EPILOGUE
Tommaso
“Hand me the paddle, please, piccola,” I said to Sam as the oven timer beeped.
She handed me the wooden pizza paddle, and I slid it into the oven to pull out our mushroom and spinach pizza.
This was our Sunday tradition now. We made homemade pizza for dinner, with enough leftover for her school lunch on Monday.
I set the pizza on the rack to cool next to the other two, and at the same time, there was an alert on the security system tablet.
“Is she here?” Sam asked, excitement flaring in her green eyes.
“Is she here?” She tapped the screen before I could to check the gate camera.
“She’s here. It’s her. Oh my god!” Then she was at the front door, sliding into her boots, and with Portia scampering behind her, girl and pig were out the door.
“I take it Flora is here?” Danica asked, emerging from the bedroom with a knowing smile on her face.
I nodded. “Ready to go meet the newest addition to the herd?”
She held out her hand and together—after sliding into our boots—we joined Sam and Portia in the driveway as the pickup truck with the trailer on the back came rumbling through the gate.
The truck stopped just in front of us, and the driver rolled down the window. “Where do you want her?”
“In my arms,” Sam said, giggling.
The driver smirked. “She might be a little big for that, sweetheart.”
Sam made a pretend pout.
“How’s she doing?” Danica asked.
“Been a little restless and agitated. Didn’t like the boat ride over. Mind you, these things don’t really make their way to the ocean. They’re mountaineers.”
“I’ll open the barn, and we can coax her into the vacant stall,” I said. “If you want to back the trailer in.”
“You got it.”
I jogged ahead and opened the big double barn doors so he could reverse the trailer in.
Sam and Danica opened up the freshly cleaned stall, and once the truck parked and shut off, I opened up the trailer.
“She’s magnificent,” Sam whispered behind me as the white and cream alpaca cautiously stepped forward, glancing around. She sniffed the air, then immediately retreated to the back of the trailer, fear in her gentle eyes.
“It’s okay, sweet pea,” Sam said, stepping closer to me. “We’re not going to hurt you. This is your new forever home. And we’re your new forever family.”
Danica stood beside Sam and held out a handful of hay toward Flora. “Here you go, baby girl. Some delicious fresh hay.”
Flora sniffed the air again.
“Alpacas aren’t the aggressive ones, right?” Danica asked. “That’s llamas. They’re the ones that would cut you if they got their hoof on a knife?”
Sam and I both snorted.
“Pretty much,” I murmured.
“She’s so pretty and fluffy,” Sam said. “I want to bury my face in her neck.”
“Gotta get her out of that trailer first,” the driver said.
“I read that they’re herd animals. Shouldn’t we have more than one?” Sam grabbed some of the hay for her mother and took a cautious step up onto the trailer ramp.
“If more become available, we will, piccola.”
Sam took another step closer, holding out the hay. “Not going to hurt you.”
She was in the trailer now, taking slow, measured steps toward Flora.
Flora sniffed again and took one step out of the corner, her mouth moving like she wanted to grab some of the hay.
“That’s it,” Sam whispered. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?”
She was less than five feet away from Flora now, and both alpaca and little girl were eating up the distance between them.
Maybe Flora was less cautious with Sam because they were closer in size. After all, alpacas only reach about five feet in height.
They closed the distance, and Flora started to eat the hay while Sam stroked her neck. She glanced back at us, her eyes wide with excitement as the smile on her face grew to nearly reach her ears. “She is so soft. Oh my god. It’s like petting a cloud.”
Danica snorted. “Try to get her out of the trailer, hmm?”
Sam narrowed her gaze. “In. A. Minute. Patience, please.”
It was my turn to snort.
“She’s gotten cheekier since we started coming here,” Danica murmured.
“It’s all that confidence she’s gained.”
Her hazel-green eyes glittered at me as she smiled and took my hand. “Yeah. It is.”
“That’s right, pretty girl. Come on out,” Sam coaxed, walking backward out of the trailer with Flora following her.
Luckily, Raven’s owners accepted my offer of a bucket load of money and agreed to let me buy her.
