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“You can open it for me, Annie.”

My eyes lifted to his. The moment of anger had passed. We grinned at each other.

It was just the nature of our relationship.

“Mamma sent them over,” he said.

She had bought me two cameras—one made for the water, and one that looked as old as the one Mia had.

It took film, which she included. Mia had told me Scarlett had found the camera she had in Paris when she was a ballerina there.

Mia said she and Scarlett enjoyed thrifting, and her Mamma had been on the lookout for more cameras like hers.

Brando was a luck magnet, as his sons were, and they were hoping that, one day, the cameras would find them.

It seemed as if one of them had, and she had given it to me.

“This is—” I wiped my eyes, tears falling fast and hard. I could not finish. Emotions clogged my throat.

Mariano wrapped me in his arms, kissing the top of my head. I waved a hand, attempting to get myself under control.

“You open yours.” I did not bother to try to stop him when he wiped my face with his lips. I handed him the package. It did not seem as though he would have taken it otherwise.

He ripped the paper and stared at the contents inside of the box. A new book with charcoal sketch pens.

“That is, ah.” He cleared his throat, then flung the book back to the counter. “Let’s fucking go.”

He grabbed both cameras and loaded the older camera with film for me before tucking both inside of my beach bag.

I grabbed the matching sarong to the suit, and after handing him his sunglasses, set mine over my eyes.

He carried the beach bag I had packed with our towels and things.

I slipped my feet into a pair of gold thong sandals as he removed his swim trunks and set them in the bag.

“Ah.” I toyed with the Annie pendant around my neck.

I never took it off. Then I went straight to the priceless ring around my finger, fiddling with it.

“ One. ” I lifted my pointer finger. “You are not going to wear any clothes? Two .” I added a finger.

“What about my ring?” Even with the dark sunglasses, I squinted at him.

The light was glaringly bright, and I felt as if I was a newly born being adjusting to this new change in my life. The sun. I was also beginning to feel crusted over, and flying things were buzzing around my head, coming for me. Interested in my stink.

I took a step back from Mariano when he took a step toward me. Easily, he reached out and pulled my body close to his.

He took my pointer finger down. “This is our space in paradise, Annie. We don’t have to wear clothes.”

“Yes, ah, I know, but what about…biting things.” I looked down at his exposed cock and balls.

He grinned, kissing me. “Sweet and salty,” he muttered.

He licked his lips. “I fucking love it.” His eyes became intense on mine, and when a cool breeze fluttered by, he shook his head.

He took my other finger down, which I did not realize was the bird finger.

He laughed. “What about your ring?” He took my hand and started to lead me down the path we had traveled our first night to get to our bure .

The solar lights were soaking up the sun, and so was the entire island, it seemed. All the flora was tilted into the direction of the rays.

I took a breath, digging in the bag on his shoulder, going for the digital, waterproof camera—it had an option on it to send the photos to my cellulare !

“This ring is special, Mariano.” I took a deep breath.

I usually had a good feel for my husband; however I did not know how he was going to react to this suggestion.

“I want to make a replica of it to use.”

He stopped walking, and so did I.

“I am afraid something will happen to it.” I shrugged.

“Do you walk around this earth?” he asked me in Italian.

I did not know where he was going with this, but I played along. “ Sì , I do.”

“You are the most priceless thing to me, yet you walk around. Why should a piece of jewelry be more precious than you?”

I did not have an answer for that. I shrugged again, going in a different direction with the conversation. “I do not want to be responsible for losing it.”

“You won’t. You’ll give it a chance to shine. To experience the warmth from the sun, the icy cold of winter, the smoky tinge of autumn, the breeze in spring. It’s fucking safe on your hand. Fate says so.”

I used him as support as I took off the thong sandals and stuck them in the bag.

I closed my eyes to the sun, to the feel of tiny particles underneath my feet, as warm as the sun, exfoliating my skin.

