Page 120 of Begin Again

“Dee, I—” I don’t get to finish because Nina kisses me.

“Nick, I love you,” she says when we part, our foreheads pressed together. “I love you, Nicholas Davis, and nothing will ever change that.”

“Momma?” A small voice calls out and we both turn to see Elena. She rubs her tired eyes with her right fist, clutching ablanket in her left. Nina doesn’t waste a second, scooping our daughter into her arms and bringing her to sit on the bench with us.

“What’s wrong, Lena?” my wife asks, pushing the hair from the little girl’s forehead to kiss her.

“I had a bad dream.”

“Wanna tell me about it?” Nina asks, stroking her hair. Elena shakes her head, burying her face into Nina’s neck. “Alright, let’s get you back to bed. Tell Daddy g’night.”

My daughter reaches over and wraps her arms securely around my neck.

“Good night, Little Bird,” I say, kissing her forehead. Nina offers me a small smile before gathering Elena back in her arms and carrying her down the hall to bed. I stare after them for a few heartbeats before packing up my work, ready to call it a night. I was already having a hard enough time focusing, and there’s no way I’ll be able to get anything done now.

Walking into our closet, the sight of my reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror catches me off guard. The man in the mirror looks vastly different than the one I met two years ago when I finally forced myself to face the stranger who stared back at me. This man doesn’t wear the same weight on his shoulders, nor the dark circles under his eyes. Despite the worries in the depths of his mind, he looks happy and content. That’s because he is…

The day my wife showed up at Blackwood Ranch, I got a second chance. When I was forced to confront my demons at the trial last month, it drudged up so much of what I had worked to bury. And instead of soaking up every moment of this new opportunity I’ve been given, I know I’ve been wasting it. I spent my time worrying about losing it all over again, afraid that I’m not enough, and I’ve been letting it slip by me.

“Fossette.”Her voice breaks through my thoughts. I meet the reflection of her gaze over my shoulder.“Stai bene?”

“Yeah, I’m okay, Dee.” My feet carry me to her and I close the gap between us.

She moans softly when I pull her mouth to mine, tugging her bottom lip between my teeth. After a round of quick kisses, I stare into her eyes.

“Ti amo,Davina Villa. So fucking much. I’m so sorry I’ve been too wrapped up in my own head to love you properly for the last two years. I guess…No, I know, confronting what happened at the trial put me back in a bad headspace. It made it hard to see what was right in front of me, but I’ll do better, be better…I’m going to fix this…Right here, right now. Because if there’s one thing I know…it’s that I love you.”

Nina smiles, sticking out her pinky finger. “Promise?”

“Prometto.”