“You need some light on the sides to make it visible,” one of the girls said, handing him the white candle and a lighter.
When it was done, it was glorious, brilliant, over-the-top-romantic, and he hoped it would be enough.
Chapter 35
Julia was a ball of nerves and fury and excitement, and she couldn’t decide which particular feeling she should acknowledge first as she paced the long terrace of the ristorante, waiting to meet her father.
“Stop walking like that. Sit down or something.” Alessandra grabbed Julia’s shoulders and plopped her in the chair.
“I’m nervous, don’t you understand? Why did you spring it on me like that? I needed a warning of some sort, not ‘Your father is coming here in a minute,’ ” Julia said.
“I’m sorry, but you need to get calm. You make me nervous. He is a good man. You don’t need to worry about meeting him. Nico has always been like a father to me,” Alessandra said.
Julia fanned her face, emotions burning through her body. It didn’t help that they had been forced to sprint through the crowded hot streets to get there in time.
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“He came to visit when Mamma was ill the last time. She asked him not to come again. She didn’t want him to see her dying.”
“He didn’t come for her funeral?”
“No. Maybe he couldn’t look at her dead. It was too hard for me. My father was there. Maybe he didn’t want too much drama. Oh, there he is.” Alessandra rushed to meet a tall man at the door, and Julia stood up to see.
“Ciao, Alessandra, come va?” He kissed her on both cheeks.
“Ciao, Nico, molto bene. Come va?”
But Nico didn’t answer. Julia watched him move Alessandra aside and approach her slowly. “You brought me my daughter, Alessandra. Grazie.”
“Ciao,” Julia said, her voice trembling.
“You look so much like Giulia,” Nico whispered, examining her face.
“Oh, my God.” Julia covered her eyes as they filled with tears. “I'm not sure I can handle this.”
“It’s okay, sister.” Alessandra rubbed a hand between Julia’s shoulder blades. “Sit down.”
Julia’s legs froze. She removed her hands from her eyes and stared at her father. So tall, so handsome, so much younger than she expected. Dark ruffled hair, with a touch of gray around the temples, framed his face. Wrinkles around the eyes. Southern Italian skin darkened by the Amalfi sun, and an unshaved beard graying in spots. So different from her other father, yet so alike in their dark skin, dark hair, and kind eyes.
She wanted to touch him, to make sure he was real. Wanted to tell him how scared she was that he wouldn’t like her.
“I am so glad you are here,” Nico said. “Giulia said one day you will come to find me. She always knew we would meet. Your mother was like that.” He took her by the shoulders then, his hands warm and comforting. “I know you did not meet her, and I am sorry, but she can see us from up there”—he pointed to the ceiling—“and you make her very happy.”
Julia felt a sob rising through her chest and coming out in gasps. Her father hugged her tightly, pressing her head to his chest, stroking her hair. “Va bene, va bene, all good. Look, now, everyone is crying.” She heard sniffles behind her and felt him shaking too.
“Nico, how did you know we were here?” she asked, raising her head and wiping her tears with the back of her hand.
“Call me Papy.”
“Okay, Papy.”
“Your friend. Your man, Daniel, brought me here. I was in Ravello. He is a good person. He treats you well, si?”
“Daniel?” Julia turned to Alessandra. “Daniel? How is Daniel here?
Alessandra shrugged and looked away.
“What do you know about that?” Julia demanded.
“Don’t panic.”
“Well, where is he?”
“He thinks you are angry at him, so he is trying to find a way to apologize.”
“Oh, no, I’m not angry.” Julia shook her head. “Where is he? Did he tell you? You can get hold of him for me, please.”
Alessandra shook her head. “Julia, he will find us when he is ready. He is letting you have time with your father.”
“No, I need to find him. What if he left?”
“You just found your dad. Daniel won’t leave. He will be here.”
Julia felt a hand on her arm. “Julia, Daniel loves you. Do not worry,” her father said.
