“I’m sorry. I…I…” Ava stammered. “No. Mi dispiace,” she apologized. “I don’t speak Italian. Non capisco. I wanted information about your furniture…um…for the children. Bambino? Parla inglese?” She rested her forehead in her hands. “Nessun problema. Ciao.” She couldn’t put the phone down fast enough. “Impossible,” she wailed, massaging her temples gently. “It is so hard trying to get through.”

“You are in Italy,” declared Rona. “It seems only fair that you speak the language.”

“I thought English was universal.”

“So what if it is? You’re in Italy and you plan on living here. I’d say it’s time you learned Italian.”

Ava groaned again.

“Do you know you put on a false Italian accent when you’re talking?”

“I do?” Ava was shocked.

“It’s not going to make them understand you.”

“I know,” Ava mumbled to herself. “I didn’t know I was doing it. Oh, God. I hope they don’t think I’m being offensive.”

“Your children will be fluent in Italian, Ava, so you might want to think about taking some lessons.”

Rona pulled open the filing cabinet and rifled through it. Ava considered her sister’s advice, not that she often took it, and groaned even louder, causing Rona to drop the file she was holding. “What’s wrong?” Rona asked, looking worried.

“A new language, new places, new customs, a new life, new country, new husband and a new baby.”

Rona’s features relaxed. “I thought the baby had kicked or something. Your point?” Rona crossed her arms, waiting.

“I’m scared.”

“About what?”

“Of everything happening so fast.”

“You should have thought of that when you had unprotected sex.”

“I don’t mean about the baby,” retorted Ava. “I…” She didn’t know how to explain it. Her whole life had changed ever since she’d come to Italy and now she was taking the next step up, a real commitment, with a man who loved her. But the magnitude of the change still overwhelmed her.

“You have Nico. There’s no reason to be scared. And they also drive on the same side of the road, so that’s a bonus. One less thing to worry about.”

“Some days I miss Starbucks. Sometimes I crave Dennys and IHOP.”

“What for?” Rona shot her a confused look. “You get nicer, tastier, and classier coffees and pancakes here.”

“But it feels strange to know that I am leaving it all behind—the places I grew up in.”

“You miss Denver?” Rona picked up the file and slipped it back into the cabinet.

“I have, lately.” This was what happened when she started to slow down at work in readiness for her wedding. Not being crazy busy gave her the time to sit and reminisce and to consider the life changing step she was about to embark on.
She wasn’t only getting married, she was emigrating and bringing her children up in a new country. A country she had come to love, but a country that was still as new and as unfamiliar to her, as it was beautiful. It would be home to her children and her Italian husband, but would it ever feel like home to her? She’d thought so the whole time, had fallen in love with the place as deeply as she’d fallen in love with Nico. But now she was beginning to wonder, and the doubts had started to creep in. She would miss her mom, and Rona and Carlos and her niece, and her friends in Denver. She would see them, but perhaps once a year, maybe less?

“I’ve never seen you happier, Ava.” Rona tried to assure her. “These are just last-minute wedding jitters. It’s natural.”

“But what if I’m making a mistake?”

“Marrying Nico?” Rona stared at her in surprise.

“Not Nico,” Ava replied. “He’s the one constant in my life.” She exhaled loudly. “Maybe you’re right,” Ava sighed. “Maybe I’m being nostalgic because it’s getting so close to the wedding. I keep remembering the things I’ve left behind.” She rested back in her chair and let her hands fall to her lap, as she stared down at the bump that now passed for her stomach. Being six months pregnant, it resembled the size of a small, rounded watermelon. “I’m scared about the baby. I don’t know anything about babies; I’ve only looked after Tori and I must have changed her diapers a handful of times. Mom isn’t going to stay here forever. What’ll I do if I’m stuck? Who will I call?”

“You can call me.” Rona sat down at her small corner desk. “And as a mom, it’s all second nature. I didn’t have a clue but it kinda comes to you.”

Ava listened to her sister but felt a strong urge to go for a walk in the gardens and to forget her troubles.

“Hey.” Rona’s voice turned soft. “What’s going on? You’re not having second thoughts about moving here, are you?” She walked over to Ava’s side and placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. Ava reached up and put her hand over it.

