Page 53 of Wild Card (The Trident Trilogy 3)

Millie, Rome, Italy, 2020

We’ve been walking for about ten minutes. He’s squeezing my hand tightly, but hasn’t said anything. He knows my mind’s in knots. He’s giving me a few minutes to unwind it.

When we walk into a peaceful, little piazza, he guides me over to a bench next to a fountain. We sit down and watch a mother and her toddler daughter deciding what flavor to get from the gelato stand. He puts his arm around me and kisses the side of my head. He knows I’m thinking about Mom and what could have been as I watch them.

“Do you want to talk about it now?” he whispers.

I take a deep, shaky breath. “She died without knowing if Dad would have come for her.”

“She knew. Believe me, she knew.”

I look up at him. “Do you think?”

“Yeah,” he says, wiping a tear off my cheek. “She knew Mack. She knew what kind of person he was. He would have taken out an entire army to get to her—to get to you. She knew that, and in the end, she knew he never got that chance.”

“That’s so sad though. She died knowing that.”

“No, Mills, she didn’t,” he says, shaking his head. “From what Amar told us, she fell asleep thinking she was going to wake up in the morning and write Mack another letter. She died with hope and most importantly, she died with the love of her life sleeping on her chest. That’s a beautiful way to go.”

His crystal-blue eyes shine at me as a smile lights up his face. God, I love that face, that smile, those eyes.

“How did I get so lucky?” I say, smiling back at him.

“Lucky?” His forehead wrinkles up. “You lost your mom when you were a week old, not to mention all the crap you’ve been through these past nine years.”

“Yeah, but despite all that, somehow I found you.”

“Baby,” he whispers as he pulls me in for a long, slow kiss. “I’m the lucky one. There’s nothing I did right in my entire life that makes me deserve you, but I’ll keep working at it. Anything you want, I’m going to get it for you. Anything.”

“I want a gelato,” I say, eyeing the little girl who now has gelato dripping down the front of her dress.

Mason laughs. “I was thinking more big picture than that, but yeah, I can get you a gelato. I know strawberry’s your first choice. What do you want if they don’t have it?”

“Surprise me.” As I watch him walk away, I know I’m ready. Just like that, I know.

He turns around and smiles at me. “They don’t have strawberry. Do you want pistachio or peach?”

“Yes.”

“Mills,” he says, laughing as he takes a few steps back toward me, “it’s not a yes or no question.”

“That’s not the question I’m answering.”

He walks the rest of the way over to me. “What? What question are you answering?”

“The one you asked me a couple of months ago,” I say, smiling, “when we were sitting out on our back porch, eating burritos. Do you remember what you asked?”

He sits down quickly and takes my hand. “Vividly, and I remember what you answered.”

I shrug and tilt my head. “Maybe you should ask again. The answer might be different this time.”

“Millie,” he says, pulling me onto his lap so he can look directly into my eyes, “you know I want to marry you more than anything, but you’ve had one of the hardest days of your life. Maybe today isn’t the day to make big decisions.”

I smile at him. “What? Have you rescinded the question?”

“You know I haven’t.”

He’s looking at me sternly. It’s the look he uses when he’s trying to discipline me. He should know by now that all it does is turn me on. I lean forward for a kiss. He kisses me for a few seconds and then pushes me back a little. He’s squinting his eyes hard.

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