by Paula Kay
“What, Iz?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of Arianna’s ashes. You know how I told you that I’ve been trying to spread them in locations that are important to me? Well…” She laughed lightly. “I’m pretty sure that this spot is going to take a prize in that regard—but it’s okay.”
Her eyes widened as she realized what Thomas had taken out of his pocket.
“You brought them.” She felt the sting of tears for the sweetness in that he’d thought to do so.
“Well, I figured that, assuming you and I were in agreement about you becoming my wife and all, this might be one of those special moments that you’d want to share with her.” He handed her the small box and kissed her on the cheek. “You go. I’ll pour our champagne.”
Isabella took the box and kissed him on the cheek. “I won’t be long. And thank you, Thomas.”
Chapter 33
Isabella took a sip of her champagne. What a magical night it had been! She never would have dreamed that she’d be sitting there as an engaged woman at the end of the night. Everything had happened so fast that she hadn’t had a chance to wrangle all the questions that were now swimming around in her head.
Thomas grinned at her. “I know that look. What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, I’m just thinking that I can’t believe you’re no longer my boyfriend.” She held out her hand so that she could admire the ring. “I, Isabella Dawson, now have a fiancé. Oh, Thomas. We have to call our parents. I can’t wait to tell them. Won’t they all be so pleased?”
Thomas made a funny face.
Isabella laughed. “So, I’m guessing they already know.”
“Well, that would have been one of those phone calls you were getting so angry at me about.” Thomas winked. “In all seriousness, of course I wanted to ask your father for your hand in marriage—which I admit took some bribery.”
Isabella laughed. “Oh, stop. My parents love you.”
“Well, we both know that hasn’t always been the case. But yes, your parents seemed quite pleased.” Thomas lifted an eyebrow. “Iz, what’s going on in that head of yours? Not having second thoughts, are you?”
Isabella reached across the table to grab his hand. “Don’t be silly. I was just thinking about next week—your leaving. There’s no way that I’m not going back with you, Thomas. I’ll just have to make it work in New York. I mean, it’s different now, right? We can travel together later and we can plan a great honeymoon.”
“Iz?”
“Yeah?”
“I might have one more surprise for you.”
“Okay.” Isabella couldn’t imagine what else he could possibly say to surprise her.
“What would you say if I told you that I’m not going back to New York?” Thomas was grinning at her.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I want to stay with you—in Thailand, in Bali—or wherever else we might decide to go.”
“What about school? What are you not telling me? I knew something was up with you about school.”
Thomas laughed. “I decided to try doing an online semester. I’m not leaving NYU. I’ll just be doing my coursework virtually. So, I will be somewhat busy, but as long as we have wi-fi, I figure I can make it work. Well, that is, if you don’t think it would be cramping your style.”
“Are you kidding me? This is my dream come true right now. I mean, pinch me, because I must seriously be dreaming.”
Thomas took a last sip of champagne and stood up to come around to Isabella’s side, reaching for her hand as he helped her out of her chair. He wrapped his arms around her waist and looked into her eyes. “I love you, Iz. I want our every day to be a great adventure together.”
“I love you too. You make me so happy, Thomas. You have no idea.”
During the ride back to the villa, curled up on the backseat of the car together, they discussed their future. The whole night felt completely surreal to Isabella. It was everything she’d ever dared to dream of with Thomas.
Once they’d stopped to take a break from talking and kissing, they called first Isabella’s parents and then Thomas’s to share the news and wish them a Merry Christmas. Isabella also called her birth father, Lucas, in San Francisco and had a hard time getting off the phone with five-year old Annie once the topic of being a flower girl had been mentioned.
Isabella nuzzled closer to Thomas’s chest. “Oh, I can’t wait to phone everyone in Tuscany. They’re going to be so happy, right? Or do they know too?” Isabella laughed.
“No. No one else knows. I thought I’d save that for you to share.” Thomas looked at the time on his phone. “Let’s see, maybe we should give them a few hours. They’re probably having their Christmas dinner right about now.” He tilted her chin up so that he could give her a kiss. “Do you think we can occupy ourselves for a few hours?”
Isabella nodded, content to lie against Thomas’s chest for the remainder of the ride back to the villa—beautiful images of travel, weddings, and future children filling her head.
Chapter 34
Isabella rubbed her eyes as she sat up. “I guess I was tired.”
“Babe, you were out ten minutes into the movie.”
They’d decided to put a movie on when they’d gotten back to the villa, wanting to wait for a good time to call everyone in Italy. Now, nestled close together with Thomas on the sofa, the impact of everything hit Isabella once again. They were going to be married.
“What’s causing that smile on your pretty little face?”
Thomas was rubbing her back in a circular motion, causing her to second-guess the idea she’d had to get up from the sofa. “Mmm. That feels so good.”
He kissed her. “Does it?”
She grinned at him and nodded. “Is this what I have to look forward to every day of my life?”
“Possibly. If you remain so cute and good to me.”
