The man I’ve become because of them?
I understand perfectly.
This is everything.
And I’m never letting it go.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE: GIULIANA
FOUR YEARS LATER
I stand in the doorway of the living room, taking in the scene before me. The massive Christmas tree towers near the windows, dripping with lights and ornaments. Some are expensive and some are made by small fingers. Garland wraps the banister, dotted with red velvet bows. Stockings hang from the mantle:Luca, Giuliana, Marco, Gianna, Daniel. The fireplace crackles, casting dancing shadows across the hardwood floors. A gingerbread house lists dangerously to one side because four-year-old Gianna got…creativewith the frosting.
It’s beautiful and messy and absolutely perfect.
“Mommy! Mommy, look!” Gianna comes running, dark curls bouncing, wearing the Christmas dress she insisted on at dawn. “Daddy says we can open presents now!”
The chocolate smeared around her mouth tells me that she snuck into the kitchen and Ramirez rewarded her with sweets. “And what did Santa bring you?” I ask her, hands wrapped around a steaming mug of coffee. It was not a silent night for me as Daniel woke up twice, so I need all the caffeine I can get.
“I don’t know yet!” Her brown eyes—Luca’s eyes—are wide with excitement. “But I asked for a puppy, a new doll, makeup, and a princess dress!”
“That’s quite a list,” I tell her.
“Daddy says Santa is very generous to good girls,” she tells me before she runs back to the tree, where Luca sits cross-legged on the floor with our sons. Marco, six years old and looking more like his father every day, is trying to teach fourteen-month-old Daniel how to shake presents. Daniel is more interested in eating the ribbon.
“No, no, Danny,” Marco says patiently, pulling the ribbon away. “We shake it like this.”
Daniel responds by shrieking at the top of his lungs.
Luca catches my eye from across the room, and the smile he gives me is soft and full of the kind of love that still takes my breath away after all these years. He’s wearing the ridiculous Christmas sweater Marco picked out for him—complete with a light-up Rudolph nose—and somehow he makes even that look good.
“Come join us,cara,” he calls. “Before the natives get restless.”
“Jesus Christ,” Katie mutters from the couch, taking a very generous sip of her mimosa, her legs curled under her. “How is something that small soloud?”
“Language,” Danny says mildly from his spot near the tree, where he’s helping Marco sort presents. “There are children present.”
“The children can’t hear anything over the screaming,” Katie points out, taking another drink.
“No, Danel!” Gianna shouts, rushing over and snatching her doll away from her brother’s grasp. He had spotted it laying on the table. “She’smine!”
Daniel’s mouth pops open in shock and his lower lip starts quivering. I inwardly groan as the baby starts to wail. Here it goes…
Luca catches my eye and grins, scooping up our youngest before the screaming escalates. “Hey, hey, little man. Let’s calm down.” Daniel immediately stops crying and grabs Luca’s nose, twisting it. Luca winces. “There we go. Crisis averted.”
“For now,” Katie says darkly.
I settle onto the couch beside her. “Are you surviving?” I ask.
“Barely.” But she’s smiling, her brown eyes crinkling at the corners. “Your children are adorable. Also exhausting. How do you do this every day?”
“I have no idea,” I admit. “But somehow we manage.”
Gianna wanders over to Danny and tugs on his sleeve. “Uncle Danny, I need to check your heart.”
“Do you?” Danny asks with complete seriousness, as if a four-year-old’s medical opinion is vital.
“Yes. It’s very important.” She insists as she pulls out her toy stethoscope and presses it against Danny’s chest, her face scrunched in concentration. “Hmm. Yes. Your heart is working very good.”
