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“I suppose it doesn’t matter. Not really. I did get there in time. And I stopped him from doing something rash.” A soft laugh escapes me. “I guess that’s my reason for being, hmm?

“Thank you, God. Thank you for stopping him from breaking his vow to us.”

My eyes water as I reach back and rub my shoulder. My wings prickled earlier, something they hadn’t done in quite a while.

“His vows matter to him, God. Thank you for helping me help him.” I press my fingers to my lips and release them, knowing the salutation will be received where it was earned.

CHAPTER 46

Andrea

FOUR YEARS LATER

Islip my hand into Savio’s and he squeezes. Hard enough to make me realize he’s feeling more than he’s showing.

Not that it comes as a surprise, considering what’s happening.

We bought a place on the Côte d’Azur, two hours away from the town where Savio grew up, afterVows We Breakhit movie theaters. We’ve made sure to spend time here every year so that we could stay close to his family.

It’s easy to have freedom when you homeschool. The not-so-small-anymore kids are standing with us beside their grandpapa’s gravesite, tears rolling down their faces for a man who loved with his whole heart and passed that trait on to his son and grandchildren.

The closeness we’ve fostered in our children with their grandparents is evident in how Roman’s arm is curved around his grandma’s waist and how his head is tilted onto her shoulder.

He’s somber for a seventeen-year-old, unlike his more playful sisters. I see a shade of his father in him, especially where his kindness is concerned, and his protectiveness is borderline obsessive.

But I don’t mind that.

His sisters flit around like dandelions flying in the breeze. They’re the light to his dark, just as I am for his father. I almost think he’ll be like Savio in that he’ll be a one-woman man. Now that he and Lola have declared their love for one another after the last couple years of bickering, that’s it for him. And for her.

It’s a shame my father-in-law died in an accident on the roads here. His and Lola’s plan was to open a vet practice together, and I’d have far preferred for Roman to work with animals than become a doctor, but it’s these kinds of traumas that sit in young minds and grow roots.

I saw my boy’s face when we were in the local clinic, the impotent rage in him as he balled his fists while we waited on doctors to heal his grandpapa.

They failed.

He’s been angry ever since.

I turn my face into Savio’s arm, clutching his hand as I do so.

He’s looking stoic because I know he wants to be anywhere other than here. The service is Catholic, and he’s made it a point to avoid all things religious since we first got together.

We lead tight lives. We’re always together, and while we have our freedoms and our mutual hobbies, I think he’d tell me if he visited a chapel…

As the burial slides to a close, I face the cemetery where countless loved ones have been buried over time.

I like it here.

Not the cemetery, although it’s peaceful. But France. It does something for me.

The States is home, and my parents, now that my dad retired, live close to us on the farm in northern Oregon when they’re not traveling the country in their RV, but I just...

I don’t know.

I intended for us to stay here until Lilith adapted to a life without Giuseppe, but I have good vibes about this place.

We came for long summer nights and the freedom of the French countryside. We wanted the kids to learn French naturally and for them to grow closer to their other family, so we’ve made this our almost-home.

But not a permanent living place.

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