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Clara
Amonth has passed since I agreed to stay in Naples with Cosimo, and thinking about how wonderful it is makes me feel all dreamy. Tracing the line of my cold choker absentmindedly, I pad barefoot through the villa to the front door, hoping that there is something special in the mail for me today.
It’s been so perfect being here, but I still want to finish my degree, even if I am destined to spend the rest of my life as a kept Giordano woman. It took about a week to finish fielding all the phone calls from family and friends asking about what I was thinking, and telling me I was crazy, but everyone has eventually come to accept that this is my choice, and I’m not changing my mind.
Dad, of course, was apoplectic, but he calmed down once he was told that his debts are now paid. I hope he doesn’t feel like he sold his daughter to pay his debts, because even if Cosimo hadn’t paid a dime of what my father owes, I still would have stayed with him anyway, because the giant mafioso is my soulmate, plain and simple.
We’ve had a few days of rain, but today the sun is out and from the terrace the ocean looks as smooth as glass. I was disappointed when Cosimo was gone when I woke up this morning, because while I was waiting for acceptance letters from local universities, there was something else I had to check, too, and I wanted him here with me to see the results.
The positive pregnancy test weighs heavily in my cardigan pocket. I’m almost giddy with excitement to show Cosimo.
Pregnancy shouldn’t change much about my university plans, but I know it will mean everything to Cosimo. We’ve spent so many late nights curled up together, talking about the family that he was afraid he would never be able to have. Cosimo cherishes me in ways I never would have imagined possible, and ever since he told me, in the afterglow of our lovemaking, that he wanted a houseful of children, I’ve been counting the days till my ovulation cycle diligently.
There aren’t any letters for me in the post today, but even that can’t dim my excitement about sharing my news with Cosimo. The day improves even more when he texts me, telling me to get ready to go out on the yacht this evening, because he has a surprise for me. Little does he know that his surprise will never be able to compare to mine.
Laying a hand over my still-flat belly, I try to imagine the little life growing inside. Half me, half Cosimo, this baby will be loved more than any other baby on the planet. I just know it. I have no idea what I did to get so lucky, but I’m not looking back.
* * *
“Why areyou dressed so nice for going out on the yacht?” I ask, walking down the dock to meet Cosimo where he was already waiting on the deck. He had one of his driver’s drop me off instead of escorting me himself, and now that we’re face to face, I can see he’s still dressed as if for work, in a lightweight white button down with the sleeves rolled up and perfectly tailored pants on his long legs. I look down at my own maxi dress, and hesitate before stepping onto the boat. “Should I go change?”
“Nonsense,” he insists, holding out his hand for me to take. “You’ve never been more beautiful, sweetheart.”
“Never?” I tease, rising up on my tiptoes to kiss him.
“Not until the next time I see you. Then that will be the most beautiful you’ve ever been.”
Laughing, I brush past him and go take my favorite seat on the padded bench next to the driver’s chair. I’ve got the pregnancy test in my beach bag, and I’m a bundle of nerves about revealing my secret. What if he can’t quit the violent work that he’s done all his life, or what if he decides that he wants to marry someone from another crime family?
I have to push all these thoughts aside before they can poison the bright nature of our time together. This will be a night to remember for the rest of our lives.
Cosimo drives slowly, the wind just fast enough to pick up my hair and blow it about my face as we go. The air smells like the sea, salt and brine, but the spicy smell of Cosimo’s cologne mixed with his natural scent eclipses even that. I still marvel at the towering rock formations jutting out of the oceans and the deep, dark blue of the deep water, even with my mind being a million other places. It isn’t until about thirty minutes in that I realize I haven’t even asked where we are going.
“Somewhere you’ll recognize well,” he tells me when I inquire, a note of mischief to his voice. I narrow my eyes at him, but Cosimo just smiles. He’s been doing that a lot lately, and he tells me smiling isn’t something he’s used to after so many years of stoicism.
He’s right, though. As he turns the yacht around an outcropping of stone, I see our private cove, the one where we made love for the first time and I started to fall for him, stretching out in the distance, waiting for us. He’s so thoughtful that it makes tears prick at the corner of my eyes. It’s the perfect place to tell Cosimo that I’m carrying his baby.
To my surprise, he doesn’t beach the boat like before. Instead, he drops the anchor after turning the bow so we can see both the sunset and the cove. Once the anchor is down, Cosimo stands, and motions for me to do the same. We walk hand-in-hand to the front of the yacht, leaning on the railing as the setting sun lit the word on fire in blazes of orange, yellow, and pink. My heart is thundering in my chest, thinking about what I’m about to reveal, but Cosimo is the one to speak first.
“Clara, I have something for you.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a manila envelope, handing it to me. I look up at him in surprise, the envelope oddly heavy in my grasp. “Open it,” he coaxes, an uncharacteristic nervous tilt to his mouth.
Slowly, like opening a candy I want to savor, I peel the top of the envelope back and pull out the paper inside. I read it, shock coursing through me, and read it a second time before gasping and slapping my hand over my mouth .
It’s my acceptance letter to Federico II University of Naples, my first choice school in the city, and a note stating that my tuition has been paid in full by the man next to me.
“Cosimo, this is too much,” I tell him, tears in my voice and heart soaring.
His smile is as wide and bright as I’ve ever seen it. “It’s just the beginning, my love. I know you will be brilliant.”
I stand on my tiptoes, grabbing his shirt in my fists and crushing his mouth to mine. This gigantic, gorgeous, wonderful man. This gift is filling me with so much joy that I don’t even know what to do with it all besides kissing him over and over and over. Cosimo humors me for a moment before grabbing me by the shoulders and holding me back.
“There’s more, Clara. At the bottom.”
He’s right. The heavy envelope has something at the bottom of it, and when I reach inside, my fingers brush a thin velvet square. I pull it out, curious, but as soon as I have it in the light I know exactly what it is. Swallowing hard, I drop the empty envelope, and even my acceptance letter on the yacht floor, and carefully open the velvet box.
Inside is a delicate gold ring, with an enormous, crystal-clear diamond glittering in the center. My eyes shoot to Cosimo’s, back to the ring, and then to Cosimo again. Now I'm going to cry in earnest.
He takes my hand and kneels, kissing my knuckles reverently as he does so. “Clara, will you marry me and complete my life?”
