NICO HELD HIS breath as they drove up the gravel road leading to the house in Tumon Bay. He hadn’t been back here since that day five years ago when he’d gone to the airport for Anna. From the first moment he’d seen the house, he had pictured himself and Anna here. He had cobbled together every penny he could and taken odd jobs around the island to buy the house, knowing that if they bought it together, Anna would have spent most of her savings on it. He’d wanted to give her something, to show her that he could take care of her.
It was his home, but after she’d left, Nico hadn’t even been able to come here to pack his bags. Bruno and Tito had done that for him.
The gravel road was littered with debris and he had to go off-road to get close to the house. He rounded the corner and the house came into view. That was as far as the car would go with the litter strewn across the road. They sat in silence, staring at what used to be their home. The sun shone down on it just as it had the first day he’d brought her here.
Anna threw her head back and started to laugh. Wisps of gold-brown hair escaped the clips holding her hair back, and her blue-gray eyes sparkled as a smile lit up her face. This was his Anna. The one without the heartbreak in her eyes, the one with the laugh that sounded like wind chimes, the one who saw humor in the world. Her laughter was infectious and he found himself joining in, a deep belly laugh that warmed his body and lightened his heart. He hadn’t laughed like this since before Lucas was diagnosed.
“This is so not funny,” she said.
“I know.”
Still laughing, they exited the car and walked the last several feet to the house, picking their way over fallen branches and other odds and ends.
“Is that our kitchen table?” Anna pointed to a piece of furniture lying on its side.
“Yep, and there’s the rocker I built.”
The front door hung on one hinge, ready to fall off. Part of the roof had caved in on the left side. That was the side he and Anna had painstakingly repaired, then watched with bated breath when the first storm hit to see if it would hold. The house looked almost exactly as bad as it had the first time he had shown it to Anna.
They stood and took it all in, enjoying the soft lapping sound of the ocean on the far side. A stand of trees blocked the view from there, but it was visible from inside the house. He’d been drawn to that view from the beginning, like it was a hidden treasure only they could enjoy. “Do we dare go inside?”
She was gazing up at the second story, where the master bedroom stretched the width of the house. She’d stood there like that the first time he’d brought her there too. This time, there was no anger in her face, no hint of Anna’s signature “I’m going to kill you, Nico” look. Just a reminiscent smile that lit up her face. Grinning, he stepped closer to her and picked her up, enjoying her squeal as he carried her like a baby up the front step, exactly the way he had on their first visit.
He toed the front door to nudge it open and stepped carefully inside. His boots hit an inch of water. Their rugs, lamps and assorted trash were floating on the first floor.
“Now, see, this makes it worth getting a ride. I hate wet socks,” Anna said.
Laughing, he continued carrying her upstairs, stepping gingerly to make sure the floor wasn’t going to give way under him. The stairs were solid. They’d stood for decades, even when the rest of the house crumbled. The door to the master bedroom was wide-open and Nico didn’t hesitate. He crossed the threshold and set Anna down.
She gasped and he froze. He wasn’t as religious as the rest of his family but in this moment, he had to believe this was a sign from God. It had to be. The bedroom was intact. The drapes that his mother and her friends had sewn hung neatly from the four-poster bed he’d built himself. Even the bedspread that Anna had picked out was still on the bed. There were layers of dust on everything and a few pieces of trash had blown in, but even the window was unbroken.
Appearing as bewildered as he felt, Anna ran her hands over the bed. She went to the nightstand and opened it. “I was reading this book before Lucas was diagnosed.”
“I haven’t been back since the day you left. Everything is exactly the same, waiting for you to return.”
Closing the drawer, she went to the dresser and picked up the picture frame that sat there. It was from their wedding day. Neither he nor Anna was looking at the camera; they were both turned away, eyes only for each other. It was his favorite photo. Somehow Bruno had caught them in a moment that was just about them.
He knew where she’d go next. The small box in the dresser drawer. It was the first thing he’d checked when he came home and found her gone. She opened the drawer and found the antique silver box. She opened it and picked up the pearl ring inside.
Anna turned to him, her eyes wide, lips slightly parted. This wasn’t the time to think, to analyze or to question. He’d spent five years doing that and had never come up with any answers. Pulling her into his arms, he brought his mouth down on hers. She melted into him, the way she always did. Her lips were salty from the tears she had cried earlier and he cupped her face.
Not for one second had he stopped loving her, and he wanted her to know how much he still needed her. That she was a permanent part of his soul. When he’d kissed her in the church, it had been a kiss of closure. He had conveyed the apology he’d never been able to give. This time there was no apology, just a plea. He kissed her cheeks, her nose and her forehead. “I will do anything, Anna, anything to take away your pain. To bring Lucas back to you. To bring you back to me.”
“I’m sorry, Nico. I pushed you away, I never gave you the chance to…” Fresh tears filled her eyes and he held her, desperate for the warmth of her breath against his chest, the smell of her hair. His living, breathing Anna. Lately, he’d come to think of her as a sweet dream that had visited him in the dead of night but was gone by morning. “I need you, Anna. I can’t be whole without you.”
She took a sharp breath and pushed against him, but he held on to her. He wasn’t going to let her go without saying everything he needed to say. That was a mistake he wasn’t going to repeat. “You are my soul mate, the one woman who was made for me, who will live in my heart forever. Please, Anna, come back to me.”
She pushed a little harder. “Nico, I’ll never love anyone the way I love you. But we can’t do this to Maria.”
“No, we can’t.” He took a breath. “She came to me last night and asked how I felt about you. I told her the honest truth. That if I commit to her, I will love her all my life, no matter what. But she will never have my whole heart, because I’ve already given it to you.”
Anna gasped. “How could you?”
“How could I what? Tell her the truth?”
“Break her heart.”
“Because I can’t break yours again.”
She stepped back. “No. No, Nico, I never said I would stay, and I won’t. I didn’t ask us to get back together, I—”
He didn’t let her finish. This time when he kissed her, it was with a passion he hoped would remind her of the love they shared, of the bond that could never break between them.
“You can tell yourself what you want, Anna, but you and I both know that what we have is the love of a lifetime. We can’t throw it away.”
He kissed the bridge of her nose, and then his lips found hers again and the love he’d kept locked away burst out of him. Anna wove her fingers into his hair and before his brain had time to talk him out of it, he and Anna were on the bed.
She didn’t resist and, for once, he knew exactly what they were going to do.
Crack!
He froze and Anna stared at him wild-eyed. Before he could clear the euphoric haze from his mind, the bed gave way and he and Anna came crashing down onto the floor.
They looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“I guess this is a sign. Someone above is saving us from ourselves.” Nico laughed.