Chapter 21 #2
He shook his head once. “If it helps, I think there was a part of me, not that I recognized it at the time, that needed to know, for certain, that it was really happening with you, because you were all of my dreams come true. As much as that terrified me, I was still looking for guarantees.”
Her heart shifted hard into her ribs.
“I was scared too,” she admitted. “That’s why I tried to come up with limitations around what we were doing—I was trying to protect my heart in the same way you were yours.
” She bit into her lower lip, eyes locked to his.
“But on the yacht, and then with your family, I couldn’t fight it anymore.
Everything with you and me just felt so…
right. And I know that, because I spent almost ten years of my life with a perfectly nice guy, and would have had a perfectly nice life with him, probably, but it wasn’t like this.
It wasn’t a case of everything just clicking together. ”
A car drove past, reminding Elodie that they were still standing at her parents’ front door. She took a small step backwards, a silent entreaty for him to enter. But he stood his ground, eyes roaming her face.
“I need to say this, first,” he muttered, more to himself than her.
“I know you know how I feel—it must be obvious. But I need to say what I wish I had said months ago, to save us both from this. I have been in agony, Elodie.” She closed her eyes, his admission something she both needed yet hated hearing at the same time.
To imagine him suffering as she had been suffering, when all she wanted was for Raf to be happy.
“You have no idea how much I was counting on seeing you today. Every part of me was living for that moment, and when you didn’t arrive, the disappointment almost cut me in half.
Mi amore, cara, bella Elodie, my heart, my everything, all that I am, all that I have, these things belong to you.
You are my other half in ways I hadn’t even realized possible or necessary; you are in every breath I take, all the goodness I see in the world.
You made me realise that there is goodness in the world.
You made me love, you made me whole, you made me the man I should always have been. ”
She sobbed then, pressing a hand to her mouth.
“I love you.” Such simple words. Followed by, “Ti amo,” the Italian version.
Her heart burst, like a glitter bomb, exploding throughout her whole body, making the whole world take on a sparkly sheen.
It was everything she’d wanted to hear from him, everything her soul and heart had been craving, since Italy, she guessed, when she’d first started to understand that her own feelings were so much more heavily involved than she realized.
“And I am so sorry for taking so long to understand myself,” he added, evidently taking her lack of reaction as cause for concern.
Perhaps thinking he still had work to do, to convince her to give him another chance, when Elodie was, instead, rendered speechless by the sheer delirium of this moment.
“I am torn, my darling, between wanting to draw you into my arms and hold you to my heart, or leaving, to find somewhere nearby to stay, to give you space to come to terms with this, to know your own heart and feelings…”
It galvanized her into action. “I already know my heart, Raf. Love, like I feel for you, doesn’t change just because it’s not returned. I love you.”
He didn’t move though. He just stood there, staring at her, as though it was the last thing he’d expected. She could see the wheels of his brain turning, making sense of her statement. Trying to believe her.
“You love me,” he repeated, after a beat. “Even now?”
She laughed. “Didn’t you hear me? My love isn’t going anywhere. And nor am I.”
Then, finally, he stepped forward, pulling her against his chest and just holding her in a huge bear hug, wrapping his arms around her, his chest moving rapidly with the force of his breathing, his whole body merging with hers.
He hugged her as though he never intended to let go, and just the thought of that made her smile.
But when she tilted her face to his, and he looked down at her, the same sparks that always ignited between them flared to life, so he was kissing her then.
Slowly, at first, gently—a kiss laced with so much love that it filled up her heart completely, and then, with so much passion she was panting and aching with needs she’d thought she’d never have met again.
“I have missed you so much,” he said, against her mouth, so she smiled and nodded. “You have no idea.”
“I really do.”
“Okay, maybe you do,” he conceded.
“Promise we’ll never do anything stupid like leave each other again?”
He pulled away, so his eyes could more fully roam her face.
“I promise.” And then, after a flicker of a frown, “Elodie, when we came here, last time, and I proposed, that was such a jackass thing to do. You were right to refuse me. I should have known then, because of how much your refusal hurt, that I wanted so much more from you. I should have known that I wanted to marry you for the sake of being your husband, your other half. For the sake of declaring to the whole entire world what you mean to me, and that you are my future.” He grimaced, shook his head, as if to dispel the past. “And you, cara bella, you were so right to shut me down and explain that you were holding out for something better than what I was offering.”
