Page 109 of The Strength Of A Woman

“Yeah… Look at me now. Let’s take a walk to the other side. We can leave our horses here,” I suggest, already dismounting.

LEILANI

The afternoonlight hugs us like an old friend.

We’re both heated, thoughtful, looking for words to say.

We’ve entered that phase where we’re careful about what we say for fear of messing up, at the same time brimming with anticipation.

We know that a lot is about to happen to us.

Good and bad stuff.

And after last night's events, we want to pace ourselves and make this good feeling last as long as we can.

Having the prospect of this kind of danger in our minds makes us think more deeply about what we want and don’t want in life and arms us with the persistence and courage we need to pursue it.

Dirt crumbles beneath our feet as we look for a patch of grass, and eventually find one.

We stop, and he gives me the story of the property.

He tells me that he was tempted to buy it at some point, and now he weighs that option again, his words echoing in the air.

I’ve never seen happily married people.

Most of the married couples I had in my life lived a lie, so my point of reference is nonexistent.

But I imagine they would look like us.

Bullets flew through the house last night, and now we’re here talking about aromatic grapes, delicious wine, and Sicily’s perfect weather.

In a different life, he’d fit perfectly in this picture.I can see him running an estate like this, making money with it, and raising a family.

I can see him do it in this life as well, although under different circumstances, without his most ferocious enemies on the prowl––which sadly now includes my family––and outside the circle of crime, which will probably never happen.

The odds are stacked against us once we’re born into this world.

Ask me how I know.

But hope dies last, and we, as people, have this unique ability to make the impossible possible.

It’s just that our failure rate is high.

That has never stopped us.

His hand holds mine, and I get cradled by his voice, enchanted by his eyes, and fascinated by the serious matters we discuss.

For the first time, someone talks to me like I’m an adult, instead of dismissing me and sending me to my room.

My mother got many things wrong and made a ton of mistakes, but she surely did one thing right when she started talking about sending me overseas.

What she had hoped, though, never happened.

Her sending me overseas helped my dreams come true. What she was afraid of ended up happening.

It goes without saying that you can’t fight fate, not even when you’re Bianca Gallo.

The sun moves slowly toward the horizon when he drapes his arm over my shoulders, and I have that feeling that he trusts me, a gift I’m infinitely grateful for.