‘What? I—’
‘No,’ she said, interrupting him. ‘I don’t want it. I thought I did. I thought it would finally give me the acceptance I’ve been craving for an entire lifetime. That it would give me security and recognition. I thought that perhaps if I was CEO, finally, I’d be worthy of my father’s attention. But I realised that being CEO wouldn’t give me any of that. And I don’t want to be the kind of person that would do what he wanted me to do to get there.
‘The only person that accepted me for who I was, was you,’ she said, closing the distance between them. ‘The only person that ever made me feel loved was you,’ she said, tears adding a sheen to her eyes that stole his breath, and yanked on his heart. ‘The only person I ever loved was you.’
Her words were like a puzzle piece, finally slotting into place after eleven years, like a thick heavy chain that had encased his heart, falling away and letting him breathe, letting his heart beat, true and strong for the first time inforever.
‘You, Micha Rufina. I love you. You are all I ever wanted, and all I will ever need,’ she said, looking up at him with the kind of love he thought he’d never see again in his lifetime.
‘I love you,’ she whispered again as she rose onto her tiptoes to press her lips gently, chastely, perfectly against his.
Maria wanted to give him this. She wanted him to know, whether he loved her or not, no matter what happened between them, she needed him to know that she loved him. That she’d fought for him and that she would always fight for him. Not because he was her husband, or because he was the father of her child, but because he deserved it.
She lowered back down onto her feet, staring up at him with all the hope in her chest and the love in her heart. She didn’t need anything from him, but she needed him to understand that.
‘You humble me, Maria,’ he said, the emotion in the depths of his gaze filling her up, nearly consuming her whole. ‘I am in awe of you. I am truly sorry that your family didn’t see in you what I did. The amazing, incredible, talented, powerful, dynamic, quick-witted and strong-hearted woman you have become. I am lucky just to get to love you,’ he whispered, as if shocked by the truth of his own words.
His hand came to cup her cheek and she couldn’t help but lean into his palm. The safety he had always offered her, the protection.
‘You are my family, Micha. And our child. That is all I’ll ever need,’ she vowed, the words more binding than their marriage certificate.
‘I think Antonio might have something to say about that,’ Micha teased and she smiled, and pressed a kiss against the palm of his hand, before turning back to look up at him.
‘I love you,’ he said, this time with no trace of tease or humour. His love was serious, grounded, a decade in the making, just as hers was. It was serious in a way that only those who had known what it was to be unloved could feel. Serious in the tears that rose to press against the backs of her eyes as something in her shifted, healed and became new and fresh and precious.
He kissed her then, the first of many that had no questions, only answers, only security, only love.
‘What do we do now?’ she asked, against his lips.
‘Well, right now, I’m taking my wife back to my apartment and making love to her all night long.’
‘Lucky wife,’ she replied with a smile.
‘Lucky husband,’ he said, smiling down at her, the flames of his desire flickering in his gaze.
‘And then?’ Maria asked.
‘Well, then we get to spend the rest of our lives together, happily…’
‘Ever…’ she added.
‘After,’ he concluded with a kiss that they both remembered for many years to come.
EPILOGUE
The sun shonedown on the garden and glinted off the clear flat surface of Lake Trasimeno beyond. Micha’s sunglasses would have shaded his gaze, but his eyes were closed, and he was content to listen to the sounds around him. The breeze playing in the leaves of the trees and the birds calling to each other, nothing but the sounds of summer and serene—
‘Elletra Valentina Rufina Gallo, I swear to god, if you don’t come back here and clean up your mess, I will ground you for the rest of the summer.’
His wife’s angry voice travelled out of the villa and down to where he was in the garden.
‘Mama! That isnotfair,’ replied their daughter, just as angry. It probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise that she had become as much of a fighter as her mother. And while neither parent would have it any other way, it had made—and would continue to make—things both interesting andloud.
‘Papa,’ Emilio whispered.
‘Sí?’ Micha whispered back.
‘Should I go and help?’ Emilio asked. Their fourteen-year-old son was the softest of all of them, so earnest and so quiet, it sometimes made Micha ache just to watch how careful he was with other people.
