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I pulled her into my arms. “You’re so good for the children and for me. We were so lucky the day you burst into our lives. I’ve always believed that there’s no such thing as a coincidence. It was fate that brought us together that day when you tried to shoot me while you were dressed up in that cute cat costume of yours.”
“You think my cat costume is cute?”
“Yeah, well, I was going to saycrazycat costume, but I’ve come to realize that it’s cute at the same time, especially when it’s worn by you.”
She couldn’t help a smile from spreading over her face. “Does that mean you’re coming over the dark side: to a life where cats rule supreme?”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen anytime soon, but I know I’m never getting rid of your cat costume or Wilbur. I may be stubborn and obstinate, but even I know that there’s no arguing about that with either you or Clara—you and Wilbur have completely corrupted her.”
“In a good way,” she added, resting her head against my chest.
“Yeah, in a good way. She’s at her happiest now, and that’s all because of you coming into our lives with your determined rays of sunshine. With you in our lives, part of me knows that the kids—and me—are going to get all the love we need to thrive. And I want to give you that love back and show you how much you mean to me.”
EPILOGUE
ANNUNCIATA
A few weeks later, I walked into the bathroom with some clean towels. Clara followed me, eager to help me with putting the freshly washed laundry away.
We came across Lorenzo standing in front of the basin and holding my cat costume.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Getting the red paint off.” He was cleaning the white fur with a special solution.
Clara stood next to him and watched him. She tugged on his sleeve.
“Yes, mia preziosa.”
“Please could I have a cat costume like Anni?”
A frown pulled at his brow. These were obviously not words he wanted to hear from his daughter. “You want a fluffy white cat costume?”
She nodded. “I think I would look cute,” she said earnestly, making him smile.
“With that reasoning, how can I say no?” he replied.
“Thank you,” whispered Clara.
“Let me finish this, and then I’ll come downstairs and we’ll have a look online to see if we can find a cat costume in your size.”
With that, Clara happily skipped away, and I heard her go down the staircase.
“That was nice of you to say yes,” I commented.
“She asked so nicely, and I didn’t want to refuse her. And, just to be clear, I might be allowing her to have a cat costume, but there’s no way I’m ever letting her practice shooting a gun. Your papà and brothers may have allowed you to do that, but my little girl will never fire a weapon if I have anything to do with it.” Changing the subject, he said, “Her speech is coming along well, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely. The speech therapist has helped a lot, and the new techniques she’s suggested we use at home with Clara are great.” I looked down at my costume in his hands. “I’ve tried everything already to clean it. But I can’t get the paint off.” I watched him as he continued to scrub at the red paint. “It looks like she’s bloody and hurt—it actually makes me really sad to see my cat costume like this.”
“I don’t like to see you sad.”
“I know it’s a costume, but she means a lot to me.”
“To me too,” smirked Lorenzo. “She’s the reason we got married. You got really mad when I aimed my gun at you and your cat costume.”
“Yeah, I did, didn’t I?”
“I don’t think you even really cared about yourself; it was all about me trying to murder the fluffy costume. You were so cute, standing there in your costume with your messy blonde pigtails.”
