Beauty: an Everland Ever After Tale (17 page)

“Mother?” The small voice pulled them apart, but not before he felt her smile against his lips. “Are you feeling all right?”

Still holding Vincenzo tightly, she giggled. “Of course, sweetheart. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re still in your robe, and you’re…you’re kissing
Signore
Bellini in the middle of the street.”

“Yes, I know. It’s a little unusual, isn’t it?”

He could actually hear the boy thinking, and Vincenzo had to smile. How had he not realized the similarities between them sooner? “Eddie, you’re just in time. I was about to tell your mother that I loved her.” He felt her suck in a breath. “Love her the way I loved my first wife.”

“Are you going to marry her, so we don’t have to live in the storage room?”

Loosening his hold on her once more, Vincenzo let her stand beside him when he turned to speak to the boy. To his son. “I think that you should come live with me.”

“All of us? Even Rajah?”

“Of course. My house is big enough. Thank you for taking care of him, by the way.”

“What about Mother’s garden?”

What
about
it? She’d worked hard on that garden, over the years. It was perfect. But she surprised him by shrugging, and leaning her head on his shoulder. “There’s room in front of your house for a garden, darling. I’ll plant a new one.”

“No, yours is beautiful. I couldn’t ask—“

She
tsked
. “Too beautiful. This new one will be wild and carefree and everyone will be able to enjoy it.”
Wild and carefree
. Just like his Jane.

He breathed a silent prayer. She was saying everything he’d hoped—but never dreamed—she’d say. “And honeysuckle?”

“As much of it as you can stand.”

“God, Arabella,” he groaned, burying what was left of his face in her hair, inhaling her perfect scent. “I love you. I will never stop loving you.”

He grunted when Eddie threw himself against both of them, but they wrapped their arms around the boy and hugged him. “Can I call you ‘Stepfather’?”

Throat tightening, Vincenzo could only shake his head. She answered for him. “I think that you should skip the formalities, Eddie, and just call him ‘Father’.”

There was a deep silence from his son. Vincenzo let go of Arabella, placed both hands on Eddie’s shoulders, and squeezed. From against his stomach, he heard the boy ask hesitantly, “Are you sure…Father?”

And his heart, which he thought couldn’t get any fuller than it had when she’d declared her love for him, exploded in a wild crescendo. He tightened his hold on his son, and knew that his voice was gruff when he said, “I have
never
been surer of anything in my life, Eddie.” When the boy grew a bit older, maybe he’d sit down with his son and explain some things…but for now, he was content just to hear the word
father
on Eddie’s lips.

“Well, then…” Arabella put her arms around both of them, and found his mouth for a quick kiss. “I guess there’s only one thing to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Will you marry me, Vincenzo Bellini?”

He was still laughing when he swept her into a hug and twirled her around. He had a wife who valued him, a son who looked up to him, and a home to grow old in. He’d found his forever.

Keep reading for a sneak peek at another Everland tale!

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Interested in finding out just how Jack Carpenter became Everland’s town doctor? Here’s a sneak peek of his story:

From
The Stepmother; an Everland Ever After Tale

His princess’s gentle snoring had lulled Jack into a state of near-sleep himself. He wasn’t sure if she could even put herself to sleep anymore; most nights he just held her against his chest, marveling at this tiny little miracle of Creation, until she drifted off. It wasn’t because Zelle needed it. Nah, it was for him;
he
needed to feel her, to listen to her, to be reminded that he was alive and free and so was she.

Tonight had been no different. After finishing yet another meal of rice and beans and salt pork, he’d had to give her a bath in the basin. It was just as well that he let her eat naked, because with his limited meal repertoire, she often ended the evening smeared in mushed beans and with rice stuck in her ear.

It was the highlight of Jack’s day.

As usual, after her bath, he’d changed her into her nightdress and put her on his lap to read to her. Lately she’d gotten real interested in his books, but he still didn’t know if it was just the sound of his voice, or if she really cared about the story. And then, as usual, her eyes had gotten droopy, and she’d curled up against his chest, one thumb in her mouth and her feet tucked between them. When her breathing told him that she’d fallen asleep, he’d put the book down, and just hold her.

With his feet up on the crate, and his head wedged against the seat-back cushion just so, he could fall asleep like this.
Had
fallen asleep like this, pretty often since that day three months ago that he’d arrived in this two-bit town and moved into the empty house. Probably would’ve again tonight, except for the knocking.

It took him a minute to figure out where the noise was coming from. He’d had plenty of visitors in the first month, sure, but he’d gotten rid of most of them with his poor manners. Besides, the sun had already set. As always, something out of the ordinary like this caused his heart to crawl up into his throat and his pulse to start pounding in his ears. Had Witcher found them, already? It’d only been a few months!

The knock came again, and Jack slowly sat up, making sure not to disturb Zelle. He slipped around the furniture towards the simple house’s only door. Still holding her pressed against his right shoulder, he lifted her so that she sat more comfortably, and grabbed the knife off of the table where he’d set it to dry after dinner. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

If Witcher had tracked them to Everland already, he wasn’t going to take them by surprise. Jack would do pretty much anything to keep his old boss from taking Zelle away again. Swallowing, he admitted that he could even kill to keep his princess safe.

Cautiously, he cracked the door with the hand holding the knife, being careful to angle his body to protect Zelle if necessary.

He probably shouldn’t have bothered. There was just enough light from the western sky to see who was standing on what would’ve been his doorstep if this God-forsaken place was civilized enough to have doorsteps: a woman. And not just
any
woman, but a young one.

He’d been to the prayer meeting every Sunday for the last ten weeks—he believed strongly that  Zelle needed to be raised with religion—and thought he’d met every single female Everland had to offer… all six of them. But this one hadn’t been there; hadn’t been around the town at all, as far as he’d seen. Because he’d sure as hell remember someone who looked as good as
this
.

She was a pale angel in the twilight, dark hair pulled back under some kinda bonnet, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth in a way that made her somehow more approachable. Maybe he was getting fanciful, but she looked
exactly
like the kind of woman—good and pure and tight and clean—that he’d dreamed of during those long nights in his cell. The kind of woman that he wanted to raise Zelle to be. Noble. Kind. Pristine.