Epilogue
Epilogue
E RIN COULDN ’ T BELIEVE this day was here.
She looked at herself in the full-length mirror, the beautiful flowing ivory lace dress that clung to her torso and fell from her waist in cascading layers. Her hair, tumbling down around her shoulders in waves.
Her mother stood behind her, tears in her eyes. ‘You look so beautiful,’ she whispered, as she pressed a tissue to her face to stem the flow. ‘But you’re ruining my make-up,’ she accused with only love in her voice.
They both laughed with smiles that wobbled with happiness and delight.
Her mother took her in her arms. ‘I’m so pleased for you, Erin.
But more than that, I’m just so proud of the woman you have become.
It’s incredible to see you go from strength to strength.
I love you, Erin, but more than that I like you,’ she said, her gaze full of truth and joy, Erin knowing it was the highest praise her mother could give.
Arla Carter’s words touched her deeply.
It hadn’t been easy. As predicted, the press had been full of headlines and pictures, and articles full of equal amounts of harsh critiques and praise.
And just as one wave of the news cycle crested, another began to pick up speed.
First, following their announcement that there wouldn’t be a double wedding, and then a second when Enzo’s father’s engagement broke apart beneath rumours of infidelity and money troubles.
But together they had weathered the worst of it and delighted in the best of it.
Shortly after Enzo had visited her in Falmouth, they had travelled to Switzerland to meet with Amelia Gallo. It wasn’t easy, there had been years of hurt and neglect. But Erin knew that it meant the world to Enzo to see his mother getting the help she needed and deserved.
And soon after, Gio Gallo had reached out privately to Erin, with a reworked offer regarding Charterhouse.
And as hard as it was to let go of a childhood dream, Erin knew that turning it down was the right thing to do.
She couldn’t continue to follow her father’s dreams, and nor could she hold herself to a promise she’d made to her mother before she’d known better.
Erin had turned Gio’s offer down, but instead made a counter-offer of her own; a visit between Erin, Enzo and Gio the next time they were in Italy.
He hadn’t been able to make it today, and Erin suspected privately that it was because he wasn’t well enough to travel. But Enzo’s cousins Antonio and Maria had, and even though he would probably never acknowledge it out loud, the burgeoning friendship between the cousins meant a lot to Enzo.
So it would be a small group of people that celebrated her marriage to the Playboy of Amalfi, Erin thought wryly, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Marcus was there, Alana, whom Erin had met at that fateful party in Cannes, Samara had managed to come over for it—Enzo’s look of shock when he realised Sam was in fact a woman was priceless.
She’d brought with her several black-suited men and women that made her think of security guards.
And Erin had realised that the funny thing about her friendship with Sam was that it had never needed the trappings of details, of things that Sam kept secret.
..because what they felt and what they did know about each other was enough.
And Erin was just thankful that she could be part of this day, having been part of the chaotic plan that had brought her to Enzo in the first place.
She and her mother had taken a car to the church, and from there the day moved in bursts of incredible speed and moments of incredible stillness. Erin’s mother walked her up the aisle of the very small, very ancient chapel in Capri where they’d chosen to exchange their vows.
The service, delivered in Italian and English, was short, but deeply sentimental, and Erin wouldn’t have changed a single thing about it. They had each written their own vows and nothing could have prepared Erin for the overwhelming sense of love that rippled through her at his words.
You are my compass, my north, my south, my east and west, you are my guide and my companion.
You are my home and I am yours. When you are lost, and whenever you are in need of rest, I am yours.
When you are happy, joyful, and silly, I am yours.
I will protect you, love you, honour you and cherish you with every breath I take. Because I am yours and I love you.
And when she’d given hers, she’d thought she’d seen the shimmer of tears in his eyes and knew how much her words meant to him.
I promise to stand beside you, no matter what adventures we weather—thrilling, or tough—because I am yours.
I promise to stand beside you when things are good as much as when they are hard, when we are happy or sad, when we are hungry or full, when we are angry or laughing.
I will stand beside you because I am yours and I love you.
They had kissed to applause and laughter, the perfect way to cement their vows and their union, and while she knew it wouldn’t always be plain sailing, that didn’t matter, because they would face whatever came their way. Together.
Long after the last staff member had left the yacht anchored off the Amalfi Coast, Enzo Rossetti came to where his wife stood at the rails, looking out at the glittering coastline. He slipped his arms around her and gently rested her back against his chest, wondering how he’d got so lucky.
He held her in his arms, knowing they had all the time in the world and he realised that for the first time he didn’t want to rush off somewhere new, he wasn’t looking for some crazy distraction. He had everything he needed, right here, for the rest of his life.
He could barely credit all the things that had happened between them, to bring them here.
‘What are you thinking about?’ she asked, pressing cool fingers to his furrowed brow, trying to soothe thoughts she couldn’t read.
‘About secrets and lies,’ he said with a heavy sigh.
‘There will never be such things between us again,’ she promised.
‘Oh, cara ,’ he said, with mock gravity. ‘There is just one more secret that you must keep. One that you can’t tell anyone,’ he said to her, pressing a kiss against his favourite part of her.
‘What’s that?’ Erin whispered, her voice husky with desire.
‘That the Playboy of Amalfi waited until his wedding night.’
‘I did once tell you that I had traditional values,’ she said, sighing as his palms found her breasts and his mouth found the delicate skin at the curve of her neck.
The whisper of a moan was stolen by the wind, as he turned her in his arms, to feel the blazing heat of her gaze on him.
The blush on her cheeks was pretty, not the painful, blotchy, mark of humiliation, but this one almost beautiful to see.
He would have her wearing nothing else but that blush if she would allow him.
‘No one would believe me if I told them,’ she said, a smile on her beautiful lips. ‘They’d think it a lie.’
‘Because no one can resist the charms of the Playboy of Amalfi?’ he teased with another kiss.
‘Oh, I can resist your charms, Enzo Rossetti,’ Erin said confidently and playfully. ‘But I could not resist your heart,’ she said, her words touching his soul.
‘I didn’t have a heart until you came along,’ he confessed.
‘Yes, you did. You were just looking for it in the wrong place.’
‘Because even before I’d met you, it was yours,’ he said and kissed her with all the love he felt for her.
That night, beneath the canopy of stars, he loved her and pleasured her until they were both utterly spent, and he was thankful that they’d waited.
Thankful that this was the first of all the nights of the rest of his life to love her, worship her soul, spirit and body.
It was the joy of his life that he could make such a vow to such an incredible woman.
The woman who had come looking for a wedding ring, and found a happy-ever-after.