Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
R oman opened the taxi door and helped me out. Snow drifted on a swirling breeze, catching on my eyelashes and collecting on my woolen coat. Yet my excitement was so high that I barely noticed anything other than my thumping heart.
He grabbed our suitcases, and I clutched the grocery bags containing items that Roman demanded we absolutely had to stop for. My insides were doing enormous flips as we walked up the front path, and my brain bounced from one crazy thought to the next.
We stopped at the door which had a faded Christmas wreath attached.
I put the bags down and reached for Roman’s hand. “You ready for this?”
“Absolutely.”
I did a little jig, and when he stepped behind the wall, I inhaled. I was about to tick off another first—first visit to Zali’s home. I should never have left it this long to see her. I hadn’t even seen Kane, except in the thousands of photos she’d sent me. That would be another first—holding Kane in my arms.
With my chest swelling with excitement, I knocked on the door.
Five seconds later, the door opened. Two seconds after that, Zali and I screamed as we wrapped our arms around each other and jumped up and down like a couple of crazy nutters.
“Oh, my fucking god!” She squealed. “What are you doing here?”
“We came to see you.”
“We?”
Roman stepped up behind me. “Surprise!”
Zali launched into his arms with a scream that probably rendered him deaf. Roman laughed as he twirled her around. Then she kissed him on the cheek and blurted, “Thank you. Thank you,” over and over.
“No need to thank me.”
“Oh my god. Best surprise ever. Come inside. You must be freezing. Mom! Mom! You won’t believe it—Daisy and Roman are here.”
Dragging our suitcase and carrying the grocery bags, we followed her inside.
The fireplace was glowing, providing warmth and a lovely, homely feel, and the television over the mantle was showing the New Year’s Eve festivities around the globe.
After Zali finally stopped squealing and hugging me like I’d vanish, we settled at the kitchen table. Zali and I were nursing our glasses of wine, Zali’s mother, Helen, was nursing Kane, and Roman was in the kitchen entertaining us as he set up to make us homemade spaghetti carbonara.
“I can’t believe you are here,” Zali said for the tenth time.
“It was Roman’s idea.”
She cocked her head at him, her smile beaming. “If you keep that kinda stuff up, Roman, I might steal you for myself.”
With one of his special smiles, Roman handed some of his pasta dough to Kane and Helen, and the two of them squished it and rolled it like it was Play-Doh.
As Roman made up another batch of pasta dough, and the show on the television in the lounge room counted down the hours till New Year’s Eve with an eclectic collection of songs, Zali and I caught up on the last couple of days. Christmas with Roman’s family. Boxing Day and the harrowing discussion with Roman’s parents to tell them I was taking their only son away from them for a while. Packing to leave and saying goodbye to all his nieces and nephews. The race from Manarola to Rome to catch an early morning flight. The two days in transit as we traveled from Rome to London to Chicago and finally here.
“So how long are you staying?” Her eyes flitted from Roman to me.
Roman paused, kneading. “How long do you want us to stay?”
“Are you fucking kidding?” Her eyes were huge. “Stay forever.”
We all laughed.
“No, but seriously, what are your plans?” Zali sipped her drink.
I studied her. She looked tired. The kind of tired that would require a week of sleep to get over. Her skin was pale and her hair limp. She’d aged ten years since we’d said goodbye on the cruise ship.
Abba’s “Dancing Queen” blared from the television and Roman stopped what he was doing. “I love this song.” He wiped his hands on a towel and came around our side of the counter. He held his hand toward Zali. “May I? ”
The smile on her face was spectacular as she plonked her glass down. “Hell, yeah.”
Roman led Zali to the middle of the room, and as he guided her in some exaggerated ballroom dancing moves, Zali’s mother and I clapped.
When the next song came on, Roman took Kane from Helen’s arms, handed the boy to me, and he twirled Zali’s mother into the lounge room. It was hard to tell who exactly was leading the dance, but with Roman laughing and Helen laughing even harder, Zali and I nursed our drinks and couldn’t stop smiling.
After a few more dances, where Roman alternated dancing with the three women in the room, we all flopped onto our seats exhausted. Roman, however, went right back to cooking.
Helen stepped up beside him and Roman added to his Mr. Perfect moniker by showing Helen how to make the pasta.
Zali leaned into me. “Babe, you hit fucking gold.”
“I know. Believe me, I know.”
A few hours later, after we’d eaten an amazing home-cooked meal and drunk several bottles of wine, I helped Zali get both Kane and Helen into bed while Roman cleaned up the kitchen.
We returned to the kitchen bench, and Roman topped up our wines again.
She sighed wistfully like we were apparitions. “I still cannot believe you are here.”
“It’s been a whirlwind,” I said.
“Well, I’m so glad I was the first stop on your schedule.” She lowered her eyes and it only served to emphasize the bags beneath them. “But you didn’t answer my question . . . what are your plans?”
I shrugged. Roman did too, then he nodded at me to answer. “Roman and I are just going to travel wherever the wind takes us. Maybe Mexico, or Canada? We don’t know just yet. We’ll pick up jobs where we can and who knows, maybe we’ll settle somewhere for a while. We’re not in any hurry. Are we, honey?” It felt so incredible calling him that. He was my melting pot of honey. Sweet and delicious and my very own liquid gold.
“Nope. We’ve got all the time in the world.”
With a smile that was all jagged at the edges, Zali said, “I’m so proud of you two.”
I winked at Roman. “But before we head off, we thought we’d hang around here for a while . . . help you out with Kane and your mom. If you’ll have us?”
Her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she squealed. “Are you fucking kidding? Yes. Yes. Oh my god. I’d love that.” Zali’s eyes pooled with tears.
She wrapped me in a huge bear hug, and as I smiled at Roman, I recalled the promise I’d made to myself at the hospital. I’d vowed that I’d find my home before I turned thirty. That no longer seemed important. The saying ‘ home is where the heart is’ had never been more true.
As long as I was with Roman, and Zali was also in my life, then I would always feel at home.
I adjusted my hand on her shoulder and remembered my engagement ring that I’d hidden in my jeans pocket while I was in the taxi. “Oh, there’s something else I haven’t told you.”
She pulled back from me with her neglected brows bouncing upward. “What? What?”
My beautiful diamond twinkled in the kitchen lights as I slipped my ring onto my finger. “Roman and I are engaged.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” Zali squeezed me to her chest.
The television began the New Year’s Eve countdown and the three of us raced into the lounge room.
“Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Happy New Year. ”
Happy New Year!
Last year was the best year of my life. But this year and every year from now on will be even better.
I, Daisy Chayne, am the luckiest woman in the world.
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