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EPILOGUE
‘CAN I HOLDHER?’ Rachel Monk whispered.
Standing beside the open French doors that led onto a flower-filled balcony, Beatrice smiled at her mother, who stood there looking too young to be a grandmother in her bold emerald green dress coat, a jaunty hat and heels that showed off her great legs.
Carefully she gave the sleeping baby to her mother.
‘Not much point being quiet with that lot down there.’ The christening party was still in full swing.
‘You know I am so proud of you, don’t you… Bea?’
‘And I’m proud of you.’ Her mum’s work with the charity for women in abusive relationships had won more than her own admiration.
They had both moved on from the past.
‘I wish your father was here.’
‘Oh, I think he is—have you seen that chin, the dimple?’ she said, looking down fondly at her daughter’s face. Everything else about Sabina Elsa was pure Dante. Her daughter was going to be a beauty.
‘She is a miracle.’
Beatrice turned her head. ‘What are you doing, creeping up on us like that?’ she asked, looking up at her tall, gorgeous husband with smiling eyes. ‘She is a miracle,’ she added softly.
They would always grieve for their lost baby, but it was balanced by the joy that his or her sister had brought into their lives. They both knew how lucky they were; they told each other so every day.
‘Say cheese!’
They both turned as Maya, dressed in a bright orange minidress, appeared, camera in hand. ‘Wow,’ she said, looking at the results on her phone screen. ‘That kid, sorry, my god-daughter, is a natural. Your mum takes a good photo too, Dante. This one of her pinching one of the waiters’ bottoms is classic.’
‘Oh, God, Maya, delete that right now,’ Beatrice gasped.
Her sister twisted away as Beatrice went to grab her phone.
‘We said no phones.’
‘I’m exempt, and, anyway, Carl made me do it and he’s royal.’
‘You’re impossible.’
Dante came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist, pulling her into him until he could rest his chin on the top of her glossy head. ‘This is my family and all that I need. A tabloid would pay good money for that snap, Maya.’
‘Now he tells me.’
Grinning, Dante bent and whispered something in his wife’s ear.
He laughed, loving that she could blush…loving her.
‘You know, I used to think this place was a prison, but you opened the doors, let in the light that made me love you and set me free.’
‘Oh, get a room!’ Carl exclaimed, walking in.
It was a palace—they had a lot to choose from!
