Luca tucked a loose strand of her hair back behind her ear, feeling like someone had spilled warm honey into his chest cavity. ‘I’m so proud of you right now. The first steps are always the hardest in any difficult journey.’
Artie toyed with the open collar of his shirt, her eyes not quite meeting his. ‘I found it helped to shift my focus off myself and put it on you instead. I knew you wanted me with you and I wanted to be with you too. So, so much. That had to be a bigger driver than my fear of leaving the castello. And thankfully, it was.’
Luca framed her face in his hands, meshing his gaze with hers. ‘Once Nonno is out of danger, I am going to introduce you to everything you’ve only dreamed of until now.’
She wound her arms around his neck and stepped up on tiptoe to plant a soft kiss to his mouth. ‘I can hardly wait.’
* * *
A short time later, Luca’s grandfather was wheeled back into the room. Artie held on to Luca’s hand, feeling nervous at meeting the old man for the first time. She had met so few people over the last decade and had lost the art of making small talk. But she drew strength from having Luca by her side and basked in his pride in her for making it to the hospital. Something had shifted in their relationship, a subtle shift that gave her more confidence around him. He might not love her but he wanted her with him and that was more than enough for now.
It had to be enough.
Her love for him might seem sudden, but wasn’t that how it happened for some people? An instant attraction, a chemistry that couldn’t be denied, an unstoppable force. Luca didn’t believe himself capable of loving someone, but then, she hadn’t believed herself capable of being able to leave the castello. But she had left. She had found the courage within to do so. Would it not be the same for him? He would need to find the courage to love without fear.
Nonno groaned and cranked one eye open. ‘Luca?’
Luca moved forward, taking Artie with him. He took his grandfather’s hand in his. ‘I’m here, Nonno. And so is Artie.’
The old man turned his head on the pillow and his sleepy gaze brightened. ‘Ah, my dear girl. I’m so glad to meet you in person. I hope you’ll be as happy with Luca as I was with my Marietta.’
Artie stepped closer. ‘Buongiorno, Signor Ferrantelli. It is so lovely to meet you face to face.’
The old man grasped her hand. ‘Call me Nonno. You’re family now, sì?’
Family. If only Nonno knew how short a time she would be a part of the Ferrantelli family. Artie smiled and squeezed his hand back in a gesture of warm affection. ‘Yes, Nonno. I’m family now.’
* * *
An hour or so later, Luca drove Artie to his sprawling estate in Tuscany a few kilometres from the town of San Gimignano, where fourteen of the once seventy-two medieval towers created an ancient skyline. The countryside outside the medieval town was filled with sloping hills and lush valleys interspersed with slopes of grapevines and olive groves and fields of bright red poppies. Tall pines stood like sentries overlooking the verdant fields and the lowering sun cast a golden glow over the landscape, the angle of light catching the edges of the cumulous clouds and sending shafts and bolts of gold down to the earth in a spectacular fashion.
Artie drank in the view, feeling overawed by the beauty to the point of tears. She brushed at her eyes and swallowed a lump in her throat. ‘It’s so beautiful…the colours, the light—everything. I can’t believe I’m seeing it in real time instead of through a screen or the pages of a book or magazine.’ She turned to him. ‘Do you mind if we stop for a minute? I want to stand by the roadside and smell the air and listen to the sounds of nature.’
‘Sure.’ Luca stopped the car and came around to open her door. He took her hand and helped her out of the car, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, creating attractive crinkles near his eyes. ‘It’s an amazing part of the country, isn’t it?’
‘It sure is.’ Artie stood beside him on the roadside and lifted her face to feel the dance of the evening breeze. She breathed in the scent of wild grasses and sun-warmed pine trees. Listened to the twittering of birds, watched an osprey ride the warm currents of air as it searched for prey below. A swell of emotion filled Artie’s chest that Luca had helped her leave the prison of her past. ‘I never thought I’d be able to do things like this again.’
Luca put an arm around her waist and gathered her closer against his side. ‘I’m proud of you. It can’t have been easy, but look at you now.’
She glanced up at him and smiled. ‘I don’t know how to thank you.’
‘I can think of a way.’ His eyes darkened and his mouth came down to press a lingering kiss to hers. After a few breathless moments, he lifted his mouth from hers and smiled. ‘We’d better get going before it gets dark.’
Once they were back in the car and on their way again, he placed her hand on the top of his thigh and her fingers tingled at the hard warmth of his toned muscles beneath her palm. ‘Thank you for being so sweet to Nonno,’ he went on. ‘He already loves you. You remind him of my grandmother.’
Artie basked in the glow of his compliment. ‘What was she like? Were you close to her?’
His expression
