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Now, and always

When she felt stronger and calmer, they found a taxi to take the the past thirteen years, but she’d never been brave enough to go to Rosciano Once, twice, she’d co back

She wouldn’t turn back today

Mary was holding Jack’s hand so tightly in the back of the airport taxi that he should have been co to pull free He did neither; he si her know that he truly was there for her when sheto keep panic at bay, she looked at her watch and calculated the tiun in San Francisco Maybe we should stop at another pay phone and call Allen’s offices to check in with everyone"

She could tell by the look in Jack’s eyes that he knew exactly what she was doing "We don’t need to stop We don’t need to call I’ just fine without us" He gently squeezed her hand "Your hometown is beautiful, just like you described it One day soon, I’d like my own mother to come and see this winter wonderland"

Mary forced herself to look out the s of the taxi, to stop and really see where she’d come from

Christmas in Rosciano had always been the event of the year Fro overhead to the beautifully built Nativity scene in the center of town, every inch was transforht and color As a child, she’d spent eleven h she wasn’t a child anymore, she wasn’t at all i, it seeirls out picking up a big tray of pastries at the pasticceria for the fa wo small babies in their arms as they met with friends by the fountain for a few preciousto their fa in the bar first for an espresso and then a glass of grappa to talk of old sports drea bets on tealory on The stone buildings stood just as they had for hundreds of years The grapevines just beyond the buildings were groomed back for winter, and the sky was a clear and crisp blue

Mary felt as if she’d blinked at nineteen and woken up thirteen years later in the sa had changed when she had changed so irl full of a hunger to experience life The beauty she’d seen, the thrills she’d experienced as she’d flitted frolobe to the next, had far exceeded her dreaing, for so on another airplane or seeing another a vista

As if he could read her mind, Jack stroked his hand down over her hair and shoulders

Love

It was all she’d ever truly wanted, the only thing that could have