“Not better than you,” she interrupted.
“But better than a lukewarm marriage on paper,” he spat, as though the idea was the most offensive he’d ever encountered.
“Well, ideally,” she said, with a small smile.
“Everything you said you wanted that day, all of the ways you wanted to be loved, and love in return, the future you painted, that is exactly what I want. With you.”
Happiness burst through her, so she was capable of teasing him slightly, albeit through watery tears. “Are you asking me to marry you, or just explaining your feelings some more?”
He laughed, a gruff sound, as he shook his head.
Then, sobering, “I am pleading with you to marry me, as soon as we can arrange it. Not because of your parents, or the children, not because of anyone or anything except this.” He moved his hand to his chest, and then to hers.
“Marry me because we are in love and always will be. Marry me because I am your other half, as you are mine.”
“I’ll marry you, because there is nothing and no one that would make me happier.” She lifted up onto the tips of her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Anch’io ti amo, caro,” she said, as she kissed him, and she meant every word, from the bottom of her heart.
A month later, they were married from the grounds of Raf’s villa in Italy.
Though it was now the cusp of Autumn and winter, they were blessed with a perfect blue-sky day, the weak sunshine casting the villa in a golden light.
The pool that was such a special place for them had been filled with water lilies, floating on its surface.
They said their vows with the incredible Tuscan hills as a backdrop.
The ceremony was intimate. Well, as intimate as it was possible to be when Raf’s family included a King, by marriage. Sofia had also had twins, so Elodie spent some portion of her wedding talking all things pregnancy and raising babies side by side with her now cousin-in-law.
Her parents were welcomed with open arms by the Santoros.
Elodie heard Gianni explain that famiglia è tutto and had laughed softly to herself, even when the sentiment caught at something deep in her heart.
Because this group of people were her family.
Santoros, a Valentino, a King, and her parents, and most of all, her husband Rafaelo Santoro.
She’d saved him, and he’d saved her. They’d both been off track in their lives, but maybe, they’d just been looking for each other—two souls, destined to meet, had finally had that chance.
After the ceremony, as night fell, deep fire pits were lit all around the pool area.
The piano that had been pushed out of the house sat at one edge of the terrace, so Gianni began to play, as they sat on comfortable chairs, ate delicious food, and talked.
Elodie adored Raf’s family. His brothers and cousins, Sofia, his aunt and uncle, but also, the women who’d married into the Santoro family.
Even King Ares—once you got past the whole royalty thing—was funny and kind, and clearly adored his wife.
“Didn’t I tell you that you put light back in his eyes?” Dante said, hours later, when the night was coming to a natural close.
Elodie smiled across at him, where he sat holding Georgia’s hand, her head resting on his shoulder.
“You did.”
“And I was right.”
Georgia smiled. “He does like to be right.”
“In this instance, I’m very glad he was,” Elodie returned.
“We all are,” Salvatore said, with an arm around Emme Valentino. “It’s clear to anyone that you and he are meant to be.”
“Truly,” Emme said, nodding.
“So, what next?” Sofia asked, one leg elegantly crossed over the other, hands clasped in her lap. She was a natural Queen. King Ares stood behind her, hands resting lightly on her shoulders, as though he simply needed to touch.
“Will you come back to the Cotswolds?” Willow asked. Francesco and she spent their time between London, the Cotswolds, and Italy, though Willow was very partial to the countryside. She had loved exploring Elodie’s village, and sharing a meal in the pub with Elodie, Raf and Elodie’s parents.
“Yes, where will you live?” Maddie asked, in her broad American accent.
“I think she might be suggesting New York,” Rocco grinned. “We’re a little short on family over that side of the Atlantic.”
“We visit all the time,” Emme said, poking out her tongue.
“And we spend most of our time there,” Georgia added.
“She won’t be happy until she’s turned us all into Americans,” Rocco said, earning an elbow jab from Maddie.