I said. “You and I both know that if I have all your power, you have all of mine. Or we wouldn’t be standing here today. It takes two for the magic to work.”
“True.” Her mouth twitched.
“Let’s go inside and relive the story, show the kids where it all began for us—for them.”
“They know,” she said, wrapping her arms around my neck, hiding her face in my chest.
“They do.” I kissed the top of her head. “But we’re here, on our holy ground. It’s like seeing a picture in a book compared to actually being a part of it.”
“You know,” she said, pulling away, looking up at me. “You can be very romantic.”
“Yeah?” I smiled, leaning down, and kissed her lips. They tasted of vanilla. “I think passionate is a better description, but who am I to fucking argue. Do my words come easier now?”
“Yes, they do, but it was never about your words. You show me, every day, what I mean to you.” She paused, biting her lip, a considering look on her face. “That’s what hurt me so much when you sent me away. I knew—I mean, I knew you really didn’t want to.”
Leaning down, I kissed her longer this time, the pain that seized my heart at the thought making me seize her.
Separating, she blinked up at me, dazed. Her eyes glistened in reflection to the streetlights that had come on.
“You were right, you know.”
“For fucking once,” I whispered.
“I mean, earlier. When you reminded me that our world is what we make it.” She reached up, running a tender hand down my face. “Be mindful of the sheriff, ah? He’ll have his eye on my sons. And his wife? She still has her eye on my husband. That’s plenty potential for disaster. History repeating itself, but with different circumstances.”
Before I could respond to this, Mia popped her head out of the door.
“Mamma! Come dance! Your picture is on the wall here! Abigone!”
I smiled. “Yeah, go and dance for them, Mamma!”
Scarlett gave a laugh that almost sounded like a scoff. “After all that food, it’s a wonder I can still walk.”
“You hardly ate anything.”
She shook her head and stopped by the door, waiting for me. “Coming?”
Another smile came to my face, one that felt different. She noticed.
“Coming in, Brando!”
“That too. Later.” I winked at her. “I have a favorite spot, ah?”
“Ah, lots of them,” she said, leaving me with a full smile before Mia pulled her inside, almost squealing with excitement.
All the lights were switched on, and music started to play as Scarlett prepared to dance for them. I could see Marciano from where I stood outside of the door, bobbing his head, ready to move. Even Mariano felt the spirit. He stood closer to his sister and younger brother, away from Matteo, who was not watching his siblings or his mamma, but me.
Keeping watching, my man. You’ll know what it means to love a woman. To love a family as much as I love all of you.
A calling didn’t position me in front of the dance studio, though. Not that night. I preferred to watch from that spot in the bitter cold. A cold harsh enough to numb everything but her. I didn’t have her peculiar talent, but on that night when the snow came down, I had experienced something similar.
