Page 84 of The Sting of Love
“It wasn’t your fault,” I tell him.
“It’s hard to not blame myself Bella Bellissima.”
“It isn’t though. Thank you for saving me.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that.” He touches my cheek and gives me a small smile. “You came back to me tonight, why?”
“I came to …” My voice trails off and I think about what I want to say. “I came to tell you that I can’t just allow you to decide what’s right for the both of us and not when I feel the way I do about you.”
He eyes me with the air of seduction, a sign that he wants this too.
“I’m going to be living in Italy. I have a lot to sort out and sometimes it can get dangerous,” he says.
“Are you a dangerous man?” I ask.
“Yes… I won’t lie to you about that.”
“You said you love me.”
“I do.”
“Then I’m not going anywhere.”
He picks me up and sits me down on his lap. I slip my arms around his neck and hold him too.
“Well, that works because I’m never letting you go.Ever. I would rather spend the rest of my days keeping you safe than being without you.”
I smile. “I like that. How about I keep you safe too? That way we take care of each other.”
“I like that.” He nods.
I lower to kiss him. When our lips touch I finally feel like I found what was missing from my life.
Him.
Epilogue
Donny
Three years later…
I lean against the door frame and watch them in the distance by the seashore, playing in the sand. My wife and my baby. Willow and Dominic.
Every now and again I do this. I just stand back and look at them and reflect on how far I’ve come. Where I’ve come from and where I am now in life.
No matter what goal I set, or what I accomplish, these two beings top the list.
I watch Willow as her beautiful raven hair flows out into the wind and Dominic lifts his little hands up to her, smiling. He’s nearly a year old now so he has a few teeth and his smile still looks gummy and cute.
He stumbles over when he tries to walk around the sand castle. They both laugh when she picks him up.
Dominic looks so much like her. He has her eyes. But I see myself in him when I look at him. It’s hard to explain, but that’s what I see.
Willow and I have been married for two years now. Things moved quickly after that night we decided we were going to be together. We’ve belonged to each other now for three years and it’s been the best time of my life. Everything I’ve ever wanted came to me when I met her, and it all felt complete the day she gave birth to our son.
I made my mark here on the business and managed to clean up and shake up everything exactly the way I wanted. Like Claudius in Chicago, I rule with a heavy hand and I don’t stand for shit. After that whole fiasco with Amadeo and Mario I made sure we didn’t repeat past mistakes, or allow anything to slip through the net.
I’m proud of what I’ve done here and happy I came back home.