They both laughed, and Isabella finally stood up.
“Shall we call them now? I think it’s probably as good a time as any to try,” Thomas said.
“Can you give me ten minutes?”
“Sure. I’ve got some e-mails to respond to.”
Isabella walked upstairs to the bedroom, stopping on the way in to grab her backpack. She climbed up on the bed and pulled the journal out of the bag. It was Arianna’s—the blue leather one—the first words she’d ever read from her birth mother.
She turned to the letter that she’d been thinking about all night, the vision of Thomas’s face as he’d looked at her in the moonlight forever etched into her memory.
I want for you to know love, Bella—to give your heart to another for all eternity.
If I have any regrets, my biggest one is that I didn’t live long enough to know the true love of my soulmate. I didn’t know what it was like to have an open heart until the end of my days. I’d spent too much of my short life guarded, being afraid to let someone in who could make me feel the pain of potential loss.
Take chances with your heart when you know deep in your soul that the one looking into your eyes loves you like no other.
Be brave and courageous when it comes to love, Bella. Experience it deeply without holding back.
Isabella felt the full impact of the words her mother had written to her. Her heart was completely open to Thomas and she had no doubts about Thomas’s love for her, about the way that he looked at her. She thought about how happy Arianna would have been for her and how much she would have loved Thomas.
Isabella’s heart was full, and she was the happiest that she’d ever been in her entire life.
She smiled as she looked at the one picture of Arianna that she’d tucked inside the journal. It was sad that her birth mother hadn’t lived long enough to know true love, but Isabella wouldn’t dwell on that. She’d focus on what Arianna had wanted for her and be content to know how happy she would have been for Isabella.
She closed the journal and wiped away one single tear before she headed back
downstairs to where Thomas was waiting for her.
Chapter 35
Isabella squeezed Thomas’s hand tight as they waited for the video chat to connect. She could hardly contain the excitement that she felt about telling everyone their news. Thomas leaned over and kissed her just as Lia’s face appeared on the laptop screen.
“Well, hello, you lovebirds.” Her grandmother, Lia, was laughing and soon joined by Isabella’s grandfather beside her.
“Merry Christmas, you two. We sure do miss you here,” Antonio said.
“Merry Christmas. We miss you too.” Isabella grinned into the screen. “Have you had a nice dinner?”
“We have, yes. I’m sure we’ll be passing you around to everyone soon, but let me lift the laptop up so everyone can see your beautiful face,” Antonio said.
Isabella heard Lia in the background. “Shh, everyone. It’s Bella and Thomas.”
Isabella felt tears as she saw them all seated around the table, grinning and shouting out “Merry Christmas” to them—Gigi and Douglas, Blu and Chase, Jemma and Rafael, and a smaller table with all the kids. They were all there, celebrating with one another and happy to have Isabella as part of their special family.
The screen settled in on Gigi and Douglas at the table.
“Merry Christmas, Bella. We miss you and love you so much, honey. Merry Christmas, Thomas,” Gigi was saying into the screen.
“I love you too. Gigi, can you please have Antonio hold up the screen again?” She and Thomas looked at one another before she looked back into the camera, sure that the huge grin on her face was going to give away her surprise. “Thomas and I have a little announcement we’d like to share with you all.”
Moments later, she could again make out everyone sitting at the table.
“Merry Christmas, everyone. I wanted to share with you all the beautiful gift I got from this amazing guy over here.” She laughed, putting the camera fully on Thomas, who waved at everyone.
She grinned into the camera, held out her hand, turning it so that the ring practically filled up the screen. “We’re getting married! Thomas asked me to be his wife!” She couldn’t keep the tears from flowing as she saw the reactions around the room for a split second before Lia’s face filled the screen again—with Jemma, Gigi, and Blu quickly crowding in behind her on the screen.
They were all wiping away tears, and Lia seemed to be having a hard time getting her words together.
“Oh honey, that’s the best news ever. Congratulations, you two,” Antonio said.
“Bella! I’m so happy for you, girl. We need to talk—and plan,” Jemma chimed in, with the biggest grin on her face.
“And it goes without saying that I’ll happily be designing your dress,” Blu said.
Finally Lia seemed to be ready to speak, and by this time Isabella could barely talk herself for all of the emotions she was feeling after seeing everyone so happy for her.
“Bella, we can do the wedding here—at the villa. Please tell me you will. It will be so gorgeous—you will be so gorgeous—and it can be whatever you want—”
“—And Lia and I will help you with everything.” Gigi’s face was suddenly there beside Lia’s as she wiped tears away from her eyes. “Oh, this is just the best news ever.”
Isabella was laughing now, finally able to talk herself. She looked at Thomas. “Lia, we were hoping that you’d say that we could have it there. I can’t think of a better place for our wedding. And I’m sure it will be absolutely perfect, but mostly because of having you all there with us for the occasion.”
