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Knowing what she now knew, she stared at him tonight as he had looked at her the night before, as he was looking at her now: with amazement. Finding your soulmate was, indeed, a wonderous feeling.
“I thought we could have a picnic,” he said, lifting a basket into the air between them. She could see the top of a bottle of wine, and some delicious smells wafted her way.
“A picnic?” she repeated, smiling, because it was the last thing she’d expected, and also exactly what she wanted. At a picnic, they could speak privately. There was no need to tolerate the interruptions that must surely come from an evening at a restaurant. “That’s perfect. Let me get my shoes.”
The beach was just across the street, though it was hidden from view by the sand dunes and long grass, but a path had recently been beaten just a little way down from Maddie’s door. The moonlight showed the way, but for good measure, Rocco produced his cellphone with the torchlight on and shone it at their feet. His hands were occupied, which was a shame, as Maddie just wanted to touch him, now that she understood her heart so very well.
As they stepped out of the dunes and onto the beach, her breath caught in her throat, because she realized his idea of ‘a picnic’ differed greatly to hers. She couldn’t help but laugh.
A little way down the beach, on the crisp white sand, a huge blanket had been spread out, with dozens of cushions, and about a hundred candles had been lit around the blanket, making it flicker with warmth.
It was so incredibly romantic. She glanced up at him in surprise. “This must have taken hours.”
“Well, in the spirit of honesty, it wasn’t all me. I mean, the idea was mine, but…”
“You have staff,” she said, smiling.
“But the idea was mine,” he reiterated, and she laughed.
“You get top marks,” she promised. “And you did carry the food.”
“That I did,” he kissed the top of her brow then pulled away, frowning. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”
The mood instantly grew tense. He didn’t know how to be with her. He wasn’t sure what she wanted. She had to remedy that, and quickly.
He moved towards the blanket, and she followed, nervous herself, suddenly. Even knowing how she felt, telling him how she felt was a whole other matter. He placed the basket down and then looked at her.
“We need to talk,” she blurted out, then grimaced, because wasn’t that the way you were supposed to start the bad conversations? The break-up ones?
“I feel like I’m waiting for the axe to drop,” he said, gesturing to the cushions. “Should we at least eat first?”
“I don’t think I can. Not until I’ve said this.” She pressed a hand to her stomach, trying to quell the butterflies.
“Okay.” He was quiet, the moon and flickering candles illuminating his handsome, symmetrical face. “Go ahead.” His Adam’s apple shifted. “Or don’t. If you want to just have dinner and think about another date, tomorrow night…”
He was really freaking out, she thought with a growing sense of amazement. He really did love her. He was terrified of losing her.
“Rocco,” she pressed a hand to his chest then, hoping to steady his nerves, too. She sought for words, for explanations, for how to make him grasp the clarity he’d brought to her with his explanation the night before, and in the end, she said the words that best expressed what was in her heart. “I love you, too.”
His lips parted and his eyes probed hers. His body was still, except for his chest, which rose and fell with the force of his rapid breathing.
He didn’t say anything though, and she rushed to fill the silence. “I started to realise a while ago. It’s why the proposition you made hurt—because it wasn’t enough. I wanted to be with you more, too, but I wanted to really be with you. Not just meaningless sex.”
“We were never about that.”
“No, in the end, it turns out, we weren’t. But I thought?—,”
“I was an idiot.”
“You got to pour your heart out last night,” she said with a shake of her head. “And you’re done apologizing, okay? You’ve said it, it’s over. I love you. The past is a part of what made us this, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it, okay? We have fought for this, fought for each other, fought for our future.” She wrapped her arms around him, as she’d been wanting to for so long, and stared up at his beautiful face. “Ti amo.”
His eyes flared to hear the words in his native tongue. He repeated them back to her, but they were swallowed by their kiss. And it was a kiss born of passion and relief, of love and respect; it was a kiss that spoke of a promise to love and hold one another for all time. Because famiglia è tutto, and now, they were family.
There was something very particular about the way the full moon landed on the houses, the way it lit them with silver, which spoke of magic and fate, and made Rocco throw caution to the wind and tell Maddie something he’d been planning to hold off on.
“By the way, we had a company meeting today,” he said, polishing off his second piece of apple pie then placing the bowl down at his side. Maddie, who lay with her head in his lap, glanced up, her eyes so beautifully soft that he had a momentary clutch of disbelief. That this was really happening; that she was his. He’d loved without hope, in the end, and yet he should have had faith, because Maddie was, in every way, his other half.
“I imagine you have meetings quite often,” she said, slightly teasing.
