58. DANTE

The palace’s south terrace is a great spot to eat lunch: it has the best view of the lake, and the stone helps catch the sun’s heat and radiate it back, which is perfect for cooler days like today.

Emilio sips his coffee, silently staring out at the lake and the Morovan shoreline beyond.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Amanda says.

He turns toward us with a half-smile. He’s looking much better these days.

“One of the things they tell us to do in the program is to make amends with the people we’ve hurt along the way,” he says. “I was thinking about how I would broach that subject with you two. An apology just doesn’t seem like enough.”

“It’s enough,” I say.

“I suppose it has to be. There’s nothing I could possibly do to balance the scales. I almost ruined your life.” He looks to Amanda. “Both your lives.”

“You already balanced them,” I say. “The day of the referendum. If you hadn’t showed up when you did, I don’t know what might have happened.”

“Showed up drunk out of my mind,” he says ruefully.

“You weren’t yourself,” says Amanda. “If it wasn’t for your mother, none of it would have happened.”

“Maybe,” he says. “But if it weren’t for me losing all our money and falling into the bottle, she might not have felt the need to do it.”

“You don’t honestly believe that,” I say.

He sighs. “I suppose not. But she is my mother; I have to try to be kind.”

“Have you heard from her?” Amanda asks.

“She’s staying with a cousin in Lichtenstein. Even though she’s technically not in exile, I doubt we’ll ever see her set foot in Morova again. She’s too embarrassed.”

The three of us look out at the lake for several moments, just soaking up the late summer sun. It won’t be long before it will be too cold to eat outside.

“Can I tell you two something?” Emilio asks.

“Of course,” says Amanda. “Anything.”

“I had a feeling about you two,” he says with a smile. “That day when Dante came crashing into you outside his office.”

I give him a sidelong look. “You did not.”

“I did,” he says, nodding. “There was something there. I could see it in your eyes. Both of you.”

Amanda takes my hand.

“I knew it. You couldn’t resist my cowgirl charms.”

“I admit it,” I say. “I looked at you and said to myself, she’s the one – ”

Amanda smiles shyly.

“ – to clean out the palace stables. They were filthy.”

Emilio chuckles as Amanda wallops me on the shoulder.

“I knew I was right,” he says. “That’s a win for me, and God knows I can use as many as I can get right now.”

“You were right,” says Amanda, toasting him with her coffee. “To Emilio being right.”

“To being right,” I say, lifting my own cup.

“You shouldn’t bother them,” I hear Oriana say behind us.

“I just have a question,” says Vito. “They’re not even talking anymore.”

Emilio smiles as the twins approach the table. Amanda and I turn to greet them.

“What are you two on about now?” Amanda asks, pulling Oriana into her lap.

“I just want to know if I can ask Nonno for a belt buckle like his when we go,” says Vito.

“I told him he can’t,” says Oriana.

“For any particular reason?” I ask. “Or just because you always have to say the opposite of what he says?”

Amanda giggles as Oriana shakes her little fist at me.

“I’m afraid she’s right, honey,” Amanda says to Vito. “You have to win a buckle like his in the rodeo.”

His eyes light up. “Can I rodeo when we visit?”

“I think we can get you started, at least,” she says with a grin.

“When do you leave?” Emilio asks.

“In four days!” the twins answer together.

“You’re more than welcome to join us,” says Amanda. “Dad’s got a pull-out couch.”

The image of Emilio sleeping on a sofa is enough to make me have to stifle a laugh.

“I appreciate the invitation, but I don’t think that would be a good idea,” he says. “I’m not exactly in your father’s good books, I think.”

“I guarantee you’d be welcome,” I say. “Ike isn’t one to hold a grudge. He’s not that kind of man.”

“Still,” he says, finishing his coffee. “Best not to tempt fate.”

* * *

“Do you believe in magic?”

I’m rinsing the last of the shampoo from Amanda’s hair in the giant tub in our quarters. Her bare back feels smooth and soft against my chest, and my cock very much appreciates its spot in the cleft of her buttocks.

“That’s an odd question,” I say. “What makes you ask that?”

“It would explain a lot. I mean, the last few months have been like a fairy tale – the prince and the commoner girl meet and fall in love, they get torn apart by circumstance, but in the end they live happily ever after.”

“First,” I say, kissing the back of her neck, “we have a long way to go before we qualify for happily ever after. Second, I don’t remember any virgin decrees in the fairy tales I read as a child.”

“Still. You have to wonder, don’t you?”

I do have to wonder. What did I ever do to deserve a woman like her? A life like this? A family like ours?

“I do believe in magic,” I say. “I’ve just decided.”

“Good,” she says, turning to face me. Her breasts bob on the surface of the water, prompting an involuntary throb in my cock. “Because I believe in it, too. And it has to be both of us, or the magic won’t work.”

“Then let’s get together and make some magic,” I say, pulling her to me.

“Don’t I have to try on a glass slipper or something?” she giggles.

“Trust me,” I say as she gasps at my hard shaft slipping inside of her. “I already know that everything fits perfectly.”