I felt…newly born again. “This is so nice,” I whispered in Italian. “So nice.” I dug my feet in deeper.

I opened my eyes, moving the sunglasses to my head. Taking in the breathtaking beauty that surrounded us without a filter.

Azure water for as far as the eye could see.

It rushed in and out, and I stepped closer to it, allowing it to steal the leftover sand on my feet.

It felt…incredible. Cool enough to bring relief, but not cold enough to make me think twice about diving in.

My skin craved the water, the clean, soft feel of it, while the sun showered us in oozing warmth from above.

The sky seemed to mirror the water. It was bright blue, white clouds meandering as slowly as we were.

In the distance, mountains covered in emerald foliage towered, perhaps considered an entity to all below them on this island.

The palms rustled in the breeze, and the scent of the products Scarlett had given me drifted from my skin and hair. It seemed natural here. At home. In harmony with the heat and the cool look of the water.

The water.

My husband wore his sunglasses, staring at me, and when I looked into his eyes, looked past the darkness shielding him for me, I knew what I would find. A color that only God could have created, the same as this Pacific Ocean. No wonder I was able to always get lost in them. I could drown in them.

I moved closer to him, taking his hand, and he brought mine to his mouth, kissing my fingers. “You smell so fucking good,” he said, breathing me in, moving to my wrist, and then going further up my arm. “Like sniffing a coconut.”

I pulled at his hold when I realized where he was headed.

My arm pit. “Mariano Fausti, grossolano !” I laughed, then moved my foot when something tickled it.

Another one of those crabs. “You say this is called a fiddler crab?” I let go of my husband, and my knees hit the sand.

I set the camera up and took my first picture.

“Yes!” I shouted, sending the little urchin scuttling for safety when I glanced at the screen.

I was not sure where the mini sea creature was off to—perhaps burying itself in the sand.

However, I got the shot. I stood as quickly as I went down, Mariano’s hand on my arm to steady me, and showed him the picture on the camera.

“Good job, Annie.” He pulled me in and kissed my temple.

Another creature, a lizard, darted across the sand— oh no , it seemed as if it was going after the fiddler crab.

I would have taken a picture of it, but I was too slow.

I would catch it next time. The same fiddler crab?

I was not so sure. The food chain was at work.

However, I was no expert when it came to the lizards of the island and their diets.

Still, I beamed at my husband. “I love this! I love that your mamma was so thoughtful to send all these things.” I lifted the camera in explanation.

The thought of the cameras made me think of the new book he had received and why he was so choked up about it.

However, I decided not to bring it up then.

We were only just starting to explore. The island was open and free. Endless, it seemed, as was our time. I continued to take pictures as we walked deeper into the island, closer to thick foliage, where a path would lead us into a…tropical forest.

A humungous crab on a tree caught my attention—a coconut crab, Mariano called it.

I had him flex his muscles next to it as I took the shot.

I kept the frame of the camera from his head to his waist. I asked him if we could eat the crab, and he told me no.

He said the meat could make us sick, and more than that, some of the islanders believed it held spirits.

“No eating Francesco, then,” I said. “He might have been an angry person in this life and, Madonna mia , not even grappa will help us with the digestion.” I made the sign of the cross.

Mariano blinked at me before he exploded with laughter. My grin faded when he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to the side of a tree. A herd of wild horses tore down the beach, their hairs whipping in the wind, sand flying beneath their powerful hooves.

The herd stopped for a second, playing around with each other.

I smiled, thinking of my family in Wyoming, slowly taking the camera to my eye and snapping a few pictures.

I turned the camera some and caught a black horse nuzzling a white one, their snouts almost making a heart, the way they were placed together.

There and then gone.

However, I had the shots.

Or the shot.

I would frame the one and add it to our bure .

“This is such a cool place, Mariano,” I said, our hands locked as we took a left and began our adventure deeper into the tropical forest. Bright birds chirped above our heads, and small critters, as Atta called them, seemed to whisper to each other on the sandy floor beneath our feet.

