A YEAR later Elisa led Salvatore across the threshold of a small cottage in the hills of Tuscany.
“So this is where you hid from me so well I could not find you.”
She smiled and nodded. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
It was a simple one-room abode with a bathroom, but the surrounding country was gorgeous.
“Sì, but not as beautiful as my two best girls.” He looked down with adoration at the tiny baby in his arms. “She is so precious, dolcezza. Perfect.”
“You’re prejudiced.”
His head came up and chocolate-dark eyes mocked her. “And you are not?”
She laughed rather than answer. He knew how besotted she was, with both her husband and her four-month-old baby daughter.
“So, who does this place belong to?”
“Me. Papa’s mother gave it to me the year before she died. She said it was my place in this world, where I belonged without any stipulations or limitations.”
He came to her then and put his arm around her, making a perfect circle of their small family. “Now I am that place for you, no?”
“Oh, yes. Now you are that place.”
And would always be. Love had given her a place in his heart and his life that no one could ever take away.
She belonged.