‘I swear I will never do anything to hurt you again.’
‘We’re both stubborn and fiery. We’ll probably spend the rest of our lives arguing with each other.’
‘As long as we spend the rest of it making up then I can live with that.’ And to prove his point he put a hand round the back of her head and pulled her in for another kiss, this one deep and full of all the love and desire he felt for this beautiful woman without whom he was nothing but a shell of himself.
She was everything to him, his lover, his confidante and his sparring partner. It would be easier to live without a limb than without her.
‘How do you feel about us becoming parents?’ she asked him between kisses.
He put his finger under her chin.
For all that they’d forgiven each other everything, Anna being alone when she miscarried their child was something he would never forgive himself for.
‘When the time is right we can try for a child. I want us to have a football team of bambinos and a couple of dogs for them to play with but not until you’re ready for it.’
He thought he would see sadness in her eyes but they were bright and...knowing.
‘Anna?’
Suddenly the most enormous grin beamed from her face.
‘You’re not?’
‘I am.’ She snuggled into him, her head on his chest. ‘I took the test last week.’
‘With Melissa?’ he asked drily. This was unbelievable. He’d left London feeling as if he were drowning, seeking Anna as a life raft, and now felt as if the sun were shining especially for them.
‘Yes.’
‘And one for luck?’
‘Yes.’ She pressed herself even tighter to him. ‘Neither of us knew it at the time but I wasn’t protected when we were in Santa Cruz—I never had another injection after I lost...’ The kiss on her head and the tightening of the arms around her showed that Stefano understood what she was struggling to vocalise. ‘I’m sorry for not telling you sooner,’ she whispered into his chest. ‘I was trying to get my head around it and I knew it was something I had to tell you to your face. But I was going to tell you as soon as I got back to London. I swear.’
He ran his fingers through her hair. ‘Don’t apologise. I know you would have told me. How are you feeling?’
‘A little sick at times but nothing to complain about.’ Her face shone as she gazed up at him. ‘And you?’
He kissed her. ‘I feel that you’ve given me all my birthday and Christmas presents in one go.’
And speaking of presents...
He disentangled himself just enough to pull out the small black square box he’d carried on his person since he’d opened it a week ago.
She recognised it at once, her eyes widening and somehow brightening further. ‘I was going to give you that...’
‘On our wedding anniversary,’ he finished for her.
She held out her left hand for him and he slid the smaller ring onto her wedding finger then kissed it. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too,’ she whispered before taking the larger ring and sliding it onto his finger and kissing it in turn.
It took a long time for Stefano to comprehend the magnitude of all that had happened, how his last throw of the dice had brought him rewards he’d not allowed himself to dream of.
He had his wife back and this time he would honour and cherish her until his dying breath.
EPILOGUE
ANNA SAT ON the side of the bath watching Stefano, who was leaning against the wall looking at his watch, light bouncing off his gold wedding band, a white oblong stick in his hand.