His tongue slid out to wet his lips and Mari’s pulse thudded.
“I want to kiss you right now,” he murmured huskily, “but I need to tell you the rest first.”
“Then hurry.”
She breathed the response and again she felt the tug between them, the one she hadn’t imagined all those weeks ago.
“I spoke to my father. About Fiori, about my discontent, about you. And we talked about my mother.”
“You did?”
“A child’s wounds take a long time to heal, don’t you think? He forgave her long ago. But I never did. I always carried this bitterness with me. It made me jaded. But I need to move past it. If you can move past Robert, surely I can find a way to forgive my mother.”
Tears burned on her lashes. “You’re not the only one, Luca. I’ve been thinking about my own mother a lot lately. How can I judge her for making decisions out of fear, when I did the same thing for years?” Their hands were joined and she ran her thumbs along the base of his. “I’m going to try to find her again. I’m pretty sure the police officer that sent the letter will help me.”
They sat quietly for a moment, letting it all digest. All the changes in both of them, each brought on by the love from the other. Finally Luca spoke.
“When all was said and done, by the end of the conversation I’d resigned my position and had taken a new one. As vice president and in charge of Fiori’s North American resorts. I’ll be managing everything on this side of the Atlantic, from one main office.”
“How wonderful for you, Luca. What a fabulous job!” She smiled yet wasn’t sure how to react or exactly what it meant. North America was a big continent.
He sighed, pulling away and running a hand through his hair. “Dio, you’re tough.” He regarded her with sharp eyes before finally coming out with it. “Would you be happy anywhere else, Mari? Could you leave this place behind?”
Could she do it for Luca? She looked around her little cottage, the home she’d built from nothing. Could she leave it behind her? If it meant being with him, she knew she could.
“Yes.”
“But you wouldn’t want to. You do love it here.”
“Of course I do, but…I’m not sure what you’re asking of me. Or what exactly has happened.”
“My priorities changed, that’s what happened. Don’t you see, Mariella? It all fits now. The Cascade, that we built together. The new job and you. I love you. You give me roots. I don’t want to be anywhere else. Just with you. You come first, and everything else after that.”
She had no words. Never in a million years had she expected such a thing. At her prolonged silence, he spoke again.
“I love you, Mariella. I love you so much it scares the hell out of me.”
“No one has ever put me first before.”
“Then it’s about time, don’t you think?” His smile was tender-soft. “You are my center. Nothing else makes sense.”
He gripped the arms of her chair. “Living without you frightens me more than risking my heart. The job is mine. Where I live as I’m doing it depends on your answer.”
Tears glimmered on her lashes at his heartfelt words. “I could answer, if you asked me a question.”
He let go of the chair and stood briefly, reaching into his pocket and then kneeling before her.
“Marry me. Marry me in the ballroom we recreated together, beneath the antique chandelier we found in the attic. Share your life with me. Let us make a home together here. Please say yes.”
He held out the ring. There was no doubt in her mind that it was an antique. She stared at the brilliant emerald in the platinum setting, the glitter of inset diamonds on either side.
“It was my grandmother’s ring. She said that the emerald was a symbol of love and hope.”
She was staggered to see the sheen of moisture in his eyes.
“Don’t you see, Mari? That’s what you are to me. Love, and hope. Two things I never thought I’d ever have, certainly not together.”
“Oh, Luca,” she whispered. “I love you so much. And I never believed in happy endings. It certainly never happened for my mother. Perhaps that’s why I accepted you leaving as I did. I didn’t believe in it. But I have a chance now, to believe, to have faith. And I’d be a fool to let it go.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes. Yes, yes!”
He gripped her fingers, pulled her to her feet and into his arms.
He stamped a single possessive kiss on her lips before drawing back and sliding the ring over her knuckle.
“Mariella. It is only right that she who carries her name wears her ring. Oh, Mari, what a future we have ahead of us.”