Siempre Mío

epilogue

A year later...
When you look back at your past, you'll naturally have many regrets.

Things you did, things you said and so on. But if someone asked me what I regretted the most...

Leaving. Leaving was the most painful thing for me, for my loved ones, for everyone really. It didn't matter whether I did it to protect more people, I still hurt them. Not only them, but I hurt myself too.

That's when I finally realised- life is too short. Life is shorter than you expect, and it won't always work out the way you want it to, and that's okay.

But as I said, life is short. There isn't time for you to consider the number of people you've hurt, or how long you'll be alive to see the love of your life.

That's why we got married.

Lorenzo and I, with our family at the beach. We had a small wedding the way we wanted it, without everyone else's judgement.

It was our life, and we had to choose how to live it.
___________________________
Lorenzo:
Every morning I get to wake up next to the woman I love, forgetting all about the rocky past that we had.

Everything that had happened in the past few years was behind us now, and we were ready to move forward. Together.

Lucía and I had taken over the Italian Mafia, and we were now the largest mafia in the world. Yes, we had many rivals, and there were still battles to fight- but, we would get through them, together.

Every morning, she and I would go through our routines, doing the same thing every day when we woke up and when we went to sleep.

Our lives were different now.

The Don had retired, and was now living in San Marino, around 4 hours away from us.

We visited every two weeks, alternating who would go where and Nonna stayed with them and it was always nice to see her again too. We would call too every now and then

As I said, our lives were different. They had drastically changed- from running all our lives, to being the ones who people ran from.

The people in Italy knew our objective: we wanted to protect. It didn't matter how, and we were feared by many, but we still protected them.

Lucía and I were ready for the next chapter in our lives, and we didn't know when it would begin... until the other day.

I came home from a meeting one day to find Lucía in our room, sitting on the bed.

She was crying.

I kneeled in front of her and cupped her cheeks in my hands, asking her what was wrong and why she was crying.

She said nothing but shook her head.

"Happy tears." She whispered.

Confused, I looked up at her; I lifted her face up slightly and asked why she was crying again.

"Check the bathroom." She said, smiling through the tears despite her sobs.

I got up and gave her a kiss on the forehead, then went to the bathroom.

I switched on the light and looked around, then saw it.

A pregnancy test. Two lines.

I ran back out and I hugged her, picking her up from the bed.

"Seriously?" I asked, my eyes filling with tears of joy.

"Seriously, amor."

I squeezed her tighter then placed her back on her feet, and I knelt before her.

I kissed her stomach and I rested my head there.

Our own child.

Living in there.

It was a magical moment. For the both of us.

We were living the same lives, and we got to share every moment with one another.

I was happy.
___________________________

I was happy. I was pregnant, with his child. I couldn't be happier.

I had told my family immediately. They were all overwhelmed with joy and continued to call me, making sure I was looking after myself properly.

They threw around baby names, gender reveal party ideas and all the other things.

Lorenzo and I were so glad that we were to have a child soon. Our lives would revolve around giving that child the lives we never had.

We wanted the child to be loved, to be cared for. We wanted a safe life for them.

We wanted to raise them right. So we did.

Together. I would never lose Lorenzo ever again. He was mine, like I was his.
___________________________

Lucía was mine, like I was hers.

We had been apart for too long and now we were with one another again. We wouldn't make the mistake of leaving one another ever again.

We knew now that we had to trust one another and resolve our problems together. I always hoped that we would continue our lives together like this.

As I said before, she was mine like I was hers.

Siempre Mío.

L + L