He took my chin in his hand, leaned in, and kissed me softly. “Get dressed now, my beautiful bird. You are about to fly the skies with your husband.”
“If I ever accidentally flew into hell, you’d be the only one I trusted to fly me out.”
Our eyes met, and his became serious. He nodded just as seriously. “It is my honor.”
I cleared my throat. “Where are we going?”
“Get dressed, AvaFausti.”
Four or so hours later, we landed in Cairo, Egypt, and spent an entire week there on our honeymoon. Nazzareno had sent all my clothes back to Rome and had culture-appropriate clothes waiting for me at the resort. We hit up all the historical places, the museums, and we even went on a desert safari riding camels. I never thought a man could look majestic on such an animal before, especially since it kept making raspberries with its mouth, but Nazzareno pulled it off.
He’d handed me a cellphone before we began and said, “A proper camera will come later, but one step is a step.”
Meaning me taking pictures.
I took hundreds of them and sent them to Lucila constantly, always telling her to be sure to show Lilo and Minnie—and she always told me to stop reminding her, because she always showed them.
After one set of photos I shared with her, she texted me back,Why do I get the feeling this is going to be your life from now on? I’m going to be getting pictures from you from all over the world. And why do I feel okay about it? Why am I so excited for you? Maybe because I know that now, you’ll come home to me after you’re done.
One night, after we’d eaten dinner and were walking around the city, my phone buzzed. It took me a second to realize it had. I’d been without a phone for so long, I’d forgotten about having one. It had been my lifeline in New York, and after Nazzareno, if it wasn’t for my sister, I would have continued to stay disconnected.
I stopped in my tracks and stared down at the photo.
Beni or Aristide must have been taking pictures while Nazzareno and I were exchanging vows. I didn’t think I would have this, and seeing it captured made my eyes burn.
I looked up at Nazzareno and he nodded.
“Even with the mess of life, we are beautiful together, ah?”
“We are.” I smiled.
I saved my favorite, of our first kiss, and set it as my screen saver. Nazzareno’s contact photo was him on his camel, the desert spread out behind him. I knew I was going to change them out a lot. He was so photogenic, and I was dying to get one of him in his pilot’s uniform.
After beautifying my phone with my hubby porn, I forwarded a few pictures of us from the wedding to Luci.
See,I typed.I was being for real. I really did get married in Copenhagen, Denmark.
After I’d told her I’d gotten married, she called me a liar and told mepictures or it didn’t happen. Because she knew how anti-marriage I’d been my entire life.
She called me after, laughing and crying. Then gave me an update on Sonny and told me he’d asked about me. I grew quiet, and she started telling me more about the baby.
I was going to deal with the Sonny,now dad,situation soon, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it then. Not because my feelings for him were the same, but because they had changed so drastically. Emotionally, I had to prepare for the day I sawhim again.
I was also trying to prepare myself for what was to come with Nazzareno’s family too.
We were having the time of our lives, just being together and traveling, but that dark cloud felt like it was inching closer and closer, and I wasn’t sure why. Maybe because I knew how serious the rules in his family were, and they weren’t just going to disappear because we were in love and had committed to each other.
If anything, the situation was going to grow more intense.
I asked Nazzareno about it on our last day, but he told me I was a newly married woman with a husband who wanted to give her pleasure.
He had a way of making all my troubles fade, and that time was no exception.
As he and Beni flew us home, and I looked through all the pictures in my phone, it was hard to concentrate on them. Old fears were coming back, and I had to blink to make sure none of the pictures had darkened. That our smiles were still in place, and that we both had rings on our fingers.
I had an anxiety attack over it, and my eyes started to play tricks on me. I even stopped the stewardess and asked her to look at the pictures, then asked her to identify things in them.
“Are we smiling here?”