Mariano stopped me and helped me back into my thong sandals. “The more forested areas of the island are more rugged, in terms of what lay beneath,” he said, securing the second one. “Could have thorns, or small pieces of rock or wood.”

I nodded at him, reveling in the shade. The trees rose far above our heads, the small spaces in between branches allowing the sun to touch us in spots, but mostly, it provided an emerald canopy of shelter.

It became almost silent between us, and when I looked back down, Mariano was watching me.

It was a quiet…look, almost as if he was absorbing me.

I grinned at him. “What?” I breathed.

“Just taking pleasure in my wife.” His voice was rough.

“I, ah…” I did not know what to say to that, so I said nothing, giving him his moment. Then I cleared my throat, pointing up. “Are those the boo -bee birds?”

He laughed quietly. “No, Annie, those aren’t the boobies.”

“Boo— what ?” I turned my ear closer to him, tucking my hand behind it, folding it in almost.

“Fuck me sideways,” he said. “My wife’s sense of humor is developing into something else entirely.”

For some reason, this tickled me, and I could not stop laughing. A grin seemed stuck to his face. When I could get myself under control, I asked him more about the birds, hoping he knew. His eyes seemed to light up, and he began to tell me about them.

“They have blue beaks and blue feet,” he said. “Almost the same color as the water, so you’ll know them as soon as you see them. They’re distinctive. When my parents first came to the island, they were just starting to breed here.”

“A family,” I said.

“Yeah, I guess you could call them that. A colony.”

I squeezed his hand. “The same time your parents were, ah?”

“Around,” he said. “Mamma had lost a baby not long before their first trip here.”

I stopped walking. “I am so sorry,” I breathed out. “For you, your sister and brothers—for your mamma and your papà.”

“ Prozio Tito named him Matteo.” He pulled me along.

“The same as your older brother.”

He nodded. “To honor the first Matteo.” He cleared his throat, changing the subject. He gave me more facts about the boobies.

“You know so much about them.” I narrowed my eyes as he bent over toward a shrub full of vibrant flowers.

He picked a hot pink one for me. I thought he was going to hand it to me, but he set it behind my left ear.

“Left side means you’re my wife.” He made sure it was perfect.

“Yeah, my mamma taught us a lot about the places we’ve been over the years.

Felt it was important we knew our history and obscure facts about the places we visited or lived.

Said it was not only about respect of the culture, but it would keep us excited about the places our feet stepped on, for the long haul or even for a time. ”

“I like this very much. I…love your mamma, and your papà as well. Your sister and brothers. Your nephews and niece. Your entire family.”

“The entire Fausti family.” He glanced at me, a touch of fire in his eyes.

“The ones closely related to you,” I amended. I had a feeling he was thinking of Remo, but I was even anxious about thinking his name. My husband might kill him for it. He had taken a man’s eye for winking at me. This train of thought brought back Clint Herndon.

Did Mariano see the way he had grabbed me at the banquet? If so…I did not want to think about him going around with one eye and one hand.

“I’m sure you’ve encountered a lot of us over the years,” he said, capturing my attention.

“This is true.” I sighed. I was about to expand, but he pointed up ahead.

“Right there. That’s the surprise.”

I rose on my toes, tilting to the left and to the right. “I do not see anything.” It seemed as if a clump of trees, their branches lowered to the ground, shielded what lie beyond, almost making an entrance to a portal. Perhaps to another world. The thought frightened me before it thrilled me.

Perhaps my curiosity was too eager. I almost started to pull him. He stilled me by keeping a firm grip on me. He grinned at first, and then his face fell.

“You have a curious nature.” His tone was almost…dubious.

“Is this bad?” I lifted my sunglasses, wiping the sweat collecting underneath them, before I set them back.

He shrugged. “Could be,” was his answer, and he seemed content to keep me in suspense.

I was about to ask him more about this, being curious again, but was stalled by a break in the trees and what existed beyond it.