Once the deal was secured, I got to work building an enormous addition onto the barn—with the help of some island friends—so that Raven, Kenny, and Midnight could have a beautiful stall together.
We also needed more space for future animals.
Now that the addition was done, and the happy trio were in their new space, we had room to shuffle the horses around.
I could have put Flora in the barn with the donkeys and ponies, but I didn’t want to traumatize her by introducing her to Pinata right away.
So for now, she would be in the main barn with the other horses.
However, Danica suggested we put her next to Ginger and Mouse, who would probably be the most welcoming. We’d also cut out windows in some of the stalls so the horses had better access to their friends. They seemed to like it.
Flora followed Sam down the ramp and into the stall, where we had more hay, special alpaca pellets, some silage, a mineral mix, and fresh water for her.
Sam spent a considerable amount of time earlier today laying clean straw on the floor for Flora as well.
She said she wanted everything to be perfect for our new arrival.
Once Flora was securely in her stall, we closed up the trailer.
I thanked the driver, handed him some cash as a tip, and closed up the barn doors behind him after he drove away.
Sam was still in the stall with Flora, petting her and feeding her.
Danica joined them. “Oh my god, she is soft.”
I stepped into the stall too. “Welcome to your new home, Flora.”
“Can I sleep out here on the cot tonight with her?” Sam asked. “Please?”
“It’s a school night,” Danica argued.
“So? I’ll be up earlier out here than I would be inside. I just don’t want her to feel abandoned or lonely.”
“She has over a dozen horses to keep her company,” her mother protested, even though I could see that Danica wasn’t really going to deny her daughter this request.
Now that the school had a new principal, Clyde was gone, and Sam had a team of people helping her manage her anxiety, she was thriving. Her grades were up, her mood was better, and she seemed to enjoy going to school.
“Will you actually sleep?” Danica asked her daughter.
“Of course I will.”
I glanced down at Portia, who was never too far from either myself or Sam. “You’ll make sure your sister sleeps?”
Portia looked up at me and grunted her version of “yes”.
“See? The pig babysitter is on it.” Sam leaned forward and pressed her cheek to Flora’s neck. “It’s like a pillow. I could sleep just like this.”
Danica and I both rolled our eyes.
“Fine,” Danica finally said. “You can sleep in the barn.”
Sam crouched down to Portia. “High-five.”
It was a new trick she’d taught the pig, and one Portia seemed to enjoy just as much. She plunked her butt on the straw, then lifted her trotter to tap it against Sam’s hand.
“Let’s leave Flora for a little bit to get acclimated, and go have some dinner,” Danica said. “Then we’ll bring the cot out.”
Sam pouted. “I don’t want to leave her.” Her eyes perked up. “Now, I’m just throwing this out there, but what do we think about an indoor alpaca? We already have an indoor pig.”
Danica and I both said, “No,” at the same time.
Sam pouted again, then she glanced at Portia. “I told you they wouldn’t go for it.”
That made me laugh. “I highly doubt Portia had anything to do with that suggestion. She likes that she’s the only animal allowed in the house. Though, it has gone to her head.”
We headed into the house for dinner; however, Sam inhaled her food and packed her stuff up like she was running away to the circus. It was only seven o’clock, but she claimed she was “ready for bed.”
So I carted the cot out to the barn, and she set up her bed in Flora’s stall.
“I don’t think this is what your mother meant when she said you could sleep in the barn,” I told her.
“Then she needs to be specific,” Sam countered, already in her pajamas and laying down a series of blankets.
I cupped the sides of her head and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Buonanotte, piccola mia. Ti amo.”
“Ti amo,” she replied, warming my heart.
Danica appeared at the door of the stall, her hand on her hips. “Well, this wasn’t what I meant.”
Sam was already snuggling into bed. “Whoops. Can’t change it now.”
Flora, on the other hand, was lying down in the opposite corner of the stall, watching us curiously.
“You forgot the princess’s bed.” Danica had Portia’s plush bed with her and set it down next to the cot. Portia grunted her way over, did three circles in the bed, and settled down.
“This is quite the sleepover,” I mused.
“We’re going to stay up late telling stories.” Sam scratched Portia’s ears. “Her favorite is Charlotte’s Web.”
