I fork my hands through his damp hair and hold him to me as I look up into his eyes. ‘I could listen to you say that for ever.’
‘Then it’s a good job I plan on telling you every day for the rest of my life,’ he murmurs. ‘If you’ll listen to it.’
‘I can go one better than just listening.’
‘You can?’
‘Si.’ I smile softly. ‘Ti amo, Rafael. Ti amo molto.’
And then I kiss him back with all the love blooming wild inside, knowing that I have all I could ever wish for in my arms right now.
I don’t need marriage, I don’t need a ring to bind us, I just need this...
Our love.
EPILOGUE
Five years later, Castello d’Amore, Tuscany
‘EDUARDO, COME HERE this minuto!’
I chuckle at Faye. I can’t help it. ‘You know it’s better for him if you say it in one language or the other, cara mia. If you mix it up, heaven knows what he’ll learn.’
She turns to look at me, her skin flushed, her eyes as bright and beautiful as ever, especially in the silver gown that makes her eyes appear more ethereal, her skin more bronzed, her baby bump more pronounced. She radiates sunshine and happiness and I swear my chest is fit to burst with pride.
‘Stop preaching to me about using our languages correctly and start helping, Raf. We’re going to be late.’
‘Don’t be silly. How can we be late? We are the hosts.’
‘It’s your mother’s wedding! The mayor is a busy man; we can’t expect him to hang about waiting for our papàtino to actually put on some clothes.’
I chuckle harder and pull her in for a chaste kiss that causes a loud, ‘Eww!’ to erupt from waist-high. Eduardo has returned.
‘See, all we had to do is kiss and he would come running.’
We both look down to find our naked boy scrunching up his eyes tightly. ‘Not looking.’
‘Can you not look and get dresse
d at the same time?’ Faye murmurs down at him.
‘It’s hot. Too hot.’
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘But you can’t go to Nonna’s special day dressed in your underpants, and you also can’t do that special job I gave you, either.’
He peeks at me out of one eye. ‘The special job?’
‘Si.’ I nod, my eyes wide as I encourage him to remember.
‘You want me to do that now?’
‘I think it might be nice.’
Faye frowns at me and mouths ‘Job?’
I just grin as Eduardo runs off. ‘You’ll see.’
He’s back in minutes, his trousers on, his shirt done up all wonky and only one sock on. But it’s a start.