“No second thoughts,” she replied. “I’m happy. I really am,” but she was beginning to well up. One lousy call to a supplier whose nursery furniture she’d seen online, and a few minutes of non-communication had left her almost in tears. Lately, she’d been mulling over things. In the early days she’d been caught up in her roller coaster romance with Nico, and then she’d fallen pregnant not long after they’d met, and with the news of her pregnancy, then the shocking news of Edmondo’s passing—all of the months leading up to now had been filled with one drama after another. She’d never had time before to think about the change that had taken place in her life in the space of less than a year. But now that she was starting to slow down, with her wedding only days away, she found herself thinking too much about many things and it often left her feeling sad. She wasn’t sure why.

“Hey,” Rona kissed the top of her head.

A quick rap on the door commanded her attention as the door opened and Elsa and Nico walked in together. They both stared at her.

“What’s wrong?” they both asked in unison, as two pairs of eyes descended on her. Ava smiled. “Nothing,” she replied, staring back at Nico and feeling heat radiate through her chest. She loved the way his eyes shone full of love and concern each time he looked at her. That was all it took for her fear to disintegrate.

“Still working?” Nico asked her. She’d bet ten dollars he’d been at his desk until a minute ago.

“You told me you would stop today.” Elsa looked at Ava’s cluttered desk with disdain.

“It’s no use,” Rona appealed to both of them. “You’re going to have to physically remove her.”

“Ava, honey. Time to unplug and remove yourself.” Elsa’s voice was firm.

Nico stepped forward, the warmth emanating from his relaxed smile. “Come on, Ava. Time to go. We’ve got a few things to do yet and I’ve booked you into the spa tomorrow, once you’ve got your wedding dress fitting out of the way.”

Ava looked horrified. “But I don’t have the time—”

“And that’s exactly why you need it.”

“A bride with no time to unwind?” Elsa asked her, in that simple and effective way she had of dealing with her girls, with her usual healthy dose of common sense and kindness.

“Why don’t you close the office for a few days?” Rona suggested.

“I can’t,” replied Ava, testily. “You’re going to have to keep an eye on things until the wedding day.” She wanted to knock that idea right out of her sister’s head.

“I was hoping to go sight-seeing with Carlos and Tori.” Rona stuck out her bottom lip.

“Lose the pout, honey,” said Elsa. “Don’t go giving Tori ideas.”

With her attention still on Nico, Ava listened to the exchange between her mother and her sister. Rona going sight-seeing with her husband? This was news to her. Things between the couple had been icy lately but after Tori’s temporary ‘disappearance’ a few days ago; she’d noticed that they seemed to be more attentive towards one another.

“If you could work a few hours between now and Thursday then sure, by all means, you and Carlos take some time together,” Ava told her. She’d have to revisit her ideas about getting her sister to look after her business while she and Nico were away on honeymoon. It didn’t seem fair to ask Rona to work and it was definitely not fair for Carlos, since he’d made the effort to come over for the wedding a few weeks earlier than planned.

It must have taken some heavy convincing to take so much time away from the busy family run restaurants he worked in with his father and brothers.

“Have you tried on your bridesmaid’s dress? Does it need any adjustments?” Ava asked.

“I tried it on a couple of weeks ago—sure it fits. It was fine then; it’ll be fine now. Remember, I’m not the one who’s growing by the hour.”

“And that kind of comment isn’t going to get you any half days around here,” said Ava, wanting to wipe that smug smile off her sister’s face. At times she still had to remind her sister that she was the boss.

Rona’s face turned somber. “I’m almost done with filing all the most recent orders and I updated the website this morning. If I finish what you gave me, could I take the afternoon off?” Rona never changed. But if it meant Carlos got to have some downtime, then who was Ava to stand in the way? “If you’ve done everything you needed to for today then you’re free to go.”

“How about you finishing now?” Nico asked her.

And do what? She still had more emails to go through, a call with Kim to schedule, and some statistics she wanted to check.

“How about you at least stop for lunch with me?” Nico suggested. “We can make a list of the things we need to do between now and Friday. That’s our wedding day, in case you forgot.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” she said quickly, not wanting this wonderful man to think that she was treating their wedding day as a normal day of the week.

“Lunch would be a good thing for the baby,” Elsa reminded her.

“Shouldn’t you be resting, Mom? I don’t want to hear about any more dizziness or falls from you.”

“Your doctor has given me different medication and this one suits me better. I haven’t felt dizzy in days.”

“No more hospital visits or being taken out on a gurney, okay, Mom?” Rona insisted.