Finally, after everyone had said their congratulations and things had calmed down a bit, Antonio appeared back in front of the screen, handing a glass of champagne to Lia. “Thomas, my good man…” He winked into the camera. “Please tell me that you have something worthy of a toast on hand for your lovely bride-to-be.”
Thomas laughed. “In fact I do.” He motioned to Wayan, who appeared seemingly out of nowhere with two glasses of champagne.
Thomas handed one to Isabella and took the other in his own hand as they waited for Antonio to speak.
Antonio held out his glass and Isabella could see everyone behind him doing the same.
“To Bella and Thomas…may the love you feel for one another now, grow only stronger every day.”
Shouts of “cheers” could be heard from around the room.
Isabella finished her goodbyes and closed the laptop. She felt Thomas pull her back down on the sofa next to him. She turned her face slightly so that she could see his face. “Thomas?”
“Yeah?”
“You do realize that you’ve kinda set yourself up here in terms of Christmas surprises.”
Thomas laughed. “You have a good point. Maybe I should go on the record now as saying that I’m not so sure that I have many more surprises left in me.”
“Oh, I kinda doubt that.” Isabella lifted her head so that she could kiss him on the lips. “I have the feeling that our lives together are going to be filled with surprises.”
Thomas smiled back at her. “I think you just might be right about that.”
She felt Thomas’s sweet kiss on her head and heard the words that he whispered as her cheek nestled back against his chest and her eyes closed.
“I’ll love you forever, Iz.”
A Map for Bella
(Book 4)
Bella’s Home
By
Paula Kay
Copyright © 2016 Paula Kay
Cover design by Beetiful Book Covers
All rights reserved.
PaulaKayBooks.com
Chapter 1
Isabella turned slightly so that she could see herself in the full-length mirror, gasping a little when she saw her reflection.
“Is that a good sign or a bad one?” Blu said, taking a pin from between her lips to place it where she was cinching the satin material at Isabella’s waist.
Before Isabella could reply, she heard Gigi’s own gasp from the doorway, followed by Lia’s right after.
“Bella, you’re so beautiful!” Gigi said.
“We’ve been counting down the days to see you in this dress.” Lia walked over to where Isabella stood on a small stool to take her hand, and Isabella didn’t miss the tears in her eyes.
Isabella laughed lightly. “I know. We’ve kept you all waiting a good long time, haven’t we?”
Lia squeezed her hand. “Oh, I don’t know. There’s nothing wrong with a long engagement.”
“Speak for yourself.” Gigi winked. “I was beginning to wonder if Douglas and I would—you know—still be around for the wedding day.”
“Gi, you’re so silly. You and Douglas aren’t going anywhere. Well, Douglas isn’t anyway—not the way he ran that five miles with me yesterday.” Isabella laughed and Gigi leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
“You have a point there. That man is in the best shape I’ve seen him in since we were married—despite all the wonderful food Lia’s always cooking for us,” said Gigi.
“It’s the Tuscan air.” Lia smiled at Gigi. “And our morning walks are paying off for you too. Don’t pretend that you’re not feeling—and looking—pretty wonderful yourself, young lady.”
Isabella looked back down at Blu and the two smiled at one another—it was the silent shared acknowledgment of how great it always felt to be all together.
“Well? I’m still waiting on your thoughts there, little miss bride-to-be. There’s still a lot of work to be done, of course, but what do you think so far?”
“Ooh, it’s better than I ever imagined. Thank you again—so much, Blu—for making my dress—for making all the dresses for me. I still can’t believe that you really have the time.”
Blu winked at her. “I’ll always make time for you and—well, to repeat Gigi’s point, I’ve had a few years to play with the sketches.”
They all laughed and Isabella pulled her hair back away from her face as she looked into the mirror at herself and the other women
sitting nearby. “Well, you know me. We wanted to wait until Thomas was finished with school—until we had a good idea of where we’d end up once we were married.”
Isabella didn’t miss the look that passed between Lia and Gigi. “Wait. What’s that look for, you two?”
“Oh, nothing,” said Gigi.
Blu took the final pin out from between her lips and whispered loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. “Every time you leave the villa, these two talk about how much they want you to stay forever.”
“Believe me, it’s hard for me to leave too,” said Isabella.
Over the past few years, since she and Thomas had gotten engaged, they’d spent Christmases and most of the summers at Lia’s and Antonio’s. After some fantastic European vacations, Isabella’s parents had surprised everyone when they’d decided to sell their house in Connecticut to move to a sweet little village on the coast of Spain. And they too, would often come to Tuscany to stay in one of the many guest houses that Lia and Antonio had added to their property.
When Isabella stopped to think about it, it was a little odd that she and Thomas would be choosing to settle down in Connecticut after all their travels, but she felt that she had to support his decisions when it came to his career.
Thomas had always supported her throughout the years, and Isabella had done her share of waffling back and forth when it came to her settling in New York City. Finally, she’d gotten an apartment and spent time in the city near Thomas about as much as she did away traveling. And they’d made it work, Thomas getting through his studies and Isabella marking off the spots on Arianna’s map.