“I love you, Dea, and I’m behind you a thousand percent.”

  “Thank you for listening. I needed to say it out loud.” She appreciated her sister not trying to reason with her or talk her out of anything. “I love you too. Take care. Good night.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  IT WAS TEN to twelve Sunday night when Guido arrived back at his apartment. The fabulous game results were in. Team Scatto Roma: 2—Siena: 0

  A forward on the opposition side had developed a bad case of stomach flu and couldn’t play. Fate was with Guido’s team despite Dante’s fractured leg. One more win next Sunday and the national championship would be theirs.

  Guido quickly phoned Dea. He had so much to tell her, he couldn’t wait to hear her voice. But disappointment flooded him when his call went to her voice mail. He’d have to wait until tomorrow to talk to her.

  Exhausted from virtually no sleep in the last twenty-four hours, he passed out the minute his head hit the pillow. He woke up at eight and checked his phone. Dea still hadn’t responded. Guido left another message, but no results. After showering and getting dressed, he grabbed a quick bite and left for his office at the stadium to do a follow-up after the game.

  As the day wore on he called her several times. No phone calls from Dea proved something was wrong. After telling Sergio he was leaving, he drove straight to her work only to discover she’d already left for home. By now he was feeling close to frantic. He parked and entered her apartment foyer to ring her. If he couldn’t reach her, he would call her parents.

  Relief swamped him when he heard the buzz that let him inside. He took the stairs two at a time to the third floor. She’d left the door open for him, but instead of running into his arms, she stood in the living room dressed in her workout clothes. He moved inside and shut the door, struggling for the right words.

  “What’s going on, Dea?” he rasped. “Why in heaven’s name haven’t you returned my calls?”

  “First let me say welcome back and congratulations on another win.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, completely bewildered. “What’s happened to you since we kissed goodbye at the airport?”

  “If you’ll sit down, I’ll tell you.”

  “I’d rather stand.”

  “Guido, I haven’t intentionally tried to be cruel by not answering the phone.” Her sincerity smote him. “The truth is, I’ve needed this much time to gather my thoughts before we spoke again. I had to be sure that you’ll understand perfectly what I’m about to tell you.”

  He felt like he’d been slugged in the gut. “You’ve decided you don’t want to marry me after all.”

  Her unmistakable nod caused such excruciating pain he couldn’t breathe. While he stood there in shock, she walked over to the end table and put the ring down.

  “More than anything in the world, I want to marry you and be your wife. But I don’t want my husband to give up the career he loves for me.”

  Her first salvo found its target, crippling him.

  “I want the Guido I met, who was full of life and excitement, who’s still young and has an extraordinary gift that can’t be bought. That man has the ability to motivate thousands of younger men who need a hero to model themselves after. A man like that only comes along once in several lifetimes.

  “I fell in love with that man, not the man who’s going back to a job he’ll still be able to do years from now, a job that doesn’t fulfill him, a job that squeezes the life out of him.

  “Guido Rossano? You’re worried you’ll never live up to your father’s expectations if you don’t go back to the company. I’m worried you’ll never be happy again if you do, so we need our engagement to end.”

  Zing. Another salvo to finish him off. He broke out in a cold sweat.

  She moved to the doorway. “You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want. I’m off to the gym.”

  In the next instant she was gone, leaving her words ringing in his ears. I don’t want my husband to give up the career he loves for me.

  Little did Dea know he’d already come to his senses and she’d been preaching to the converted. But she hadn’t given him the chance to talk.

  Galvanized into action, he raced out the door to stop her. But when he reached her parking space, he discovered her car was still there. She had to have taken the staircase to escape him. Where in the hell was the gym? But even if he could find her, the gym wasn’t the place to continue their conversation.

  Guido went back to her apartment. After locking the door, he pocketed the ring. A quick examination of the kitchen revealed she had enough food for him to make them a meal. But she didn’t come home and he ended up putting the food away.

  He sat on the couch to watch the evening news and the sports. At five after eleven he heard her key in the lock and she opened the door. Her eyes collided with his across the expanse. She looked drawn and pale. Her hair had been tied at her nape with a band. “Guido! What are you doing here?”

  “What do you think? You disappeared on me before I had a chance to talk to you about anything.”

  She closed the door. “I can smell garlic and basil.”

  “I made us a meal. If you’re hungry, I’ll warm it up.”

  “I ate dinner earlier.”

  “By yourself?”

  “No. With Gina. We met at the gym first.”

  He’d been lounging back on the couch with his legs extended. “You told me I could stay as long as I wanted, so I took you at your word. If you’re too tired to hear what I have to say right now, I’ll still be here in the morning.”

  Her features wooden, she came closer and sank down on one of the chairs.

  “Go ahead.”

  Guido sat forward. “After I flew to Naples to surprise my family, I discovered they were away for the day with friends in Salerno. I was the one surprised and ended up visiting with my grandfather and his nurse. He mostly talked about the war years and his hard life when he was young.”

