Maybe because of Rocco’s other life, the one with the woman who shall not be named, it directed our story down a different path. We fought, but…it wasn’t to the point where he’d nick me and I’d nick him back, or vice versa. We moved toward each other, quiet moments of intense feelings and soft touches, even if what we felt in our hearts was war.
Either way, different seasons, there was still something so alike about Rocco’s and my connection with Brando’s and Scarlett’s. Maybe because Scarlett and I both believed what we shared with our husbands was designed in heaven, and so did they.
We decided to take a carriage ride through town to Bahnhofstrasse.
It was magical.
The sun was just beginning to set, and soon all the twinkling lights would remind me of stars that descended from heaven to hang around the town. I closed my eyes and breathed in, keeping one hand on my husband, and he kept both of his hands on me.
We wouldn’t, couldn’t, stop touching. If we did, the enemy would come between us, taking advantage of the space, and neither of us would allow it.
I breathed in again, the scent of roasting nuts, cinnamon, and sugar growing stronger the closer we came to the street. The horse stopped just a short while after its driver had picked us up, and Scarlett and I looked at each other, our eyes wide, aswe turned our bodies toward the crowded street, eager to hit the pavement.
Our husbands picked us up and set us on our feet, one hand on us to keep us close. There were so many shops, and so many fantastic things to buy, even though I couldn’t wait to visit a true Christmas market one day. All the homemade things Scarlett had described sounded so fantastic to me.
Nonno had been a garage-sale shopper in his day. He’d wake me up early to go with him. Not that homemade was the same as used, but…all the same, these “things” were things people had once loved or valued, just like a homemade item.
We stopped for a quick snack, but my hopes had always been on the nuts. Scarlett laughed at how many I was eating, and she even snapped a picture of me. Rocco told her he wanted a copy, and she promised to send it to him.
“I think she likes sugar,” I said, touching my stomach.
Rocco froze in his tracks.
“What?” I asked.
“You saidshe.”
I hesitated. “I don’t know why, but I did. I saidshe. I’m getting girl energy...”
Scarlett refused to look at us. Brando took her hand, and the two of them disappeared into the crowd.
I kept staring at Rocco because he was frozen. Even his stare on me. Then, as if someone had poured warm water on him, he began to thaw, a grin coming to his face. It was the happiest I’d seen him since the grape harvest, when we’d first arrived in Piemonte, and the clouds made me believe I was living in a dream—in a heavenly dream.
Rocco pulled me to him so hard I lost my breath and the paper cup the almonds were in spilled over. I whined a little at the loss and mumbled, “Aw, man.” He exploded with laughter,probably at the lost look on my face when I realized I had no more, then gave me big Italian smooches all over my face.
After he’d bought me two more cups of nuts, we explored the street, a light feeling touching my heart and my feet. This felt like…us. Even better, because the next Christmas, we’d have a baby with us. A tiny, living, breathing extension of our love.
That was something no one could steal.
We explored the street for another hour or so, before I was starting to get hungry again, and Scarlett and Brando had met up with us. We shared some of the things we bought, but we both started laughing when we realized we were hiding things we’d bought for each other.
More family met up with us, including Amadeo and Ludovico, and we all dined at a restaurant off the street. As we ate, the men were going on about skiing, the women about one day visiting a certified Christmas market, and then Juliette told me about a restaurant we should all meet at one day that had spectacular waffles.
I was so full after we left, I decided to enjoy hot chocolate to try to help digest some of the food. Rocco exploded with laughter again as I said this, then kissed my temple, bringing me in close.
Scarlett told us to look her way. She wanted to take a picture of us. I fixed my fake black fur hat and then Rocco’s coat. She snapped the picture, and then her eyes widened a bit. I turned to look in the same direction. Rocco had already noticed whoever it was. His hand came to my neck, and he squeezed a bit.
“Massimo,” I breathed out.
He stood not far from us, his eyes frozen on his father. I wasn’t sure who to keep my eyes on. A battle raged between them, and I wasn’t sure how to stop it. I just knew that Massimo looked lost—so lost. And whatever he had witnessed between his father and me, true happiness, I wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.The blame was not that his father was happy, but he blamed his father for his unhappiness.
At that moment, a woman screamed in the crowd, and all mayhem broke out a second later. A horse that was carrying passengers in the carriage must’ve gotten spooked and was taking off down the street at a full-on run. Men were flinging women out of the way, some of them flinging women out of their way so they themselves could get out of the way, and before I knew it, I was being pulled back.
My husband had a hand on me, from the front, and it felt like I was being ripped in two.
Massimo had me from behind.
The next thing I knew, the horse and carriage, which seemed to be missing a wheel, was tearing past, and a new war had begun.
