met the love of her life and married him in a tropical palace.”
“Well, yeah,” I laugh. “But still.” I take a deep breath. “I saw your pictures online. You look great.”
“That was Mel’s idea,” Margot replies. “She said it would help me take control of my image and my pregnancy again.”
“And did it?”
My sister is quiet for a moment. I can sense that she’s holding something back from me, but I don’t know what. As we listen to each other breathing on either end of the phone, my chest squeezes.
We’ve been so close for so many years, but still so distant from each other. I didn’t know she was lonely or unhappy. I just thought she was living the dream.
Peeling the edge of the dishtowel off my finger, I see that the bleeding has stopped. Margot still hasn’t said anything.
“Hey, Margie,” I start softly.
“Yeah?”
“You know I love you, right? No matter what? And I don’t think for a second that you were using Dante. I could see you were happier than you’ve been in years when you were with him.”
Margot lets a sob out so quietly that I hardly hear it. She inhales, and I imagine her nodding. “I love you too, Ivy. I got to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay,” I answer, my heart sinking when I hear the phone click.
Something is definitely wrong. My sister has always kept up the appearance of being happy, even when she wasn’t—but something has changed. Her brightness has dimmed.
Glancing at my half-finished cinnamon buns, I grab the dough and pop it in the refrigerator. Scooping the diced apples into a container, I put them beside the dough and wipe down the counter before heading up to my bedroom to sleep.
That night, I toss and turn so much that in the middle of the night, Luca asks me if everything’s okay. I mumble something in response and force myself to sit still, finally falling asleep for an hour or two just as the sun comes up.
Bleary-eyed, I wake up to the smell of coffee. Luca sits on the bed beside me, pushing a strand of hair off my forehead.
“Morning, gorgeous.”
“Hey,” I smile.
“I want to show you something today.”
“Right now?”
Luca nods. He smiles, but it’s not his usual broad, open smile. His eyes look tired, and he squeezes my hand before standing up.
I get dressed quickly, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and gulping down the scorching-hot coffee. I don’t even have the energy to think about not drinking it. The doctor said a coffee once in a while was okay. Luca must have known I’d need it.
My husband slips his hand into mine and leads me out to the palace grounds.
“Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see. I haven’t been here in years, but somehow it feels like the right time to go there.”
Luca leads me to a small dirt path at the back of the castle. As it winds up through the palace grounds, my pulse quickens.
Luca is quiet, his steps hurried. I glance up to see Luca’s brows drawn together and his lips pinched in a thin line.
I think I know where we’re going.
When the path starts winding upward, it feels like one of the first days we met, when we jumped off the cliff into Farcliff Lake together. When everything was exciting and new, and when I first started falling in love with him.
The path narrows, and I let Luca take the lead. I can see the tension rippling across his shoulders. I wish I could run my fingers over their breadth, soothing his troubled spirit.
Instead, I just follow.
Luca speeds up, racing through the trees to scramble up the final rocky outcropping to the flat patch of land on top of the cliff. He turns to help me up over the last rocks, putting a protective arm across my back to help me up the rest of the way.
When I get to the top, a warm breeze whips around me. I take a deep breath, inhaling the salty, fresh ocean air, closing my eyes and letting the moment settle in.
“This is it,” Luca says simply. “It’s where everything started. The top of the cliff, where I jumped off and landed in the shallow water. The spot on this earth where I broke my back, shattering my chances with Cara and changing the course of my life forever. The series of events that led me to you.”
Luca turns to stare into my eyes, wrapping his arms around my waist and