Chapter 9 - HANNAH'S PROMISE
Dating Luca Moretti was ridiculous.
Security at restaurants.
People staring.
Matteo appearing thirty feet away pretending not to guard us.
I hated most of it.
Luca tried normal.
Normal did not come naturally.
First date:
Private dining room.
I left.
Second:
Entire restaurant reserved.
I almost left.
Third:
Pizza place.
Public.
No tuxedo.
He wore jeans.
Sophia had apparently coached him.
Better.
He asked about nursing school.
I asked about legitimate-business restructuring.
He admitted the Moretti empire was shrinking.
Some people left.
Some became angry.
Federal scrutiny continued.
He accepted it.
“Regret?”
I asked.
“Sometimes.”
“Good.”
He laughed.
“You like discomfort.”
“I like honesty.”
“When it costs something?”
“Exactly.”
Months passed.
No instant marriage.
No Cinderella transformation.
I kept my apartment.
My job.
School.
Luca kept the mansion.
Sophia moved between therapy and ordinary childhood.
Then one night she called.
“Hannah?”
“Yeah?”
“Dad is being weird.”
“Specific.”
“He has a ring.”
I almost choked.
“What?”
“He told Matteo.”
“Why are you listening to Matteo?”
“He talks loudly.”
Three days later Luca asked me to walk along the river.
Ashwood Bridge had been rebuilt.
I hated going there.
He knew.
So we stopped before it.
“I won't ask there.”
“Good.”
He smiled.
“I don't want the worst thing that happened to us becoming the background for the best thing.”
That was unexpectedly wise.
He proposed in a small park.
No guards visible.
No photographers.
No giant diamond.
Simple ring.
“Hannah.”
“Yes?”
“You saved Sophia once.”
I shook my head.
“Careful.”
He corrected.
“You saved her from the river.”
“Yes.”
“She saved herself afterward.”
“Yes.”
“And somewhere in the middle, both of you saved me from becoming someone I didn't want to be.”
My eyes filled.
“That is unfairly good.”
“I practiced.”
“Obviously.”
He held the ring.
“Will you marry me?”
I thought about the girl in freezing water.
The father I never met.
The letters.
The voicemail.
Three stolen years.
Then everything built afterward.
“Yes.”
Sophia screamed from behind a tree.
I closed my eyes.
“You brought her?”
Luca looked offended.
“She followed.”
Matteo emerged behind another tree.
May you like
“Technically true.”
I laughed until I cried.
