Page 373 of Marcello

We laughed and ate, and I heard dozens of stories about Marcello growing up.

When it was time to leave, Marcello and I hugged and kissed everyone. We were both a little tipsy from all the wine, so we took a taxi back to the hotel in Il Salviatino.

As we were about to enter our room, I said, “Wait!”

Marcello looked at me in surprise. “What?”

“I’ve seen it in movies my entire life, and now I want it.”

“Want what?”

I grinned. “For you to carry me over the threshold.”

He laughed, then swept me up in his arms and carried me into the room. “How was that?”

“Even better than the movies,” I said, and kissed him.

He set me down, and we hurriedly pulled each other’s clothes off, kissing frantically –

And made love for the first time as husband and wife.

It was bliss.

Afterwards, as I lay in his arms, he whispered, “You know, this all happened so quickly, we didn’t really come up with plans for the honeymoon. Where do you want to go?”

“Where can we go?”

“Well, I’d like to avoid Naples,” he said wryly.

“Yes, LET’S,” I agreed.

“We could go to France… or Spain… Switzerland… Portugal… or if you want to go to a different continent, maybe South America or Australia. If you want to go to Asia, I hear Thailand’s beautiful.”

“Yes,” I said decisively.

“Which one – Thailand?”

“No. ALL of them.”

He laughed. “That’s going to be one hell of a honeymoon.”

“I want our entire life to be a honeymoon.” I propped myself up on his chest so I could look into his eyes. “I spent my entire life shut up in a prison. I only saw the world through movies, so now I want to see everything… as long as I get to see it with you.”

“Then let’s go on a honeymoon that never ends,” he said with a smile…

And we rolled over in bed and made love again.

PART IX

One Month Later

146

Niccolo

Nocelle, Italy

Iwheezed as I followed our new recruits running up the steep steps of the trail.