It was bittersweet knowing without their deaths, Cabe and Isabella wouldn’t be celebrating their special day or the new innocent lives they were bringing into the world.
It was time.
Leaving the party, she went into the library and retrieved the envelope she’d placed in the desk drawer so many months ago.
Isabella sat down and began reading.
Epilogue
My Dearest Isabella,
First, I love you.
I’ve loved you since the idea of you came into being. I wish you had been born to me instead of Cynthia. My sister didn’t deserve you, but needed you so desperately I never had the heart, or courage, to try to take you from her.
My beautiful strong Isabella, you always put yourself after everyone else. You are amazingly strong and resilient. You have to know by now what a blessing you are to not only your mother, but to all of us. You are the light in our family.
You and I are very much alike. We love and care for those around us. We fight for what’s right and we don’t give up. We hurt easily, but we also forgive easily. This is our gift, but also our curse.
However, you are also your own person. You are brilliant, kind and compassionate. I fear it will be easy for you to get trapped into other people’s problems.
Try to protect yourself, Isabella. It’s important you’re able to realize your full potential, and I worry that the weight of others might keep you from the opportunities you deserve.
Find someone to love Isabella. Get married. Have a family and enjoy your life. It’s much shorter than any of us realize.
I am so sad I won’t be there to see the amazing woman you will become, to share in your marriage, the births of the children I pray you are able to conceive, and all of the success life has to offer you .
If by chance, my beloved Isabella, you find yourself unable to have your own children, please don’t follow my footsteps. Trust me when I tell you it’s a lonely life without little ones. Adopt, Isabella. Fill your home with beautiful children. Fill your life with love and laughter, fights and tears: just fill it.
The one real regret I have in life is not sharing our lovely home with babies. Antonio would have been so much happier with me if we had. And I would be leaving him with a family of our very own instead of alone. This is my one biggest regret.
When you do fill your home with these beautiful souls, tell them about me.
Please don’t let me be forgotten. Encourage Antonio to share stories of his wife with your children, so I do not fade away as if I’d never lived.
Teach your children my recipes. Teach them to make my lemon cake for Easter, my red velvet for Christmas, and my pecan pie for Thanksgiving.
Hopefully, every holiday you’ll share stories of me with the children and keep my memory alive a little longer.
The thought that I might be gone and forgotten is the burden I carry for wasting time and not getting around to adopting children of my own. Don’t remind Antonio; he was never happy with me that I put off filling our home with children until it was too late.
As I write this, I already mourn the idea I won’t be around to hear the laughter of your children fill my quiet halls. I take comfort knowing Antonio will be there to enjoy them as they play and grow.
You are all I have, so the heavy weight of keeping my memory alive falls to you and Antonio.
A few things I’d like to share with you I never got a chance to:
Decide what you want and go after it. Do not let me, your mother or anyone else stop you.
Fall in love Isabella. You will never regret it. When you do fall in love – love fully. Pride and insecurities stop most of us from loving passionately – don’t let that happen to you. When you find that man who does it for you – love him every single minute, of every single hour, of every single day for the rest of your life.
And lastly, choose your battles wisely. You can’t die on every hill Isabella; make sure you only fight for what really matters.
I am so sorry, my beautiful Bella, I am not there for you. I know this time will be hard, but know with every cell in your body, that I love you more than any other human on this earth next to my Antonio. You, Isabella, are the last of my blood.
My friends will hold you up and help you with Antonio; you can lean on them, Isabella. They will love and protect you with every breath in their bodies – these women I leave you with, shall be your strength and salvation - this I know from the depths of my soul.
Even without the children, with a quiet empty home, I have a beautiful life full of love, laughter and success. My beautiful Isabella, please don’t mourn me, but instead celebrate the amazing life I lived. When you think of me, remember my laughter and my pleasures. Remember, I found the love of my life, my beautiful Bella, and I know how special that alone is, for so many never do.
Please take care of your uncle. He will be lost without me. Make sure he eats and takes his medicine - he will forget. My Antonio is a strong loving man, but he has his weaknesses and his biggest is me. Without me, I don’t know what he will do and I don’t want him to stop enjoying his life. Make sure he doesn’t withdraw into himself as he can sometimes. It’s not healthy for him.
I know I ask so much of you, but he is my life, my love and all I hold dear.
The two of you are my whole heart.
With these last words I leave you until we are joined again, all my everlasting love,
Aunt Raquel Bellini
The Women of Wine Country Series continues!
Check out the First and Second Books;
Murder & Mayhem
Lawyer & Liar
Watch for these titles releasing soon;
Beauty & Betrayal
Grief & Greed
Family & Fear
Boards & Bombs
Martini’s & Malice
Rescue & Redemption
Death & Deceit
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The Author
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A Note from the Author
Usually this is where you’d see an author bio. A little blurb about the person whose imagination sparked a story, and whose diligent work created a book you’d (hopefully) want to read.
Since it’s typically the author writing their own bio it felt somewhat disconnected to me, so I thought I’d just give you, the reader, a little informal information about me and the rest, if you’re still interested, can be found on all of my online and numerous social media platforms.
I am a Yaya to three beautiful little ginger Diva’s that are featured (as grown up’s) in my books. I will let you try to guess who they are.
The two dogs you see in my author picture are the real-life Annie the nanny and Jake my beloved gentle giant. I wrote them as they truly are. Both of them were rescued from a shelter many years ago and they have been a blessing for my husband and myself. I couldn’t imagine my life without them.
We have two additional rescues; they are featured in later books so unless you follow me on social media, you’ll have to wait for the books they are in to meet them.
I live in the Lodi Wine Appellation and there are many descriptions in the books that are accurate. If you find yourself in our neck of the woods, you’d be able to see landmarks or recognize roads I’ve
written about.
While Bellini Estate is completely fictional many aspects of the estate was taken from several different wineries in the area. If you do make it to our wonderful wine region; there are many resources available to you and if you join the Women of Wine Country Facebook group, we could get those resources to you.
I am devoted to animal rescue and a portion of the sale of every book goes to help support shelters, rescues and resources benefiting the homeless pet population.
I have three grown sons who I cherish, but who will probably never read any of my books (this series anyway).
The Man of My Dreams is my beloved husband of almost thirty years. He came to me as a bodyguard and we fell in love instantly. This man is as Alpha as they come, and supports me and all of my endeavours one hundred percent. How an old school Alpha male and a small bossy woman manage to make it work after all these years is beyond me, but it does work for us. And I am thankful for my life with him.
I like animals’ way more than people, and I like people a whole heck of a lot.
T Wells Brown
Next in the Series
Sydney never planned to spend her life running from the Russian Mafia. But that is exactly where she finds herself after she stumbles upon an officer involved shooting late one-night. Will she be forced to leave her Wine Tribe in order to keep them safe? Did the officer survive the shooting? Will she survive herself? You don’t want to miss Sydney’s story !
Murder & Mayhem Page 20
