“And the rest of the time, he lives with us?” I asked.
“If you andSignorFausti agree…sì, this will be the way of it.”
Rocco squeezed my hand and shrugged. This decision was up to me. I was for it. I’d grown attached to Ermanno. In a way, hefelt like ours too. He was a special personality, and I only wanted the best for him.
“If Ermanno agrees,” I said, “we would love to have him. But what’s this about his ‘position’?”
My husband cleared his throat and politely ended the meeting. Everyone stood. He made sure to remind Giovanni that they’d talk more later, and he expected a date for the wedding. Giovanni gave it. They would be married as soon as possible then.
Rocco was pleased by this and even squeezed Giovanni’s shoulder on the way out. At the door, Thandie and I hugged. Rocco set his hand on my shoulder and nodded to her.
After the door closed, I turned to my husband and was about to ask about Ermanno’s “position” when he lifted me off my feet and threw me over his shoulder. He squeezed my ass cheek and said in a low, deep voice, “My wife gave her word to climb me, and I am feeling as if I am Mount Rocco.”
I laughed all the way up the stairs, until he set me down on the bed and came after me… I laughed no more as the entire night, I climbed Mount Rocco, also known as…my husband—the rock of my life.
Chapter 36
A Dashing Gift
Aria Amora
The next morning, it seemed as soon as our feet touched the floor, time took off running, taking us with it.
Giovanni was eager to get married. He came to Rocco, who approved the union with Luca’s blessing after a meeting with Thandie. Luca was taken with her and the marriage pleased him. Because Thandie had been an undercover agent, if Luca didn’t approve the union…Giovanni would’ve had to decide. Leave the family or break off the engagement.
It hadn’t come to that, so we took a flight out of Italy to Haiti. Thandie and Giovanni only wanted a small ceremony in a place that meant a lot to her. The only people who attended were Ermanno, a few of Giovanni’s family who were important to him, and Rocco and me.
A few minutes before the ceremony, Thandie confided in me that she had been married before. She said that was how she knew Giovanni was the one. He was the exact opposite ofnotthe one.
It felt like weather whiplash to go from such a cold climate to a warm one, but it felt nice not to be surrounded by ice twenty-four/seven, even though the cold added to the feeling of the holidays.
Thandie and Giovanni had a sunset ceremony, Ermanno standing in front of them as they said their vows.
Tears kept running down my cheeks, and Rocco kept patting them dry. Maybe it was pregnancy hormones, but I felt so emotional about the entire experience. Giovanni and Thandie were going to be so good for each other, and I knew together, once all was settled between them about the work issue, it was going to be so good for Ermanno too.
As I danced with Ermanno during the reception, I told him, “You’re going to fall in love with Thandie. She’s one of my best friends and she’s one of a kind. Your dad is going to make her so happy, and she’s going to make your dad feel like the luckiest man alive.”
His eyebrows had been furrowed since he found out about their wedding. He made a comment about the relationship moving fast, which I thought was smart on his part. For a good chunk of his young life, it was only he and Giovanni. But he had memories of his mamma, as slight as they were. Warm memories I could tell he held close to his heart. But I reminded him that Fausti men didn’t do the dating thing. When they got serious, they got serious enough to marry.
This seemed to help lighten his thoughts for a while, and after I reminded him of how amazing Thandie was, he seemed to perk up even more. He seemed to like her, and she liked him. It was just going to take time for them to get to know each other. This was all new to Thandie, too. She didn’t have kids and had been career-driven all her life.
Just then, she asked to dance with Ermanno, and he perked up even more, taking her hand like a gentleman would do. Rocco wrapped his arms around me from behind, and I watched with a smile on my face as the two of them danced.
“Should I be jealous of the Shorty, my wife?”
“Nah.” I smiled. “You have this on lock.” I pulled our hands down to my stomach. “Proof.”
He kissed me along the side of my face, smiling as he did.
We danced into the night, recalling memories of our own wedding and honeymoon on a warm island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, before we found ourselves on another plane headed back to Italy. From there, we took the train to Zermatt, so we could get back to Winkelmatten.
From more ski trips to Christmas markets around Switzerland and Germany, to planning meetings with all the ladies about dinners, including one to ring in the New Year…
By the time Christmas arrived, I was ready for the boring week in between then to New Years to do nothing but lounge around the chalet with my husband while we watched my belly grow.
If anything, after such a huge, delicious spread, I felt like my food baby was bigger than our actual baby. I was wearing a form-fitting dress that showed a pooch from dinner.
I was sitting on Rocco’s lap, curled up close to him, while the buzzing of chatter still hummed in my ear. It was late, and we were about to leave Luca’s chalet.