“Did he say that to you?”
“He did. He told me he wants you to be together but maybe you do not. We had a good talk.” Nico smiled.
“Well, why does he not tell Julia that?” Alessandra raised her arms in the air, then sat down. “Let’s all sit and talk and have some Limoncello. I could use some.”
“Si, Limoncello is good,” Nico said. “How did you find Alessandra and me, Julia?”
“Mamma asked me to send Julia the painting you gave her, Nico,” Alessandra explained.
“The one of her house in Malcesine?” Nico asked.
“Yes,” Julia said. “I came to Malcesine to meet my mother but met Alessandra instead.”
“I’m so sorry Giulia died before you meet her.” Nico patted Julia’s hand.
“At least I get to meet Alessandra and you. What does the inscription on the painting mean?” Julia asked.
“The inscription?” Nico shook his head, not understanding.
“The words on the back of the painting. It says Solo Noi,” Julia explained. “Only us? I thought my mother wrote it for me, because I assumed she painted the picture, but now I know you painted it. I guess you wrote it?”
“Si, I painted it for Giulia. I loved your mother, you see. Still love her. When we were young, she loved this song by Toto Cutugno, ‘Solo Noi.’ ” He sang a line and teared up. “She played it when we made love. I wanted her to remember, so I wrote that for her on the back.”
“How romantic.” Alessandra clapped. “Just us. Mamma loved you so much, Nico.”
He wiped his eyes. “I know.”
Julia sighed. “I would’ve loved to meet you sooner, all of you. Tell me more.”
She listened to Nico and Alessandra tell stories to her about her mother, but soon she thought of Daniel again. She kept looking toward the door, hoping he would come in any moment, smiling at her, saying it was all forgotten, that silly misunderstanding between them.
“You are lost to anyone but him, aren’t you?” Alessandra teased.
“I’m hopeless,” Julia answered. “It’s in my blood, apparently, given the stories about my parents I hear.”
“It is amore,” Nico said.
“What’s going on over there?” Alessandra shielded her eyes and looked out the window. “There’s a crowd on the beach. Everyone is running to watch something.”
The diners stood up from their tables and looked over the white banister and the flower baskets, pointing at something on the beach. They heard laughter and shouts of encouragement and claps.
“Some man giving his proposal. Happens every day. Tourists think it is so romantic,” Nico dismissed the commotion with a wave.
“What’s happening?” Alessandra asked the waiter.
“Someone is making a sign out of towels.” The waiter stood up taller to see over the crowd. “And candles.”
“A sign?” Alessandra stood up as well to look. She stretched her neck and pulled up on the railing. “I guess he found the way, Julia. And you said this wasn’t a ’90s rom com.” She sat back down and laughed.
“What? Who found the way?” Julia asked, drinking another Limoncello. Then it hit her. “Oh, no. No, no, no!”
She got up and pushed through the crowd. “Julia,” people whispered. “Chi è Julia?” She got to the railing and saw it then. A gigantic, grotesque, “I’m sorry, Julia,” made out of towels, with candles on the side, stretched on the gray rocks of the beach, all along the sea line. Daniel standing by the boardwalk, his hair dishev
eled, sweaty with the effort. Her Daniel. She had never seen any sight dearer to her heart.
Someone started playing Ed Sheeran’s “How Do You Feel” at the bar on the beach. Daniel saw her watching him, and his lips moved to sing the lyrics. She stood still, unsure for a moment, and so did he. Then he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Julia, I love you!”
She covered her face in embarrassment as people around her began to clap, and the crowd on the beach also began to clap and whistle. He waved to her, and she yelled back, “Wait, I’m coming down.” The surrounding crowd parted. As she ran out, she heard faint calls of “amore” behind her and kept on running.
He was still waiting by the boardwalk.
“Your shirt is blue.” She pointed as she approached.
“Yes,” he said.