  Her head lifted. “You didn’t talk business?”

  “No. He told me he always wanted to go to sea and travel the world. But he revered his strict father too much and stuck with the shipping company like a dutiful son. He looked me in the eyes and said, ‘My life was successful. I had a loving wife and family, but my great regret was that I wasn’t happy in my career. Good for you for doing what makes you happy.’ With those words he said he was tired and told me to kiss him before he went to bed.”

  She rubbed her hands over her knees. “That must have been a very emotional experience for you.”

  “I heard a side of my grandfather I didn’t know existed. Yesterday in Siena I underwent another shock when my parents showed up to be with me at the game.”

  She looked startled. “They actually came?”

  “Yes. I knew it was my grandfather’s doing, but the fact that they made the effort was a revelation. My mother had always been on my side and would have come to all my games if she hadn’t felt it was disloyal to my father. It was an added bonus for them to see that my team won the game.”

  “I heard the score on the news,” she murmured.

  “When I saw them off at the airport and thanked them for coming, I told them I loved owning the team. So much in fact that I wasn’t planning to go back to the company for a few years. But to sweeten the bad news, I told them you and I were getting married and wanted him and Mamma to help us plan everything.”

  Dea’s eyes went suspiciously bright.

  “I thanked him for never giving up on me and finding me the love of my life.”

  “You did?” She sounded incredulous.

  “Do you know he wept? So did my mother, but I’ve never seen my father break down like that. Before he had a chance to say another word, I promised him that God willing, we’d give them grandchildren. I also invited them to fly to Ischia with us soon so they can see where we’re going to live. We’ll let them choose the room they’d like to have when they stay with us.”

  “Oh, Guido—” Suddenly Dea had launched herself into his arms and broke down sobbing. “Forgive me for the things I said to you, darling. You have to forgive me for doubting you.”

  He crushed her against him, burying his face in her hair. “I can understand why you said what you did. To be honest, when I was talking to you on the sailboat, I was thinking of my own father, not yours.”

  “I know that now.” She half sobbed the words.

  “I’ve always been afraid he didn’t think soccer was a worthy job for a son of his.”

  “I understand it all. I get it, but you have to know he doesn’t feel that way.”

  “You’re right.”

  She covered his face with kisses. “I never meant to hurt you. Where’s my ring?”

  “Right here.” He reached in his trouser pocket and put it on her finger.

  “I swear I’ll never take it off again.”

  Their mouths met hungrily. When he finally lifted his head, he said, “Do you think it’s too late to call your parents and tell them our news?”

  “Yes, but they’d never forgive me if I didn’t waken them anyway. And then I want to phone Alessandra and Rini. She loves you and has wanted this marriage since the day we went out on the cruiser together.”

  “You made that up.”

  “No. What you don’t know is that she and I have had several talks about you, all my doing. Rini’s going to be so happy for us too. Now the four of us will be joined at the hip forever.”

  Guido burst into laughter. Heavens, how he loved this woman! What was it Rini had said that evening at the castle when he’d confided in him about Dea?

  You and I both know that no matter how bad it looks, you never leave the stadium until the game is over. Astounding surprises happen in the last second.

  Astounding was right. At the last second all Guido’s dreams had come true. He stretched out on the couch and started to pull her on top of him, but she held back. “If we don’t make the call now, it’ll be too late.”

  “You’re right.”

  She went over by the chair to get her purse and pulled out her phone. He sat up and she rejoined him on the couch. Guido wrapped his arm around her and held her close while she punched the programmed number. “I’ve got it on speakerphone.”

  “Dea?” her mother cried after picking up on the third ring. “What’s wrong, tesoro?”

  “Not a thing, Mamma. Can you put your phone on speaker so Papà can hear this too?”

  “Just a minute. Okay. Go ahead. We’re both listening.”

  Guido squeezed her hip.

  “Do you remember the day you told me to concentrate on finding myself? If I did that, my prince would find me?”

  “Prince?” he whispered in her ear.

  “Of course I do.”

  “Well, you’re full of wisdom. My blond pirate prince has asked me to marry him.”

  Pirate?

  “Grazie a Dio!” her father said in a booming voice.

  “Oh—tesoro, we’ve been praying for this day since your sister’s wedding.”

  She stared at Guido. “You have?”

  “We weren’t the only ones, either.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When you and Guido stood at the front of the cathedral as maid of honor and best man, Guido’s parents smiled at your father and me. We were all thinking the same thing—that our beautiful son and daughter were meant to be together, but you didn’t know it then. I’m so happy for you. Guido? Are you there? Do your parents know yet?”

  Dea handed him the phone.

  “They know, and they think I’m the luckiest man alive, which I am.”

  “Welcome to the family, Guido.” This from Dea’s father.

  He felt a thickening in his throat. “I’m thrilled to become a part of it. I don’t know if Dea told you, but my father arranged for that fashion show on the yacht so I could meet the breathtaking Dea Loti. He thought she would make me the perfect wife. I took one look at her and knew she would.”

