AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I had it with me when my parents died. Afterwards, I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore… so I told Nona to throw it away. I guess she did because I never saw it again.
“I wish she’d kept it in a drawer somewhere instead… because even though it was a reminder of the worst day of my life… it was the only thing I had besides pictures that was connected to my parents.”
My eyes were misting up, but I looked up at him and smiled as I held up my hand. “This… this will be a memory of the best day of my life.”
He stopped me again, but this time he was serious. He looped his strong arms around me and pulled me in close.
“I want it to be a memory of something else,” he said softly.
“What?”
“That I will always be there for you. I will never leave you… I will always protect you… and no matter what happens, no matter where you go, I will always come after you.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks – happy tears – and I smiled.
Then we kissed out there with the rain dripping down from the trees all around us.
Besides the moment he proposed to me…
It was the most romantic moment of my life.
70
Massimo
The walk back through the woods was long –
But it felt like a stroll through the park because we were both so happy.
I’d never seen Lucia so enraptured – so completely full of joy.
I was happy, too – but every time I looked at her face, it multiplied the happiness that was already inside me.
There were a few darker, more intrusive thoughts along the way –
Like, What will my brothers say when they find out?
But I dealt with those thoughts pretty easily.
Dario married a girl he kidnapped.
Adriano got engaged to a girl he knew for three days.
I’m a fuckin’ model of tradition next to the two of THEM.
It took about four hours to find a suitable cabin.
I even ended up carrying Lucia in my arms the last two miles because she was so worn out.
I didn’t care. I wasn’t carrying a hundred pounds of food since we’d be going back to town the next day… and she didn’t weigh much more than that.
Plus, she looped her arms around my neck and kissed me repeatedly.
I would have walked a thousand miles with her in my arms just for that.
She also held one of the umbrellas over us, so I got the best of both worlds – her in my arms, and I stayed relatively dry.
Finally we reached a cabin that was both deserted and in pretty good shape. I passed up a couple of others that might have been okay but which were pretty rundown. I didn’t want my new fiancée to have to stay in a dump the first night of our engagement.
