He laughs, and so do I. Nino glances between us innocently. “What?”
“I love you.” Alessio ruffles his hair. “I’ve missed you.”
“I love you too, daddy. I missed you so much.”
They hug for another long minute, and then Alessio releases him. “Don’t forget to say hello to your mother. She’s missed you too.”
Nino comes to me, and I squeeze him in my arms until he protests. “I just saw you before bed, Mommy.”
I know. I let him go and sign to him. But I missed you.
“I missed you too.”
He says it as he wanders back to Alessio, clinging to his arm. Alessio gazes down at him with so much warmth in his eyes, it devastates me that they were apart for so long, but I can’t let it darken this day.
“Will you both come downstairs?” Alessio asks. “There’s something I’d like to show you.”
I didn’t know what to expect when we came down here, but it certainly wasn’t this. Nino lets out a squeal of excitement when we walk into the parlor and see that it’s still decorated for Christmas, exactly the way we left it.
Alessio wraps his arms around me from behind, murmuring into my ear. “The first of many Christmases together.”
I relax into him with a sigh, smiling when Nino darts toward the tree and starts checking the labels on the gifts.
“Can I open them?” He turns back, waiting for us to answer.
We both nod, watching as he sits on the floor and tears them open one by one. He thanks us for all of them, but I can see that Alessio has won the best gift award when Nino unwraps the remote-control boat.
“So cool!” He skims it over the tree skirt, making boat noises with his mouth while we laugh.
“There’s one for you too,” Alessio whispers in my ear. “I already opened yours.”
I look up at him in question, and he growls against me. “There’s nobody else I’d rather have tend to me, my creepy little stalker.”
My chest shakes with laughter, and I shrug. It’s true, and I can’t deny it.
He releases me and walks over to the tree, retrieving a small box from beneath it before he gestures me over to the couch. I sit down with him, and he hands it over. I’m not sure what it could be, but when I open it, there’s a note with words I recognize. They’re the same words I wrote on his gift, except with a different ending.
Because I’d rather be a source of comfort than pain. Keep this for the times you need tending, and I’ll be there to care for you. No matter the hour. No matter how large or small. This is my promise to you.
I open up the box beneath it, revealing a pavé diamond bracelet. It’s stunning, and I’m certain it probably cost a fortune, because I’ve never seen anything like it. On the side, in place of one of the settings, there’s a tiny button. I press it out of curiosity, and Alessio’s phone rings from his pocket. He pulls it out to show me there’s an alert on his screen that I’ve signaled for him. It shows my location and the time, and it keeps buzzing and ringing until he dismisses it.
I understand immediately this is for him just as much as it’s for me. He wants to keep me safe, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a more thoughtful gift. I hand it to him and then hold out my arm so he can secure it for me.
“Do you like it?” His fingers skim over the sensitive skin on my wrist.
I gesture for his phone and pull up the notes app.
I love it. I’ll feel better knowing you’re just a button push away.
“I wasn’t there before when you needed me,” he says. “But I will be now. I want you to use it. I don’t care what it is. If you’re sad, or you want to talk, or if you need me to hold you. Whatever it is, Natalia. I mean that.”
Even if I just want your dick? I smile, amusing myself as I show him the question.
His eyes flare at the idea. “Especially when you want that. You already told me once it belongs to you.”
Epilogue
Natalia
“You called for me?” Alessio’s voice echoes through the chapel as the heavy wooden door shuts behind him.
I turn away from the altar, curving my lips as I sign to him.
I have a need.
His eyes heat as he watches me drag the hem of my dress up my thigh.
“In a church, Natalia?” He scolds me, signing the words as he speaks them. “Have you no shame?”
I shrug one shoulder, blinking at him innocently. Is it a sin for a married woman to want her husband?
“If it is, then let us be sinners.” He teases the words against my lips when he reaches me, dragging his hands up over my hips, bunching the fabric of my dress. “Tell me about this need you have.”