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“What do you mean?”
“Did you say that you loved me?” His tone was light, but there was a heart-wrenching quality to the question.
“Ah.” She pushed up onto her elbow so she could see him more clearly. “I told you that I’d had my heart broken and I’d sworn I’d never fall in love with anyone ever again.”
The words hurt him – he felt her pain personally – and he knew it must have been the same then, as well.
“And you told me,” she continued, her eyes assuming a faraway look, “that only a fool would have me and lose me. You told me that if you were lucky enough to hold my heart, you’d wrap it up right inside yours.” Her smile was wistful. “You told me you’d hold my heart forever, and you were right.”
“Ellie,” he said, the name graveled, pulled from deep inside his chest. “I am going to keep your heart safe from now on. There is nothing on this earth that will ever separate us again, querida.”
She sighed and nodded, because there was not a single point of doubt in her mind. She lay down beside him, her head on his chest, so she could hear his heart beating and his breath moving and she closed her eyes. And for the first time in four years, she slept with a smile on her face and a certainty deep inside of her that she was exactly where she was supposed to be.
Epilogue
One year later
“YOU MEAN THEY WANT us to come back again already?” Ellie smiled, shaking her head. Her dark hair was loose and it fluffed around her face in a way that had Xavier staring, as always.
He blinked, trying to focus on the conversation at hand instead of his beautiful wife. “Apparently Joshua looks to have grown in the photos.”
At this, Ellie laughed properly. “We were there three weeks ago…”
“What can I say? My parents dote on Joshua.”
Ellie ran a hand over her swollen stomach, feeling the baby’s shape through the firmness of her pregnancy belly. “Yes, we couldn’t have asked for more loving grandparents.”
Xavier sipped his coffee, his eyes holding his wife’s over the rim of the coffee cup. “Even if my mother did her best to ruin my life.” He said the words mockingly, but Ellie’s cheeks flamed.
Despite Ellie’s insistence, Maria had confessed her role in things to Xavier shortly after they’d returned from their honeymoon. Beset by guilt, the older woman hadn’t been able to let it go. Fortunately, things between Xavier and Ellie had resolved so beautifully by then that he hadn’t been able to muster much enthusiasm to be angry about it.
He’d simply told his mother that she’d had no place to interfere, and that Ellie was his reason for living and in the future, Maria should do everything she could to support his wife.
And that had been the end of the matter, except for the occasional tease from Xavier.
“Yes, well, all that aside,” Ellie grinned across at him. At that moment, Joshua pitched himself into the lounge room, a grin on his cherubic face, his uniform so adorable.
“Janice says it’s time to go,” he chirruped, and Ellie nodded.
“Then you’d better come here to collect your cuddle, Master Salbatore,” she said, picking him up in her arms and kissing his head. When she placed him to the ground, he ran around the other side of the table (he rarely walked when there was space to hurricane through the house) and Xavier tousled his hair.
“We shall see you tonight?”
“Yes. Daddy, when are we going to see Abuela and Abuelo again?”
Xavier caught Ellie’s eyes over Joshua’s head, a smile crinkling his eyes.
“Do you ever suspect we are being conned, querida?”
Ellie nodded. “Most definitely.”
“Well, then,” he placed Joshua back on the ground. “Off to school and your mother and I shall discuss another visit to Spain.”
“Yay!” Joshua ran from the room, as happy and confident as any little boy could ever be.
“Are you free for lunch?” Xavier prompted, reaching for the newspaper and flicking to the finance section.
“I should be. I’ve got class until eleven and then I need to speak to my lecturer about an assessment.”
