SWNOVELS Mafia Kings: Massimo: Chapter 69
During our hike back through the woods, I held my umbrella in my right hand – and admired the ring on my left.
I held out my hand in front of me at different angles: down low, up high, hand flat, palm facing outwards. The red plastic gem didn’t catch any sunlight since there was no sunlight to catch, but I didn’t care.
I was absolutely giddy.
When I was little, before my parents died, I used to sneak into my mother’s bedroom and play with her jewelry. She kept it in a polished wooden box with black velvet inside – and it thrilled me every time I opened the lid and saw the glittering bracelets and earrings.
But my absolute favorites were her rings. They were way too big for my tiny little fingers, but I loved putting them on and admiring them. Sometimes when Mama caught me, she would smile and take off her wedding and engagement rings and let me wear them for a few minutes.
But my favorite was when I got a ring of my own –
Out of a bubblegum machine.
I was five years old. I don’t remember why I was in the store – whether it was in Venice or on another vacation – but I remembered my excitement when I put in the coin my father gave me, turned the handle clack-clack-clack, and my very own ring came tumbling out in a plastic bubble.
It was cheap – painted shiny gold, with a piece of clear plastic that was supposed to be a diamond – but I loved it.
I wore it every day for months until the gold paint flaked off and the ring finally broke.
Massimo had unknowingly summoned all those memories of when I was five years old, before tragedy destroyed everything…
When I was still innocent and didn’t know my parents might not always be there…
And my most treasured possession was a toy out of a bubblegum machine.
As I looked at my new ring, I knew it was childish…
But that’s how Massimo made me feel: like a child.
In a good way. The best way possible.
Happy… playful… like I was living inside a storybook…
And he made me feel safe.
Safer than I’d ever felt since I was six years old.
“If I had my phone, I would totally take a picture and put it on Instagram,” I said as we started down a muddy back road.
Massimo chuckled. “Wait until we get you a better one.”
“Nope. As soon as I get a phone, I’m posting it.”
“Won’t people make fun of you?”
“Oh yeah,” I agreed happily. “Fuck ‘em.”
He laughed out loud, stopped me in my tracks, and kissed me.
I was the happiest girl in the world.
After we started walking again, hand in hand, I told him, “I used to have a ring like this when I was little.”
“What happened to it?”
“It broke.”
“Did you keep it after it broke?”
“…no,” I said, and suddenly became somber. “I threw away a lot of things when I was little that I wish I’d kept.”
Massimo could tell that something had shifted.
“Like what?” he asked gently.
I stared off into the distance, lost in the past. “I had a little stuffed rabbit that I loved. I don’t know when I got it – it was just always there, ever since I could remember.
“I had it with me when my parents died. Afterwards, I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore… so I told Nona to throw it away. I guess she did because I never saw it again.
“I wish she’d kept it in a drawer somewhere instead… because even though it was a reminder of the worst day of my life… it was the only thing I had besides pictures that was connected to my parents.”
My eyes were misting up, but I looked up at him and smiled as I held up my hand. “This… this will be a memory of the best day of my life.”
He stopped me again, but this time he was serious. He looped his strong arms around me and pulled me in close.
“I want it to be a memory of something else,” he said softly.
“What?”
“That I will always be there for you. I will never leave you… I will always protect you… and no matter what happens, no matter where you go, I will always come after you.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks – happy tears – and I smiled.
Then we kissed out there with the rain dripping down from the trees all around us.
Besides the moment he proposed to me…
It was the most romantic moment of my life.