A Legacy of Secrets - By Carol Marinelli Page 0,58

he had seen in Palermo, but first they were going to go and lie on that beach as she should have done ages ago.

‘But then I wouldn’t have met you.’

The Sicilians did know how to throw a good party. The streets were lined with tables. There was food and more food, and speeches and then more food, but there was talking and laughter too. Ella looked over to her mother, chatting with Teresa, and she could never, even in her wildest, dreamt of this moment either.

‘We dance now,’ Santo said.

And she had thought the wedding would just be a formality, but being held in his arms, maybe Ella did have a few romantic bones in her body, for it was the best night of her life and she looked up at him and never wanted to change him.

‘I love you.’ She said it so easily now. ‘Never change.’

‘Only for good,’ Santo answered in all seriousness. ‘But not too good...’ he added. ‘I have chosen three scripts to take on our honeymoon.’ Ella frowned as they danced their first dance. She really didn’t want to talk about work.

‘One, a hostage situation,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘There is a lot of dialogue, they talk a lot....’ She was starting to smile.

‘One, a romance,’ Santo whispered. She smothered that smile in his chest, so grateful for the imagination that had saved her as a child, as she made a new movie in her mind. ‘God, I love our work so much,’ Santo said to her ear. ‘We are never going to be bored.’

No, with Santo, you could never, ever be bored. ‘And the third?’ Ella asked, her stomach folding over on itself in want as she gazed up to him.

‘A western.’ Santo’s face was deadpan as he looked down to her, watched her start to laugh in his arms as to the visions that conjured up.

And happiness was infectious.

The party smiled and starting tapping spoons on their glasses for the lovely bride and groom to seal it with a kiss.

‘It’s tradition,’ Santo said. ‘You have no choice but to kiss me.’

No, no choice at all, but it was for more than tradition when her lips met his then.

It was simply for love.

* * * * *

Read on for an exclusive interview

with Carol Marinelli!

Behind the Scenes

of Sicily’s Corretti Dynasty

It’s such a huge world to create—an entire Sicilian dynasty. Did you discuss parts of it with the other writers?

There is generally a huge flurry of discussions at the start. Then we all seem to go off into our own worlds to write our own stories and come back for fine-tuning.

How does being part of the continuity differ from when you are writing your own stories?

My own stories are tiny seeds that I grow, but when I am a part of a continuity I am given flowered seedlings and lots of them. I am usually a bit of a hermit when I write—being in a continuity forces you not to be.

What was the biggest challenge? And what did you most enjoy about it?

One of my biggest challenges was writing an epilogue for a book that was first in a series with many secrets still to be revealed that I couldn’t reveal. What did I enjoy? The moment when I worked out how to do it—I had so much fun researching, which can be a major procrastination tool, but when I found out that Sicilian brides used to wear green it all started to slot into place.

As you wrote your hero and heroine, was there anything about them that surprised you?

Their love of ice! More seriously, my hero really surprised me and, in turn, my heroine too. There was a pivotal scene at the beginning of the book that I struggled with and kept trying to dilute and, after a *lot* of rewriting and trying to change him, I ended up going back to my original vision of that scene.

What was your favourite part of creating the world of Sicily’s most famous dynasty?

I love writing about complex family ties. A Sicilian dynasty was like a moth to flame for me—though I knew it would burn.

If you could have given your heroine one piece of advice before the opening pages of the book, what would it be?

I don’t think I would have—people make their own mistakes and find their own happy endings.

What was your hero’s biggest secret?

His whole life was a secret—and he was unearthing that fact.

What does your hero love most about your heroine?

He shares her