Page 69 of Poison Heart
“Don’t encourage her.” He wagged his finger at us both, like we were the children who needed scolding. “Did you hear that, Adelaide? Just pick a nice Italian boy,one,not three. For your father’s sake and sanity.”
Adelaide’s laughter peeled through the plot, a spark in the dimming light.
“But they’re all so boring,” she countered, a wicked smile twisting her lips.
“Men aren’t toys to be played with. You’ll learn that when they break your heart.” Antoni warned, looking every inch the stern father. It was jarring. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Romeo had used the same tone on Antoni?
“I disagree. Men are very fun to play games with. I like to toy with your grandfather all the time.” I countered, sending a wink to Adelaide. I was just glad she didn’t end up married to the Donato boy. I still didn’t trust our rival family. No matter how neutered they were.
“Don’t encourage her, I said.” Antoni looked at the sky with exasperation before ushering Adelaide away. Romeo warmed my back with his front, wrapping his arms around me.
“You’re quiet.”
His chin rested lightly on my head. He was leaning to the left, taking the pressure off his right knee. It gave him trouble walking, but he refused to use a walking stick. It had been hard enough to get him to agree to a hearing aid. My husband was proud, even when time stripped the strength from his body.
“I don’t feel myself, Romeo.” I leaned on him, knowing he didn’t want to hear the truth. He stiffened at my admission, predictable in his denial. He tried to shush me, but I pushed onwards. “I think…”
His arms banded around me to the point of pain. My pulse fluttered, weak in my chest. My ribs were so much closer to the surface than they were years ago. Time stripped me of things I never knew were finite, too. My papery eyelids closed, and the world turned muted red and black through their shield.
“Don’t,” Romeo begged me.
“I’m tired to my bones. It’s getting harder to find the strength to even get out of bed.”
Romeo’s breath puffed against the back of my neck in sharp spurts.
“Anita, don’t. You’ve got to give me more years yet.” His voice was strained, and I understood.
I still had time, but my body echoed with debts I didn’t know I’d had. They called for payment, and I wasn’t going to fight.
In truth, I needed another lifetime to feel satisfied with my husband. I was greedy for every dwindling moment I had with him. It hurt my chest to think of going on without him, but I knew it wouldn’t be the case.
My body was tired, and my mind drifted, hindered by cobwebs. It was a lazy lull, a slow wind-down. Too soon, unfair, all the things I’d railed against before I went to see the doctor last week. It wasn’t age, but something else that had spread silently through my body underneath my notice. It didn’t matter.
“Bury me here, next to my father. Please.” I forced the words past the lump in my throat. Romeo exhaled harshly, and I felt the vibration as he shook his head.
“Wife, I swear to god, if you don’t—” he said through gritted teeth. I spun in his hold, muscles aching with a familiar, dull pain.
“I love you more than I ever thought possible, Romeo.” I sucked in a deep breath, savoring the scent of his peppery cologne.
His throat bobbed at the rare admission of feeling. His lips brushed against mine for a moment, his breath warming them on a soft exhale.
“You are my reason, my everything. Without you, none of this means anything.”
His light blue eyes clashed with my gaze, and I felt the wave of pain that effused them. This was what came of falling in love. Years of precious, fleeting moments until you stood on the precipice, waiting for another era to begin. Fear flickered deep in the depths, and I managed a tremulous smile.
“Even when we’re gone, our blood will carry on. Our family, who will find their own love and make their own mistakes. That means something to me; what we built is beyond us now.”
Romeo stroked his hands down my back and kissed me quick. Like he wanted to halt this morbid conversation. I had always been the pessimist in our relationship, cynical, sharp edges that cut anyone who tried to get close. But Romeo had never been afraid of my dangerous parts. He’d embraced me for who I was. I rested my head on his chest, wanting to glue the sound of his steady heart to my ears.
This love would continue to grow if I had to snatch it from death’s hands myself.
“Just promise me you’ll let me go first. You’ll be fine. You’ll terrorize Adelaide’s boyfriends and invite people to afternoontea and serve your special brand of food. What will I do? I can’t even hold a gun with the way these hands shake.” Romeo ranted, and I snatched at his hands, bringing them to my mouth to kiss his wrinkled fists. My nose drifted in the air, and I arched my eyebrows with silent reproach. Romeo groaned, shaking his head.
“Ah, it never gets old.” His voice was hoarse. “This little nose strikes fear in the heart of everyone when you turn it up in the air.”
“You won’t keep me waiting long though, will you?” I let some vulnerability trickle in.
It wasn’t that I wanted to go first. But the doctor had been realistic about my chances. Romeo’s fingers clenched around mine. The flowers on the grave rustled with a whispering breeze. I looked into the face of the man who held my heart in his murderous hands. Gnarled, wrinkled, and covered in dark spots.
Mine.
Every inch of him, mine. No matter of the lines that threatened to separate us. His dark lashes stamped his cheeks, sunken and lined with age. He was regal. He was dusk, hovering on the edge of shadows with muted, fading color. My heart caught in my throat.
“Whatever my wife wants, she gets,” Romeo rasped and drew me into an embrace.
I closed my eyes, letting his warmth, strength, and protection overwhelm me. I’d already gotten everything I wanted in this life and a lot of things I never expected to experience.
Like a love that broke down my walls and sank into my veins. One that would transcend time, because I was a possessive wife.
Romeo was mine, until the end of time. As I was his.