“What is this?” I asked, trying to neutralize my furrowed brows.
“Come see for yourself.” Francesco launched himself out of the car, scooped my wife into his arms, and slung her, squealing, over his shoulder.
I barely noticed the building I was entering over my sudden deep need to cut off his hands.
“Isn’t it great?” Sicily laughed as Francesco set her down on the barely functioning floor tiles and peered down another corridor before escaping down it.
My brows rose.
It was impossible to consider this unfinished, security disaster ‘great’.Each interior wall was skinned of wallpaper or paint, though a limited number had half painted gray walls, the floors were cracked with unlaid tiles or dusty with remnants of some attempt at a floorboard, and the windows were hidden with damp cardboard. The lights did not even work.
“Extremely great,” I replied, because Adriano had once told me that when somebody was passionate about something, it wasimportant not to be unkind about it. “What will this be used for?”
Sicily clasped her hands together as she looked at the cobwebbed ceilings with wide eyes that indicated some kind of appreciation. “Well, nothing yet.”
“Nothing?”
“We haven’t bought it, not yet at least. I wanted to get your opinion.”
My chest felt different. An ache did not form there, but it grew incredibly warm and tight.
She valued my opinion, even after everything I had said to hurt her, despite that I was different. She was asking me, waiting for me to speak,trustingme with her mind as she did her body.
I took her hand in mine, pressing it to my heart as I took another look at the building.
If the window coverings were removed, the sunlight would be optimal.
If the flooring was fixed, it would be structurally sound.
With some cleaning and painting, the building would be bright, complete, warm, and visually aesthetic.
The world was rather beautiful through my wife’s eyes.
“I think,” I said with a confirming nod as I pulled her close and kissed her freckled nose. “That it has the potential to be whatever you need it to be.”Just like you.“You should purchase it. You did not need my permission.”
“For my school?” She swallowed roughly like I would suddenly reject this idea.
I had found this demand for change overwhelming at first. I had barely adjusted to my wife, let alone her world-changing, and I had expressed this through harmful words and the desire to lock her ideas away, but now that I was looking at it, ather, there was no doubt in my mind that Sicily Lucca made the planet spin.
She was capable of changing the world, and I experienced the warmth over my body that accompanied the need to lift her up and show her to everyone.
Pride; that was what ordinary people would title that.
My lips twitched into a wide smile. “This is optimal for a school. It is close to our house, and I can bring you food often.”
Tears lined her eyes, but her smile grew. These were the only tears I would allow.
I opened my mouth, but the words did not come again. “I—”I love you.My lungs constricted and I cleared my throat to say instead, “Where is Francesco? I cannot lose him; Adriano seems to have developedlovefor him, and he would certainly not forgive me for displacing his love.”
Her laugh was the only sound I replayed in my head to brighten my day. “I know.”
I raised a brow. “You do?”
“It was obvious,” she whispered.
Francesco walked through the corridor before I could answer as if we had summoned him. He had finished a phone call with a wide smile on his face. I found his expression pleasant.
“The estate agent can meet us nearby now, if you’ve got time.” He directed the question at me, and I wondered if they did not wish to go on this endeavor without me. I would not interfere, but I most certainly would be looking over any contract my wife signed.