Flora pulled all of our attention when she stood up from her spot in the corner and slowly made her way closer, then she settled down next to Portia and right beside the cot.
I smiled at Danica, and she smiled back.
Leaning over the animals, Danica pressed a kiss to her daughter’s head. “Goodnight, ladies.”
“Goodnight.” Sam pulled a book and a small reading light out from her pillowcase and opened it.
Then I took my woman by the hand, and we left the barn.
“You’re going to keep the stall camera feed up on the tablet all night, right?” she asked, as we entered the house.
“Of course.”
She nodded.
While they didn’t officially live here yet, they spent every night with me. Sam insisted on it. She said she couldn’t be away from the animals. So she rode the bus to the vineyard with her cousins, and once Danica was finished work for the day, they came “home.”
After we finished clearing the dishes, I collapsed onto the couch, and Danica slid in beside me with an exhausted sigh. I draped my arm over her shoulders. “Your daughter is stubborn.”
“Yeah, but in this case, I’m okay with it. I’d rather she were stubborn than a doormat. She’s learning to stand up for herself. It just sucks when it’s to me.”
I snickered. “She is strong because her mother is strong. She fights for what she wants because she learned it from her mother.”
“I wasn’t always like this.”
“We’re all always evolving. I wasn’t always okay with allowing people onto my property, or having the community know my business. But look at me now.”
Her giggle made delightful tingles fill my chest. “Look at you now. A pillar of the community. You should consider running for mayor.”
She was joking, of course. There was no mayor on the island.
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
We both sighed again.
“I’m surprised neither of us has a glass of wine in our hands.”
I sprang up from my seat. “That is a crime.”
Once I had two glasses poured, I brought them back to the couch and handed her one. We sipped in silence, enjoying the rich, cherry and mocha flavors on our tongues.
“Your daughter is also very determined,” I said after a moment. “She has been begging me to ask you something.”
“Yeah?” She yawned. “What’s that?”
“If you will marry me.”
Danica paused mid-sip and gave me some serious side-eye. “And what do you tell her?”
“I told her I’d ask you and see what you said.”
She made sure to swallow her wine before letting her jaw drop open. “Is this you proposing to me?”
“Well … no. But also, maybe? I guess I’m more just asking if it’s something you’re interested in. This doesn’t seem romantic enough. But I’m gauging your interest in marrying me. Are you interested in that?”
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Si.”
“And Sam asked you this?”
I sipped my wine. “Si.”
“You’re asking me if I’m interested in having you ask me to marry you?”
I paused, processed what she said, then nodded. “Si.”
She started to sputter. “I … um … well …”
I took her wineglass from her and set hers and mine on the coffee table, then spun my body to face her.
She did the same. Capturing her hands in mine, and feeling her quickened pulse against my thumb, I gave her a reassuring smile.
“I love you, Danica. I love your daughter. I love our life. And yes, one day, when you’re ready, I would love to marry you.
But I also don’t want to pressure you. I guess all I want to know is, do you one day want to marry me? ”
She blinked several times, her eyes fixed on our hands. “My last wedding was awful,” she finally said. “I cried before my dad carted me down the aisle. I didn’t want to marry Rufus. I also didn’t get to pick anything. My mother made all the decisions. And my dress was hideous.”
I didn’t say anything, because I knew she wasn’t finished.
“I would like to have a wedding where I get to make all the choices. The dress, the colors, the flowers,” her gaze finally lifted to mine, “the man.”
I gave her a small, encouraging smile.
“And I would like that man to be you.”
My smile grew. “When you’re ready.”
She nodded. “While I know I want to be with you forever, I think I would also like a really romantic proposal. Since I didn’t get one of those either. Nothing fancy or expensive. Just … romantic.”
My thumb stroked back and forth across her wrist. “Then I will make it the most romantic proposal in the world. You deserve to have everything you have ever wanted, and I want to be the man to give that to you.”
Untangling our hands, she reached for her wineglass on the coffee table. Then she drained it and stood up, taking my hand and pulling me to my feet. “I think right now I just want you to make love to me.”
“Si, bella. That I can give you. That I can give you for the rest of our lives.”