I spotted my tweed suitcase with the bright orange ribbon tied to the handle and moved toward it, maneuvering my bum leg around a woman with an empty luggage cart and her three children. “Excuse me, ma’am. That’s my bag. Can I get by—?”
A long arm reached around me and snatched my suitcase from the belt, pulling it clear of the cart, a toddler, and me. “Hey!” I cried out, and turned clumsily, knowing there was no way I could possibly catch anyone who wanted to steal my stuff. But my computer was in there, and…
And suddenly, I was caught up in his arms, the fragrance of sunshine and woodshop and spice and musk filling my senses, held tight against the solid wall of his chest, his heart pounding inside his ribcage in welcome against my cheek.
Home. Heaven. Paulo.
And then he kissed me. One arm around my back, holding me fiercely to him, the other hand threading long fingers through my hair and around the back of my neck, pulling me up to meet him. I heard the clatter of my cane hitting the floor behind me but I didn’t care. In Paulo’s embrace, I didn’t need any help standing upright.
“I told you I’d find you, Ani.”
“I told you I’d follow you, Paulo.” We spoke at the same time and I laughed out loud, my heart bursting with joy.
The sound of clapping came from behind me, small hands slapping together, accompanied by tittering giggles. I turned to see the two older girls sitting on the edge of the luggage cart, watching our very public display of affection. “Kiss her again!” one of them urged.
“Girls!” A toddler on her hip, their harried mother shushed them, and then turned to us. “I’m so sorry. They’re really into their fairytales and true love’s kiss and all that.”
Paulo burst out laughing as the girls began to chant, “True love’s kiss. True love’s kiss. True love’s kiss.”
He winked at the girls, then dipped me back the way he’d done Madalina in the hallway outside my room at casa de Lazzaro, and kissed me chastely, to the delight of our audience, who shrieked with appreciation.
The mother rolled her eyes and turned back to the baggage conveyer belt, keeping an eye out for her bags.
After sticking around to help the woman with her suitcases—and entertaining her star-struck daughters with a few more knee-weakening kisses—we made our way to Paulo’s car in the parking lot. Instead of helping me in, though, he leaned back against the passenger side door, pulled me to him, his arms secure around my waist. He looked at me long and sweetly, his eyes saying more to me than any words could. Then he crushed me to him again, and I heard him take in a ragged breath.
“You told me you would follow the man you love.” He spoke just above a whisper, his mouth close to my ear. “I hope I am that man, Ani, because you are the girl I love. By the roadside, by the river, in Lucca, in Oregon, in California. It does not matter where we are, I will find a way to be with you. Because I love you.”
My eyes closed, my cheek pressed against his chest, I listened to the steady beat of his heart. Could we really do this? We both had school to finish, Paulo had his mother’s care to consider, and I had a job waiting for me back home. Then, there was Lucca, full of light and joy. Lucca, where I’d learned to look at the world with open eyes, an open heart, and open hands, and found happiness. Lucca, where I’d fallen head over heels—quite literally—in love with this man who was offering me his heart.
I leaned back in his arms to look up at him, to see his beautiful face, his dark eyes shining with emotion. “What do you think I’ve been doing for the last twenty-four hours?”
He cocked his head to one side, his brows raised in question.
“I’ve been following the man I love.” I rose up on tiptoe, took his face in my hands, and threaded my fingers through his unruly hair, pouring every ounce of my little piece of heaven I could into the way I looked at him. “It’s you, Paulo. I love you.”
“Mi lasci senza fiato, Ani,” he whispered.
Then I drew his mouth down to mine.
About the Author
Becky Doughty is the author of the best-selling Elderberry Croft series and the voice behind BraveHeart Audiobooks. She writes Women’s Fiction with strong elements of romance, as well as Young Adult and New Adult Fiction. Becky’s favorite people are edge-dwellers, those who live on that fine line where hope and despair meet, where love is the only answer and grace becomes truly amazing.
Becky is married to her champion of more than 25 years. They have three children, two of whom are grown and starting families of their own, and they all live within a few miles of each other in Southern California. They share their lives with too many animals, a large vegetable garden, and a strange underground concrete room they’re certain was built for dark and sinister purposes…
Acknowledgements
To Georgiana, the real Romanian songstress who awakened me with Puccini arias sung beneath my window my first morning in Lucca. It was several years later that I awoke in my own bed to hear traces of your voice singing to me again from my dreams, and I knew it was finally time to write Anica’s story. To Davide and Fabio, hosts extraordinaire and rescuers of damsels in distress, you are fondly remembered. Nancy, what fun it was to pull out my memory book for this one. Thank you, friend.
Ashley Cleveland, a woman who has walked an amazing road, for inspiring me with your song, “Heaven.” There is hope in every step.
My publisher and the amazing CTP team, I’m richly blessed to be a part of this group.
And as always, my husband and children, for believing in me, for praying for me, for cheering me on. My heart is full to overflowing.
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If you enjoyed All the Way to Heaven, we recommend you check out Wicked Luck by Shannon Maynard.
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For the past three years, Dax has been stranded on Lamarai Island with his stepsister and two tribes of cannibals. But now a beautiful girl named Ava has washed up on shore. After secretly reading her journal, he believes she is a perfect match to the girl of his dreams. He's determined not only to keep her alive, but also to win over her heart by convincing her to forget about her past and the secrets that continue to haunt her.
Ava Starr has always been the epitome of bad luck, but she never imagined she would wake up and find herself on a cannibal-infested island with no memory of how she got there. The last thing she remembers is boarding a plane with her pilot boyfriend, Preston. But now he and his crew are missing, and she must find him before a tribe of hungry cannibals finds him first. But Ava's troubles have followed her to Lamarai, where once again she's surrounded by danger and people who want her dead. She finds herself caught in a web of deceit and soon discovers the answers to her mysterious past can be found in the most unlikely of places, and that no one is actually who they seem to be.
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