Page 64 of Vita Mia

He frowned. “Slow poke? What is that?”

“It’s a saying in America. It’s a children’s saying.”

“Oh? Well, it sounds like an insult,” he shrugged.

She had to reconsider that it actually was. She took his hand and they walked across the sand sticking to the bottoms of their feet back to the stairs. The house sat up at least six feet from the shore. Inside, the place wasn’t as nicely furnished as Villa Mare Blu, but the fundamentals had returned. The bedroom was separate from the kitchen to the front of the beach house with French doors that opened to the wide deck over the sea. Mirabella opened the doors and swung them outward to let in fresh air. She stepped out on the deck and looked at the ocean. The sky was dark but not menacing. She could see the sprinkle of stars beginning to shine through.

“Mondello makes me feel like things can be normal again,” she said.

“They can be.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “A different type of normal.”

Mirabella nodded. “I think it’s perfect Gio.”

Giovanni wrapped his arms around her. “Tomorrow, we’ll be stronger, and in a year, everything will feel right again.”

“You can’t make that promise.”

“It’s not a promise. It’s a fact.”

She turned and hugged him. She preferred his facts to her never-ending doubts. She clung to him and envisioned Eve well, again, and Leeza walking. She saw the twins growing and turning into strong men like their father. She even saw the day Lola would return to Marietta, and she and her sister would find some peace between them. All of it felt like a dream. She needed to have sweet dreams again.

They settled in a deck chair. He sat in a reclined relaxed position and her between his thighs. She leaned back against his chest. They stared up at the moon and she listened to him tell stories about this beach and his childhood. To her surprise he even spoke of Lorenzo before she drifted to sleep in his arms

***

“BELLA?”

Mirabella squinted and then stretched her eyes to the darkness. “Yes, Gio?”

“You sleep?”

She chuckled.

“Not anymore,” she yawned.

At some point, he brought her in from the chair to the bed. Why she didn’t remember felt strange. She normally didn’t sleep that hard. Something about sea air was intoxicating. Then the memory surfaced. She remembered lazily waking and allowing him to lead her to bed.

“What time is it?”

A bright flash lit up the bedroom, it was followed by a deafening crack of thunder. She shivered and he came in close. The doors to the deck remained open. And though the rain didn’t blow inside, the winds could be felt.

“Feels nice,” Giovanni said.

Mirabella frowned.

“Kind of scary.”

“Mmmm,” he rubbed his nose across her cheek. “I like being with you when it rains.”

“Why?”

He chuckled.

“You like being alone with me when it’s sunny too,” she asked.

“Yes! And when it’s snowing, sleeting, or a cyclone is outside.” He tickled her. She laughed and kicked he legs.

“Stop! Stop!” she panted.

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