brambles and seeing Max arrive just too late.
“At least I didn’t get wet this time,” she commented shakily, then stopped dead as she saw Max’s ashen face. He leaped from his horse and grabbed her, looking her over as though he expected to find broken limbs and gaping flesh wounds.
“Are you all right?” he demanded harshly. “Isabella, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I think.” After all, she hadn’t had time to take an inventory. “I’m okay, but poor Mimi…”
He swore in a way that would have sent chills down Mimi’s spine if she’d heard him. “Never mind that damn horse. You could have been killed.”
“But I wasn’t.”
“No, but…” He took her by the shoulders, searching her face, then looked over his shoulder at the waterfall with such a look of dread, it took her breath away.
“What is it, Max?”
She put her hands flat against his chest, staring into his face. And suddenly, she knew.
“Is this where…?”
He looked at her as though he’d never seen her before.
“We have to go,” he said curtly. “We have to get out of here.”
“Oh, Max.”
He turned toward the horse and swung up, pulling her up in front of him just as he had that first night. His face was like stone but she could feel the tension in him and see it in the cords of his neck. His dark eyes were filled with pain and a pulse was beating at his temple. She saw all this and didn’t dare say a word. Just before they started off, he looked back toward the waterfall and the anguish in his face sent her reeling. Here, obviously, was the core and crux of his torment. This had to be the place where his young wife had died.
They rode hard back toward the palazzo, but after a few minutes the horse swerved into another direction and she realized he was taking them to the Rossi cemetery instead. They arrived and he lowered her, then dismounted himself. Without a word, he turned and strode off into the courtyard. Biting her lip, she followed, though she wasn’t at all sure she was welcome.
At first she thought he was heading for the little marble chapel, but he turned into the flower garden instead. Turning, he waited while she joined him. Her heart beat like a drum as she looked into the desolation in his eyes.
“Isabella, I’m sorry. I…I think you’ve probably guessed why I was upset near the waterfall. I just need a few minutes to unwind. If you could wait out by the chapel…”
“You want me to go and wait for you?”
“Yes. Please.”
She was already shaking her head. “No,” she said. “No, I won’t go.”
He stared at her as though he wasn’t sure she understood. “Isabella…”
“Max.” She grabbed his arm and looked up into his tortured face. “I think you should talk about it. I think you should tell me…”
“No.” He pulled away from her touch. “I don’t talk about this. Not to anyone.”
“That’s why you must,” she insisted passionately.
He began to back away, but she wouldn’t let him go. “Max, don’t you see? You need to talk about it. You’ve probably been holding it all inside for ten years. You have to talk.” Tears filled her eyes. Taking his arm again, she shook it, not sure what else she could do to convince him. “Tell me about her. What was she like?”
He stared down at her. “Laura?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” she said. “Tell me about Laura.”
He turned woodenly and slumped onto the garden bench. She slipped in beside him, taking his hand in hers.
“What did she look like?” she asked gently.
“An angel.” His voice was gruff as gravel and he cleared his throat. “Blonde hair, light as a feather. And so fragile…” His voice broke.
Isabella squeezed his hand. “You loved her.”
“Yes.” He nodded. “I loved her from the moment I saw her.” His voice was getting stronger. “She was good and kind and so very loving. Our life together was like a fairy tale. We were so happy.”
Isabella nodded as he went on and on about his wonderful wife. His pain was clear in his voice and it was agony just to listen to him. But it was also good. She needed it, too. She wanted to understand him.
“When we found out we were going to have a baby,” he said at last, “we thought life couldn’t get any better.”
A baby. Isabella blinked hard and looked away. She hadn’t realized Laura was pregnant. That only made it all so much worse. Her heart already ached for him, now it broke in two.
“Our favorite place to have a picnic was by the waterfall,” he was saying. “But we shouldn’t have gone that day.” His voice was almost a monotone now. “I’d been up most of the night before trying to solve a problem with the accountant. I was dead tired. But Laura had been planning a special celebration and I didn’t want to disappoint her. So we went, and we toasted the baby that was on the way, and we ate Laura’s special croissants that she had just learned how to make.” His voice was suddenly choked. “And then we lay back on the blanket, wrapped in each other’s arms. And the next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes and she was gone.”
His hand was gripping hers tightly now, so tightly she could hardly stand it, but she didn’t complain.
“I looked around. I couldn’t imagine where she could have gone. And then I saw a bit of her dress floating in the water.” A shudder went through him and he pulled his hand away from hers, leaning forward, his face in his hands. “I was in a frenzy. I pulled her from the water. Her foot had been stuck between two stones. I was so sure I could make her breathe again. I tried and tried. But it was too late. She was dead.” His voice was harsh now, harsh and grating.
“Gone forever.”
And then his shoulders began to shake and she knew he was releasing his grief at last.
He blamed himself. She’d seen it in his eyes, in every fiber of his being, as though despair and regret were all he knew. He blamed himself and it was so unfair. How could she get him to see that?
She stayed beside him, very quiet, until she could sense he would accept a bit of comfort, and then she touched his back, rubbing her hand softly up and down.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “Oh, Max, I’m so sorry.”
He rose slowly and turned toward her, his face ravaged. “Don’t be sorry for me,” he said coldly. “I don’t deserve it. I let her die. I let them both die.”
She gasped. “Max, how can you say that? You were asleep.”
“Yes. Exactly. I was asleep. I should have…” His voice faded.
