My mother, Lorenzo, Andrea and Matteo, my brothers. Anna and Giovanna, Valentino, Carlo and Alex.
The intimate wedding party that I never imagined would be so perfect.
Our guards unload our luggage and we get off the plane and walk down the stairs, snow is falling and already this feels uber romantic.
“I’m so excited,” I yell and everyone laughs.
Giuliano smiles and kisses me softly, and I know that he’s just as excited as me. This is such a happy time.
We load into our cars and Giuliano takes my hand in his as we sit in the back seat.
“You still want to do this?” He smiles over at me.
“Try and stop me.”
An hour later we pull into the resort. “This place is incredible,” I whisper in awe as I look around. We make our way to reception. “Party for Jones,” Giuliano says to the receptionist.
“Yes.” She smiles. “You’re the wedding party?” She turns her attention to me, “Are you the bride to be?”
Excitement runs through me, “Uh-huh.”
She laughs at my over-the-top excitement. “We have you all staying in the summit wing. Ten rooms in total.”
“Okay.” Giuliano smiles.
“And….” She types into her computer. “Francesca…is it?”
“Yes.”
“We have your pre-wedding schedule planned. Tomorrow at one p.m., you have a meeting with our wedding planner.”
“Okay.”
“And the day after that you have a wedding rehearsal in the atrium at five p.m.”
Giuliano smiles broadly as he puts his arm around me.
Oh my God, can you die from excitement?
Because I just might.
She slides the keys over the counter to us. “The conditions are perfect today, get out on the slopes before dark if you can. The powder coverage is just incredible.”
I nearly bounce on the spot. I love skiing so much, it’s all I can do not to scream.
“Thanks, I will.”
We return to the others who are all waiting patiently and Giuliano hands out the keys. “Who wants to come for a ski?” I ask them.
“Today?” Giuliano frowns.
“Just a quick one.”
“Not me,” says Anna. “Don’t feel like breaking my neck today.”
Giuliano screws up his face. “I fancied a scotch by the fire in the bar to be honest.”
“You do that, I’ll meet you there. I’ll be an hour tops.” I smile.
His eyes hold mine as he contemplates his choice.
“I’ll come,” Giovanna replies.
“Me too,” Carlo chips in.
“Great. So, I’ll meet you both back here in half an hour?” I ask them.
“Sounds good,” Giovanna says.
“I guess I’ll meet the rest of you in the bar around the same time?” Giuliano asks everyone.
“Yes, sounds good.”
The ski chairlift rises high in the sky as it takes us up the mountain.
“Look.” Giovanna points. “Is that your atrium?”
I peer down below and see a glass chapel nestled into the side of the mountain, I can see an open fire flickering inside. “Yes.”
We both squeal in excitement and I turn back to Carlo and Bruno who are in the chairlift behind us. “That’s the atrium.”
They both look down. “Looks good.” Carlo laughs.
We all watch it fly by underneath as we pass over and Bruno gives me the thumbs-up.
Giovanna takes my hand in hers. “Can you believe that you are getting married in this heavenly place?”
“No.” I laugh.
She fiddles with her boot as we ride up. “Anna may have been on to something, I may break my neck too, I haven’t skied for three years.”
“It’s like riding a bike, you never forget.” I fiddle with my gloves to try to pull my fingers in properly.
“As long as you don’t break anything,” she teases. “Plaster isn’t the white you want to be wearing.”
I laugh out loud. “Don’t hex me.”
Giuliano
I sit by the open fire with Alex and Val, scotch in hand.
After the crazy week we’ve had to prepare for coming away, I’m finally beginning to unwind. I look out the window and the snow coming down. “This place is incredible, isn’t it?”
“I’ll say.” Val smiles as he stares out over the view.
My phone beeps a text, it’s from Francesca.
It’s our chapel baby
Can’t wait to marry you.
xoxox
It’s a pic of the mountain and the glass atrium below, I smile broadly. “Check this out.” I hold my phone out and the boys smile as they look at it.
We keep chatting and about fifteen minutes later another text from Francesca bounces in.
Look who I just ran into
It’s my boss.
I stare at the photo and my eyes widen.
Fuck.
I slam my drink down on the table with a thud.
The picture is of Francesca in the snow, a man has his arm around her as they pose for the photograph.
It’s Lombardi.
25
Francesca
We ride the ski lift to the top of the mountain and ski off. “Let’s go down into the next valley,” I say to the others.
“Okay.” Giovanna smiles, she’s pretty good. I can tell already.
“Let go this way.” Carlo gestures to a run that isn’t the usual one.
“Okay.” We ski down and over another hill and on for a while and we see a man standing under a tree. As we get closer I realize that I know him, that’s Mr. Carballo, the boss from the hotels. “What in the world are you doing here?” I laugh as I approach him.