Promises We Break

Epilogue

Valentina Bella Moreno, New Year's Eve

My mom said that she needs to talk to me tonight. I wasn't sure what it was about but I did know that she wouldn't have asked me to talk to her if it wasn't important. I walk over to her when I find her alone in the kitchen.

My mom lights up when she sees me and grins, "Val. Come, your father is going to be back in a second. I wanted to talk to you."

I smile as I make my way to her, my heels clicking loudly with every step I take. I was still smiling at the fact that Matteo seemed so shocked to see me in this outifit. He knew how to make me feel special. He didn't need to touch me to make me feel that; his words were enough. His smile at me was enough.

My mom reads the expression on my face and says, "Love."

"Sorry?", I ask my mom as I take a seat at the counter and she only smiled wider at me. My mom reaches over and takes my hand in hers and says, "I was going to call you here to talk to you about your relationship with Matteo. I never got to ask you about it."

"It's good", I answer her with a grin.

"I can tell", my mom says with a smile and then reaches out a hand and presses a finger to my warm cheeks. Tonight has been more fun than I expected. My mom's eyes have a lightness to them when she says, "You found the definition of love."

"Huh?", I ask her and when her eyes meet mine, I remember the converstion we had from a long time ago.

My mom's grin is triumphant when she says, "I told you about love and then you told me you didn't know what it truly meant. You told me you were going to go to Matteo to ask him what it meant. You found it now."

My eyes widen for only a moment before a big smile takes over my face and I nod. I had. Matteo had shown me that he loved me eleven years ago but it was nothing compared to now. I didn't know it then, but we had figured out the defintion of love with each other over time.

"I'm happy for you, Val", my mom says and then adds, "I want you to know that this love is very strong. It's a very nice thing, trust in it."

"I already do", I whisper to her and then before we can say anything else, my dad bursts into the room with his arms held open widely. It didn't take a genius to know whom my dad was holding his hand out for. My mom runs into his arms and my dad wraps her up with a big grin on his face. I watch them with my heart warming in my chest. I had two loving parents and I couldn't be any happier about that.

I leave them with a smile sent at them after being kissed on the head and then head over to the staircase because Matteo had asked for me to meet him there.

"Hi, Bebé", he says as soon as I am in sight and I practically run over to him. It didn't matter about the fact that I had seen him on the dance floor only thirty minutes ago, I would still be excited to see him. I place my hands over his shoulders and he presses a kiss to my cheeks as the both of us hug.

I pull away with the same grin and Matteo holds up the notebook he found earlier tonight. His smile is wide as he says, "Here." I run hand through his hair before grabbing for the notebook.

I look at him with suspicion when I ask, "What's in it?"

He gives my waist a squeeze and says, "Just look inside."

With curiousity, I open up the notebook and peer through the familar pages until I get to the blank sheet at the back of the notebook. Only it's not blank this time. I hold it up, confused and ask, "What?"

He bites his cheeks in answer and simply says, "Read it."

I look down again but the statement doesn't make sense. He was...what did he mean by it? Matteo takes the notebook from me and says, "It seems my girl has lost the ability to read. I'll read for you."

My girl.

Matteo was great at adding possession to anything when referring to me. My personal favorite was the my before the name he calls me by.

Matteo has a soft smile on his face when he reads the words I already did a few times in the past minute. "Matteo and Bella will be able to promise themselves to each other."

"What do you mean?", I ask him confused and he only looks up at me with a smile. I knew what he meant. I knew that he was implying that we were going to promise ourselves to each ither. Promise to be together forever.

"What?", I ask him again because I am still in shock. I then smile widely and ask, "Are you ready to make such a commitment?"

He gives me an easy smile and says, "I've already been with you since you were born, bella. I could easily promise myself to you."

This was big. This was us promising more. Not now of course, but when we got older. We would be promising to get mareied, to be together for our entire lifetime. It's big but when I think about it, the answer isn't hard for me to answer.

"Yes", I answer and Matteo smiles wider as he opens up the notebook. He pulls out a pen and uses his teeth to take the cap off and I try not to find that attractive. Who was I kidding? The hand alone on the notebook was attractive to me. Matteo puts his finger to the statement and looks at me.

"We can't do anything about it, yet", he says with a wink and I giggle, slapping a hand on his chest. "But sign this for me, bebé."

"Sign?", I ask and he nods.

"Promise yourself to me", he says and when the statement sounds too dominant he scratches the back of his head. Then he adds, "If you want."

"I've been promised to you since I've formed my own thoughts, Teo. I'll happily promise myself to you on paper", I say. I then wink after saying, "Until the marriage licence." His laughter is pure happiness in response to my statement. He places a hand on my waist as I take the pen from him and sign just under the statement.

"So it's final", he whispers in my ear when I'm done. I turn my head to him and smile, "I'm promised to you."

"I love that", he confesses with a grin and I agree, leaning in to kiss him on the lips. We are about to continue kissing when the countdown for the new year starts.

"We should join the others for this", Matteo tells me and I hook my hand in his as we head to the living room where out entire family is happily cheering with each other. The comfort of our families is immense. By the time we get there, the last second for the timer goes off. Matteo grabs my face in his hands and then says, "Happy New Year, bella."

"To another year together", I say to him and he nods, pulling my face even closer to his.

"And to many more", he whispers before bringing our lips together to seal the promise.

THE END