“You hate karaoke,” she said, smiling.
He shrugged, and his eyes smiled back.
“You didn’t need to do all this,” she said, approaching slowly, aware of so many watching.
“I did. My mother.” He sighed. “And what I said.” He took her hands into his. “I know I can’t take it back, but it’s not what I meant. When I first met you, I was only thinking of my family and the building, and it wasn’t until—”
She stopped him. “You don’t have to explain. I’m not angry.”
“You are not?” He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them, each one in turn, and she let him.
She came into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him, looking at his eyes inches away, feeling his heart with hers. “I ran away at the time because I was angry about what you said. But I don’t think that’s all it was. I’ve had a lot of time to obsess about it. And I believe I was scared. Of being there with you, of what was happening between us.”
“I was scared too.”
“The thing is I’m sorry too,” Julia whispered, pulling away. “I’m sorry for running away. But I had to protect my heart.”
“By running away?”
“You were so sweet to me, so kind. It was all so magical, the vineyard, the dancing, the lovemaking. I don’t believe something like this can be more than a travel fantasy. I was afraid of what would happen to my heart when it stopped. When it was all over.”
“All over? I never believed things between us would be over.” He touched her face with both of his hands, gently rubbing her cheeks with his fingertips, bringing his mouth closer and closer to her lips. “And are you still scared?”
“Not when you are this close,” she whispered and lifted her mouth to meet his.
He kissed her then until her breath was gone and so was all her fear and the memory of their being separated. They were one again, and that was all that mattered. She pressed her fingers into his hair and inhaled his familiar smell, the lavender and wine of Tuscany still permeating his skin.
He wrapped her into his arms. “The only fear I’ve ever had was of losing you. I love you, Julia Ramos.”
She smiled, her heart filled with pure happiness, then whispered, “You have stayed me at a happy hour. I was about to protest I loved you.”
He stroked her hair and whispered back, smiling, “Then do it, with all your heart.”
“I love you with so much of my heart there’s none left to protest,” she replied and kissed him again.
“You read Much Ado About Nothing.”
“I never knew how great Shakespeare was, before I met you.”
“I never knew I would race all over Italy to find a cowgirl, before I met you. Or that I would make towel decorations on the beach.”
“How did you find my father?”
“It will forever be my secret.”
“I’ll get it out of you one way or another.”
“I’ll let you try,” he said, kissing her again to the increasing cheers around them.
Chapter 36
“I’m so sorry I interrupted your meeting with your father. Was it all you hoped for?” Daniel asked as they walked up to the restaurant.
“Don’t be sorry. You found him for me. It’s awkward to meet a total stranger who is supposed to be your dad. But also so fantastic. He says I look like my mother. I can’t thank you enough for bringing him here.” She stopped and turned to him. “I was so afraid I’d made the trip for nothing. When I found out my mother already died, I was just so devastated.”
He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them. “I’m so sorry you never got to meet your mother. I can’t imagine what that feels like.”
“It’s such a strange thing. To lose a mother, then find you have another, and then lose her shortly after. So now, it’s like I have two holes in my heart. Yet I wasn’t prepared to find a sister and a father, and it’s like my heart grew bigger from meeting them.”
Daniel wrapped his arms around her waist. “And don’t forget I love you, too. Let your heart grow from my love too. Maybe that will help.”
She put her head on his chest. “It will. It already does. Honestly, most of the time, all I could think about in the last few days was you.” Julia lifted her head and smiled. “Well, I thought about Lizzy a little. And Mia.” She pulled him along toward the stairs to the ristorante. “And Mandy. And Gian. And Francesca. And your aunt Louisa.”
He followed behind her, tickling her as she giggled. “Anyone else, or did I fare at about the level of the farm chicken or something?”
“Slightly in front of the farm chicken.” She turned around. “Wait. Which farm chicken? Because there were quite a few I really adored.”
