Page 72 of Married to the Mafia

“But he’s not dead.”

I look at her, and she realizes. “Of course, I forgot. Did you not tell him the truth?”

“He wanted to disappear. Now he can.”

“He’ll still be watching out for his daughter though, so you better be nice.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

We walk over to the building site and watch the work in progress. “It’ll be a good shelter,” I tell her. “You’ll be able to take on more staff and more animals. There’s even a pool for hydrotherapy.”

“For the animals or for me?”

“The mansion gets a pool too but I have one rule for it that must be obeyed at all times.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re only allowed to swim naked.”

“I reckon that’s one rule I might be able to obey.”

I take her hand in mine and we watch the builders at work. “Happy?” I ask.

“I hated you when I found out about this,” she says a minute later. “Now look at me. Gone and got myself hitched to you and thinking about kids. What went wrong?”

“You fell for a bad guy.”

“You’re not a bad guy, Dino. You’re in danger of turning into a good guy if you’re not careful. Just promise me no more secrets.”

“No more secrets.”

“I love you, Dino.”

“I love you, too.”

I look down at her and feel more in love than ever. It’s a good feeling and I’ll do everything in my power to be worthy of her faith in me. Maybe she’s right.

Maybe I can be a good guy. Maybe not.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the future.

29

Rose

Rose

Six months later...

I’m only supposed to be walking past the shelter. I’ve an appointment down on the beach and I intend to make it on time. I know only too well the consequences of being late. I do not have a husband who forgives such things.

I can’t resist going inside. It’s been up and running for a while unofficially, but tonight’s the grand reopening. I promised I would help with things, but I’m meant to be having the day off first. Even on my days off, I find myself popping in.

Amelia’s in there at the moment. Her course is finished, and she’s now a fully qualified veterinary surgeon. I tell myself I’m just going in to say hi but I know the real reason.

I want to see her being interviewed by Carol Thompson for Channel 27. “It’s the grand reopening,” Carol is saying when I walk inside. “Tonight’s the night. How do you feel?”

“Great,” Amelia replies. “We’d like to thank everyonewho donated their time so we could get the new shelter up and running as fast as possible.”

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