heard Alessandra’s heavy sigh. “It took a lot of courage on your part to tell me and I admire you for keeping quiet about it for as long as you have in order to protect Dea.”
“What worries me now is where you want to go from here.”
“I don’t know, Rini. In the morning I’ll have an answer. Thank you for the greatest day I’ve ever known. Buonanotte.”
He heard the rustle of her sleeping bag. She’d turned away from him physically and emotionally. Unable to lie this close to her without reaching for her, he stood up and went outside to walk around. A three-quarter moon lit up the night sky. He didn’t need a flashlight or a fire to see the forested landscape. The lake shone a mystic silver.
She’s not going to marry you, Montanari. I can feel it in my bones.
Rini felt like he was burning up with fever. The cool night air brought some relief. He eventually planted himself beneath the trunk of a pine tree close to the tent so he could keep an eye on her. Several times he nodded off, but was wide awake at six craving coffee.
After making it, he heated it on the ultralight stove. Once he’d downed a cup, he walked over to the stream. Though he cast his line half a dozen times, nothing was biting yet. Maybe it was an omen to prepare him for what was to come.
He could have kept the secret he’d shared with her aunt, but wouldn’t have been able to live with it long. Alessandra’s tearful breakdown proved to him he’d done the right thing telling her. But it was possible he’d written the death sentence on a future life together with her.
Near eight o’clock she stepped outside the tent with a false smile, dressed in another pair of jeans and a white pullover. One by one she produced their sleeping bags, all rolled up and snug in their cases. He didn’t have to hear a word from her to know their vacation had come to an end.
Her eyes darted to his. “Buongiorno, Rini. I detected coffee. It smells so much better out in the forest, don’t you think?”
Without saying anything he poured her a cup and handed it to her.
“Grazie.” She eyed his pole. “I heard your line snaking in the air. Evidently you didn’t have any luck fishing this morning or you’d be cooking our breakfast.”
Rini had all the chitchat he could take. “Why don’t you just tell me what I already know,” he groaned.
This morning she was dry-eyed. “Papà once said that Zia Fulvia was the wisest woman he’d ever known. After what we talked about last night, I’m convinced of it. I’m honored by your marriage proposal, Rini. No thrill will ever equal it. But even if I’ll love you to my dying breath, I don’t want to see you again. I’m ready to hike back to the car whenever you say.”
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