He rolled his eyes. “Wait till I get you naked in my bed tonight. We’ll see who can tease who better.”
She bit her lip, and Daniel knew she remembered what it was like between them. Her eyes blazed with desire, her cheeks blushing slightly, and she took a wrong step as she tried to go up in front of him.
“You need me to hold you up, or can you manage on your own?” Daniel ran his fingers up her side and then down her arm, teasing her.
She inhaled sharply and looked back at him. “We have to go spend time with my father. Stop this,” she whispered.
“Stop what? I’m not doing anything. You drive me crazy. What can I say?”
“You drive me crazy too, but you’ve got like a hundred people watching, after your performance on the beach, and my father and sister are upstairs. So think of football or whatever.”
“Football? I’m British. We get excited about football.” He laughed, trailing behind her.
“Rugby, then? What doesn’t excite you?”
“Spending an evening with your father,” he grumbled.
“Well, I just met him, and I’m not going to tell him, ‘Sorry, goodbye, I have to go have wild sex with my British lover.’ ”
“That sounds promising. I’ll keep you to that.” He winked at her.
As they entered, people clapped and he blushed. Someone put on “Perfect Symphony,” and he heard calls for them to dance as Ed Sheehan and Andrea Bocelli sang together.
He pushed through the crowd until they found Nico and Alessandra, Nico with his legs stretched on a chair as he sipped a sparkling drink full of lemons.
“That was well done,” Alessandra said to Daniel.
“Thank you.”
“I wasn’t talking about the beach,” she said. “I mean finding Nico for my sister.”
“Thank you for that as well.” He nodded to Nico.
“So we are all happy now,” Nico said. “We go have dinner, si? I have a friend who makes the best linguine. It is not far for his ristorante. Just ten minutes’ walk, and away from the tourists.” He pointed at the crowd still talking about the couple in excited voices.
“Nico, should we let the lovebirds have their own dinner?” Alessandra asked.
“Of course not. Julia must have time with her father,” Daniel insisted, hugging Julia closer nevertheless.
Julia looked at him with gratitude. In truth, he guessed she couldn’t possibly decide between the two men and her sister tonight. He couldn�
�t take her father away from her after spending half a day finding him and bringing him here. She would have plenty of time for love later. He wouldn’t let her leave him again. She didn’t know it yet, but he planned to do everything in his power to convince her to stay with him in Italy, and he felt secure in the knowledge that they had forever. It wasn’t difficult for him to share her tonight.
Nico stood up, ending the discussion. “We all have dinner together, and then Alessandra and I drive to Sorrento. You stay with me, and we leave the lovebirds here for their romance.”
“But Nico, you only just met,” Alessandra protested.
“They can have breakfast with us in Sorrento tomorrow. I was not planning to have the gallery open tomorrow. You and I spend our time, and they spend their time. Young love needs to be alone, and I need to hear all about that bastardo Antonio.”
“Dio mio.” Alessandra rolled her eyes. “Too sad a story.”
“I like sad stories.”
“What happened? Who is Antonio?” Daniel asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” Julia said.
Nico did know a great ristorante, and they spent a delightful evening eating perhaps the best seafood he had ever eaten despite the money he had spent on the Riviera and in Normandy in earlier years. Italy was growing on him. He had forgotten about it since his childhood, but maybe there was something to staying here. He’d have to thank Roger again.
Daniel sipped his wine and watched Julia, laughing with her sister and father, stealing looks at him, her hand touching his leg. This woman who had dropped into his life in Rome when he least expected it, when he thought everything was going so wrong, had now completely altered it. And he loved her for it. The job in Milan could very well turn into something more permanent. Roger was right. Daniel’s family was here. And now Julia and her family. Maybe he had found the right place for them both.
Was it really that easy?
Perhaps it was. He drove her to his hotel after they had said goodnight to her father and sister. He led Julia to his room, almost shaking with his need for her.
The House by the Cypress Trees Page 25
