Damage (Collateral Damage 2)

I look at her now, too, in the glow of the moon. The night is clear but cooler than the last time we sailed out here. Out to Skull Rock.

She’s quiet but she smiles more even if her smiles are sad.

I think that’s always going to be a part of her. That sadness. It’s woven into the fabric of her. It makes her who she is.

But it’s changing little by little. Those smiles, they appear more and more.

I bring the boat up to the beach and climb out. She stands as I secure it before helping her out. We’re both barefoot and the sand feels good.

“How cold will it be here in winter?” she asks.

“Mild. Nowhere near as cold as New York.”

We sit on the sand and I follow her gaze to the sky. I remember our last conversation when we were here. It was the day of Alex’s memorial service and she’d told me she believed we became those stars when we died.

“Are you looking for your mom?” I ask her.

She nods. “Dad too.”

I squeeze her hand. “He did the right thing in the end.”

She glances at me, exhales. “A single heroic act does not a hero make, Stefan. But it must mean something.”

“It does.”

She turns away, and I can see she’s struggling to believe that. “What happens with you and Rafa now?” she asks when she shifts her gaze back to mine.

After his release from the hospital, Rafa left. It was a mutual decision. Things can’t go back to what they were. I think he and I both know that. But I also wasn’t ready to do what I, as head of the family, should do.

“I don’t know.”

“He saved your life.”

“I know. But the family has suffered again due to betrayal. I can’t let that go.”

“He’s been punished enough, don’t you think? He lost everything.”

“He lost everything he would have stolen from me.”

“You don’t care about that more than you care about him.”

She’s right. And he did lose it all. Even Clara. Although I’m not sure that was such a big loss.

“What happens if I let this go? History repeats, Gabriela, unless we break the cycles.”

“Then punish him if you have to but bring him back. You miss him. I see it, Stefan. I feel it.”

“You’re gentle. After everything.” I study her face in the moonlight. “I love you. Do you know that?” I ask. “I watch you at night, when you sleep.”

“Creeper.” She makes a face that makes me smile at least momentarily.

“I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“I don’t want us to ever find that out. I love you, Stefan. I remember the first time you said that. I told you I hated you and you said I didn’t. You said that I loved you. That was when I knew.”

I sit up, reach into my pocket. “I have something for you.” I take it out, keep it in the palm of my hand.

She sits up too. Waits.

“I want to make this right. Do it again, do it right.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Give me your hand,” I tell her, taking her left hand. I take both the engagement ring and the wedding band off and pocket them.

“What are you doing?”

“You didn’t like those, did you?”

“No, I didn’t. A little over the top.”

“Hideous. Like how this started.”

I open my hand and she looks at it, at the ring in the center of my palm.

“What is it?”

“What does it look like?”

She meets my eyes. “Don’t be an ass.”

I smile, take the ring and bring it to her finger. “This is my mother’s wedding ring. My father gave it to her. It’s an old Sabbioni family ring, more than a hundred years old.”

“It’s beautiful,” she says, looking down at it.

“Will you marry me, Gabriela?”

“We’re already married, Stefan.”

“Now who’s being an ass?”

She laughs.

“Well?”

“Ask me again?”

“Gabriela Marchese, will you marry me and be my wife and the mother of my children?”

“How many kids are we talking?”

“A dozen. To start.”

“You’re crazy, you know that?” she asks, her eyes bright, her smile wide.

I wait.

“Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you, again, this time of my own free will, and I will have your babies and fill that house up. Fill it up with noise and laughter and happiness.”

I slide the ring onto her finger and pull her to me. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

I draw back to kiss her and that kiss, it’s as though it seals something between us. And when I lay her down and strip off her clothes and make love to her, I never once let her go. I hold her and I fill her up and I know this is it. I know that for me, she is it.

This woman, this pawn that I took from my enemy is mine. And ironically, we saved each other.

Epilogue 2

Gabriela

Six Months Later

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