Pulling her into an embrace, Alex said, “I’m so sorry you felt that way. That must have been so hard to navigate.”
Nodding again as she leaned into his chest, Aria answered, “I, I also faced what my counselor calls ‘survivor’s guilt’.”
Alex sat back, hisface contorted.
“Oh, cara mia. I know you told me that you were in the car that day, too. That makes so much sense.”
“I, I had so much guilt building in me, and I thought I had faced it all. Guilt for wanting more than running the business, guilt for surviving the crash, guilt for falling in love again,” Aria answered, her eyes soft with emotion.
His heart sped up and he feared what the answer to his next question would be.
“How do you feel about us having a future together?”
Aria’s face lit up as she answered.
“Alex Rossi, I’m in love with you. I was coming to tell you that the day we last met. But when Corinna told me that you weren’t going to leave for the well project, all that I had been dealing with came to the forefront. I couldn’t let that happen to us, to you. I knew that you would come to resent me later on, and I couldn’t live with that.”
“But don’t you understand? I’ve been searching all my life for a love like I have for you. I want a future with you. We can go on adventures together, but if that never happens, you need to hear me and understand my words and my heart. Aria, you are my life, my adventure. You’re the one this lonely albatross has been searching for. You’re more important than any photography assignment ever will be.”
“Do you really mean that?”
Her eyes were pooling with tears.
“Yes! Yes, Aria. With all my heart,” he answered, his last word being silenced with the kiss she pulled him into suddenly.
Tears mixed with laughter filled his ears, and they whispered promises to each other between kisses.
“I love you, Alex. I want to go on adventures with you. I also want to build a life with you here, with our families and friends. Building our own family one day.”
Alex closed his eyes and with a stuttered breath, he answered, “You’ve made me the happiest man in the world.”
Seeing that they were once again gaining an audience, he paid the bill and walked her hand-in-hand out to a bench near the water.
Aria looked up at him with pure love.
“I saw the garden, Alex. It’s, it’s beautiful. When did you do that?”
Chuckling as he pulled her in close, he replied, “I built it for you. The day you left, the dayIleft, I called a friend of Enzo’s to have it done. I was heartbroken, but I couldn’t fight the feeling that I needed to do it. It was an urgency that I still don’t understand. Just like the one that brought me home two days ago instead of flying to Mumbai.”
She squinted as she looked up at him, the sun in her face.
“I had a similar experience when I got home from Madrid.”
“Really? What was it?”
Shaking her head, she answered, “It’s silly. I’m too embarrassed to tell you. Although, my prayer was answered somehow, so...”
Looking up at the clear blue sky, Alex knew what he had suspected was true. Adjusting her as he lifted up, he reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out the bottle.
“Do you mean this, by any chance?”
He held it out in his hand for her to see, a smile overtaking his face when Aria gasped.
“No, that's not possible. Let me see the note,” Aria said, taking it from him while he watched her face go from surprise to absolute shock.
Unrolling the parchment, her hands shook as she skimmed the words.
“Alex,” she whispered.
