It wasn’t an apology, but it was an acknowledgment that Val’s actions had had repercussions he hadn’t intended. They’d both suffered, but neither had deliberately caused what the other had endured.
“Tio is Locke’s papi.” Aurelia disregarded the big words she didn’t understand.
“You’re full of important information, aren’t you?”
She nodded, probably not fully getting that, either.
“But do you know that you...?” Val tickled his fingers into her chest, making her squirm and giggle and catch at his hand. “You are the reason Tio and I will eat our lunch with our spoons?”
Not knives. No more swords.
A strange whoosh rushed through Javiero. He had told himself he didn’t care whether he won Val over, that trying would be enough. If anything, he had expected a sense of triumph if he did. There was no satisfaction, though, only relief. As though he had put down something inordinately heavy. As though the rocks in his pockets fell away and he was able to kick to the surface and breathe.
“It’s not soup,” Aurelia was telling Val, holding his face in her hands, earnest and completely oblivious to what was going on between the men. “It’s capelli d’angelo.”
“Your favorite.”
“And yours.”
“And mine,” he agreed, then sent Javiero a look of mild disgust before jerking his head toward the house. “Mi casa and all that. Let’s eat some angel hair.”
They walked up to the house with Aurelia between them, holding their fingers while she leaped and swung, feet barely touching the ground.
“Do you know what a flower girl is, Aurelia?” Javiero asked her. “It means Auntie Scarlett and I want to buy you a very pretty dress and that you get to hold some flowers for us at our wedding.”
Her little feet hit the ground and she stopped moving. Pale blue eyes blinked up at him as she said importantly, “I have a dress for when Papà and Mama had a wedding. I am a flower girl.”
God help him, he might fall in love with her. “I came to the right place then.”
They were close enough to the terrace that Kiara came to the rail and looked down at them. She held Locke, and Scarlett appeared beside her.
“Did I hear that we’re going to a wedding?”
“Sì. And you have a decision to make, bella. Are we going overnight or are we bringing your paints and staying the week? He’s paying either way.” Val motioned toward Javiero.
Kiara shook her head in affectionate exasperation. “You’re incorrigible. He’s teasing.”
“I’m not,” Val assured him.
Javiero shrugged it off, not even looking at his brother. He was too entranced by the glow of sheer happiness in Scarlett’s face. He didn’t care what the wedding cost him. No price was too high if it meant he would be with her every day for the rest of his life.
They landed late in Gibraltar and everyone went straight to bed.
Scarlett didn’t properly absorb what was happening until she woke at dawn, fed Locke and put him back to bed, then stood watching the sunrise off their private balcony. Through the haze across the water, she thought she glimpsed Morocco.
“What are you thinking?” Javiero asked in a rough morning voice. His arms came around her from behind.
“That one day, when Locke is old enough, we should take him on safari.”
He shifted, releasing her so he could turn his back on the view. He leaned his hip on the rail and regarded her with his one eye. He wasn’t wearing a stitch, not even his eye patch, but his mutilated eye socket and scars were something she saw only in the way she noted that he hadn’t shaved or had forgotten his watch. All these battle marks were simply him. The man she loved.
“I’m thinking...” She stroked a caressing hand down the center of his naked chest and grew emotional. Her eyes welled. “That I can see a future for us. It’s beautiful. It’s vast and solid and the memories it might contain are like Christmas gifts. They’re exciting surprises that already make me happy, before I even know what they are. I’m thinking I love you beyond measure and I am awed by how much you love me.” Her hand was shaking now. “I’m sorry I made you prove yourself. I should have taken you at your word.”
He caught her hand and kissed her knuckles.
“My past was still damaging my life. All you did was point that out to me.” He drew her into his front. “I’m grateful, Scarlett. I feel...lighter. When Locke was born, I swore to him that I would be a better father to him than I had. I’m following through on that. It feels good.”
She couldn’t help the tears wetting her lashes. At least they were happy ones. Ecstatic ones. “Can I ask you something?”
“Put on some clothes?” he guessed.
“That seems like a waste of time when we only have a short while before our busy day. No, I was wondering if you, Javiero Rodriguez, would consent to marry me?”
His mouth twitched and the harsh lines in his face softened. His brutish, marred features were handsome and brimming with love, and she grew light-headed.
“Yes, Scarlett Walker,” he said in a voice that sounded deeply moved. “I love you with all my heart. I would be honored to join with you in matrimony. Later.” His smoldering smile widened. “Right now, go back to the part about the time we don’t want to waste...”
EPILOGUE
Two years later...
“WHAT’S WRONG?” ASKED JAVIERO.
Scarlett paused in removing her earring, dragging her gaze from the view of the Eiffel Tower. “Hmm? Nothing.”
“You’ve been quiet all evening. Was it something your mum said?”
“No, things are okay there.” Not fantastic, but not terrible. Ellie had gone to America and Scarlett’s father was ordered by the court to attend addiction classes as part of his release agreement. Her mother went to meetings for families of alcoholics at the same time. At least it gave her a network of people who understood her situation
