Sweet Hope
Page 107“And you’re my forever too,” I replied. The image of my sculpture suddenly came to my mind, and I said, “Axel… your new sculpture…” I trailed off unable to find the words to express how I felt.
“Did you... like it?” he asked hesitantly, his rugged face for a moment racked with a nervous innocence.
“Did I like it?” I asked with a single laugh, “I can’t… I can’t believe that’s how you see me… your hope… your wish come true…”
“You are my hope, Ally. You’re every hope I’ve ever dared to have… la mia luce.”
“Axel,” I murmured. Carefully leaning down to his bruised mouth, I gently melded my lips to his. The kiss was everything I wanted to convey, but was unable to say with words.
As we broke away, I smiled. “Your show was a hit, baby. Vin’s already had offers for it to go on tour. Just think, your exhibition in the biggest art museums in the world… the entire world will stand witness to your genius.”
Axel glanced away, then looked back to me, a nervous expression on his face. “Axel? What is it?” I questioned, “Aren’t you happy? This is life changing. It’s a dream come true.”
“I don’t know,” he replied and I frowned. “My happiness all depends…”
Rearing back, I asked, “On what?”
I blinked, then blinked again, before a wide elated smile pulled on my lips. “Axel, are you asking me to go around the world with you?”
Axel smirked at me in that devastating way that only he had mastered and said, “I ain’t fucking going nowhere without you, carina. I know what I want… and it’s you. You’re the only one who’s ever got me. Fuck, baby, you really have got me in every possible way.”
Feeling like I could die from happiness, I tilted my head and said, “Lo giuri?”
He huffed a laugh back and nodded his head. “I fucking swear it on everything I am.”
“And where would we live?” I asked, the surreal turn of this conversation was becoming difficult to track.
“Wherever you want, but—”
“But what?”
“But I’d kinda like to be near my brothers here in Seattle. Weirdly, I'm getting used to the gray clouds and rain.”“Then you’re gonna be living with me,” Axel firmly instructed.
Warmth flooded my body and I nodded my head. “Of course. Te amo,” I said in a state of perfect contentment, and curled into Axel’s arms.
Hearing a peaceful sigh from Axel too, he whispered back, “Ti amo, carina. You’ve got all the love I have.”
As I closed my eyes, safe with the man whose soul was forever fused to mine, I sent a silent prayer to Axel’s Mamma…
I have him now, Chiara. Your lost son is found. You can finally rest in peace.
Epilogue
Axel
Seattle, Washington
“It’s okay, carina, you can do it.”
“I’m so tired,” Ally whispered, her beautifully tanned face pale and her body exhausted.
I ran my hands down her cheek. “One more push, baby. One more push and she’ll be here.”
Love sparkled in Ally’s Spanish eyes. She nodded her head. The doctor looked up at my wife. “This is it, Ally, one more push and you’ll meet your daughter.”
Clutching her hand in mine, Ally squeezed my fingers tight and pushed as hard as she could. My heart beat so fast I thought it would burst from my chest. Ally gasped for breath, and the most amazing sound hit my ears—the sound of high-pitched crying.
My legs turned to jelly as I caught sight of the doctor holding a tiny baby. The nurses wiped her clean, just before they lifted her and placed her on Ally’s bare chest.
Ally’s face was streaming with tears as she looked down at our newborn daughter, a jet-black crop of hair already on her head. As I moved to the head of the bed, looking down at my two beautiful girls, I couldn’t describe the overwhelming sense of home that hit me with the force of a Mack truck.
Ally’s glowing face looked up at me and broke into a disbelieving smile. “Axel… we have a daughter,” she said, her voice hoarse from all the hours of labor.