  “That’s very touching,” Dea’s mother said in a tear-filled voice.

  “Mamma? How would you and Papà feel about our getting married in the Rossanos’ church in Naples?”

  “We don’t care where you take your vows as long as we’re there,” her father asserted.

  “Darling? Have you picked a date?”

  Dea kissed Guido’s lips. “Maybe three weeks? A month? By then I will have graduated and the soccer season will be over. We don’t want to wait any longer than that.”

  “Does Alessandra know?”

  “We’re going to phone them right now.”

  “You do that and we’ll talk more tomorrow. Fulvia will be overjoyed.”

  “She will! I guess I don’t have to tell you that I have the best parents on earth. Dormi bene.”

  “Ooh!” Dea threw her arms around him, almost knocking him over. “I’m so happy I can’t breathe.”

  “You have to breathe to live, adorata. Come on. Let’s get this call to your sister over with. You and I have things to do.”

  She kissed one corner of his mouth. “Are you going to make us wait a whole month?”

  “Yes, you gorgeous witch. Keeping the fires burning will add infinite pleasure to our wedding night and all the nights destiny allows us from then on.”

  Dea grasped his hands and kissed the tips of his fingers. “So—” she rolled her eyes at him “—you chip, drop, kick, sweep, cook and are an incredible romantic too. What did I ever do to deserve you?”

  June 30, fourteenth-century church of San Giovanni, Carbonara, Naples

  “There are so many photographers here you’ll be late for your own wedding.”

  Dea clung to her father’s arm, trembling with excitement as she carried a sheaf of white roses tied with a white satin ribbon. “I love you, Papà.”

  His eyes glazed over with love. “You know how I feel about my daughter.”

  She did. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” People had thronged from everywhere to watch, but all she could think about was Guido, who stood inside the church waiting for her. She couldn’t get to him fast enough.

  “Juliana outdid herself when she designed your wedding dress. Her gift to you is almost as magnificent as you are, my darling girl.”

  The exquisite lace covering her arms and shoulders hugged her white princess-style wedding dress. She wore a shoulder-length veil of the same lace and had left her hair long. Guido asked that she never cut it. Since he felt that strongly, she wanted to please him.

  Organ music filled the vestibule where Alessandra and Rini were waiting for them dressed in their wedding finery. Her twin’s smiling gaze fused with Dea’s. They heard the chords of the wedding march at the same time. This wasn’t like the pretend weddings they’d staged in their play castle when they were little. This was really going to happen.

  Two friends of the Rossano family opened the doors and Dea began the long walk to the front of the church with her handsome father. Alessandra and Rini followed them down the aisle. The church overflowed with guests from both their families. With every step closer to Guido and the priest who would marry them, her heart thudded harder and harder.

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw some friends from the college and the models she’d worked with over the years. With another step, she spotted Gina and Aldo and realized everyone from Juliana’s shop, including her staff, had come.

  Farther on, she saw Sergio and the other men and coaches who worked with Guido. Many of the players on his team had come to honor him. Still others from Rossano Shipping Lines had come en masse.

  Closer to the altar she saw the Montanari family, including Valentina and Giovanni, Rini’s sister-and brother-in-law. They sat on one side of the aisle. On the other sat her loving mother and aunt Fulvia, plus the staff from the castle. Juliana and her husband sat behind them. The older woman beamed. Dea owed her so much.

  Suddenly her father walked her to Guido’s side and lifted the roses to hand to her sister. Dea turned toward her fiancé, but she couldn’t prevent the slight gasp of awe that escaped her lips.

  With his tall superb physique and dark blond hair, he looked so splendid she almost fainted. A white rose decorated the lapel of his wedding suit, the same midnight blue color as his eyes. Guido wore his jacket buttoned over a matching vest with a stark white shirt and pastel gray-blue tie. He flashed her a haunting smile that took her breath away.

  “Bellissima,” he whispered in a husky tone and grasped her hand. “Grazie a Dio you’re no longer a figment of my imagination. If you had any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this moment...”

  She did, actually, because she’d been in the same pain.

  As the ceremony began, she feared the Rossanos’ family priest performing the rites could hear her heart resounding throughout the nave. Very little registered until they’d repeated their vows to love and honor each other.

  “I now pronounce you man and wife and ask that you remain faithful to each other. May God bless this union. In the name of the Father and the Son.” He made the sign of the cross. “Amen.”

  Guido didn’t wait for any prompting. He reached for her shoulders and lowered his mouth to hers, giving her what she would always remember...the divine kiss of life from her new husband. Unspeakable joy filled her heart.

  * * *

  For three days and nights they stayed in their suite at the villa on Ischia, the only area aside from the bathroom that had been furnished in time for their honeymoon.

  This morning Guido had left her arms long enough to go down to the village for more food. So far they’d subsisted on love and little else.