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With the wild look that he had in his eyes in Milan. And somehow right then she saw the truth of it all. From the beginning.
“Luca,” she whispered.
“Don’t speak,” he said. “I need to. I love you. I love you, and I am very sorry that I couldn’t admit that before. I’m sorry that when I began to feel it, really feel it, what I did was run away. I made excuses. And I was right. I was. Because I could not have loved you in the way that you loved me if I hadn’t stared down the fear inside of myself. And fear is all it is. I have been afraid. Afraid of what it would be like to lose you. Of what it would be like if I loved you with everything I was, and lost you anyway.”
“Luca,” she said, her heart twisting. “I can’t believe that I ever thought you didn’t have feelings. Because I began to realize that you love everything. Everything that you have done since losing your mother is you putting love out into the world. Rather than keeping it to yourself, rather than hiding it. You are one of the most generous, good men to ever exist. And certainly the best one I’ve ever known. And I’m okay with this not being perfect. I’m okay with it taking work. For both of us. Because I have never been more free in my life than I am when I’m with you. I have never been happier. I’ve never been more myself.”
“It’s the same for me,” he said. “I have always been made to feel ashamed about...”
“Right. Even I’ve said things. Things I shouldn’t have.”
“I deserved it.”
“No. Nobody should ever be made to feel like who they are is a detriment. Who you are is a gift. And it’s why I love you. Not in spite of. Because of.”
“I feel the same. You... You bring a balance to my life I didn’t know I needed. What I didn’t think was especially possible.”
“You don’t really like it that much.”
He chuckled. “I love you. That’s enough.”
She looked up at him, and she felt her heart swell.
She had been wrong. All this time. Being in love with him was the key to everything.
He was a wonderful man to love.
“You are amazing, Dr. Luca Salvatore.”
“As are you, Polly Prescott.”
Luca could definitely be a difficult boss. But he was the best husband. And over the years he proved that he was also the very best father.
To all six children that they had.
And when he was finally able to announce a definitive cure for the cancer that had killed his mother, all of the children were present to pay tribute to the grandmother they had never known, but the grandmother whose love had shaped their lives every day.
Because she had been Luca’s reason. And that reason had led him not only to change the world, but to the most glorious, joy-filled life anyone had ever known.
And when each of the children presented him with a small car in front of a crowd of thousands, nobody understood why.
But Luca and Polly looked at each other and smiled.
Everything he had ever lost had been given back in greater multitudes than he could’ve ever imagined.
And the love between them was more powerful than anything else ever could be.