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“Cara,” Alessandro said the next morning after she’d told him everything she’d told her siblings. They were watching the sunrise through the windows of his master bedroom—their master bedroom. “Are you sure? You will really live here, with me?”
“Yes.” She stroked his beard with the palm of her hand. She loved that beard. He might have to shave it for his next role or the one after that, but his growing it while they’d gotten to know each other made it feel like something he’d done just for her. “And not just for your sake. I’ve never been more myself than I have since I came here.”
“I am so happy to hear that.” He tipped his head so she was cradling it in her hand. “That is all I ever wanted for you.”
“And I know that you’re going to be on set, maybe for months at a time.”
“That’s right. Will you not be lonely?”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “But I already have so much to do, so many people to talk to, that I think I’ll enjoy the time I’m alone.”
“Not too much, I hope,” he said, drawing her into his arms. “Because I will always come home to you.”
“You’d better.”
“I will almost enjoy going away so I can look forward to coming back.”
Megan laughed and lay on top of him, touching him from chest to knees, even putting her bare feet over his.
The sun blazed out of the horizon, fading the ocean of pink and orange out of the sky. “No regrets?” Alessandro asked quietly.
She looked up at him and kissed his beautiful, waiting mouth. “Nessuno. Assolutamente nessuno.”
♦
Chapter 27
“And the Oscar goes to…
“Alessandro Rosselli, forThe Drummer.”
The packed auditorium leaped to their feet, some in joy, others, perhaps, in surprise, since great performance of the year or not, Alessandro was still comparatively new in the business. But that didn’t matter one iota to Megan as she watched her lover’s mouth drop open. He let out a yell that turned the audience’s shouts into a laugh, then took Megan’s face between his hands and kissed her fast before following the usher to the aisle.
They’d been put with other members of the cast and crew of the movie because the movie itself had also been nominated. The director leaped up and hugged Alessandro right there in the aisle.
Alessandro walked onto the stage to the swelling sounds of the music, while Megan clapped her hands raw for him. She’d never seen him so radiantly happy. His smile was infectious; she could see people in rows in front of her grinning indulgently as he hugged everyone on the stage before they could get him to the microphone.
He wore a dark-purple velvet tux that turned him almost vampiric. His beard was longer than at the Ravellos, and the cuff around his ear flashed in the lights. He was her devil again.
“Woohoo!” was the first thing he said. “Thank you!Dio mio!” Then he put a hand to his chest as though he couldn’t remember how to breathe. “Son’ sopraffatto. Grazie tutti.”
And then his voice got stronger. “So many to thank. Of course the team, the vision of everyone onThe Drummer.” He reeled off some names and everyone cheered. “And I have to thank those who never get their due. No one makes it to this stage without a family. And I have had a family for the last ten years who have raised me up, who encouraged me when I failed and celebrated with me when I succeeded. To all of you: Etta, Susie, Roman, Grace, Sophia, Jaelyn, Melanie, Mohammed, Cassidy, and Colson.” They were in the audience, so the crowd cheered again, because everyone knew who he was talking about. “To Yasmin and Donna and Jacqui and—” He got several more names out before the music started.
He laughed again. “I love you all!Vi amo, tutti! Ti amo, Megan!” and he stepped back from the mike.
Everyone heard it, everyone turned to her, and Megan wondered if she was going to float to the ceiling. Even more so when she imagined the shriek that must have come from her siblings in their homes. She’d never been more ready to leap on a plane and take Alessandro to celebrate with them.
With only two awards left to announce, Megan didn’t expect to see him again until after the ceremony, but a huge song and dance number and another commercial break meant that he was back by her side, beaming and panting, just in time to hear thatThe Drummerhad won for best movie. And if she’d thought the joy was incandescent when he’d won, it was nothing to the eruption that shook the building now. She almost had to stand on her seat to avoid getting crushed in the wall of hugs and backslaps that took over her row. Eventually, they filed out into the aisle, leaving Megan and a few other plus-ones to smile at each other. Alessandro all but leaped onto the stage the way Mohammed had previously.
Megan took a mental snapshot, watching her beautiful, talented Italian bounce on his toes among a crowd at the top of their respective games. The director’s speech was played out and no one cared; the host tried to give his goodbye speech and no one cared; the credits began to roll and no one cared.
At last Megan was able to leave the auditorium and go to the room where winners got their statues engraved with their names. Cassidy found her and made the crowds part so that she could join Alessandro waiting with his group.
He whooped when he saw her and squeezed her to him, burying his face in her hair, which she’d worn down tonight, giving a forest goddess vibe to her thickly embroidered, plunging neckline dress. “Amore,” he said so only she could hear.
“I’m so, so proud of you,” she said. “You’ve earned all of this. I love you.”
“I love you,” he said back. “I could not be so happy if you were not here with me.”
She kissed him and gave him a beaming smile she didn’t have to regulate for anyone. Not anymore.
