Federico Mancuso basked in the compliment and immediately guided us to the table. I dismissed him, asking him to bring us the house’s finest sparkling wine, and pulled out a chair for Daisy so she could sit down. When I took my seat and we were alone, the sight of her pierced me to the bone.
She had brushed her blonde hair back. Only her bangs framed her little peridot eyes, which now reflected the sparks of candlelight. And that dark emerald dress, all in satin, with a halter neckline that left her shoulders bare, turned her into a mirage from another world.
I reached across the table and took her hands, caressing them with my thumbs.
Dio.
She was the opposite of everything I had once desired, and yet she was everything I wanted in that moment, everything I needed. I felt like a dying man who had received a new organ transplant, regaining the life I had lost, knowing full well that if that organ failed, I would never see another dawn.
“I had Martino hunt downmargheriteat every florist in town.” I admitted with a satisfied smile and rejoiced at her immediate laughter. “I wanted this to be special. I want to prove to you that nothing is as you think, Piccola Furetta.”
Daisy moved her hands beneath mine, and a tingling sensation flooded my chest as she intertwined her fingers with mine. “What does that mean?”
“That you’re no collateral damage. You never were.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “That part I… I think I’m starting to understand. At least, that’s what I want to believe.” She murmured with a gentle, fragile look that revealed a whole other woman to me. One who didn’t need to hide from me behind masks of false bravado. “But I was referring to Piccola Furetta. What does that mean?”
I snorted, laughing heartily. “It means little ferret.”
Her eyes widened and her hands immediately let go of mine. With her arms crossed over her chest and her nose wrinkled, she snapped, “And may I ask why on earth you’ve been calling me a ferret this whole damn time?!”
I bit my lower lip and leaned back against the chair’s backrest. “Because you look like a ferret. Even in behavior. Tiny and sassy.”
“Should I take that as an insult…?”
“Ferrets are adorable,” I admitted. “They’re my favorite animal, just so you know. When we get back to the villa, I’ll show you a collection of pictures I’ve taken of them.”
Her shoulders relaxed and she rested her forearms on the table, giving me her full attention. “Is that why you have all those cameras in your room?”
I nodded. “That’s right. Photography has been my hobby since I was a boy, ever since my Nonna Renata gave me my first camera.”
Something changed in Daisy’s expression. Suddenly, there was a certain stiffness in her body, and her lips tightened as if she were wrestling with something. I raised an eyebrow and waited.
“I’m sorry. For what happened to your family. I really am.” She whispered, and my heart melted a little more. Ordinary people would consider the death of people like us a service to humanity, but not Daisy Parker. The sadness in her features revealed to me the sincerity of her words. “I saw some pictures you have on display around the villa. Your mother was the red-haired lady, wasn’t she?”
I smiled and nodded. “Sì.”
“She seems to have been an impressive woman. She was beautiful, Camillo.”
I smiled again and discreetly slipped my hand into the pocket of my suit pants. I felt the little box with the ring, and in that instant, I decided to take it out and place it on the table. Daisy looked at it, her eyebrows furrowed as if she didn’t understand a thing.
I opened the box.
“Speaking of my Mamusia… We have every room in the east and west wings under surveillance, did you know that?” I murmured. She cleared her throat, and not even the dim candlelight was enough to hide her blushing face. “I saw you trying on this ring.”
“I’m—I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have done that.”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong. But I’d like to know why you put it on your finger.”
She looked at me very seriously. “You’re even asking?” I raised an eyebrow. “The ring is absolutely gorgeous, Camillo!”
ThankDiofor the chair I was sitting in, because, for a few seconds, my world spun and the faces of everyone I had lost reappeared in Daisy Parker’s peridot eyes. And thankDiofor Federico Mancuso too, who interrupted us with the bottle of sparkling wine.
I put the ring back in my pocket and composed myself. While the ragazzo filled two flutes with the bubbling liquid, I watched the woman in front of me, her eyes fixed on the movements of the young man serving us, and I felt life shaking my bones.
Some would say that life changes in seconds and that everyone, at some point, experiences a moment that justifies their existence. Mine was happening right there, in that restaurant, with the woman I was supposed to have executed. Everything seemed to make sense now. From the sweetest to the cruelest situation of my human life. Everything seemed to have been woven on purpose to guide me to Daisy Parker.
It wasn’t the fate that the young Camillo would have chosen, but it was precisely where he was meant to be.