Elsa gave her daughters a haughty look and made a move towards the door. “I’ll leave this to you, Nico,” she said, nodding at him. “I’m going to check on that new gardener of yours and to make sure that he hasn’t hacked my lemon trees.” She addressed the girls. “Your Uncle Hugo and Aunty Camile arrive tomorrow, and I’ve been telling them about the gardens. I hope that man hasn’t ruined them,” she said before slipping out of the office.

“Since when did they become her lemon trees?” Ava wondered out aloud.

“Mom seems to think she has dominion over the gardens. Poor Salvatore,” said Rona. She flitted back and forth between her desk and the filing cabinet and put away a pile of recent order sheets. Ava watched her, not having seen Rona move so fast before.

Her sister’s early arrival, almost a month and a half before the wedding, had been a gamble. Rona had helped and over time she had become more diligent and conscientious about her work. But, goodness, she took her sweet time doing it. Not for nothing did Kim have good reason to complain about her. Ava considered Kim to be a valuable addition to her business for it was Kim who held the fort over in Denver, dealing with customer queries and sending out orders. Together with Rona, the women worked out of Ava’s old apartment but they seemed to clash more than they got on.

“I’m done,” exclaimed, Rona, standing up and getting ready to leave.

“That was fast,” Ava commented, drily. “Did you—”

“Yes, I’ve filed the recent orders, double-checked the new order for Andrea, and I’ve updated the product descriptions for the new high chairs. You said I could go now. May I? Please, Miss?”

Ava tut-tutted with her mouth. “Go on,” she said. “Be nice to Carlos.” With only her and Nico left in her office, Ava sat back in her chair, resting her arm on the armrest. Nico smiled at her. “I swear, each day you get bigger and rounder—” He stopped abruptly as the scowl settled on her face. “You’re going to look lovely,” he told her. But she knew he liked her this way; softer, curvier. Just as well there was no need for birth control anymore because Nico couldn’t keep his hands off her. As her pregnancy had progressed, her sexual drive had shot through the roof and each night ended well. Happily.

“Rona and Carlos might have reached a truce,” Ava commented, then shrugged away the tension that was beginning to build up in her shoulders.

“I agree,” said Nico. “Maybe coming that close to losing Tori—”

“Thinking they lost her.” Ava corrected him.

“Same thing. They didn’t know she was safe with Lizzi. All the same, it must have been scary for them both. I think it brought them together—and it’s a good thing. It’s one less thing to worry about on the wedding day.” He held out his hand to her.

“Are you worried about the wedding day?” she asked him. Because she wasn’t. Her only concern was how she would look in her dress, and it wasn’t the image of the svelte bride that she’d had in mind. She got up slowly and took his hand.

“I’m not worried, especially now that I’ve given the priest a sweetener to turn a blind eye to the fact that we’ve obviously gone beyond the kissing stage in our courtship.” He ran his fingers over her belly.

“Don’t say that.” Sometimes she wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not.

“You know I didn’t. Thank goodness my father was held in such high esteem in Montagnano,” he said, referring to the village he grew up in and the place where they would be married.

“I can’t wait to marry you, Ava Ramirez.”

“I can’t wait to marry you, Mr. Cazale.”

“You don’t have to change your name, you know.”

“So you keep telling me.” Many women in Italy didn’t take their husband’s surname. “But I want to have the same name as our baby. And I don’t like double-barreled names.”

“No?” asked Nico, considering it. “Cazale-Ramirez doesn’t hold much appeal?”

“Ramirez-Cazale,” she insisted, changing the order, “is too much of a mouthful. It’s the sort of thing Connor would have done.”

“Must you mention him?”

“I store my products in his garage. Be nice to him.” She wanted to tell him before the wedding.

Nico raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t secretly invited him to the wedding have you?”

“No,” she said slowly. She would never have. But his recent request for her to loan him some money had put her in an awkward position. She didn’t want to hide this from Nico.

“Good. I’d rather you didn’t mention his name to me, and I’m going to get your space issues resolved so you’ll never have to feel obligated towards him.” He kissed her lightly on the lips. “Lunch, and lists, and freedom. I’ve booked lunch in Verona, at that restaurant with a balcony view.”

“How thoughtful of you.” It would be better to leave news of Connor to the side, for now. As they walked out of the double glass doors and she carefully walked down the steps, she asked, “When do you plan to tell me where we’re going on our honeymoon?”

“Not yet.” He was obviously still sticking to his guns.

“I need to know so I know what to pack,” she protested.

“Dresses and skirts for the day, nothing for the night.” He slipped his hand around her bulging waist. “I can’t wait to get away from here and to spend all day and night in bed with you.”